Biography | Omar Abbosh — He Took Pearson's Chair at 80 Strand

On 8 January 2024 Omar Abbosh became chief executive and executive director of Pearson plc.

Pearson confirmed the start date on 30 October 2023, after the board had named him on 20 September.

He succeeded Andy Bird, who left the board the same day and stayed through 31 March to hand over the files.

The company's public London house is 80 Strand, the Grade II building still widely called Shell Mex House.

Companies House lists his Pearson correspondence address at that number, postcode WC2R 0RL.

The south face, with its clock over the Embankment, is the view most people already know. Pearson occupies most of the floors.

He arrived from Microsoft, where he had been president of Industry Solutions after joining in June 2020 as corporate vice president for Cross-Industry Solutions.

Before that sat three decades at Accenture, ending as group chief executive of Communications, Media and Technology.

Pearson is an education company, not a consultancy. The appointment was a change of industry, not a change of city.

The 2023 annual report records a Spencer Stuart search, individual interviews with every director, and a board vote that approved the appointment.

Omid Kordestani was chair. Bird took part in scoping the brief and in the final vote, not in the longlist.

From this building Abbosh has pointed the firm at enterprise learning and at the use of machine learning inside existing products, rather than at a new conglomerate shape.

He also sits as a non-executive director of Autodesk. He left the Zuora board in February 2025 after five years.

80 Strand is a working office, not a museum. The Strand gate is set back from the pavement, between the Adelphi and the Savoy.

The pin is the listed river frontage at 51.50981, minus 0.12133.

Photo: Jim Osley, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons