Kanopy Appoints Kevin Sayar As New CEO

Kanopy, the free-to-the-user video streaming platform for films and documentaries, today named veteran higher education executive Kevin Sayar the company’s new CEO, effective Oct. 21.

Sayar succeeds Olivia Humphrey, who is relocating with her family back to her native Australia. Humphrey will remain as Kanopy’s executive chairman of the board.

Sayar has an extensive background as a leader and innovator in the higher education industry. He joins Kanopy from ProQuest, a provider of content and software solutions that supports critical research within the global academic market. During his tenure at ProQuest, Sayar served in multiple roles, including senior vice president and general manager of ProQuest Books, as well as SVP and GM of the software business unit, ProQuest Workflow Solutions.

Sayar spearheaded innovations that transformed how libraries and patrons discovered, acquired, accessed and utilized e-books. Under his leadership, ProQuest Books grew to over $200M in revenue and remains the market leader.

Prior to ProQuest, Sayar was the president and co-founder of ebrary, one of the first electronic book internet companies. From its founding in 1999, ebrary grew into the leading e-book platform to libraries and researchers worldwide, boasting the largest scholarly catalog of e-books from academic, trade and professional publishers. The company was acquired by ProQuest in 2011.