Cengage Group Announces Appointment of Darren Person as Chief Digital Officer

Appointment furthers the company's commitment to accelerating product innovation initiatives, including GenAI advancement

BOSTON, March 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Cengage Group, a global edtech company, has appointed Darren Person as Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer (CDO). With more than 20 years of experience in the technology industry, Person will lead Cengage Group's product technology and innovation organization, and ensure the company continues to deliver innovative solutions that enable learners and educators around the globe to achieve their goals.

"I am thrilled to join Cengage Group during this exciting period of rapid technology transformation in the education space," said Darren Person, CDO, Cengage Group. "Notably, advanced technologies like Generative AI have the potential to dramatically enhance the learning experience. I'm excited to take on this role and lead the product technology organization through this pivotal moment."

As CDO, Person joins Cengage Group's executive team and will focus on developing a standardized approach to product technology across the company's three business units – Cengage Academic, Cengage Work and Cengage Select – that helps foster innovative, immersive and personalized learning experiences. As part of this work, Person is also charged with furthering the company's Generative AI efforts, exploring how it can best be leveraged across the businesses to meet the evolving needs of customers.

"Strategic technology innovation remains at the forefront of the work we do, and the exciting emergence of new technologies, especially GenAI, is transforming the needs of learners and educators," said Michael Hansen, CEO, Cengage Group. "We are energized by the potential these technologies hold and have a vision for how we build for the future. As we continue evolving our digital approach, Darren's leadership and wealth of experience in the information technology space – and technology transformation more broadly – is a tremendous asset to our product technology and innovation organization."

Prior to joining Cengage Group, Darren held a number of technology leadership roles across industry sectors. Most recently Person served as CDO of Circana, formerly NPD, a global data analytics company. Prior to the acquisition, Person served as the Global CIO of NPD where he supported key business development initiatives and led technology and operations groups to develop NPD's next-generation platform that enhanced client services through innovative machine learning, AI, data and analytics solutions. Before NPD, Person drove technology vision, strategy and execution for RELX Group, CBS Television Stations, Lifetime Entertainment, Adecco and USA Networks.

Cengage Group remains committed to leveraging technology advancements to enrich the learning experience for students and educators. Net sales for Cengage Group are now 74% digital, with digital sales having grown at a compound rate of 7% over the last three years. Additionally, six million students have purchased Cengage Unlimited, the first-of-its kind digital subscription service, since it was launched in August 2018.

About Cengage Group
Cengage Group, a global education technology company serving millions of learners, provides affordable, quality digital products and services that equip students with the skills and competencies needed to be job ready. For more than 100 years, we have enabled the power and joy of learning with trusted, engaging content, and now, integrated digital platforms. We serve the higher education, workforce skills, secondary education, English language teaching and research markets worldwide. Through our scalable technology, including MindTap and Cengage Unlimited, we support all learners who seek to improve their lives and achieve their dreams through education. Visit us at www.cengagegroup.com or find us on LinkedIn or X.

Media Contact
Emily Featherston
Sr. Director, Corporate Communications
[email protected]

SOURCE Cengage Group