As Executive Director at Dryad, I have oversight of all our operations (including research data curation, publication and preservation, technology maintenance and platform development, community engagement, member recruitment, finance, administration, and board relations &c.!). I’m also charged with developing a strategy to achieve our vision for the open availability of routine research data with the Board of Directors and team – and then make it happen. I joined Dryad after about 10 years at eLife . By that point I had spent 16 years of my career championing open access to the research article, mainly.Read more in my interview with Alice Meadows in the Scholarly Kitchen: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2023/11/22/kitchen-essentials-an-interview-with-jennifer-gibson-of-dryad/

As lead for the very broad 'open research communication', I'm now overseeing eLife's five-department publishing operation and community programs. Our ambitions are: to excel in making important new results openly and widely accessible and read; to make more of the work done in peer review; to enhance how new results are shared and used online; to continue to partner with our communities of editors, authors, referees and early-career researchers; to reform research culture, especially where it intersects with research communication; and to help build a fresh, long-term view on the future of research communication that disaggregates publishing, peer review and curation of research in biology and medicine.

The scope of my work at eLife encompasses: increasing the global profile of what we do through marketing, communications and alliance-building; encouraging scientists to adopt new practices; working with communities of academic editors and early-career scientists; advising on journal and business development; leading teams; and managing relationships with research funders.

Jennifer McLennan has been part of the core team responsible for launching the eLife journal, and setting the organization on its path to influencing system-wide change in research communication. As head of marketing and communications, her responsibilities include the eLife brand strategy and message platform, marketing and communications around journal submissions and content promotion, and staying close to the community of editors that drive the eLife initiative.

At SPARC, I was responsible for the successful and timely realization of programs from conception to public release. SPARC programs advance Open Access to scholarship (primarily published research and data) and range from grassroots legislative activism to organization mobilization on a global scale. Oversight encompassed: program delivery; member retention and recruitment; leveraging emerging technologies to enhance communication and facilitate program adoption; helping to maintain strong partnerships and alliances; program schedules and budgets; and more. Focus was mainly on ensuring the organization’s programs align with member needs.Some of my initiatives included: • Launching a social network to drive participation and success by 1,300 academic and research sites in 94 countries in a global week of awareness for a key initiative (Open Access Week, now in its 10th year); • Centralizing client relationship management to create an integrated view of customers and expand reach into the community (via the open-source CiviCRM); • Designing and executing a member recruitment strategy that expanded membership by 10%; • Tripling participation in a student video contest for Open Access; • Expanding Web-based event programs to increase community engagement (among libraries) despite travel budget cuts; • Creating a legislative action network; • Managing the successful realization of a popular international conference (what became the SPARC Open meeting).

Responsible for marketing strategy design and execution, including securing investor buy-in, for Ad Fontes, LLC (acquired by Alexander Street in 2005). Focused on aligning product value proposition with customer priorities. Expanded the publisher’s customer base by 50%.

Hired as the first marketing manager for this popular publisher of electronic resources in the humanities. Managed new product launches, faculty outreach, centralizing customer relationship management, direct mail campaigns, and more.