It is with mixed feelings that I announce that our Executive Director, Trisha Cruse, plans to retire later this year. I’m sad that Trisha will be leaving us, grateful for all the work Trisha has done for DataCite, but also happy that our friend and colleague will be able to take on new life adventures.
As many of you will know, Trisha has been with DataCite from day one. Trisha was there when on December 1, 2009 DataCite was founded in London. At the time she represented California Digital Library (CDL), one of the founding organizations of DataCite. During the following 5 years (2009-2014), Trisha served as a dedicated board member on the DataCite board, contributing to DataCite’s initial expansion.
In 2015, Trisha agreed to join DataCite as Executive Director. At this time DataCite had 35 members. Major statutes changes opened DataCite membership to the broader research community and a reduction in fees lowered the barrier to join DataCite, hereby nearly doubling membership to 68 organizations at the end of 2017. The success continues and DataCite is now on a good path to sustainability with currently 161 members and growing.
Among Trisha’s many accomplishments, I’d specifically like to highlight how she managed to change the perception of DataCite, establishing DataCite as an important player in the research community. DataCite is now a recognized organization that has a seat at the table when PID and infrastructure discussions are held. In addition, she managed to build an amazing staff, growing DataCite from 3 to 8 staff members in just a couple of years. I fully believe that her dedicated team will be able to continue on the path that Trisha has set out.
Trisha is planning to retire on August 31, 2019, but has kindly agreed to stay on until a successful transition to a new ED has taken place. DataCite will therefore start its search for a new Executive Director immediately. The job description can be found on our website. We will also be posting an announcement on the DataCite blog and will inform people through our various communication channels of our progress. If you have any questions about the process or the position, please don’t hesitate to contact me .
Let me end this blog post by thanking Trisha for her great dedication to DOIs and data, and all the great work she has done. We owe Trisha our gratitude for her service to DataCite. She will be missed.
