Annette Thomas (born 1965) is an American-born publishing executive specializing in science publishing, who lives in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. In 2020, she was named chief executive of the

Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'', and formerly ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the fin ...

, but left the role in June 2021.

Early life

Thomas was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

in 1965, and grew up near Washington. Her African American father worked as a pharmacist at the

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respo ...

; her mother is German. She attended the Eleanor Roosevelt High School,

Greenbelt, Maryland Greenbelt is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States, and a suburb of Washington, D.C. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental ...

. She has a degree in biochemistry and biophysics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

and a PhD in cell biology and neuroscience from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Career

In 1993, immediately after finishing her graduate work, Thomas moved to London to begin her career in publishing as a cell biology editor at ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

''. She served as the founding editor of ''

Nature Cell Biology ''Nature Cell Biology'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It was established in 1999. The founding editor was Annette Thomas. The current editor-in-chief is Christina Kary. According to the Nature Cell B ...

''. She became publisher (1999) and then managing director of the

Nature Publishing Group Nature Portfolio (formerly known as Nature Publishing Group and Nature Research) is a division of the international scientific publishing company Springer Nature that publishes academic journals, magazines, online databases, and services in scien ...

in 2000. She was responsible for founding the ''Nature Reviews'' series. Other positions that she has held include chief executive of Macmillan Science and Education, as well as leadership roles at

Clarivate Analytics Clarivate Plc is a British-American publicly traded analytics company that operates a collection of subscription-based services, in the areas of bibliometrics and scientometrics; business and market intelligence, and competitive profiling ...

Web of Science The Web of Science (WoS; previously known as Web of Knowledge) is a paid-access platform that provides (typically via the internet) access to multiple databases that provide reference and citation data from academic journals, conference proceedi ...

citation and abstract search database. Thomas is a trustee and member of the governing board of

. She is also a past recipient of the prestigious

Wilbur Cross Medal The Wilbur Cross Medal, or Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal for Alumni Achievement, is an award by the Yale University Graduate School Alumni Association to recognize "...distinguished achievements in scholarship, teaching, academic administration, and p ...

, awarded to distinguished

Yale Graduate School The Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences is the graduate school of Yale University. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest graduate school in North America, and was the first North American graduate school to confer a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D ...

alumni. She has previously served on the

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

Board of Directors. Thomas was appointed and named chief executive of the

on 14 January 2020. She began in the role in March 2020. Later that year, Thomas was recognised as one of the

's most influential Black People by being included in the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

edition of the annual ''

Powerlist The Powerlist is a list of the 100 most influential people of African or African Caribbean heritage in the United Kingdom. The list is updated annually and has been published in book format by Powerful Media since 2007. The Powerlist is not lim ...

''. In 2021, Thomas said at a media industry conference "we have quality content in spades ... the job at hand is to now go further by strengthening the growing elements of our business". In May 2021 ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'' reported that there was serious conflict between Thomas and editor

Katharine Viner Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971) is a British journalist and playwright. She became the second state-educated and first female editor-in-chief at ''The Guardian'' on 1 June 2015, succeeding Alan Rusbridger.Pearson plc, from 1 October 2021.

Personal life

Thomas has lived in the United Kingdom since about 1995, most recently in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

. She is married to a scientist. They have three sons and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Annette 1965 births Living people Harvard University alumni Yale School of Medicine alumni Yale University administrators Academic journal editors British publishers (people) Guardian Media Group 21st-century American publishers (people) People from Washington, D.C. American expatriates in England British editors British women editors American women editors American editors American people of German descent 21st-century American women