Joseph Held Named Senior Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer at Reader's Digest Association

NEW YORK, April 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Joseph Held has been named Senior Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer at The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. and joins the company's Executive Committee.  The announcement was made today by Mary G. Berner, President and CEO.

Mr. Held was most recently with Standard & Poor's where he served as CIO and was responsible for developing and driving the technology strategy across 26 countries with 11,000 employees.

"We are thrilled to welcome Joe to RDA," said Ms. Berner. "He has a breadth of information technology expertise and global experience, plus the energy and vision to enable and accelerate our digital business transformation."

During his time at S&P, Mr. Held implemented the global ratings workflow, content management, database and compliance platforms, which support more than one million new and revised ratings each year, and delivered new bond pricing platforms which now support the daily pricing of three million fixed income securities every day representing $12 trillion in assets.

Prior to S&P, Mr. Held was the executive responsible for Investment Technology Services at Hartford Life Insurance, where he established an industry-leading technology service for the Annuity and Mutual Funds lines of businesses.  He has held IT roles at CIGNA HealthCare and Aetna Life and Casualty.

Mr. Held is a Rutgers graduate and splits his time between Manhattan and Farmington, Connecticut.

About The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.

RDA is a global media and direct marketing company that educates, entertains and connects more than 130 million consumers around the world with products and services from trusted brands. With offices in 44 countries, the company reaches customers in 78 countries, publishes 90 magazines, including 50 editions of Reader's Digest, the world's largest-circulation magazine, operates 83 branded websites and sells nearly 40 million books, music and video products across the world each year. Further information about the company can be found at www.rda.com.

CONTACT:
Evan Goetz
212-850-5600
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SOURCE The Reader's Digest Association, Inc.