Annette Thomas is CEO of Macmillan Publishers Ltd, a company operating in over 70 countries, with interests in scientific, educational and consumer fiction and non- fiction publishing, spanning the range from traditional textbooks and journals to new media tools and services. Annette joined Macmillan in 1993 as the cell biology editor for Nature magazine. She held a number of editorial and publishing roles within Nature Publishing Group (NPG), including Publisher of the ground-breaking Nature Reviews series, before being appointed Managing Director in October 2000. During the seven years of her leadership, NPG established itself as a major scholarly publisher, extending the reach and influence of the Nature brand in science and medicine and developing an enviable reputation for innovation, particularly in the digital space. In 2007, Annette was awarded the Kim Scott Walwyn prize, set up in 2004 to celebrate outstanding achievements by women in publishing. She was appointed CEO of Macmillan in October 2007. Annette is a member of the Board of Directors of the Verlagsgruppe von Holtzbrinck (Macmillan’s parent company) and a Governor of the Stephen Perse Foundation (Perse School for Girls), Cambridge, UK.Annette received a B.S. in Biochemical and Biophysical Sciences from Harvard University and a Ph. D. in Cell Biology from Yale University.