The American Physical Society (APS) Board of Directors voted to select Kate Kirby as the first Chief Executive Officer of APS effective February 2. Kirby has served as Executive Officer of the Society since July 2009.
In November 2015, APS members approved and the Society's Council adopted significant changes to the APS governance and leadership structure. The changes included reconstitution of the APS Council and Executive Board as the new Council of Representatives and Board of Directors. The restructuring also created the new CEO position in charge of all aspects of Society operations, replacing the Society's triumvirate leadership structure.
Before coming to APS, Kirby served as Senior Research Physicist and Associate Director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (1988-2001), heading the Atomic and Molecular Physics Division. From 2001 to 2008, she served as Director of the NSF-funded Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics (ITAMP) at Harvard-Smithsonian.
The Board acted on the recommendations of the pre-Search Committee, which called on APS to finalize its new leadership as quickly as possible. This was a shift from the original transition plan, which outlined a longer process involving a wide search for potential CEO candidates.
