WRC Merges Gareth Stevens, Weekly Reader
by Staff -- Publishers Weekly, 1/29/2007
The Milwaukee office of Gareth Stevens, a 23-year-old educational publisher of books and supplemental materials for the library and school markets, is being phased out over the next six months and its operations consolidated with Weekly Reader in Stamford, Conn. Gareth Stevens and Weekly Reader are both owned by WRC Media, which in turn is owned by Ripplewood Holdings. Ripplewood is in the process of acquiring Reader's Digest.
A total of 75 employees will be let go by the time the transition is completed in June. Robert Famighetti, Gareth Stevens's publisher, will remain with the company with similar responsibilities.
As part of the restructuring, Neal Goff has been appointed president of WRC's school publishing unit, overseeing both Weekly Reader and Gareth Stevens. According to Goff, the reorganization is "a continuation of something that was already happening, rather than an abrupt change." In recent years, Goff said, Weekly Reader has placed more emphasis on books, resulting in functions that were being duplicated by Stevens's operations.
Overseeing the joint marketing effort will be Pamela Sader, who will join the company from Scholastic Jan. 31 as senior v-p of sales and marketing for library and classroom book publishing.
