Management Team
Stefan Tochev (Chief Executive Officer)
Stefan Tochev joined MDPI in August 2020. He graduated from the University of Guelph (Canada) with a BA Honors in Sociology and holds 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 market research studies, mainly in the field of pharmaceuticals and healthcare, he believes that market research and insight strategy are key pillars for effective brand marketing and communications. Under his leadership, MDPI’s corporate marketing department has expanded and successfully elevated our brand awareness. In 2022, Stefan further honed his leadership skills by completing an intensive altMBA workshop, applying the acquired knowledge to drive meaningful change and foster a culture of opportunity within our organization. He is dedicated to creating a positive work environment to enhance employee engagement and satisfaction.
Alistair Freeland, Executive MBA (Chief Operating Officer)
Alistair Freeland initially joined MDPI in February 2006, supporting Dr. Shu-Kun Lin as an editor of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. In 2008, he graduated from the University of St. Gallen with a degree in Business Administration. From 2008 to 2013 he worked at IBM, with responsibilities in the areas of IT delivery and IT service management. From 2013 to 2019, Alistair served as a member of MDPI's executive team in his capacity as Chief Operating Officer (COO). In 2020, he joined SIX Group, where he played a significant role in developing the digital asset platform SDX (SIX Digital Exchange) as a Senior Product Manager. He also founded the not-for-profit scholarly webcast platform Leadwire. Alistair rejoined MDPI in October 2023. He also holds a degree in Performing Arts from the University of East Anglia and an Executive MBA from the University of St. Gallen.
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.
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.
Constanze Schelhorn, PhD (Head of Indexing)
Dr. Constanze Schelhorn holds a master’s degree in Physics from the University of Würzburg, Germany, and completed her PhD at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, in collaboration with the Institute for Research in Biomedicine Barcelona, Spain. Constanze joined MDPI in June 2016 and has worked in several editorial roles until 2019. Then, she was appointed Publisher, focusing on establishing collaborations with learned societies, and has acted as Project Manager for JAMS (Journal and Article Management System) since May 2020. Constanze supported the Board of Scientific Officers since its inception as Scientific Officer for Physical Sciences until December 2022. Since January 2023, Constanze has led MDPI's indexing department, focusing on external outreach and communication with all relevant partnering databases. In this role, she has the primary responsibility for indexing MDPI’s growing portfolio of journal titles, books, and preprints.
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.
Kurtis Jackson (Head of Author Services)
Kurtis Jackson first joined MDPI in 2016. He holds a first-class Bachelor’s degree in French and Spanish and a Master’s degree in Translation Studies from Cardiff University. In 2019, he opened and established MDPI’s office in Manchester, UK. After serving as Office Manager for two years, he became Head of English Editing, contributing to MDPI’s efficient and high-quality service to authors. He is committed to developing MDPI’s Author Services to support authors more fully in the writing and publication of their research.
MDPI Board of Directors
