CABI News

16 November 2017 – After 26 years of working at CABI, Chief Information Officer, Andrea Powell, will leave the organisation at the end of 2017 to develop a portfolio of interests. These will include consulting, serving as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of the Pharmaceutical Press, and working alongside her husband, Mark, in their craft cider-making business, Red Dog.

Andrea joined CABI in 1991 and has since moved through roles in product development, publishing management and, most recently, as CABI’s first CIO. During that time, Andrea has overseen the transformation of CABI’s publishing programme into an almost entirely digital operation, and into a knowledge business that supports CABI’s global mission of solving problems in agriculture and the environment.

Outside CABI, Andrea has become widely known and respected within the world of Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) publishing. Information Age recognised her with the ‘best in class Data 50’ award in the public sector and non-profit category in 2016, and nominated her CIO of the year in 2017.

“I joined CABI back in 1991 on a one-year contract, responsible for marketing our early range of electronic products – we were using floppy disks in those days! Since then, I’ve overseen much transformation. In addition to our more traditional STM publications, CABI’s Plantwise Knowledge Bank and the Open Access Invasive Species Compendium are just two examples of innovative information resources which aim to transfer practical and evidence-based advice to researchers, practitioners and farmers in both developed and developing countries. I’ve had a hugely rewarding career with CABI, but I’m now looking forward to a change and the chance to pursue other interests,” says Andrea.

CABI now launches its search for a Managing Director for Publishing, a role that will focus on the continuing transformation of CABI’s publishing business into an added-value agricultural research support programme. The role will also continue to align the publishing capabilities of the organisation more closely with international development.

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