Philadelphia, PA, 7 May, 2008 - Elsevier, the leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information, announced today that Brian Nairn, CEO of Elsevier Health Sciences, is retiring from the company. Michael Hansen, the former CEO of Harcourt Assessment Inc., has been appointed to succeed Nairn and will report to Erik Engstrom, Elsevier’s CEO; effective June 9th. Nairn will remain with the company during a transition period.

Erik Engstrom said of Brian’s retirement, “I would like to thank Brian for his dedication to the company during his eight years as CEO of Elsevier Health Sciences. In this time the division has more than doubled in revenue, has consistently outperformed the competition and is executing on an exciting segment-based growth strategy.”

Michael Hansen brings extremely relevant experience to his new role. He recently served as CEO of Harcourt Assessment formerly owned by Reed Elsevier. He was previously with Bertelsmann, as EVP of Operational Excellence. He started his career at The Boston Consulting Group in New York, where he became a Partner and Chairman of the global Media Convergence practice and was a senior member of the firm’s health care practice.

Michael said of the appointment, “I’m very proud to join a company that is so uniquely positioned to improve the quality and performance of healthcare delivery worldwide. Brian has developed a powerful team that is driving a rapid growth program in Elsevier Health Sciences. I am very much looking forward to working with them to build on this record of success.”

Hansen holds a law degree from the University of Bonn in Germany and an MBA from Columbia University in New York.

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About Elsevier
Elsevier is a world-leading publisher of scientific, technical and medical information products and services. Working in partnership with the global science and health communities, Elsevier’s 7,000 employees in over 70 offices worldwide publish more than 2,000 journals and 1,900 new books per year, in addition to offering a suite of innovative electronic products, such as   ScienceDirect,   MD Consult,   Scopus, bibliographic databases, and online reference works.

  Elsevier is a global business headquartered in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and has offices worldwide. Elsevier is part of   Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world-leading publisher and information provider. Operating in the science and medical, legal, education and business-to-business sectors, Reed Elsevier provides high-quality and flexible information solutions to users, with increasing emphasis on the Internet as a means of delivery. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock Exchange).

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Elsevier
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