Jeska Harrington Gould, Managing Director, Research, and SIPA Europe Chair.
SIPA: What was your first job out of college and how did you get into this business?
JESKA: My first job was assistant to the post boy at a big Dutch Publisher based in central London—but it was a fill-in job before college. I decided to become a publisher after one week and never left.
Has there been a defining moment in your career? Perhaps when you knew you were on the right road.
See above. It came to me while sorting the many returns for our biggest weekly paper. I was taken by how wasteful it was to get so many returns and how they really needed to sort out the database. This appeared so interesting that I dyed the pink out of my hair and bought a suit.
In brief, describe your business/company?
Research is a publisher in the academic field; we sell data and news content via site licenses to universities in the UK, Europe and worldwide.
What are two or three important concepts or rules that have helped you to succeed in business?
Passion, dedication and openness to change.
What is the single-most successful thing that your company is doing now?
I think right now I would say our growing Australia and New Zealand business. We have two great people there who are really connecting with the customer base and building sales. Lots of other developments in the pipeline for the summer…
Do you see a trend or path that you have to lock onto for 2012?
A trend toward group thinking to develop ideas.
What are the key benefits of SIPA membership for you and your team?
Meeting other specialist publishers and sharing experiences and ideas. Invaluable.
Where did you grow up?
On the South Coast of England, near the city of Portsmouth.
What is your favorite hobby and how did it develop in your life?
With four year-old twins and full-time work, there’s not much time for hobbies. I like running and fitness, if being driven by mortal fear counts as a hobby…
Is there a book you recently read or movie you saw that you would recommend?
I just finished Michael Wolff’s biog of Rupert Murdoch. It’s a brilliantly well-researched book and fascinating background to the latest scandals in UK newspapers.
*****************************************************
SIPA Europe, of which Jeska is chair,
has a number of great events coming up.
Check them out and come on in!
Thursday, Feb. 23
Marketing Directors Roundtable
London
Wednesday, March 14
Training: From Analysis to Action
London
March 28-30
SIPA Munich 2012
hosted by SIPA, VNR Verlag für die Deutsche
Wirtschaft AG (Bonn) and Akademie des
Deutschen Buchhandels (Munich)
Tuesday, April 17
Advanced Copywriting Techniques for
Profitable Email Publishing & Marketing
London
Wednesday, May 16
Web Analytics Seminar
London
[text_ad]
