News Corporation Makes Key Management Appointments to its Education Division

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--News Corporation today announced that Kristen Kane, former Chief Operating Officer, New York City Department of Education and Dr. Peter Gorman, former Superintendent, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will take on leadership roles at its newly formed Education Division.

“I strongly believe there are more efficient and effective ways to improve the system, and I’m eager to get started.”

Ms. Kane will become Chief Operating Officer of the group, responsible for driving operations and strategy. Dr. Gorman will be named Senior Vice President and work with school districts to implement the division’s programs, as well as review their integrity and effectiveness.

News Corporation’s Education Division is focused on individualized, technology-based content and learning opportunities that support world class student and teacher performance, as well as digital assessment tools for K-12 students in the United States that help eliminate the achievement gap. News Corporation recently acquired Brooklyn-based education technology company, Wireless Generation.

“Pete and Kristen are recognized leaders in their field and each brings particular strengths to bear on our growing business,” said Joel Klein, CEO of News Corporation’s Education Division. “Pete’s success running one of the largest schools systems in the United States, combined with his commitment to educational innovation are the perfect complement to our mission. Furthermore, Kristen’s proven leadership in shaping and running many of the New York City Department of Education’s best programs will benefit us greatly over the years to come.”

“I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Joel and his team in this capacity,” said Ms. Kane. “I strongly believe there are more efficient and effective ways to improve the system, and I’m eager to get started.”

“I’m thrilled to join News Corporation, and to work with someone of Joel’s caliber, and the rest of his team, to transform the educational system through digital technology and other means,” said Dr. Gorman. “News Corporation has a reputation for leading significant change across many industries, and I look forward to what lies ahead for the education sector.”

Ms. Kane brings a range of experience in both the public and private sectors. At the New York City Department of Education, she served as Chief Operating Officer and was responsible for the development and implementation of the Bloomberg administration’s reform strategy as well as oversight of daily operations.

She also served as Chief Executive of the Office of New Schools, which opened 178 new schools and charters in New York City under her leadership. At the Federal Communications Commission, she served as a Director of the National Broadband Plan developing strategies for applying broadband technologies in the education, healthcare, and energy sectors. Earlier in her career, Kristen worked in equity research at JPMorgan covering the education sector. She holds an MBA and Certificate in Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA from Yale.

As Charlotte-Mecklenburg Superintendent for the past five years, Dr. Gorman led one of the nation’s largest school districts with more than 138,000 Pre-K through 12th grade students, 17,700 staff members and a budget of more than $1.15 billion. This year, the school district has been selected as one of four finalists for the Broad Prize for Urban Education. Dr. Gorman has also served as Superintendent of the Tustin (CA) Unified School District and as both Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer/Business and Finance of the Orange County Public Schools in Orlando, Florida. He holds a Doctorate of Education from the University of Central Florida and an MBA from Rollins College.

News Corporation (NASDAQ: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV) had total assets as of March 31, 2011 of approximately US$60 billion and total annual revenues of approximately US$33 billion. News Corporation is a diversified global media company with operations in six industry segments: cable network programming; filmed entertainment; television; direct broadcast satellite television; publishing; and other. The activities of News Corporation are conducted principally in the United States, Continental Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, Asia and Latin America.