The Bookseller – News – Chief Information Officer Mike Ballanco retires as Hachette Book Group transitions to new IT structure

Mike Ballanco, Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Hachette Book Group (HBG), will retire on September 27, 2024. Brendan Goss, CIO of Hachette UK (HUK), will assume the newly created role of Group CIO and will lead the IT teams in the UK and US.

From 1 September, Goss will continue to report to Richard Kitson, Deputy CEO of Hachette UK and HBG, and will work closely with Ballanco to ensure a smooth transition to a new Group IT structure.

Ballanco joined HBG nine years ago, built an IT relationship with the company and launched a strategic IT transformation program that replaced 85% of HBG’s legacy applications with a new portfolio of integrated systems.

“I’ve only had the pleasure of working with Mike since January, but I want to personally thank him for all his hard work and dedication to Hachette Book Group’s IT development,” said Kitson. “I also want to thank him for being so warm and welcoming to me and for letting me in on everything he and his team are working on. His leadership of our IT team has resulted in a fantastic portfolio of integrated systems that benefit our publishers and our entire business.”

Ballanco’s career includes 11 years in the music industry as CIO for EMI Music North America and Warner Music Group. “It has been a privilege to cap my 43-year IT career at HBG,” he said. “From my first assignment integrating the Perseus Book Group to the soon-to-be-launched Oracle Order-to-Cash system, I am immensely proud to have led the IT team to the center of HBG’s business and improved data integrity in our IT systems.”

Goss joined Hachette UK in 2018, initially as project manager for the commissioning of the Hely Hutchinson Centre. In 2019, he moved to the IT department as IT Director for Sales and Finance and has been CIO of Hachette in the UK since 2022.

“I am delighted to welcome Brendan to this new combined role. Both the UK and US have the opportunity to benefit from his extensive experience, his expertise in communicating complex IT issues and his determination to deliver excellent and cost-effective IT support and systems,” added Kitson.

Goss commented: “Since joining Hachette UK, I have been inspired by the desire and willingness to embrace continuous and transformative change, driven by our mission to make it easy for everyone to discover new worlds of ideas, learning, entertainment and possibilities. Harnessing the amazing talent at both HBGUS and HUK will help us achieve ever more ambitious goals.”

This new combined role brings with it additional promotions in the US and UK, with IT Director Rob Forster assuming the role of CIO for HUK. In the US, Puneet Kukkal, HBG’s Chief Technology Officer, who currently oversees the entire HBG business systems portfolio, will assume the role of SVP and CIO of HBG.