Harold Clarke

Advisor

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Harold Clarke is an accomplished book, magazine, and media professional who operates from the point of view that all businesses are formed and shaped. He is known for his exceptional ability to focus on profitability while making strategic decisions that lead an organization through change. He is a manager who strategically operates across multiple content and media platforms leveraging branded content and distribution to greater scale.

Harold serves as National Advisor to the Board of Directors of First Book, a national children’s literacy organization, and has held Senior Advisor positions within media, capital, and trade associations.

Previously:

Harold attended the State University of New York at Binghamton, where he received a B.A., and is an alumnus of the Wharton Graduate School.

• As Publisher of Sequoia Children’s Publishing where he founded a new company publishing books and learning products for young readers digitally and at retail.
• As Reader’s Digest Association’s President and Publisher, Books and Home Entertainment and Vice President Enthusiast Magazine Brands, Trade Publishing, Retail, and Studio Fun International, he held profit and loss responsibilities for diverse divisions and multiple platforms exceeding $200 million in sales.
   
• As President of Random House’s Children’s Publishing Group and an Executive Vice President of Random House, Inc., he completed a major turnaround, increased profitability six-fold, and created a $175 million group with the best operating margins in the corporation. He led the branding campaigns for Dr.Seuss, Sesame Street, Marc Brown’s Arthur, Thomas The Tank Engine, Babe, and acquired the publishing rights to the STAR WARS. While leading the Children’s Group through a number of successful software relationships (including Living Books, joint venture with Broderbund and Knowledge Adventure’s Jump Start Learning Program,) he created Random House’s highly successful Internet sites, Seussville, and Kids@Random.
• As President and Publisher, Harold’s first assignment for Random House in 1992 was to restore the sixty year-old Outlet Book Company to its former position of leadership. He quickly reshaped the business and effectively changed the industry segment itself. He redirected the 300 title publishing program, installed financial and publishing disciplines, effected inventory and fulfillment controls, and instilled the organization with the confidence to create new products at superior margins. After completing a $12 million turnaround he renamed the company Random House Value Publishing, and in so doing also renamed that part of the book business, “Value Publishing”.
• In 1991 Harold ran the recently formed and yet troubled BDD Promotional Book Co, a division at Bantam Doubleday Dell. As President and Publisher, he devised the cessation of operations plan that saved over $6 million.
• Ascending through many management levels, building a craft knowledge of publishing and media, he became President and Publisher of Dell Magazines in 1988. His talent for restructuring, redirecting, and leading an organization through change emerged. Beyond performing a $5 million turnaround, he built the Dell brand to an unrivaled leader, grew audited circulation to over 2 million readers, and acquired Davis Publications a $20 million magazine company.