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Market NeedCurrently many multimedia publishers are targeting the pre-school and early learning markets, which is leaving a gap and creating a need for entertaining educational titles for older children, ages 8 to 14.
McGraw-Hill Home Interactive (MHHI), a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, was formed in 1995 to create multimedia software for this age group. MHHI's premium titles equally emphasize both education and entertainment in core subjects such as science, math, social studies and language arts. The titles feature innovative instructional designs, state-of-the-art animation and graphics, distinctive audio, and richly drawn characters that pull children into compelling story lines.
McGraw-Hill Home Interactive's ApproachMHHI knows children will learn from (and repeatedly use) software titles which are designed from the ground up to be both entertaining and educational. This is the essence of MHHI's design philosophy. Throughout product development, extensive play-testing fine-tunes both game play and educational activities to appeal across the 8 to 14 year old age range. Titles provide different skill levels that can either be established by the parent or child, or determined by the child's progress. MHHI titles appeal to both the learning styles and entertainment interests of the 8 to 14 age group. This ensures that MHHI's products offer the appropriate learning environment for each child based on his or her ability.MHHI, the only publisher of consumer educational software tied to McGraw-Hill, the No. 1 elementary and high school publisher, is positioned to deliver sound educational value in its products. Entertainment and education expertise comes from in-house producers who have developed leading products for Broderbund, MECC, LucasArts, and other consumer software publishers, as well as partnerships with outside creative teams. Therefore, by leveraging the decades of educational experience associated with the McGraw-Hill name, parents will be comfortable with the proven educational value and quality, yet kids will be engaged with entertaining narratives and characters.
The McGraw-Hill Companies views its entry into the home multimedia market as part of a long-term strategy to leverage its brand and expertise into the consumer markets, and is making a substantial investment to ensure that the quality associated with McGraw-Hill extends into the home.
Product DevelopmentMHHI's products equally integrate education and entertainment in a child-centered approach that is based on leading educational methods. MHHI believes that the traditional drill and practice approach seen in older educational software limits the imagination. By taking an active, hands-on approach to learning and discovery in areas such as science, math, social studies and language arts, MHHI's method engages higher order problem solving and critical thinking skills resulting from the exercise of the child's imagination. imagination.Understanding the MarketsMHHI research has confirmed conventional wisdom about software purchases: Children are typically the recommenders and parents are the purchasers, with a child's influence growing with age. The company's titles have the highest-quality production and game play elements, which appeal to children, but are backed by McGraw-Hill's extensive educational expertise to appeal to parents.MHHI has also chosen to focus on the 8 to 14 year old market with strong science, math, language arts, and social studies titles because that segment has traditionally been underserved by educational software publishers, as determined by MHHI's market research with software resellers and parents. Many software publishers have ignored this age group, mistakenly believing children prefer only shallow cartridge games, rather than deeper entertainment and education experiences of true interactive multimedia. Key PersonnelBill Nisen, PresidentAs president, Nisen is responsible for business strategy and all aspects of the division's operations. His role is to ensure that the quality associated with the McGraw-Hill name extends into the home with MHHI titles.
Nisen has more than 18 years of experience in the consumer software and interactive media industries. Prior to joining MHHI, he founded Nisen Consulting Ltd., where he provided management and technology assistance to emerging interactive media companies both in the United States and in Europe. Before founding his own company, Nisen was President and CEO of OWL International, a joint U.S./ European company, where he directed a turn-around of the company, managed its growth with sales exceeding $10,000,000, sold it, and successfully transitioned all the operations to Matsushita Electronics Industrial. Nisen also has held management positions at Lotus Development Corp. and Harvard University's Computer Graphics Laboratory. He received his bachelor of arts at Dartmouth and his masters at McGill University.
Robert E. Evanson, President Higher Education and Consumer Group, The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.McGraw-Hill Home Interactive is directed by Evanson as one of the company's new market initiatives.
