ProQuest announced this week that it was moving to a new structure consisting of six “strategic business units,” including one comprised of its Serials Solutions and Bowker businesses. The new arrangement, according to the announcement, was created by CEO Kurt Sanford, who joined the company in July.
Among the new business units is ProQuest Workflow Solutions, which will include Serials Solutions and Bowker and be led by Michael Gersch, who was previously solely the senior VP and general manager of Serials Solutions. ProQuest Information Solutions, responsible for all library markets, will be headed by senior VP and general manager Rod Gauvin. Ebrary will continue to be led by Kevin Sayar, its president and general manager; ebrary’s acquisition by ProQuest was announced earlier this year, in January 2011.
Yesterday, Publishers Weekly reported that 40 positions had been eliminated at ProQuest, including those of Bowker executives Gary Aiello and Charles Halpin.
ProQuest representative Beth Dempsey told LJ that she couldn’t confirm the numbers in the PW article, but that some management positions had been eliminated in the restructuring. She also said that there were “new positions being created across the enterprise” for the newly created divisions, for which ProQuest was “actively recruiting.”
Other new units include ProQuest Research Solutions, which includes the RefWorks reference management product, headed by senior VP and general manager Rich LaFauci; ProQuest Corporate Market Solutions, led by senior VP and general manager Tim Wahlberg; and ProQuest East Asia, led by senior VP and managing director Boe Horton.
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