Directorate Change

Reed Elsevier PLC
05 December 2002



           Issued on behalf of Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV

             Reed Elsevier Appoints Chief Executive Officer for its
                           Global Education Business

Reed Elsevier Group plc today announced that it has appointed Pat Tierney to the
new role of chief executive officer of its global education publishing division.
Mr Tierney will join the company at the start of  January 2003 and will be
based at Reed Elsevier's US corporate headquarters in New York.  He will be a
main board director reporting to Crispin Davis, Reed Elsevier's chief executive
officer.

Mr Tierney joins Reed Elsevier from The Thomson Corporation where he has worked
since 1997, most recently as chief executive officer of Thomson Financial.
Prior to joining The Thomson Corporation, Mr Tierney held senior management
positions at Knight-Ridder Inc., TRW and Caterpillar.

As chief executive officer of Reed Elsevier's global education division, Mr
Tierney will be responsible for the US schools publishing and testing
businesses, the UK education business, and the international schools publishing
business.

In making the announcement, Mr Davis said: 'I am delighted to welcome Pat to
Reed Elsevier.  He has a very strong track record as a business manager and
great experience in the professional publishing sector.  He brings us an
impressive skill set which will have a major impact on developing our global
education business.'

Mr Tierney commented: 'This is a great opportunity.  Reed Elsevier's education
business is a global leader in the sector with an excellent reputation for
producing outstanding products for teachers and students.  I am looking forward
to the challenge of working with a set of great businesses.'




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