The Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) is proud to share that it is continuing to invest in digital transformation and innovation to ensure it can best serve the scientific community.
In February 2024, ACS Publications welcomed two new technology and product leaders: Norma Cernadas as Vice President, Product Management, and Atul Pawar as Chief Technology Officer. In Cernadas’ new role, she will oversee ACS Publications’ product and platform strategy, drive the definition and delivery of products, and manage the product lifecycle. As Chief Technology Officer, Pawar will be responsible for modernizing ACS Publications’ information technology capabilities to support the development of existing and new products and services.
“I am delighted to welcome experienced leaders like Norma and Atul to the Division,” says ACS Publications President James Milne. “We’re excited to see how Atul’s extensive experience in open access, cloud migration and modernization will contribute to significant technological advancements. In addition, Norma will drive the effort to modernize the Division’s existing products and create new and compelling products that improve our ability to meet the needs of the scientific community.”
In her previous role as the Director of Product Marketing for Verizon, Cernadas drove end-to-end product portfolio strategies for artificial intelligence-based employee experiences, customer experiences and security software as a service solutions. She has a strong track record of leadership in developing and implementing global growth strategies, vertical marketing, pipeline generation and go-to-market strategy.
“ACS Publications is well-known for its innovation and high-quality products and services,” says Cernadas. “I look forward to collaborating with my new colleagues to create, and to efficiently and effectively deliver, exceptional products and content.”
Pawar has a strong track record of driving transformative projects to completion, most recently serving as Group Vice President for Business Process and Software Integration at Wiley. During his time there, he modernized multiple systems and applications, including Wiley’s e-commerce platform, and he also consolidated or upgraded eight major enterprise platforms in four years.
“I’m excited to take on the challenge of leading the advancement of digital transformation at ACS Publications,” says Pawar. “I appreciate the mission at ACS, and I look forward to bringing my insights and perspectives to a new organization with a focus on the right priorities.”
In addition to these key hires, ACS Publications is working alongside ChronosHub to build an innovative platform for scientific publishing that will make it easier for every author, reviewer and editor to contribute to the scholarly record through ACS journals. The development of this new publishing experience will extend ACS Publications’ ability to provide leading solutions to publishers, institutions and funders, fueling necessary and beneficial digital transformation across the publishing landscape.
These investments in the future of ACS Publications will ensure that it can continue to support the mission of ACS to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people by partnering with the scientific community. ACS Publications will continue to publish the most trusted, cited and read portfolio of journals in the chemical and related sciences.