Happy New Year!! Have just learned that after four years as Chief Executive Officer of Swets, Arie Jongejan has decided to fulfill his plan to retire. This decision became effective December 31, 2008. Under Arie’s leadership, Swets was led successfully through a change in ownership and helped establish a positive relationship with the new shareholders and the Supervisory Board. The process to appoint a successor is underway. The Executive Board of Swets, under the leadership of Siebe van Elsloo, will continue to deliver plans for 2009.
www.swets.com/

And just learned from Ed Pentz in the CrossRef Quarterly (January 2009) that Amy Brand has left CrossRef to become Program Manager at the Harvard University Office of Scholarly Communications. Ed reminds us that Amy was with CrossRef for over seven years and played a major role in CrossRef’s success during its formative years. Ed also mentioned a couple of other additions to the CrossRef staff -- Kirsty Meddings joined at the end of October as Product Manager, focusing initially on CrossCheck, and Carol Meyer joined as Business Development and Product Manager in November. Also learned that the following individuals were elected to the Board for 3-year terms: Tim Ingoldsby, AIP, Linda Beebe, APA, Paul Reekie, CSIRO, Anthony Durniak, IEEE, Patricia Shaffer, Informs, and Rebecca Simon, University of California Press. AND, at the November meeting the board elected Bob Campbell as Chairman and President, Linda Beebe as Vice Chairman and Treasurer, Ed Pentz as Executive Director and Secretary and Lisa Hart as Assistant Secretary.
www.crossref.org/

Swets has completed the acquisition of Boekhandel E. Frencken B.V., the Dutch based book and journal seller. According to the conditions of the acquisition agreement, the business name Boekhandel E. Frencken B.V. will change to Frencken Information Services B.V., keeping the reputable Frencken name and continuing to offer the same level of service from its location in Eindhoven. Boekhandel E. Frencken B.V. handles books and subscriptions for businesses, institutions, and municipalities in the Netherlands and elsewhere for more than 50 years. In addition to maintaining the family-branded name, Mr. Frencken and his son, Mathieu, will remain with the company and continue to run and operate their business in Eindhoven. The 28 full-time staff currently employed by Frencken will also remain in their existing positions. Boekhandel E. Frencken B.V., based in Eindhoven just across from the PSV Football stadium, was founded in 1951 by the parents of the current director, Mr. Eugène Frencken. The bookseller which was at first mainly aimed at private sales has become more and more specialized in commercial supplies of books and subscriptions.
http://www.swets.com