Curriculum Associates will quickly have a brand new CEO for the primary time in 17 years.
Kelly Sia has been named as the subsequent chief government officer of the main supplier of educational sources, changing longtime chief Rob Waldron, who will transfer into the function of chairman of the board and strategic advisor to the corporate.
The Massachusetts-based group described the transfer as a part of long-planned transition. Sia has served in quite a lot of roles at Curriculum Associates, together with chief monetary officer, chief operations officer, and principally just lately, president.
In an period when the schooling sector is being reshaped by mergers and acquisitions and personal equity-led takeovers of corporations — which regularly convey upheaval within the C-suite — Curriculum Associates’ prime management has been remarkably steady.
Waldron took the highest job in 2008, succeeding longtime CEO and co-founder Frank Ferguson, who guided the corporate for 25 years and died in 2021. Sia, who will assume the highest government function in January, will turn out to be simply the third CEO within the historical past of the group, which was based in 1969.
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“This can be a pivotal second in schooling, and Kelly is the best chief to chart the course for CA’s future,” Waldron stated in a press release. Sia “has sturdy operational and strategic acumen and a deep understanding of our distinctive service mannequin. Her ardour for our goal and our individuals fuels her management.”
Below Waldron, Curriculum Associates has grown from an organization with 105 staff to 1 with 2,500 right this moment. The group says annual gross sales have risen from $26 million to $775 million throughout that interval.
Like many legacy organizations available in the market, it has additionally sought to pivot from print to tech-based supply of content material, and right this moment it estimates that 75 p.c of its supplies are digital.
In a press release concerning the transition, Curriculum Associates officers additionally touted the group’s staffing construction, noting that 40 p.c of its staff are working in roles offering service to highschool districts and different Okay-12 prospects.
Earlier than coming to Curriculum Associates 4 years in the past, Sia labored for greater than twenty years in client and knowledge administration organizations.