The board of Pearson plc today announced the appointment of Omar Abbosh as its new chief executive officer and executive director, successor to Andy Bird, who has decided to retire as CEO of Pearson.

Abbosh, president of Microsoft’s Industry Solutions business, has more than 30 years’ experience in enterprise technology. This was mainly gained at Accenture in numerous senior leadership roles, including chief strategy officer and ultimately as chief executive of the global communications, technology and media business. Abbosh also serves as a member of the board of Zuora Inc, an enterprise SaaS company.

Omid Kordestani, chair of Pearson, thanked Andy Bird for his contribution and said of Abbosh: “Omar is an inspirational, dynamic and growth orientated leader with deep commercial, technology and operational expertise, focused on delivering high quality services and products across diverse markets and customer sets.

“He has extensive experience in creating and executing strategies to enable companies to harness technology and succeed in a world of disruptive change. He shares our values and our ambition and has a strong track record of execution. The board and I look forward to working with Omar as we accelerate our strategy and continue to deliver value for all our stakeholders.”