Williams made Emerald group c.e.o., Roche to lead publishing

Vicky Williams has been appointed group c.e.o. of Emerald, succeeding Richard Bevan, who is retiring. Tony Roche is to take over leadership of the group's publishing division.

Williams, who has held a variety of senior roles within the Emerald Group over the past 21 years, will start her new role on 1st October. After her appointment as the first female c.e.o. of Emerald Publishing in 2018, she has led initiatives to challenge imbalances in academic publishing through external partnerships, innovation in the Open Research arena and a focus on broader research impact. 

She said: “I am extremely honoured to have the opportunity to lead the group into its next exciting phase of development, and want to thank Richard for his outstanding leadership and mentorship. Above all, I am excited to be leading an incredible global team full of talented and passionate people. The opportunity ahead for the Emerald Group is vast and our priority looking ahead is to continue to listen closely to our customers and our employees, collaborate and co-create with them, and accelerate solutions that will create real change in both our academic and learning markets.”

Tony Roche will succeed Williams to lead the group's publishing company. Roche joined the board of Emerald in 2012 as publishing director, following 17 years with Elsevier. At Emerald he has led the content commissioning and acquisition strategy, expanding the portfolio to more than 350 journals, 60 of which are Gold Open Access, as well an award winning books list, a teaching case studies portfolio including prestigious licensing partnerships, and most recently the launch of the world’s first open research offer for social sciences research related to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. 

Roche said: “It is a privilege to become c.e.o. of Emerald Publishing, continuing the work led by Vicky and Richard before her, reflecting the vision of our founder Keith Howard. In taking up the position, I am also delighted to welcome Sally Wilson as publishing director, and Tom Bennett as finance director, succeeding Simon Cox, who remains group finance director and people director."

Since joining the group in 2008, Bevan has played a "pivotal" role in growing both Emerald’s global and sector footprint, the company said, overseeing three consecutive acquisitions into the corporate learning sector with GoodPractice in 2015, Toward Maturity in 2017 and Mind Tools in 2019.

Bevan said: “Emerald is a unique and exciting business, and I am hugely proud of what the business has achieved during my tenure. We have enjoyed consistently strong growth, whilst delivering significant business change and diversifying into new products, together with a more substantive move into corporate learning through Emerald Works. I’ll genuinely miss being a part of what is a very special business.”