The Elsevier Foundation

Dr. Floyd Bloom is a Professor Emeritus at the Scripps Research Institute which he joined in 1983. He served as the formal Chairman of the Department of Neuropharmacology at Scripps from 1989 to 2000 and again from 2002 to 2005. In addition, Dr. Bloom was the immediate past Editor-in-Chief of Science, the President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science from 2002 to 2003, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors, from 2003 to 2004. Dr. Bloom has also been a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1977, and the recipient of numerous prizes for his contributions to science, including the Janssen Award in the Basic Sciences and the Pasarow Award in Neuropsychiatry. He has also been named a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and a member of the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Bloom’s more than 600 publications include the seminal work: The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology.

YoungSuk 'YS' Chi is an international businessman and a leader in the media and technology industry. As Chairman of the Elsevier Management Committee, he leads the development of information solutions that are transforming the STM industry. He also oversees Global Government Affairs and Global Corporate Responsibility efforts as well as Asia Strategy for Elsevier’s parent company, Reed Elsevier. In addition, Mr. Chi serves as President of the International Publishers Association, a global organization that represents the interests of more than 50 publishing industry association members from countries around the world.

Early in his career, as Chief Operating Officer of Ingram Book Group, Mr. Chi founded Lightning Source, the first ever print-on-demand distributor and e-book services provider. After holding several senior executive positions at Ingram Book Group’s parent company, he became President and Chief Operating Officer of Random House. He has also earned widespread respect for his ability to work across cultures. As founding Chairman of Random House Asia, he led efforts to make Random House the first foreign trade book publisher with local language publishing in Japan and Korea.

Mr. Chi has served on numerous charitable, educational and industry boards, including those of Princeton University, the Korean American Community Foundation, Princeton University Press, and McCarter Theatre. He is also a member of the Executive Committee of the boards of Association of American Publishers and International Association of Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishers.

Michael Hansen serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Elsevier’s Health Sciences division, a global provider of books, journals, magazines and on-line resources for physicians and healthcare practitioners serving users in 20 languages. Prior to taking up his present role, Michael was President and Chief Executive Officer of Harcourt Assessment, then a global education brand of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK and ENL).

Michael has also served as Executive Vice President at Bertelsmann AG, a $20 billion global media company. While at Bertelsmann AG, he led a company-wide restructuring effort focused on significantly improving under-performing business units. In addition, Michael spent 10 years at The Boston Consulting Group, the leading strategy consulting firm, the last five as Vice President and Director, Co-Chairman: e-business & Media Practice. He has a Master of Law degree from the University of Bonn, Germany and an M.B.A. from the Columbia Graduate School of Business in New York. Michael is also a member of the Board of Directors with John’s Hopkins’ Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS).

Paula Kaufman is the Juanita J. and Robert E. Simpson Dean of Libraries and University Librarian at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a position she has held since 1999, with a break in 2006/07 when she served as the University's Interim Chief Information Officer. Before joining the faculty at Illinois, she spent eleven years as Dean of Libraries at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Prior to taking that position she served the Columbia University Libraries as Acting Vice President, Director of Academic Information Services, Director of Library Services, Acting Head of the East Asia Libraries, and Head of the Business Library. She also has considerable experience in the private sector, at McKinsey and Company and as co-founder and partner of Information for Business.

Dean Kaufman has written and made presentations on a number of issues pertaining to Library ROI, scholarly information, privacy, copyright, research libraries, recruitment, and leadership. Her recent presentations include "Let's Get Cozy: Evolving Collaborations in the 21st Century."; "Carpe Diem: Seizing Opportunities From Crisis;" "University Investment in the Library: What's the Return? A Case Study at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign;" "Service is Sovereign: The Future of Academic Research Libraries;" "Role and Mission of Academic Libraries: Present and Future;" "Everything Old is New Again, or is It?" and "Quo Vadis? Scholarly Communication and Trends in Research Libraries."

Dean Kaufman has served the profession with board memberships in the Center for Research Libraries (chair), the Association of Research Libraries (president), the Council on Library and Information Resources (chair), the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois, the Illinois Computer Services Organization, the Research Libraries Group, the Society for Scholarly Publishing, CAUSE, and Solinet (chair) and the Elsevier Foundation. She has served on numerous committees at the University of Illinois, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Columbia University, and the Committee on Institutional Cooperation.

