Annette Thomas, former Chief Executive Officer, Macmillan Science and Education, will leave her role as Chief Scientific Officer, Springer Nature. After 23 years with Macmillan companies and following nearly a year in her new role as Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) and as a Board member of Springer Nature, Annette Thomas has decided to leave the company.
Annette oversaw a successful transition of the Macmillan businesses into Springer Nature when the company was created following a merger between the majority of Macmillan Science and Education (MSE) and Springer Science+Business Media in 2015. As global head of the research organisation, Annette was instrumental in shaping Springer Nature and in setting the strategic direction for the new company, which is a world leader in open access, in high impact content and in academic books.
An innovator in scientific publishing, Annette oversaw the expansion of Nature Publishing Group from two journals when she joined in 1993 to the 60 Nature-branded journals that exist today. An early advocate of open access, she spearheaded Nature's developments in this area including the launch of Nature Communications, Scientific Reports and the Nature Partner Journals programme.
She was an early pioneer in unlocking the power of data and technology to improve research workflows and outcomes, creating the start-up incubator Digital Science in 2010 whilst serving as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Macmillan Publishers, a role she held since 2007. In 2011, she was appointed CEO of MSE where she successfully led a global transformation programme that put the customer at the heart of the business. This programme included the expansion of the Macmillan Group in China and the creation of new 'campus' style offices for over 3,000 staff in London and in New York. The offices fostered a culture of innovation and collaboration across the group whilst accelerating growth and increasing efficiency. Within Springer Nature, 2015 was a record year of industry-leading growth for the Macmillan companies.
Going forward, Steven Inchcoombe, previously Managing Director, Nature Research Group, will assume a broader role within the Springer Nature research organisation and become a member of the Springer Nature Board. As part of this, he will share responsibility for the existing reporting lines of Annette Thomas with Springer Nature CEO, Derk Haank.
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