Meet the Digital Science Management Board and Advisory Board
Welcome to Digital Science. At the heart of our mission to create a future where a trusted, frictionless, collaborative research ecosystem drives progress for all is a team of dedicated leaders and advisors who bring a wealth of experience, vision, and innovation. Our Management Board drives our business with strategic insight and a passion for excellence, while our Advisory Board provides invaluable guidance and expertise to ensure we remain at the forefront of our industry.
Each team member plays a crucial role in shaping our company’s success, sharing a commitment to our core values of bravery, collaboration, curiosity, and community. Together, they bring decades of leadership experience across the research, academic, government, and publishing industries and sectors. We invite you to learn more about the people leading the way at Digital Science.
Management Board
Daniel Hook
Chief Executive Officer
Stephen Leicht
President
Mario Diwersy
Chief Technology Officer
Fedor Zeyer
Chief Financial Officer
Claire Fox
Chief People Officer
Alison Mitchell
Chief Strategy and Business Officer
Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board is dedicated to enhancing our connection and alignment with the communities we proudly serve, ensuring meaningful engagement and impactful collaboration.
Our Advisory Board will offer strategic guidance and critical insights to keep us on a path of innovation and transparency, ensuring we deliver responsible, reliable advancements to the communities that trust us. Its six members cover a breadth of experience in industries such as research funding, strategy and policy, academic research management, pharmaceutical research and drug discovery, and cutting-edge technology development.
The Advisory Board meets four times a year to discuss key issues facing the wider research ecosystem, providing insights and recommendations on various topics crucial to the strategic growth and operational excellence of Digital Science.
The Digital Science Advisory Board members are:
Jackie Hunter
Board chair Biocortex, Brainomix and the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst
Jackie Hunter has extensive experience of pharmaceutical research and drug development, having run a global R&D organization within GSK, and also has been CEO of an SME. She was Chief Executive of the BBSRC for the UK government and has worked extensively with both academic and industry partners. Jackie is an experienced NED and charity Trustee, and is currently chair of the boards of Brainomix Ltd, Bicortex Ltd and the Stevenage Bioscience Catalyst, and also sits on the board of AStar in Singapore and is chair of AStar’s Digital Health Accelerator Hub Evaluation Committee. She is a past chair of the Trustees of the Sainsbury lab at Norwich, UK, and a former board director of BenevolentAI.
Chonnettia Jones
President and Executive Director, Addgene
Chonnettia Jones is the President and Executive Director at Addgene, a life sciences repository dedicated to accelerating scientific discovery and innovation by providing scientists around the world with access to high-quality research materials. With over 20 years’ experience in the nonprofit sector, Chonnettia has held leadership roles in purpose-driven organizations in Canada, UK/Europe, and US, where she has made contributions to advancing science and health research. Her leadership in championing open science, responsible research assessment and equitable research is reflected in her participation on various international advisory boards in science, technology, and scholarly communications.
Linda O’Brien
Adjunct Professor, Griffith University, Australia and CEO of the Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory
Linda O’Brien is a highly experienced senior executive, board director and consultant who has successfully delivered operational, transformational and strategic initiatives within the academic and community sectors. With a background in education, research, information management, technology, leadership, management and governance, Professor O’Brien brings a unique breadth and depth of experience to her roles. Her passion is to unlock the power of data to create public value, in research and education and across government and the community sectors, driving innovation, productivity improvements and improved policy outcomes.
Hemai Parthasarathy
Formerly Head of Rapid Evaluation, Google X
Hemai Parthasarathy is a scientific leader who most recently directed the Rapid Evaluation team at Alphabet’s innovation lab, X (formerly Google [X]). Previously, as Scientific Director of The Thiel Foundation, she established Breakout Labs, a philanthropic program to support scientist-entrepreneurs in the creation of new businesses. Hemai was also a founding partner and CSO of Breakout Ventures, focusing on deep-technology investments. Prior to her work with science-based startups, Hemai was a founding editor at PLOS and a North American editor for the international science magazine Nature. She holds a PhD in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from MIT.
Benoit Schillings
Chief Technology Officer, Google X
Benoit Schillings oversees a portfolio of early-stage project teams that dream up, prototype and de-risk X’s next generation of moonshots. Benoit’s team take out-there ideas for positive world-changing technologies from ‘what if?’ to early prototype. Originally from Belgium, Benoit has worked in Silicon Valley for over 30 years holding senior technical roles at Yahoo, Nokia and Be.Inc, and holds more than 40 U.S. and international patents related to his work in hardware and software technology. Benoit is the father of two wonderful daughters, and when he’s not working on moonshots he can be found on his roof, gazing at the beauty of the night sky through his homemade telescopes.
Joanne Sheppard
Advisor, Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
Joanne Sheppard has worked globally for more than 20 years in high-impact scientific communication and early-stage technology start ups. Currently, she is Advisor to the Holtzbrinck Group, a non-executive director of Scismic, and board observer of DeSci Labs. Previously she was non-executive director of LabGuru, Senior Vice President for Strategy and M&A for Science and Technology at Holtzbrinck, Vice President of Business Development for Cell Press, and Vice President of Editorial for Elsevier Science and Technology Books.
