Harvard Business School Publishing Names Group Publisher

Posted on April 2, 1999

Harvard Business School Publishing (HBSP) has announced that Penelope Muse Abernathy will join the company as Group Publisher and General Manager of the Publishing Division at HBSP. As Group Publisher, Ms. Abernathy will work with each of the business units in HBSP's Publishing Division, including the Harvard Business Review, the Harvard Business School Press, publisher of several of the decade's landmark business books, and the newsletters Harvard Management Update and Harvard Management Communication Letter. In her new role, which will also encompass the position of Publisher at Harvard Business Review, Ms. Abernathy will report to Walter Kiechel, Senior Vice President, Executive Director of the Publishing Division.

Ms. Abernathy was most recently president of The New York Times News Services, a division of The New York Times that includes The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation, The New York Times News Service, TimesFax, Licensing and Royalties, Photo Archives, Book Development, Large Print Weekly and Crossword Product Development. During her thirteen year tenure at the Times, Abernathy also served as Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Human Resources and as such was responsible for the Times' overall business strategy and the alignment of human resources with the company's strategic goals.

"Penny is joining Harvard Business School Publishing at a pivotal time in our company's strategic development," said Linda Doyle, President and Chief Executive Officer of HBSP. "We are delighted to have been able to attract the talent of someone with such broad expertise and a keen understanding of the value of intellectual content and its strategic use. We expect that Penny will play a key role in helping Harvard Business School Publishing continue to bring the world's most interesting ideas and practical insights in business to the widest possible audience." "We are enormously pleased and proud that Penny has agreed to join us," concurs William Sahlman, Chairman of HBSP's Board and Harvard Business School Professor of Business Administration. "It represents both an affirmation and a further step on the path of creating one of the great publishing companies."

"The Harvard Business School Publishing name represents unparalleled excellence," said Ms. Abernathy. "I'm exhilarated by the prospect of broadening HBSP's reach in a new era of growth that will underscore the integrity and relevance of the company's world-class publications."