Prior to his current position, Evanson served as Executive Vice President, Corporate Development, The McGraw-Hill Companies and also, Executive Vice President, Finance and Operations for the Educational and Professional Publishing Group. Evanson joined Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company in 1992, as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Before joining The McGraw-Hill Companies, he held various posts at Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., including chief operating officer and chief financial officer. In addition, Evanson was chief executive officer of Sea World Theme Park Group, a financial officer at Harper & Row and a partner at Arthur Andersen & Co. Evanson holds a BBA from St. John's University and an MBA from New York Institute of Technology.
Douglas Kubach, Senior Vice President, Technology and Multimedia, McGraw-Hill Educational & Professional Publishing
Kubach is the founder of this division and as such, continues to advise and oversee its publishing strategy and leverage connections with McGraw-Hill's educational publishing businesses. As Senior Vice President of Technology and Multimedia for the McGraw-Hill Educational & Professional Publishing group, Kubach's responsibilities include software and new media strategy, product development, new ventures, alliances and partnerships. He has over 17 years of experience in a broad range of publishing businesses including 10 years experience in childrens' educational publishing and multimedia product development. Kubach graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in English literature and mathematics.
Aaron Howard, Senior Vice President of Business DevelopmentHowards' responsibilities include defining and leading business development activities for MHHI and its partnerships, developing publishing strategies, identifying publishing partners, as well as assessing new business opportunities. His extensive knowledge of the consumer multimedia industry and his background and expertise in new business development ensures that the McGraw-Hill brand is consistently associated with high-quality partnerships and business relationships.
Howard joins MHHI from Media Station, Inc., where he served as president and chief executive officer. Prior to this, he was vice president and general manager of MarketWare Corp., president and chief operating officer of Mammoth Micro Productions and vice president of Aldus Corp. In these roles he focused on business development, capital formation and sales growth. Howard holds a master's and a bachelor's of science in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Washington.
Peggy Lanier, Vice President of MarketingLanier's responsibilities include providing strategic direction to the division and creating marketing programs that ensure successful brand awareness for the MHHI product line. In addition, she manages advertising, public relations and marketing communications activities and directs marketing efforts between MHHI and other divisions of The McGraw-Hill companies.Lanier brings over 13 years of consumer software marketing experience to MHHI. Prior to joining MHHI, she was the education segment manager for IBM Multimedia Studio where she was responsible for the promotion and worldwide marketing of 15 IBM home education titles for children. While with IBM she also was a marketing programs executive in the K-12 Education division, devising a "customer care center" that generated an increase in leads and revenue. Previous to her work at IBM, she served as the principle of Lanier Marketing Inc., working as an independent marketing consultant with over 10 clients, including Media Share and Central Point Software.
In addition, Lanier has held marketing management positions at Jostens Learning Corporation and Computer Associates International. She received her B.S. in mathematics from Eastern Washington State College.
John Koronaios, Vice President of SalesKoronaios' responsibilities include establishment and growth of the MHHI sales force, developing partnerships with retailers and distributors and creating a strong national and international distribution network.
Koronaios joins MHHI from IBM Multimedia Studio, where he served as vice president of sales. In this role, he was responsible for all aspects of sales operations and developed a concise network of sales managers and rep organizations for the IBM consumer software division. Prior to this, he was vice president of sales for Sony Electronic Publishing Company, where he managed sales for all PC CD-ROM and video game products and worked with Sony Computer Entertainment helping to launch the Sony PlayStation. Koronaios has also held positions at Capcom USA, Inc. (Nintendo Division), Timeworks, Inc. and Wherehouse Entertainment, Inc.
Bryan Waters, Vice President of Technology and ProductionThe first employee of the division, Waters' responsibilities at MHHI include managing all aspects of technology as it relates to product development. He defines the technical direction, manages and works with both the technical and production staff, as well as with product research and development.
Prior to MHHI, Waters was with Microsoft as a lead engineer for Microsoft Encarta( '95 for the Apple Macintosh and a senior engineer for Encarta '95 for Microsoft Windows. He is also the inventor of a patent on search technology which is incorporated into the engine and user-interface incorporated in Microsoft Encarta '95. A published author in three languages, Waters is the author of Mastering OLE 2 (Sybex) and Writing Windows Applications with Microsoft Foundation Classes (M&T Books). Waters has published articles in many trade journals and is a frequent speaker at trade conferences. He earned his B.S. degree at Texas A&M in computer science.
