Donna Okubo serves as STM’s Community Engagement Manager.
Donna will be working closely with a diverse range of stakeholder groups across the STM universe, including STM members, funders, allied organizations, and partners. Her charge is to enhance our community by listening, learning, and discovering new ways to collaborate and advance trusted research together. Donna brings with her over 20 years of experience in science and data publishing. Her expertise spans community and member engagement, membership program development, strategic partnerships, and fundraising.
Before joining STM, Donna was instrumental at Dryad, a research data publisher, where she laid the groundwork for their institutional membership program and collaborated with funders and researchers on their strategic initiatives. Her career also includes over 14 years at the Public Library of Science (PLOS), where she served in various roles, from Institutional Relations Manager to Senior Strategic Partnership Manager, working closely with institutional members, funders, and policymakers.
Brian Shields has been the Publisher of JAMA and the JAMA Network journals since 2020. He started at the American Medical Association (AMA) in 2010 as the Director of Finance for Publishing and was then Vice President of Strategy & Operations and General Manager prior to becoming the Publisher. Brian played a key role in the transformations of the journal portfolio over the last decade including the creation and branding of the JAMA Network, the global expansion of digital site licensing, and the launch of four new journals, including JAMA Network Open.
Prior to joining the AMA, Brian worked at Abbott Laboratories in a variety of finance and pharmaceutical pricing roles in their International and Corporate divisions. Brian started his career as a financial consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Restructuring group, providing support for debtors and creditors in some of the largest corporate bankruptcies of the early 2000’s.
Brian has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He currently lives in a suburb of Chicago with his wife and two children. In his free time, Brian enjoys running and taking on all types of repair projects around the house.
Jennifer (Jenn) Brogan is the Vice President of Global Journal Publishing & Society Solutions at Wolters Kluwer’s Health Learning, Research & Practice (HLRP). She oversees the editorial and strategic direction of a prestigious journal portfolio comprising over 750 publications spanning numerous medical and nursing specialties and collaborates with more than 150 society partners.
With deep experience in academic publishing, Jenn is known for her expertise in the strategic development of credible, award-winning scholarly publications. Aligned with the disruptive elements that offer both challenges and opportunities for our industry, her primary areas of focus include:
- Ensuring ethical research integrity and transparency, particularly concerning AI and advanced technology.
- Developing infrastructure and resources for sustainable growth through diverse business models.
- Supporting global researchers and authors through resource development and education.
- Promoting open science, research, and access to enhance global health equity.
- Advocating for solutions that empower societies of all sizes to thrive in a competitive, ever-changing landscape.
Jenn is the Publishing Co-Chair of CLOCKSS and a member of the International Publishers Rights Organization (IPRO). Jenn also holds a BA from Marywood University and an MA from Rutgers University.
Lei Zhou leads new business development at Tech Science Press (TSP). Since joining in 2022, she has played a key role in expanding TSP’s global market presence and fostering international collaborations.
In her role, Lei has overseen the growth of the journal portfolio and enhanced its global visibility. She has organized and managed prominent academic conferences across China, Southeast Asia, and Europe, forging partnerships with academic institutions and industry sponsors to advance outreach efforts. Her work has significantly extended the reach of TSP’s journals within the scholarly community. Additionally, Lei manages data platform collaborations to enhance research capabilities and resource accessibility. She provides support to a committee of editors-in-chief, facilitating collaborative initiatives, and has explored strategic opportunities for journal acquisitions through engagements with international publishers.
Lei holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Language and Literature from Nanjing University. Fluent in Chinese, English, and Russian, she is also an author and artist. Prior to joining TSP, Lei gained entrepreneurial experience, which enriched her expertise in market research, business development, and cross-cultural communications.
Founded in 1997 and headquartered in Henderson, Nevada, Tech Science Press adheres to academic standards and supports global advancements in technology, knowledge, and research. TSP publishes journals, academic books, monographs, and conference proceedings in medicine, life sciences, natural sciences, and social sciences. Its journals are recognized and have a notable presence in the academic community.
