Kumsal Bayazit
Chief Executive Officer & Chair of RELX Technology Forum
Amsterdam & London
Technology is the golden thread that runs through RELX strategy. It helps us deliver improved outcomes for our customers and build leading positions in long-term global growth markets
I joined RELX in 2004 and took up my latest role as CEO of Elsevier in February 2019. Elsevier is a vibrant, global, information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. It’s an exciting time to be here.
Prior to this role I worked at Reed Exhibitions from January 2016 where I was responsible for managing approximately 50% of Exhibitions’ revenues and 2,000 employees across more than 200 exhibitions, primarily in Europe, but also in Africa, the Americas and Asia.
Before joining Reed Exhibitions, I was RELX’s Chief Strategy Officer, responsible for driving strategy, innovation, customer analytics, strategic pricing and technology. And, before that, I held several strategy and operations positions in Legal and Risk & Business Analytics. So I have moved around the group quite a bit, working in many countries.
Mobility of people is something we are very good at across RELX. Moving across the group, as I have, gives our people real life and work opportunities - exposing people to new cultures, new ideas and new challenges.
In addition to my role at Elsevier, I am also the chair of the RELX Chief Technology Officer Forum. This team manages technology coordination across RELX businesses - including online product development, digital content creation and big data technologies to drive analytics and business-systems implementation.
Technology is the golden thread that runs through RELX strategy. It helps us deliver improved outcomes for our customers and build leading positions in long-term global growth markets. Each year we spend over a billion US dollars on technology, so getting it right is critical to our long-term success. There are a great many exciting technology developments that we are introducing right now and the benefits we offer our customers today were unimaginable even ten years ago.
Lots of organisations talk about diversity but, for me, it’s inclusion at RELX that makes us different. It is my experience that across our businesses, people can be successful regardless of their background or what they look like. Our people have an openness to consider different points of view and it’s those very differences that make the quality of our thinking and customer delivery unique.
What I like most about RELX is that in my time here I have never been bored. I find the people I work with to be kind and I feel proud of our contribution to society both through our day-to-day business and also through our efforts in corporate responsibility.
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In this podcast episode, YS Chi speaks with Kumsal Bayazit, the first female CEO in Elsevier’s 140-year history, about her learnings and insights into building trust and creating an inclusive mindset. Kumsal tells us how her upbringing in Istanbul shaped her commitment to inclusion and what Elsevier is doing to support researchers and health professionals who play such a critical role in ensuring societal progress. |