Philip Bouchard, ProducerBouchard supervises the creation of MHHI's social studies titles and is responsible for design and development.
Bouchard has sixteen years of experience in developing award-winning educational software in the four major curriculum areas: science, social studies, language arts and math, specializing in social studies and natural sciences. Prior to joining MHHI, Bouchard was a product manager at Broderbund where he produced updated versions of the highly successful Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in the U.S.A. is Carmen Sandiego? While with Broderbund, Bouchard also co-designed Alien Tales. He was also the lead designer and producer for MECC's The Oregon Trail and was the originator of the Muncher series and designed the first two products in the series, Word Munchers and Number Munchers. Bouchard earned his M.A. in botany at the University of Texas and continued his graduate studies in computer science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Ardice Faoro, ProducerFaoro oversees the creation of MHHI's math and science titles and is responsible for design and development.
Faoro was formerly a multimedia producer with LucasArts Learning where she designed and produced educational products in collaboration with clients such as The National Audubon Society and The National Geographic Society. In addition, she has worked with the George Lucas Educational Foundation where she produced a multimedia prototype for math. Faoro also designed and produced R & D interactive videodisc and software prototypes such as Grolier's Encyclopedia for Apple Computer Inc., and was the project manager for Visual Almanac for Apple MultiMedia Lab. She earned her B.A. in educational technology and film at San Francisco State University.
Dr. Eileen Newmark, ProducerNewmark manages the creation of MHHI's language arts titles and is responsible for design and development.
Newmark brings with her fifteen years of experience as a producer/designer/manager in the creative product and business development of interactive multimedia products and services. Most recently, she was the president of Discworks where she developed and marketed interactive products for the consumer, education, corporate and public access markets. In this role she designed and developed multimedia products for Paramount Publishing, WNET New Media Group, GTE Interactive Services, Wang Laboratories Interactive Learning Systems, and Polaroid. As a consultant for multimedia projects, Newmark has provided input on design and strategic product and business developments to AT&T Multimedia Consumer Services, GTE Main Street, IMC, Prodigy Services Company, LucasArts Entertainment Company, MIT Information Services, ACTV and HBO. She earned her Ph.D. in intercultural communications at SUNY.
Dabney Standley, ProducerStandley is responsible for design and development of online products, ancillary and non-CD-ROM based titles. His products span the division's other products lines, placing emphasis on language arts, math, science, and social studies.
Most recently at Broderbund Software, Standley was a product manager in the Early Learning and Explorations groups. He was the product manager for Myst and Myst II, and designed and developed reading products due to be released in 1996. Before going to Broderbund, Standley taught high school history for six years before receiving his master's degree in interactive telecommunications from New York University. After teaching, Standley interned at Apple Computer's Human Interface Group, consulted with NYNEX Science and Technology designing and prototyping educational products for broadband networks, and co-developed an interactive exhibit for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. He earned his B.A. in history from Dartmouth Coll
Erik Holsinger, Director of Multimedia ProductionHolsinger oversees the audio, video, graphics, and animation for all McGraw-Hill Home Interactive titles to ensure the highest quality.
Holsinger brings years of production experience to the company. Prior to joining MHHI, he created CD-ROMs, audio CDs, videos, as well as composed musical scores for companies such as Apple Computer, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the State of California, and PBS. In addition, Holsinger is a well-known writer and authority on multimedia, having written dozens of articles for MacWeek, Millimeter, Wired, New Media, and many other publications. He is also the author of three best-selling books on multimedia; The MacWeek Guide to Desktop Video, How Music and Computers Work, and How Multimedia Works (all published by Ziff-Davis Press). Currently he is a contributing editor to DV Magazine, and a columnist for the national bi-weekly magazine, Computer Currents. He earned his B.A. in broadcasting, with a music minor from California State University, San Francisco.
McGraw-Hill Home Interactive is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. The McGraw-Hill Companies, founded in 1888, is a leading information services organization serving worldwide markets in education, business, finance, the professions and government. Revenues in 1995 exceeded $2.9 billion.
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