Board of
Directors

Chairman

Dennis Stevenson^‡° chairman, aged 59, was appointed a non-executive director of Pearson in 1986 and became chairman in 1997. He is also chairman of HBOS plc and a non-executive director of Manpower Inc. in the US.

Note On 27 February 2005 Pearson announced that Dennis intends to retire later in the year.

Executive directors

Marjorie Scardino^‡ chief executive, aged 58, joined the Pearson board in January 1997. She trained and practised as a lawyer, and was chief executive of The Economist Group from 1993 until joining Pearson. She is also a non-executive director of Nokia Corporation.

David Bell director for people, aged 58, became a director of Pearson in March 1996. In 1998 he was appointed Pearson's director for people with responsibility for the recruitment, motivation, development and reward of employees. He is also chairman of the Financial Times Group, a non-executive director of VITEC Group plc and chairman of the International Youth Foundation.

John Makinson chairman and chief executive officer of The Penguin Group, aged 50, joined the Pearson board in March 1996 and was finance director until June 2002. He was appointed chairman of The Penguin Group in May 2001. He is also chairman of Interactive Data Corporation and a non-executive director of George Weston Limited in Canada.

Rona Fairhead^° chief financial officer, aged 43, joined the Pearson board and became chief financial officer in June 2002. She also served as deputy finance director from October 2001. From 1996 until 2001, she worked at ICI, where she served as executive vice president, group control and strategy. She is also a non-executive director of HSBC Holdings plc.

Peter Jovanovich chief executive of Pearson Education, aged 56, joined the Pearson board in June 2002. He became chief executive of Pearson Education in 1998. Prior to this he was president of the McGraw-Hill Educational and Professional Group and chairman and CEO of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. He also serves on the boards of the Association of American Publishers and the Alfred Harcourt Foundation.

Note Peter resigned in January 2005 for health reasons.

Non-executive directors

Terry Burns^*†‡ aged 60, was the UK government's chief economic adviser from 1980 until 1991 and Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury from 1991 until 1998. He is non-executive chairman of Abbey National plc and Glas Cymru Limited, and a non-executive director of Banco Santander Central Hispana and The British Land Company plc. He was appointed a non-executive director of Pearson in May 1999, and our senior independent director in February 2004.

Reuben Mark^*†‡ aged 66, is chairman and chief executive of the Colgate-Palmolive Company and a non-executive director of Time Warner Inc. He became a non-executive director of Pearson in 1988.

Vernon Sankey^*°‡ aged 55, was previously chief executive of Reckitt & Colman plc and is chairman of Photo-Me International plc. He is also a non-executive director of Taylor Woodrow plc and Zurich Financial Services AG. He became a non-executive director of Pearson in 1993.

Rana Talwar^*‡° aged 56, was previously group chief executive of Standard Chartered plc. He became a non-executive director of Pearson in March 2000.

Patrick Cescau^*‡ aged 56, is chairman of Unilever. He became a non-executive director of Pearson in April 2002.

Susan Fuhrman^‡ aged 60, is dean of Penn Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. She became a non-executive director of Pearson plc in July 2004. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, and a member of the Council for Corporate and School Partnerships of the Coca-Cola Foundation.

^* a member of the audit committee.
^† a member of the personnel committee.
^‡ a member of the nomination committee.
^° a member of the treasury committee.

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