Larry Neal Appointed as Chief Executive Officer of Skillsoft

DUBLIN & BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Skillsoft, the global leader in eLearning and Talent Management, today announced it has appointed Larry Neal as Chief Executive Officer of the group. Bill Donoghue, current CEO, becomes Executive Chairman.

Most recently, Larry has led businesses for S&P Global, formerly McGraw-Hill Financial. As President of S&P Platts, he drove outstanding growth, nearly tripling revenues in seven years. Platts has customers in 170 countries, 60% of revenues outside of North America, and over 1,000 staff across 15 global locations. Prior to Platts, he led significant performance improvements at both the S&P Equity Research and S&P Index Services businesses.

Earlier in his career, Larry led several product, sales and marketing organizations and has extensive sales leadership experience. He started his career at General Electric and IBM, then moving in to sales and business leadership positions at technology-enabled content companies Advent Software, ADP and McGraw-Hill.

“Larry is an outstanding and experienced executive, having repeatedly delivered exceptional P&L performance for five companies. He has a reputation for bringing a unique blend of strategic insight with operational excellence and a relentless customer focus,” said Bill Donoghue, Executive Chairman of the Skillsoft Group. “I am thrilled Larry is joining us and confident he will make an excellent long-term CEO.”

Mr. Neal said: “I am delighted to be joining Skillsoft following the transformation of the group to a digital technology company. It is a world leader in online learning and talent management, with a huge and diverse portfolio of great clients, and committed, dedicated teams across the world. I am looking forward to working with the team through the next phase of the company’s development.”

Frank van den Bosch, Partner at Charterhouse Capital Partners, owners of Skillsoft, said: “Bill Donoghue stepped into the CEO role to lead the company through a huge transformation over the past 15 months, which has now been successfully completed. That transformation of Skillsoft into a digital technology company prepared the ground for a new long-term CEO and we are excited Larry is joining us. Larry brings a track record of growth experience, and is an exceptional operator and leader, whilst Bill will provide continuity and strategic guidance to the team as Executive Chairman.”

About Skillsoft
Skillsoft is the global leader in eLearning, providing the most engaging learner experience and high-quality content. We are trusted by the world's leading organizations, including 65 percent of the Fortune 500. Our mission is to build beautiful technology and engaging content that drives business impact for today’s modern enterprise. Our 150,000+ multi-modal courses, videos, books and micro-learning modules are accessed more than 130 million times every month, in 160 countries and 29 languages. With 100% secure cloud access, from any device, whenever, wherever. www.skillsoft.com

About SumTotal Systems
SumTotal Systems, LLC, a Skillsoft Company, is the world’s only unified Human Capital Management Solution. SumTotal’s award-winning Talent Management Suite enables companies to attract, know, mobilize, develop, progress and reward their workforce. SumTotal is continuously innovating to best meet the market challenges of attracting, retaining, developing and engaging the multi-generational workforce. The Talent Expansion Suite includes three key components –Talent, Learn and Work. www.sumtotalsystems.com

About Charterhouse Capital Partners
Charterhouse is one of the longest established private equity firms operating in Europe. The firm invests in companies headquartered in Western Europe and works closely with incumbent management teams, backing them and providing active support to drive growth. Charterhouse pursues a highly selective investment approach, partnering with a small number of high-quality companies. Transaction values range from €250mn to €2bn. Charterhouse is based in London and has a deep bench of experienced investment professionals. Since inception Charterhouse has completed over 140 transactions worth an aggregate value of over €50bn. www.charterhouse.co.uk

Skillsoft
Tara O’Sullivan, +353871771529
Chief Creative Officer
tara.osullivan@skillsoft.com

Source: Skillsoft