Pearson, a Hoboken-based learning company, appointed Tony Prentice as chief product officer and co-president of direct-to-consumer, according to a Friday announcement. Prentice will report to CEO Andy Bird, overseeing the development of the company’s product strategies and roadmaps.
With more than 25 years of experience in consumer-led product management in companies, including American Express and Starbucks, Prentice brings much success in product development, consumer marketing and innovation to his new role. He most recently served as chief product officer at SEMA4, a patient-centered health intelligence company, spun out from the Mount Sinai Health System.
During his tenure at SEMA4, Prentice led the company’s product strategy, development, user experience and design, and engineering to build and scale the business. This included building a large-scale platform that used machine learning and natural language processing to find and deliver patient insights.
Prior to SEMA4, Prentice held various senior leadership roles at American Express, where he led the development of the company’s mobile payments and consumer mobile products, including delivering Amex’s mobile app, Apple Pay and Android Pay. In addition, Prentice’s diverse consumer experience includes leading the creation of Starbucks’ warm food category, consulting at McKinsey, and engineering and sales roles at GE.
“(Tony) joins Pearson at an exciting time as we push further into a strategy focused on lifelong learning, with the consumer at the heart of everything we do. His skills and experience will be critical to helping us execute on our product strategy and drive growth across the businesses,” Bird said.
“I am excited to help Pearson increase the scale and reach of their product offerings across the company and be the destination for great consumer learning experiences that truly can help people make progress in their lives,” Prentice said.