Wu Yishan has served as the Chief Engineer of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (ISTIC) since 2001. He is currently the Vice Chairman of the Professional Committee on Scientometrics under the China Research Society on Science and Science and Technology Policy. Mr. Wu’s additional roles include Vice Secretary General, China Association of Soft Science, and serving as a member of the Standing Council of the China Society on Scientific and Technical Information. Since 1992, Mr. Wu’s core research focus has been on bibliometrics and scientometrics in which he has published more than 40 papers, including eight in international journals and conference proceedings. In 1987, Wu Yishan began a two-term tenure as China’s scientific diplomat in the US and has published more than ten papers in the field of international science and technology collaboration. He holds a Master of Science in Information Science from ISTIC and a Bachelor of Engineering from Southeast University, China.

David A. Ruth, Executive Director of the Elsevier Foundation

As Senior Vice President of Elsevier’s Global Communications group, David Ruth is responsible for Elsevier’s external and internal communications and corporate responsibility programs worldwide. He has led the development of the Elsevier Foundation’s New Scholars program which supports programs to help early-to mid career women scientists balance family responsibilities with demanding careers in science, health and technology. He has also championed Research4Life as the central element in Elsevier’s Corporate Responsibility program. The Elsevier Foundation’s Innovative Libraries program also supports capacity-building projects in the fields of science, technology and medicine – through training, education, infrastructure digitization and preservation of information.

Previously, David was with Merck & Co., Inc., where he had primary responsibility for corporate external communications, corporate responsibility, corporate advertising, employee communications, publishing, and the Merck Company Foundation. Mr. Ruth also served with the U.S. Department of State under the Clinton Administration, where he was appointed Senior Coordinator for Business Affairs; and the American Express Company, where he held a number of positions in public affairs and communications in Asia, Europe and North America. Mr. Ruth earned a Master’s degree from the Columbia University School of International Affairs, with a specialization in international economics, and a Bachelors degree from the University of Wisconsin.

Tom Reller, Nurse Faculty Program

As Vice President and Head of Global Corporate Relations at Elsevier, Tom is the primary media spokesman for Elsevier – responsible for the company’s relationships with media, analysts and other online/social media communities. Tom actively works with organizations that can help build Elsevier’s reputation and promote the many contributions Elsevier makes to Health and Science communities. These include partnerships developed through the Elsevier Foundation, where he is responsible for running programs benefitting the global nurse faculty profession.

Tom’s background is in media, public relations and public affairs. He led public relations for Merrill Lynch’s Wealth Management division, having previously worked at Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest PR agencies. Tom began his career as an energy policy analyst for Washington Policy and Analysis, serving Japanese and Norwegian energy clients; and at Sister Cities International, a non-profit organization that pairs cities around the globe for cultural, educational and commercial development. Tom holds a MA in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University and a BA in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland.

Ylann Schemm, New Scholars and Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries Programs

As Corporate Relations Manager, Ylann manages Elsevier’s corporate responsibility and partnerships program which focus on promoting women in science, research access in the developing world, popularizing an understanding of peer review and inspiring early career researchers to become ambassadors of sound science. She runs the Foundation’s New Scholars program which supports projects to expand the participation of women in STEM and create a more family friendly academia as well as the Innovative Libraries in Developing Countries program with capacity-building projects in science, technology and medicine—through training, education, infrastructure digitization and preservation of information. She is an active member of the communications team for Research4Life, a unique UN-pan publisher partnership to provide free or low cost access to researchers in the developing world.

Prior to joining Elsevier, Ylann conducted media outreach for Swets Information Services and served as the editor-in-chief of their customer magazine. She has a background in publishing as a writer, editor and researcher for Time Life Books’ historical book series. Ylann has also worked in the nonprofit educational sector, representing the European Platform for Dutch Education at European Commission meetings and educational conferences throughout the EU. Ylann holds an MA in Film & Television Studies from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in English from Amherst College.

Lisa Gill, Foundation Administrator

Lisa manages the Elsevier Foundation’s employee Matching Gift program and provides across the board support for the Elsevier Foundation Board, staff and reviewers. Lisa has worked for Elsevier for over 20 years and is a strong supporter of the company’s corporate responsibility program. Lisa earned a Bachelors Degree in Communications from City College of New York, CUNY.