Marc DeBevoise has been named CEO of OverDrive, and founder and CEO Steve Potash is becoming chairman of the board. The company described the moves as "a planned succession designed to support OverDrive's continued growth and global expansion."
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| Marc DeBevoise | |
OverDrive has a large digital catalog of e-books, audiobooks, magazines, video, and other content, and mainly markets to libraries and schools. In 2020, KKR bought OverDrive from Rakuten, which had purchased the company in 2015.
DeBevoise joined OverDrive as president in March and earlier was CEO of Brightcove, chief digital officer of Paramount, and CEO of CBS Interactive. He commented: "OverDrive has extraordinary reach, incredible momentum, and an enduring mission--and I'm thrilled to lead this company forward. I'm grateful to Steve for his continued partnership and to the Board for their confidence, and I look forward to working with our team and partners to build on everything this company stands for."
Potash founded OverDrive 40 years ago as an early digital content venture and built it into a global platform serving more than 80,000 libraries and schools in more than 115 countries.
Potash said, "Founding and building OverDrive has been the most rewarding journey of my career. With Marc leading as CEO, the company is exceptionally well positioned to grow and evolve. As chairman, I look forward to supporting Marc and our team while continuing to champion the libraries, schools, and institutions at the heart of our mission."
Richard Sarnoff, chairman of media, KKR Americas Private Equity, said that Potash "built an extraordinary organization--a mission-driven company with true global impact--and Marc is the ideal leader to write its next chapter. Marc's vision, energy, and operational depth give us every confidence that his leadership will not only augment its success as a business but also heighten its outstanding record of service to libraries and their patrons, to schools and their students, and to publishers and content owners."