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 Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. 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 ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and e ...

, but left the role in June 2021.

Early life

Thomas was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

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 respon ...

; 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 census, the population was 24,921. Greenbelt is the first and the largest of the three experimental and controversial New Deal ...

. She has a degree in biochemistry and biophysics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and a PhD in cell biology and neuroscience from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

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, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

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

Nature Cell Biology ''Nature Cell Biology'' is a monthly peer review, 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 ' ...

''. 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 / market intelligence, and competitive profiling for p ...

' Web of Science 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 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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 ...

''. 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 national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

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

Katharine Viner Katharine Sophie Viner (born January 1971)Katharine Vine"Dear diary ..." ''The Guardian'', 27 November 2004 is a British journalist and playwright. She became the first female editor-in-chief at ''The Guardian'' on 1 June 2015 succeeding Alan ...

about finances and the direction the newspaper should take. The previous year ''The Guardian'' announced 180 job cuts. On 9 June 2021, it was announced that Thomas would leave the Guardian Media Group at the end of the month. Thomas has been appointed as a non-executive director of publisher

Pearson plc Pearson plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England. It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s.J. A. Spende ...

, from 1 October 2021.

Personal life

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

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. 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 publishers (people) People from Washington, D.C. American expatriates in the United Kingdom British editors British women editors American women editors American people of German descent 21st-century American women