IOP's Hall joins Bloomsbury board as Stephen Page departs

Steven Hall, m.d. of science publisher IOP Publishing, is to join the Bloomsbury board as a non-executive director, replacing Faber m.d. Stephen Page, who stands down after three years.

Bloomsbury said the move reflected "the non-executive rotation policy explained in the 2016 Annual Report that the Bloomsbury Board supports the evolving business through a programme of regular board appointments, ensuring an inflow of new insights from other businesses."  One new non-executive director will be appointed each year to the eight-strong board, on a four-year stint.

Sir Anthony Salz will step down as chairman and a director at the a.g.m. in July, with a process underway to select his successor.

"Stephen Page joined the Board in 2013 and has provided extensive practical insights and counsel of great value. We have drawn heavily on his publishing experience. We wish him well for the future and thank him for the tremendous support he has given Bloomsbury," the company said.

Steven Hall, who was worked in academic publishing for nearly 40 years, has extensive experience of digital publishing and has led the development of pioneering content databases, Bloomsbury noted. The publisher said his direct experience "will benefit the Board as its Bloomsbury 2020 Digital Resource strategy rolls out."

The company's Digital Resource strategy, announced last year, will see Bloomsbury reposition itself from a primarily consumer publisher to a digital B2B (business-to-business) publisher and focus on growing revenues from academic and professional digital resources for academic libraries worldwide.