Executive Leadership

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s mission is to change people’s lives by fostering passionate, curious learners. Meet the HMH executives who are leading the charge.

John "Jack" J. Lynch, Jr.

President, Chief Executive Officer and Director

Jack joined HMH in 2017 as President, Chief Executive Officer and Director, bringing with him extensive background in the K-12 education and technology space. Prior to HMH, Jack was the CEO at Renaissance Learning, a leader in K-12 learning analytics, owned by Hellman & Friedman and Google Capital. With over 25 years of management experience in the software and information industry, Jack is highly respected in the field of education technology. He has been active in the K-12 education industry since 1999 and was the founding CEO of bigchalk.com, where he created an education network serving 40,000 schools. He was later president and CEO of the Pearson Technology Group. Prior to joining Renaissance Learning, Jack was a member of the executive board of Wolters Kluwer. Jack holds a bachelor of arts from Boston University and was honored with the 2016 EY Entrepreneur of the Year award for his leadership.

Joe Abbott

Chief Financial Officer

Joe joined HMH from Morgan Stanley where as an investment banker in the Global Media and Communications Group he led the firm’s advisory of clients in the education content and information services sectors. He has been involved in many of the most important transactions within the education sector over the last decade and brings a diverse combination of strategic, financial and investor relations expertise. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Joe served as an officer in the United States Navy where he held leadership roles aboard a ballistic missile submarine and as an assistant professor of Naval Science at Northwestern University. He received his M.B.A. from the Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. from the United States Naval Academy.

William Bayers

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Bill joined Houghton Mifflin in May of 2007 as Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel and was made Executive Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel in March 2008. Previously, he served as Vice President and General Counsel of Harcourt Education Group. Bill oversees all legal, regulatory and corporate matters for the Company. He is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Ellen Archer

President, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Publishing

Ellen joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as President of HMH Trade Publishing in December 2015, with responsibility for driving the strategic growth and expansion of the Company’s consumer publishing business. An experienced leader in publishing, consumer brands and multimedia, Ellen spent 15 years at The Disney ABC Television Group. For five years she was President and Publisher of Hyperion Books, then a division of the Walt Disney Company, responsible for building the company's digital business, spearheading cross-platform initiatives, and releasing over 100 New York Times bestsellers. Ellen serves on the Foundation Board of New York Women in Communications and is a member of The Women’s Forum of New York and Golden Seeds, an early stage investment firm with a focus on women leaders. She holds a BA in English Literature from Hamilton College, Clinton, NY.

Vicki Boyd

Executive Vice President and General Manager, Heinemann

Vicki joined Heinemann – the leading publisher of professional books and resources for K-12 educators – in 2003 as the Director of Professional Development. In this role, she repositioned Heinemann PD from a sideline business to an integral and key part of Heinemann Publishing. In 2015, she was promoted to SVP and General Manager of Heinemann and in 2017 she was elevated to EVP and General Manager of Heinemann. Under her leadership, in 2016 Heinemann continued its unprecedented run of 11 straight years of growth. She has been a passionate advocate for children and teachers throughout her career – first as a counselor for students with special needs, then as the Special Assistant for Education Policy in the administration of New Hampshire Governor Jeanne Shaheen. Vicki holds an MS in Management from Antioch University New England and a BA in Humanities from the University of Texas.

Martin Davy

Chief Platform Architect and Executive Vice President, Engineering

Martin joined Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2016 as HMH’s first-ever Chief Platform Architect and Executive Vice President of Engineering. With over 20 years of experience in design, development and delivery of industry-leading distributed applications, Martin is responsible for all of HMH’s platform development, and provides engineering leadership throughout the organization. Prior to joining HMH, Martin was Vice President of Worldwide Product Engineering for software company Pegasystems, where he led the engineering and development operations aspects of the Pega platform. Previously Martin held a variety of technology leadership roles, including Senior Vice President for Fidelity Investments’ Asset Management division. Martin holds a Master of Science in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.

Amy Dunkin

Chief Marketing Officer

Amy joined HMH in 2015 through the acquisition of Scholastic’s EdTech business where she led the Marketing organization. In 2017, she was elevated to Chief Marketing Officer and oversees product marketing, field marketing, market research, an in-house agency and digital and demand generation teams. She has over 20 years of experience in educational technology, publishing and media in both marketing and business development roles. Before HMH, Amy worked at several leading publishers including Scholastic, Time Inc. and Forbes. At Scholastic, Amy was VP of Marketing and oversaw the transition of Scholastic's EdTech business from single product to multiple product lines under a unified brand. Amy has an MBA from Columbia University and a BA from Northwestern University.

Rose Else-Mitchell

Chief Learning Officer and Executive Vice President

Rose joined HMH as part of the Company’s acquisition of Scholastic’s Educational Technology and Services business in May 2015. Now as Chief Learning Officer and EVP, Rose oversees HMH’s Efficacy Research, Learning Science and Data Analytics teams, as well as its Teaching and Learning Platforms and best-in-class-class Professional Services business. At Scholastic, Rose was Executive Vice President of K-12 US & Global Product Development, responsible for the company’s Ed Tech product strategy and development, including world-class products such as READ 180, MATH 180, System 44, and iRead. Rose has worked as a professional development publisher, for education non-profits, as a television book reviewer, an educational researcher, and a classroom teacher. She holds a Master’s degree from the University of Sydney in Australia and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oxford, U.K. Rose is a Board member of the Institute of Play, based in New York City.

Alejandro Reyes

Senior Vice President and Chief People Officer

Alejandro is a seasoned leader in organizational and leadership transformation. He joined HMH in 2017 as the Chief People Officer, where he focuses on enabling the success of the employee community through strategic people initiatives including leadership and talent development, talent management and culture change. Prior to HMH, Alejandro worked at Laureate Education where he served as the Chief Talent and Organization Development Officer, responsible for building the talent infrastructure for the company. He also held significant tenures at Dell and Motorola. Alejandro has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Metropolitan University in Mexico City and a Master of Science degree with a specialty in Robotics and Automation from the Monterrey Institute of Technology.