Douglas Peterson to Become President of Standard & Poor's

NEW YORK, Aug. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP) today announced that Douglas Peterson (53), currently chief operating officer of Citibank N.A., Citigroup's principal banking entity that operates in more than 100 countries, will become president of Standard & Poor's effective September 12, 2011.  Deven Sharma (55), who is currently in that role, will take on a special assignment working on the Company's strategic portfolio review until the end of the year when he will leave the Company to pursue other opportunities.

In announcing the change, Harold McGraw III, chairman, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Companies said, "We are pleased to welcome Doug to the important role of president of Standard & Poor's as it continues to build on the enhancements of recent years and accelerates global growth, differentiating itself as a leading provider of credit risk benchmarks across all asset classes.  Doug is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of global experience in financial services, risk management and capital markets.  He is an outstanding global leader, has tremendous breadth across financial and capital markets and is a proven operating and strategic executive who has successfully built businesses in multiple markets, including Japan, Latin America and the United States.

"As we welcome Doug, I particularly want to thank Deven for his dedicated leadership of S&P.  Four years ago, in one of the most difficult times facing S&P in the midst of the financial crisis, I turned to Deven whose background as head of S&P's Investment Services, head of McGraw-Hill's Global Strategy and as a partner at Booz Allen & Company, brought the right kind of skills to address the situation.  Today, S&P is a stronger company, whose 1,300 global analysts are sharply focused on the quality, independence and transparency of S&P's research and analytics.  S&P's extraordinary professionals have engaged with thousands of investors, issuers, policymakers and regulators and they have implemented Leadership Actions which cover everything from analytics to governance, transparency, and investor and analyst education.  S&P will continue to produce ratings that are comparable, forward looking and transparent.

"As was announced at the end of last year, Standard & Poor's was split into two separate organizations – S&P, our credit ratings service, and McGraw-Hill Financial – to enable both organizations to serve investors and customers more effectively.  Deven assisted us with the creation of these two high-growth segments and was then ready for new challenges.  Accordingly, we began a process to identify a new leader for S&P."  

Mr. Sharma said, "It has been a privilege to serve as the president of S&P and I am proud of what we as an organization have achieved over the past four years.  As McGraw-Hill continues its portfolio review, I will work closely with Terry and the leadership team to find ways to create even more shareholder value."

Mr. Peterson said, "I am tremendously excited to join S&P.  It is an organization with a long history and strong commitment to serving investors.  I look forward to leading the S&P team and continuing to expand the company around the world by building on its many strengths."  

Prior to his current role, Mr. Peterson was the CEO of Citigroup Japan from 2004 to 2010, where he oversaw the entire franchise covering Capital Markets, Corporate & Investment Banking, Global Transaction Services and Retail Banking.  He had previously been chief auditor of Citigroup from 2001 to 2004 where he led the enterprise-wide integration of the Internal Audit teams after the merger of Citicorp and Travelers.  In prior roles, he served as country manager in Costa Rica and Uruguay and as a corporate banker in Argentina and New York.

Mr. Peterson received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics and History at Claremont McKenna College ('80) and his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania ('85).  He is currently on the Boards of the Wharton Financial Institutions Center, the Kravis Leadership Institute, the U.S.-Japan Business Council and the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Mr. Sharma joined Standard & Poor's in 2006 as Executive Vice President, Investment Services and Global Sales, and was named President in 2007.  Before joining Standard & Poor's, he was Executive Vice President, Global Strategy at The McGraw-Hill Companies for five years.  Mr. Sharma joined The McGraw-Hill Companies in 2002 from Booz Allen Hamilton, a global management consulting company, where he was a partner.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies:

Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global financial information and education company that helps professionals and students succeed in the Knowledge Economy.  With leading brands including Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education, Platts energy information services and J.D. Power and Associates, the Corporation has approximately 21,000 employees with more than 280 offices in 40 countries.  Sales in 2010 were $6.2 billion.  Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/.

Investor Relations: http://www.mcgraw-hill.com/investor_relations

Get news direct from McGraw-Hill via RSS:
http://investor.mcgraw-hill.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=96562&p=newsRSS

Release issued: August 22, 2011

SOURCE The McGraw-Hill Companies