Thomson Reuters today announced the appointment of co-chief operating officers to lead its legal and tax and accounting businesses and the departure of Susan Taylor Martin as president of the legal business.

Brian Peccarelli

Effective July 1, Brian Peccarelli, president of Tax & Accounting, will become co-COO with responsibility for customer markets. He will be responsible for all customer-facing operations, including sales, for three customer segments:

  • Legal professionals, which he will also directly lead.
  • Corporates, which will be led by Piotr Marczewski, who was managing director, Russia/CIS.
  • Tax professionals, which will be led by Charlotte Rushton, who was managing director, large and medium law firms.

Neil Masterson, executive vice president and chief transformation officer, will become co-COO with responsibility for operations and enablement. He will manage commercial and technology operations, including helping to build sales capabilities, expanding the digital customer experience and delivering simplified, scalable approaches to product and content development, according to a press release.

Susan Taylor Martin

Martin, according to the statement, has decided to leave Thomson Reuters at the end of June. She became president of Thomson Reuters Legal in 2013, after serving as managing director of Thomson Reuters Legal in the UK and Ireland.

Peccarelli, the new head of legal, is a CPA and attorney who joined TR in 1984 as a product accountant. He subsequently held roles in product development, sales, product management, marketing and general management, according to his profile. For the last seven years, he has managed TR’s tax and accounting business, which the press release says has been the company’s fastest-growing business.

These changes follow TR’s announcement in January that it is selling a majority share of its financial and risk business to private equity funds led by investment firm Blackstone. When it closes that sale later this year, TR plans to “de-layer” its business and reduce its cost base to reflect a smaller organization, it said today.

Also as part of today’s announcement, TR said that three other executives are leaving the company as part of its resizing:

Reuters News will continue to be led by president and editor-in-chief Steve Adler.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.