Management Team
Shu-Kun Lin, Ph.D. (Chief Executive Officer)
Shu-Kun Lin graduated with a BSc from Wuhan University in January 1982; he also studied physical chemistry at the Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (1982–1986, MSc in 1985) and at the University of Louisville, USA (1987–1989). He completed his doctorate on organic chemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH-Zürich) in 1992 and subsequently worked at Ciba-Geigy Ltd. (Basel, Switzerland) for three years. He was also a member of Prof. Dr. B. Giese’s group (Organic Chemistry Institute, University of Basel) as a postdoctoral research associate for 6 months in 1996. In the same year, he initiated the sample collection and exchange project; to implement this, he founded the international organization MDPI in Switzerland, launching its inaugural journal, Molecules. He is the founder or co-founder of several other open-access journals, including but not limited to Entropy (1999), the International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2000), Sensors (2001), Marine Drugs (2003), and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2004). He became the Editor-in-Chief of the Springer Verlag journal Molecular Diversity in 2002 and held this position until his resignation in June 2007. He is the principal author of over 40 publications.
Yu Lin, Ph.D. (Chief Operating Officer)
Dr. Yu Lin graduated with a BSc from Wuhan University of Technology in June 2010, majoring in materials chemistry before working as research assistant in the Experimental Teaching Center of WHUT (2010-2011) while working as a part-time editorial assistant for the MDPI international scientific journal Materials. Dr. Yu Lin obtained his MSc in advanced energy materials from Wuhan University of Technology (2014). During this period, he worked as part-time R&D technician for WUT New Energy Co., Ltd. In 2018, he graduated with a PhD in Materials physics and chemistry from Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen (Germany), after studying for 4 years in the group of Prof. Dr. Werner Lehnert at the Laboratory of High Temperature Fuel Cell - IEK-3, Jülich Research Center (Germany). In the last 3 years, Yu has been working closely with the President and the CEO supporting them in various operational areas of MDPI. He has also been a member of the Board of Directors since 2015.
Giulia Stefenelli, Ph.D. (Chair of Scientific Board)
Dr. Giulia Stefenelli holds a bachelor's and a master's degree in Environmental Sciences and Technologies (2015) from the Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca (Milano, Italy). She completed her PhD (2019) in Atmospheric Sciences at the ETH Zurich (Zurich, Switzerland) with a focus on atmospheric chemistry and organic aerosol research. She wrote her doctoral thesis on the identification and chemical characterization of major sources of particulate matter in ambient air, including an investigation of major gas phase emissions. She joined MDPI in June 2020 as an Assistant Editor and Scientific Officer for the environmental portfolio of journals. In March 2021, she was appointed as Chair of the Scientific Board with the responsibility of developing a team, in connection with academia, to maintain editorial practices and enhance the portfolio of scientific journals, promoting their growth in line with industry and academic standards.
Aleksandra Cuculovic (Head of Finance)
Aleksandra joined MDPI as financial assistant in June 2014. She holds a Bachelor degree in Economics with major in Operations Management. From October 2018 to October 2019, she served as Financial Coordinator where she was responsible for internal financial processes and reporting. From November 2019, she worked as Financial Controller, responsible for cost controlling, annual reporting and budget planning. Currently, as Head of Finance, Aleksandra oversees all MDPI ’s financial operations and supervises the finance teams working in MDPI subsidiaries around the world.
Stefan Tochev (Head of Marketing and Communications)
Stefan Tochev joined MDPI in August 2020. He graduated from the University of Guelph (Canada) with a BA Honors in Sociology and has a Post Diploma in Marketing Management from George Brown College (Canada). With over 10 years of experience as a Project Manager and Research Project Consultant for global qualitative market research studies mainly in the field of pharmaceuticals and healthcare, he believes market research and insight strategy are key pillars for effective brand marketing and communications.
Peter Roth (Head of Publishing)
With a career in publishing going back to 1986, Peter Roth has witnessed the development of the Open Access publishing concept since its inception. Peter, who joined MDPI in 2019, has a keen focus on ensuring that the Open Access model delivers a ‘triple win’: success for our customers, success for ourselves as a company, and success for the scientific community at large. He was for many years Director of the Editorial Division of Karger Publishers, a worldwide publisher of scientific and medical content based in Basel, Switzerland. Peter has extensive experience of editorial strategy, publication concept development and management, and new business development and customer relationship management on all continents, especially in Asia. Within MDPI, he has overseen the establishment of a range of new journals and books, reorganised editorial governance, and set up our first office in Japan.
Laura Wagner (Head of Books Division)
Laura holds a Bachelor degree in Art History and History from the University of Basel. After her studies, she started her career at an art gallery in Basel. Since joining MDPI in 2014, she held several roles within the firm. This included editorial work, development of reprint and book services and the temporary management of the journal Arts. Currently Laura holds the role Books Manager and is in charge of the development and strategic direction of MDPI Books.
MDPI Board of Directors
