Frank Vrancken Peeters joined Springer Nature in 2017 as Chief Commercial Officer and became CEO in September 2019. He has spent more than 25 years in the media and publishing sectors, with leadership roles across a range of strategic and delivery business functions in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer contexts. Frank has previously had senior positions at: Wolters Kluwer, where he was Regional Managing Director, Legal and Regulatory, Western Europe; at Infinitas Learning, where he was Chief Operating Officer; and Elsevier Science, where he served as MD Government and Academic Markets, MD ScienceDirect and MD Global Sales, in each case building and growing significant-scale, complex international businesses. Frank holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Alexandra Dambeck joined Springer Nature in January 2024. Prior to that, over more than twenty years with Fresenius Medical Care, Alexandra worked in various roles across the global healthcare group and in different locations. This included responsibility for Finance and Accounting in Europe, Efficiency Programs in the US and the Global Functions Research & Development and Manufacturing & Supply Chain as CFO. She started her career at KPMG and also worked for international company, Dyckerhoff.
Carolyn Honour is a pharmacist by background and has worked in medical and research publishing for more than 25 years. She joined Springer Science+Business Media in 2009 - following previous periods at Informa Healthcare and PJB Publications - with editorial and publishing roles in biomedical and pharmaceutical sciences. In 2014 Carolyn became Managing Director of Springer Healthcare. She was appointed to the Management Board and joined the Executive Team of Springer Nature in January 2021 and leads the Research Sales and Marketing organisation.
Rachel Jacobs holds postgraduate diplomas in Law and Legal Practice from the College of Law, as well as a degree in Environmental Science from the University of Leeds. As an experienced corporate lawyer, she has held roles at CMS Cameron McKenna and various senior positions in the legal team at the FTSE listed media business, Informa plc.
Rachel joined Macmillan Science and Education as Global General Counsel in 2011, before taking up her role at Springer Nature in May 2015.
Harsh Jegadeesan joined Springer Nature in 2022 as Chief Solutions Officer and was appointed Chief Publishing Officer in March 2023. Harsh is responsible for the continued growth of our journal and book publishing businesses and for driving our leadership of open access.
Harsh has over 20 years of experience leading diverse global teams to innovate, incubate and scale new digital products and platforms to drive significant business growth. Previously, Harsh was the Vice President of Products and Strategy at SAP SE.
Harsh trained as an engineer and holds a PhD in Computer Science from BITS, Pilani India and has completed the Accelerated Development Program at the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business.
Marc Spenlé joined Springer Nature in 2022 as Chief Operating Officer. He has spent over 20 years in technology and telecommunication companies, in different leadership roles, leading diverse and global teams, ranging from technology, integration and software architecture, to operations and customer facing roles, in business and consumer related envrionments. He served in various executive and C-level roles in Barco NV, Vodafone Germany, Vodafone Group and in IBM. Marc is a trained process engineer (Dipl.ing.) and a systemic business coach.
Reto Andreoli joined Springer Nature in 2020 as Executive Vice President, Management Reporting, Planning and Analysis from 1 October. He began his career in the audit department at KPMG and moved on to senior finance and controlling positions at LafargeHolcim und the Swarovski group. Reto graduated in business administration and holds a Post-graduate Diploma in Financial Strategy and International Finance from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford. He is also a Certified Public Accountant from the Swiss Institute of Public/Chartered Accountants.
Maria Castresana is the Chief People Officer at Springer Nature, and she brings more than 25 years of international experience with a strong focus in life sciences to her role. Born in Bilbao, Spain, Maria has lived and worked in multiple countries, including Germany and the United States, and is currently based in Munich. Maria holds degrees in Law and Business Administration from the University of Deusto and a Master in HR Management with focus on Emerging Markets from Rutgers University. Throughout her career, she has worked in both listed and family-owned companies across the chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industries, holding diverse roles in Global and Local HR Management, International Compensation, Corporate Talent Strategy, M&A and ultimately as Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). She is also a Certified Board Member by the Deutsche Börse /Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Steven Inchcoombe read Physics at Merton College, Oxford and qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC. From 1990 to 2000, Steven was at Interactive Data Corporation, where he ultimately became responsible for strategy, M&A and the EMEA region, and during this period the business became listed on NASDAQ. He then moved on to Board positions with the Financial Times Group, including UK Publisher of the Financial Times and Managing Director of ft.com.
Steven joined the Macmillan Board in 2006. From 2007 to 2013, he led the Nature Publishing Group (NPG), and in 2013 became CEO of Macmillan’s Science and Scholarly division, comprising NPG, Scientific American and Palgrave Macmillan.
After founding Springer Nature in May 2015, he was appointed Managing Director of the Nature Research Group. From March 2016 – 2022 he was Chief Publishing Officer at Springer Nature. In February 2023 he was appointed to President, Research.
Joachim Krieger holds an MBA from the University of Stuttgart. He started his career at the Württembergische Metallwarenfabrik (WMF), where he worked in different sales positions and in 1996 was eventually appointed Head of Sales and Service for WMF Coffee Machines Germany. In 2000 Joachim became Director of the Heinrich Vogel Verlag and subsequently held different positions in the Professional division of Springer Nature. In October 2019 he was appointed Managing Director Education & Professional.
A history graduate from the University of Leeds, Joyce Lorigan has spent more than 25 years in communications. Recent London-based roles include Vice President Global Communications of FTSE 100 company Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG plc) and Vice President Corporate Communications for the Walt Disney group of companies in EMEA. Joyce also spent three years as Director of Alliance Marketing for EuroDisney SCA based in Paris. She joined Macmillan Science and Education as Global Communications Director in 2012 and following its merger with Springer, became Executive Vice President of Communications of Springer Nature. She now serves as Group Head of Corporate Affairs, is a member of the Springer Nature Executive Team and leads the company’s sustainability programme. Joyce chaired the Board of London-based business partnership Urban Partners from 2014-2017. She is currently Chair of STM Association Strategic Communication Committee and a Board member of leading UK conservation charity, the Marine Conservation Society.
Saskia Steinacker joined Springer Nature in 2024 as Chief Digital Officer. She has spent over 15 years in Healthcare leading diverse, global teams to transform new technologies into practical solutions, platforms and products. Previously, she was the Senior Vice President Strategy & Digital Transformation at Bayer. She has been appointed to various expert groups for Artificial Intelligence by the European Commission as well as the World Economic Forum. Saskia holds a Diploma in Communication Design as well as an MBA in Marketing.
Matthias Wissel joined Springer Nature in 2009 as Managing Director New Media & IT for Springer Medizin and became the CEO of Springer Nature Technology and Publishing Solutions at Pune/India in 2016. He has spent over 20 years in consulting, media, technology and publishing sectors in different leadership roles, and has led multiple business transformations. Matthias has a master’s degree in Business Administration and Management / Controlling from the University for Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt-Aschaffenburg.