Jas Atwal has an undergraduate degree in German and Italian and an MPhil in European Studies. Since leaving university, Jas has spent her whole career to date working in the publishing industry, starting from children’s novelty books to medical education for children, and then on to the STM/academic library sector with her first role in 2011 as European Sales Manager at Publishers Communication Group, working with publisher clients such as Elsevier, Bloomsbury at the ISPG Group. Jas has spent the last ten years at the Mark Allen Group, building its institutional subscriptions business across global territories and now fulfils the role as Sales Director for Digital Resources. She works closely with colleagues to bring to professionals in various industries across the world access to its peer-reviewed publications to support both their education and practice. Jas takes a keen interest in making research more accessible, advocating for smaller publishing organizations and societies, and is strongly committed to supporting the industry to uphold the continued provision of authoritative and trustworthy research content.
Ekaterina Antonova is Chief Quality and Business Development Officer at Trans Tech Publications (website: Scientific.Net), Swiss-based academic publishing house in area of materials science and engineering. Ekaterina joined Scientific.Net team in August 2013 being PhD student in the area of solid-state materials after obtaining master’s degree in applied physics.
She is currently leading the development of the entire portfolio and Open Access transformation as well as technological solutions to serve the needs of all parties of publishing process, libraries, funds, institutes and corporations. Ekaterina is responsible for the strategy and general operating processes as well as solving any quality and business issues in the way of best practice in scientific publishing.
Development and adaptation of own editorial system according to the customers’ needs as well as following new technologies and developments in metadata, data exchange and access are continuous transformations lead by Ekaterina and her team.
New partnerships with leading worldwide organizations show the strong orientation and goals in the development fully oriented on the customers and users by applying newest technological solutions.
Todd Ware has been working in the publishing industry for over 30 years in production and editorial roles At Simon and Schuster, Pearson, McGraw Hill, Walsworth, Sheridan (KGL Group), Innodata, Elsevier, Great Minds, and currently the American College of Physicians.
Todd is currently the Vice President, Publishing at the American College of Physicians (ACP). Todd manages the teams that are responsible for electronic publishing, online delivery, print manufacturing, editorial production, sales, and circulation of the publications for ACP. This includes the publications; Annals of Internal Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine: Clinical Cases, ACP Internist, and ACP Hospitalist publications. Todd has had a personal impact on the many positive changes that have occurred in the publishing industry over the last three decades.
Enrico Turrin, Deputy Director and Economist, Federation of European Publishers
Degree in Economics at the University Luigi Bocconi in Milan in 2000 and master’s degree in International Affairs at ISPI, Milan, in 2001. Project Manager at ISPI and lecturer on International Organisations from 2002. From 2005 to 2008, worked as an external expert and lecturer for ISPI and for a project by the Italian Foreign Ministry. Hired as an economist by FEP in 2008, where he is in charge of the sector statistics and of a range of other files. Deputy Director of FEP since 2012.
Dr Coromoto Power Febres is a Research Integrity Manager within the Publishing Ethics and Integrity Team at Taylor and Francis.
Before working in publishing, Coro pursued a career in research. After completing a PhD in Political Science at University College London, Coro worked in various research roles within and outside of academia focusing on minority representation and the European extreme right.
Coro joined Taylor and Francis in 2024, having previously led the Research Integrity team at Emerald Publishing. Coro is a member of the STM Research Integrity Committee.
Luigi Longobardi is Director of Publishing Ethics & Conduct at IEEE. Luigi leads IEEE’s work in implementing policies for integrity and ethics in IEEE conference proceedings and journals portfolio.
At IEEE, Luigi works with diverse teams of research integrity, operations, technology, and subject matter experts to resolve integrity and ethics concerns, incorporate best practices in screening, and to develop new tools to uphold research quality.
He shares IEEE’s expertise and vision for research integrity with the community by participating in conferences, working groups, and other events. Luigi has worked in academic publishing since 2012. He has spent a large part of his career working as an executive editor and assistant editorial director for academic publishers like the American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics.
He joined IEEE in 2022, when he took on his current role.