Scholastic's Steve Thompson departs after 27 years

Steve Thompson, co-group managing director at Scholastic, has left the company. The announcement was made on 7th March by Beth Polcari, executive vice-president and president of Scholastic International.  

Thompson’s former co-managing director Catherine Bell will be adding operational responsibility to her role, and will be working across Scholastic’s trade and school channels, creating and distributing books to children. 

Thompson worked for Scholastic for over 27 years and has been co-m.d. with Bell since 2012. He previously headed up the UK book fairs division and was appointed co-m.d. of the overall British business along with Bell when she joined from DK. For the last six years, both Thompson and Bell were selected to The Bookseller 150, the annual list of the most influential people in the British book trade.   

Beth Polcari, who was stepped up to her current role in January 2021, said: “Steve has been involved with pivotal company projects including the recent set-up of our custom-built warehouse facility in Warwick ensuring our schools businesses have one operational hub. For now we take this moment to thank Steve for all he has done for the company over the years for which we will be forever grateful.” 

The Bell and Thompson years produced the strongest returns in Scholastic UK’s history, hitting its all-time Nielsen BookScan Total Consumer Market high in 2019 (£27.6m), led by Craig Smith and Katz Cowley’s surprise viral picture book hit, The Wonky Donkey, and Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s The Smeds and the Smoos. 

In January 2023 filings to Companies House (for the year ending 31st May 2022), Scholastic Ltd’s sales rose 11.8% to £38.8m while operating profit rose 191% to £3.5m. The more pandemic vulnerable Scholastic Book Clubs Ltd, meanwhile, had a decline in revenue (-14% to £4.3m) but profit jumped⁠ 380% to £2.3m.    

Polcari concluded: "We are incredibly excited about the future at Scholastic UK as we look to capitalise on our new warehouse facility and continue to grow our publishing businesses. It has never been more important to ensure we bring the joy of books and reading to children everywhere and I know Catherine and the UK team are fully committed to this task."