Steve Connolly

Steve has over thirty years of publishing experience, beginning with Longman Group in 1986, in international sales. During that time he has managed publishing companies in Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mexico, Argentina and England. In 2000 he moved from his position as President, Pearson Education Cono Sur (Argentina, Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay) to manage Struik Publishers in Cape Town. Then after four years as MD of New Holland Publishing in London he returned to South Africa in 2012 to manage Random House Struik, then led the merger with Penguin South Africa to create Penguin Random House South Africa, the largest trade publisher in the country. In his years in publishing, Steve has been tasked with business turnarounds and mergers in a number of different countries with very different cultures. Prior to working in publishing Steve was a university lecturer in South Africa, teaching African and Islamic history and has degrees from the University of Sussex and the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.