While I was working for HeritageQuest in North Salt Lake in 2002, we were acquired by ProQuest – who now continues to own HeritageQuest, but is itself owned by Cambridge Information Group. The HeritageQuest Online that you may access through your local library today is the firm whose parent company has named Kurt Sanford as its new CEO. That sounds complicated, but it’s not… I just don’t know how to write it out decently…
The following news release is from the July 5 edition of PRNewswire.
ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — ProQuest LLC, an information firm central to global research, today announced that Kurt Sanford will join the Company as Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Directors on July 13, 2011. Mr. Sanford, a highly experienced information services executive, previously spent the past 14 years at LexisNexis, serving most recently as President, Global Operations for its global legal business.
Mr. Sanford will succeed Marty Kahn, who has led ProQuest since it was acquired by Cambridge Information Group (CIG) in 2007. Mr. Kahn will become Vice Chairman of ProQuest’s Board of Directors, and also consult with ProQuest and its parent company CIG. He will be based in CIG’s New York office.
Andrew M. Snyder, Chairman of ProQuest and President of CIG, said, “We are delighted to welcome Kurt Sanford to ProQuest. Our ability to attract an information industry executive with Kurt’s track record and knowledge reflects ProQuest’s potential for continued strong growth. We look forward to his leadership in driving and executing on the strategies that will allow ProQuest to further enhance its position in the industry.”
Mr. Snyder continued, “We are very grateful to Marty Kahn for the great work he has done over the past four years to build ProQuest’s business as well as the role he will continue to play working with the Company and with CIG.”
Mr. Kahn said, “Our Company has made great strides in expanding our offerings and service for librarians and information professionals, with a strong focus on understanding the needs of researchers as they advance through their education and professional life. ProQuest will be in great hands with Kurt, who brings outstanding expertise in the global information industry, including a deep background in leveraging technology that will serve ProQuest well. Kurt has the ideal background to take ProQuest to the next level.”Mr. Sanford said, “I am very impressed with ProQuest’s business and the strategic steps it has taken in recent years to expand and enhance digital access to the world’s scholarship. The Company has exceptional assets and a solid foundation in place to enable it to add even greater value for its customers and end-users. I look forward to working with CIG and the whole ProQuest team. Together, we will continue to relentlessly focus on our customers and deliver to them innovative solutions and services.”
About Kurt Sanford
Prior to joining ProQuest, Mr. Sanford, 53, was President, Global Operations for the global legal business of LexisNexis, with responsibility for global oversight and management of all technology functions, editorial and production, and customer support. Previously, he was President and CEO of U.S. Corporate and Public Markets for LexisNexis, overseeing the business, government and academic markets as well as the Risk Solutions business. Earlier, Mr. Sanford served as CEO of LexisNexis Asia Pacific and as the Senior Vice President for LexisNexis Large Law Firm Markets in the U.S., as well as holding other strategic and business development roles within the Company. Before joining LexisNexis, Mr. Sanford was a consultant at Bain and Company, the global business strategy consulting firm, where he specialized in assisting technology, telecommunications, consumer products and financial service firms. Prior to that, he was a vice president of a diversified financial services firm and also served on active duty in the U.S. Army as a Captain and member of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Mr. Sanford earned an MBA, with distinction, from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and received his JD, with honors, from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, MA. He also graduated with a BA in Economics from the University of Notre Dame.About Marty Kahn
Mr. Kahn, 61, is widely respected throughout the information industry. Before joining ProQuest, Mr. Kahn was Chairman of the Board of Directors of OneSource Information Services, Inc. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ovid Technologies, Inc. and as Chairman of the Board of Vista Information Solutions. Earlier in his career, Mr. Kahn served as President of BRS Information Technologies; General Manager of the Health Professions Division of McGraw-Hill; and as VP, Sales and Marketing, of the W.B. Saunders Company. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA cum laude from Yale College.About ProQuest (www.proquest.com)
ProQuest connects people with vetted, reliable information. Key to serious research, the company has forged a 70-year reputation as a gateway to the world’s knowledge — from dissertations to governmental and cultural archives to news, in all its forms. Its role is essential to libraries and other organizations whose missions depend on the delivery of complete, trustworthy information.ProQuest’s massive information pool is accessible through the all-new ProQuest® platform, which moves beyond navigation to empower researchers to use, create, and share content — accelerating research productivity.
This energetic, fast-growing organization includes the Summon™ web-scale discovery service, the new ProQuest Dialog™ service, and business units ebrary®, Serials Solutions®, RefWorks-COS™, and Bowker®.
