Follett has expanded its international efforts through opening a new office in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The office reflects the company's interest in strengthening its business interests in the Middle East region. The Follett International group includes 35 associates, with 8 in the Middle East region. In addition to this new office, Follett has local support in Africa, Asia, the Asia Pacific region, Europe, Canada, Mexico / Central America, and South America / Caribbean.
Follett, which dominates the public school library content and automation sector, has also operated a business unit specializing in the international sector since 2000, according to Steve Siegel, the Senior Vice President of Global Product Management and International at Follett School Solutions. The Follett International business unit has customers in 147 countries globally. Follett International focuses primarily on the top tier of the American International, British International, and International Baccalaureate schools. Siegel reports that Follett serves about 2,000 of the 7,000 international schools globally. These institutions use Destiny or Follett's print or electronic educational content products. Although geographically dispersed, Follett's international business primarily serves schools with English curricula.
Since 2015, Follett has served as the exclusive distributor for International Baccalaureate (IB) publishing products. In addition to IB published products, Follett recently expanded its educational resources oriented to IB schools beyond the products produced by IB itself to include relevant materials from Oxford University Press, Pearson, Hodder Education, Cambridge University Press, as well as SMARTPREP interactive flash cards, Oxford Study Courses, and The Day online subscription news service. All of these materials are available for ordering through Follett School Solutions' Titlewave, which is an educational e-commerce platform.
Follett Corporation ranks as one of the largest businesses globally involved in the library technology sector, with estimated annual revenues at around $2.7 billion with over 10,000 personnel. The company is privately owned by Follett family members. Follett Corporation has recently consolidated its many operating units into two major businesses, Follett Higher Education Group and Follett School Solutions. Follett acquired Baker & Taylor, a major public library book distributor, in April 2016. Ray A. Griffith serves as President and CEO for Follett Corporation. George F. Coe, who joined Follett as President of Baker & Taylor, serves as Follett Group President. Nader Qaimari is President of Follett School Solutions, reporting to George Coe.
