WASHINGTON — Jasper Simons, a senior executive with wide experience in the publishing industry who currently oversees the association’s PsycINFO® family of databases, will be the next APA publisher, APA CEO Norman Anderson, PhD, announced today. Simons will succeed Gary VandenBos, PhD, who is retiring at the end of the year.
Simons currently oversees the business, operational and editorial aspects of PsycINFO, the world’s leading discovery platform for the behavioral sciences, and other specialty databases such as PsycTESTS®. In addition, Simons oversees the product strategy for APA’s online hosting platform, PsycNET®. Leading research institutions across the world subscribe to PsycNET to provide their end users with access to the latest research content from APA.
“Over the last few years Gary VandenBos and I have had numerous conversations about the need to ensure an orderly transition in the leadership of APA’s publishing activities given how critical that operation is to accomplishing our mission,” said Anderson.
“In Gary’s search for the PsycINFO publisher, there was always an eye toward hiring someone who had the potential to become APA publisher. Jasper Simons is that person and an outstanding choice for the APA publisher position. He combines deep product development experience with a collaborative approach to innovation and a thorough understanding of the publishing needs of researchers, educators and clinicians,” said Anderson.
VandenBos has been collaborating with and mentoring Simons over that last few months and will continue to do so until he retires in December, and thereafter as a consultant.
“Gary VandenBos is a tough act to follow, but we are extremely fortunate to have someone with Jasper’s strong publishing industry experience in areas relevant to APA, and we look forward to having him lead our publishing operation and continue our high standard of excellence,” said Anderson.
“It is an honor to take over the publishing program of APA, one of the world’s leading scholarly associations. I will look to expand upon the trusted titles and solutions that Gary VandenBos and his team have built,” said Simons.
Prior to joining APA, Simons was the vice president of product and market strategy at Thomson Reuters from 2012 to 2014. There, he managed products and services for publishers and associations. During his tenure, he advanced the ScholarOne Manuscript and ScholarOne Abstract software solutions, most notably by developing their ReviewerLocator solution and by building a robust Web services infrastructure to enable product and data integrations for publishers.
Simons joined Thomson Reuters after leading product development for the professional division of SAGE Publications, and releasing an innovative new platform for those interested in the social networks in national politics.
Earlier in his career, Simons held a number of business and leadership positions with leading publishing companies. Simons was the vice president and publisher of the clinical oncology journals for the Cancer Information Group in Dallas. Simons also ran the journals division for the American Anthropological Association in Washington. Before that, Simons was the business manager for Elsevier’s ScienceDirect sales division in New York.
Simons, a Dutch native, has a BSc in agricultural business and an MA in international relations.