Company
McGraw Hill’s K-12 division has a meaningful impact on students and teachers around the globe. With core, supplemental, and intervention instructional materials across all subject areas, print and digital and all points in between, McGraw Hill (MH) works with 96% of school districts in the United States and reaches more than 20 million students. Their world-class education solutions empower the teacher by providing content, data, and workflow solutions for the full range of student abilities in the modern classroom. MH’s focus on educational equity, affordability, and efficacy help educators reach learners so that they may effectively engage in academic, civic, economic and political life to the full extent of their personal ambition. One of the few companies that provide a full suite of learning solutions, MH has an enormous impact on the education landscape by helping drive student success.
Headquartered in Columbus, OH, McGraw Hill has offices across North America, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America, and makes its learning solutions for PreK–12, higher education, professionals, and others available in more than 80 languages. The US K-12 business is centered in Columbus, OH. Key executives within the US K-12 business also operate from DC, FL, TX, CA, NY, CO, PA, and elsewhere.
MH provides digital, hybrid, and print solutions to meet Core Curriculum, Supplemental, and Intervention needs across all major subject areas.
MH is in market with modern Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies curricula and in the late stages of developing its Next Generation Literacy solution. Not only do these programs address 100% of state standards, but also they are designed to generate actionable information for the teacher and the student, as well as parents and administrators over time. With a robust product pipeline and a healthy balance sheet, the only limitation is one of imagination.
Learning science is woven into MH’s entire product lifecycle. Product conceptualization starts with the latest scientific understanding, and a comprehensive research plan is phase one of every major core curriculum initiative. McGraw Hill has an incumbent advantage and an insurgent mentality with respect to new program development.
The Private Equity Investors
Platinum Equity is a global investment firm with more than $25 billion of assets under management and a portfolio of approximately 40 operating companies that serve customers around the world. Platinum Equity specializes in mergers, acquisitions, and operations — a trademarked strategy it calls M&A&O® — acquiring and operating companies in a broad range of business markets, technology, telecommunications and other industries. Over the past 25 years Platinum Equity has completed more than 300 acquisitions. Under Platinum Equity’s ownership, MH is in position to operate as a platform for the instantiation of the education industry’s best ideas.
Vector Capital is a San Francisco-based leading global private equity firm focused on transformative investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Founded in 1997, Vector oversees approximately $4 billion of capital across its private equity and credit strategies from a variety of investors including university endowments, foundations, and financial institutions. Vector exclusively focuses on investments within the technology sector and has built a successful track record of executing buyouts, carve-outs, recapitalizations, minority, and credit investments. With their disciplined approach to valuation and deep-rooted operational experience, Vector has generated competitive returns and established a successful track record spanning nearly 25 years. They bring a wealth of experience related to software development and subscription-based businesses.
Opportunity
The General Manager will lead a talented team of sales, integrated and product marketing, and customer success professionals to drive growth and innovation of McGraw-Hill’s Intervention and Supplemental (I&S) portfolios. To further the broader strategy for the entire $1b+ business and to leverage scale effects across key disciplines, the MD will work closely with the CPO, CAO, CRO and CMO, as well as Finance and HR business partners. With a $175M business and single-digit market share, this is a tremendous opportunity to build upon McGraw-Hill’s core curriculum strengths, resources and market presence in over 90% of US school districts. The General Manager will apply t vision, B2B expertise, and a customer-centric approach as a leader and partner to evolve these offerings, ensure cross-curricular alignment, and help teachers deliver measurable impact on school performance. As a key member of the School Business Unit leadership team, the General Manager will partner closely with the President of the K12 division to refine strategy, drive operational excellence, and cultivate a high-performing, mission-driven culture. This is an exciting chance to make a meaningful difference in K-12 education.
Primary responsibilities:
- Create the go-to-market strategy for the intervention and supplemental business segments to drive market leading Net Renewal Rates and New Logo growth
- Inform the product roadmap and priorities for the Intervention and Supplemental portfolio
- Explore opportunities to leverage data and AI to enhance the Intervention and Supplemental offerings
- Unify the sales, services, marketing, and matrixed product teams under one leader to improve coordination and execution
- Establish and live by clear metrics, KPIs, and standards to measure business performance and drive accountability
- Sales rep outreach discipline
- Pipeline standards
- Win Rates
- Provisioning, Usage, Implementation Fidelity
- Student performance gains in Literacy and Mathematics
- Assess the current product portfolio and determine what investments or expansions are needed to better meet market demands
- Work with CPO to set I&S engineering priorities
- Work with CAO to determine and deliver content needs in a faster-paced environment
- Work with CMO to identify primary and secondary “sales plays” deconflicted with the core business, which is an order of magnitude larger
- Work with CRO to craft bundling strategies to drive market penetration
- Build strong relationships with customers and be the “face” of the business to schools and districts
- Collaborate closely with all business unit leaders to align on strategy and execution within the broader context on the $1b US K-12 business
A future at McGraw Hill K-12 includes:
- A unique opportunity to impact K-12 education in the US and abroad at a scale that only a handful of companies enjoy
- The challenge of working on a complex and dynamic solution set with the potential to give educators an information advantage in their important daily mission
- The opportunity to work with a rare peer group of high-energy, high-clock-speed thinkers with a missionary zeal to transform education for the better for everyone
- An expectation that you will be the architect of your own team’s design to include integration points with other departments, performance review and bonus inputs for matrixed personnel and routines for deliberate cross-departmental interactions.
- A culture that challenges the status quo, despite preconceptions you may have
- The flexibility to live anywhere in the United States
Ideal Candidate
The ideal candidate for this General Manager role embodies the entrepreneurial spirit They are a passionate, visionary leader who can inspire and develop their team. They are optimistic, confident yet humble, and loathe to follow the inertial path. This candidate is an enthusiastic yet patient lifelong learner, willing to adapt long-held views if presented with a compelling alternative. Importantly, must aim to both benefit the organization and serve the educators and students it supports in every interaction.
You should have the following experiences and skill sets:
- Significant experience leading a digital/SaaS subscription business, ideally in the education/edtech space
- Strong sales and customer relationship management skills, with the ability to motivate and inspire a sales team
- Proven track record of driving growth and profitability in a complex, multi-product business
- Compelling communicator – able to clearly convey information and ideas to individuals and groups in a way that captures and holds others’ attention
- Comfort operating in an environment of change and ambiguity, with the ability to make tough decisions
- Willingness to challenge the status quo and drive innovation, generate solutions with measurable value, while also respecting the existing culture and relationships
- Product Marketing and Management accomplishments through the work of others
- Ability to quickly learn the education market and build credibility with the internal K-12 team
- Outstanding leadership and people-management skills with the ability to successfully motivate and challenge a team of talented and creative people at all levels of the organization
- Demonstrate courage – proactively confront difficult issues; make valiant choices and take bold action in the face of opposition or fear. Skill at driving innovation and leading large, complex teams through organizational change of both a rapid and continuous nature. Help others overcome resistance to change.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate and work cross-functionally with strong communication and influence skills
- Sees problems as puzzles to be solved, not barriers to be overcome
To apply, submit your resume to Peggy Williams.
Learn More
The Knowledge Leaders search process is thorough and may include: a written assessment, multiple interviews (recorded and in person), background and social media checks, employment and education verifications, a drug screen, and professional reference checking. After all, our mission is to transform education by recruiting the best world leaders.
To apply, submit your resume to Peggy Williams.
Knowledge Leaders, LLC provides equal employment opportunities to all applicants and candidates for employment. Knowledge Leaders, LLC prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type based on race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.
