Michael N. Ross

Before establishing Ross & Associates, LLC, in 2017, Michael was the Senior Vice President and Education General Manager at Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., where he led the sales and marketing activities in North America and EMEA (the UK, Europe, Middle East, and Africa) and, for the first eight years of his 15-year tenure, ran the product development and technology teams.

Prior to joining Britannica in 2002, he was the Executive Vice President and Publisher of World Book, Inc., for 11 years, and held executive positions at other publishing companies, including NTC Publishing Group, now part of McGraw-Hill; and McDougal Littell before they were acquired by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He began his publishing career as an editor for Time-Life Books and spent three years at their Tokyo bureau.

Throughout his career, Michael has had leadership responsibilities in all areas of publishing including editorial, technology, product development, sales, marketing, and licensing/partnerships. His products and publications have had worldwide circulation, have generated substantial revenue over many years, and have won the highest industry awards, including The Distinguished Achievement and the Golden Lamp Awards from the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP), now a division of the AAP

Michael is also a Vistage CEO/executive coach. Leaders from diverse industries bring their most difficult problems and sensitive challenges to his Vistage group.

Michael holds a B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of Minnesota; an M.A. from Brandeis University; and a certificate from Stanford University’s Advanced Management College.

He lives in the Chicago area with his wife, Kathleen, a special education teacher. They have two daughters and a grandson in L.A. and a son in Chicago.