SSP annual meeting keynotes announced
The Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP) has announced that its keynote speakers for the SSP 38th Annual Meeting, to be held next month in Vancouver, will be David S. Kidder and Margaret-Ann Amour.
Kidder, who will speak on June 2, is the co-founder and CEO of Bionic, an enterprise innovation accelerator and platform. Prior to Bionic, Kidder served as the co-founder and CEO of Clickable, a digital advertising software service, and he also co-founded SmartRay Network, a mobile advertising pioneer. In The Startup Playbook, his insightful interviews with successful startup entrepreneurs reveal the secrets to launching and commercialising successful startups and enterprise innovations.
Kidder will speak about his belief that the entrepreneurial spirit isn't just for startups. On stage, he will profile some of today's best-known entrepreneurs and highlight their individual 'playbooks' for company-building. He will relay their stories, mistakes, common (and successful) strategies, wisdoms, breakthrough moments, management philosophies and techniques with radical transparency.
On June 3, Amour will take the stage. Born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh University (BSc, MSc),and the University of Alberta (PhD), Amour joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Alberta in 1979 and since 2005 has been Associate Dean of Science, Diversity. Her research is in methods for the disposal of small quantities of hazardous chemical waste.
For more than 30 years, Amour has been active in encouraging women to consider careers in the sciences and engineering, and currently is Chair of the Board of the Canadian Centre for Women in Science, Engineering, Trades and Technology, the WinSETT Centre.
Amour will speak about encouraging diversity in scientific communication. Many factors have been identified as slowing the movement of women into STEM-related careers, among them the paucity of role models and mentors, parenting responsibilities, and lingering subconscious stereotypes that influence decision making, for example, in the selection of Board members. She will explore the role of community and professional organisations, industry and academe to address these factors and identify which interventions are most effective.
'We are proud and excited to have a strong set of keynotes at this year’s Annual Meeting, covering topics that are applicable and meaningful to SSP’s membership,' said Annual Meeting Program Committee co-chairs, Laura Ricci and Mary Beth Barilla.
The SSP Annual Meeting, which will be held Westin Bayshore hotel from 1 to 3 June, will also include 27 concurrent sessions featuring an international group of presenters from all areas of scholarly communications: publishers, vendors, librarians, and researchers. Topics to be covered include careers/industry, market insight, global challenges, collaborative solutions, product strategy, business development, standards, and best practices.
