Silverchair Appoints Will Schweitzer as CEO

NISO Member News

Charlottesville, VA | September 22, 2023

Silverchair, the leading independent content management, product enablement, and digital transformation platform for publishers, today announced that Will Schweitzer has been appointed to serve as Chief Executive Officer. Silverchair Co-Founder and CEO, Thane Kerner, has been appointed Chair of the Board of Directors. In that role, he will continue his active involvement in developing and supporting company vision, strategy, and innovation. Kerner remains the largest individual shareholder in Silverchair.

Will Schweitzer joined Silverchair in February 2019 as SVP of Product Management. He came to Silverchair after nearly 20 years with academic, scholarly, and professional publishing organizations including AAAS/Science Magazine, SAGE, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and the American Psychological Association. He has previously served as Silverchair's Chief Product and Customer Success Officer, and then most recently as its President.

Since joining Silverchair, Schweitzer has focused on ensuring Silverchair’s products and services meet the evolving needs of associations, societies, and publishers. This includes launching new products, like Sensus Impact, investing in Silverchair’s client community and programming, and enhancing the core Silverchair Platform to support new content types and enable publishers to deliver far greater value to their customers, end users, and stakeholders.

2023 marks thirty years since Kerner launched Silverchair with co-founder Elizabeth Willingham. Serving as CEO for those three decades, he led the company as it became a key player in the global transition of scholarly communications from print to digital. Silverchair, now home to more than 400 publishers, is the leading independent platform delivering scholarly and professional content and data. Most recently, Kerner led the company to attract a substantial growth investment partnership, supporting ambitious new expansion programs to enable its publishers to compete, grow, and thrive in an increasingly complex commercial environment. As Chair of the Board, he will help guide the firm’s long-term strategy, and will continue to participate in pan-industry initiatives.

“We must continue to create the conditions that sustain a broad community of heterogeneous voices across the global research community. That means providing the capabilities and the scale to allow publishers of every size to retain autonomy and make unique contributions,” said Kerner. “Silverchair remains committed to enabling a diverse ecosystem of knowledge creators, and Will brings a singular amalgam of skills, experience, and vision to drive that mission forward. Our professional synergy has helped Silverchair to thrive, and I look forward to what we can do next.”

“Thane’s ambition and vision for the company were a big part of why I joined Silverchair. We’ve worked closely together to grow Silverchair and expand our incredible client community,” said Schweitzer. “Thane’s vision is very important to me and our leadership team. Silverchair—including all our talented delivery, go-to-market, product, and technology staff—will remain focused on helping publishers fulfill their missions by leveraging technology to fulfill the greatest promise of scholarship. Thane and I are very aligned and I’m thankful for all his support and continued partnership as we build on our success.”

About This Organization

About Silverchair:
Silverchair is the leading independent platform partner for scholarly and professional publishers, serving our growing community through flexible technology and unparalleled services. We build and host websites, online products, and digital libraries for our clients’ content, enabling researchers and professionals to maximize their contributions to our world. Our vision is to help publishers thrive, evolve, and fulfill their missions.
www.silverchair.com