Group Executive Board

The Publisher and CEO, G.-Jürgen Hogrefe is the Chairman of the GEB. He has built the Hogrefe Group with a clear strategy, through organic growth and targeted acquisitions in order to continue his father’s vision of the company: A global, scientifically based resource for students, academics and professionals in psychology and related areas, as well as a value-driven workplace for collaborative colleagues.

G.-Jürgen Hogrefe literally grew up in the publishing house, which in his childhood occupied only a few rooms of the Hogrefe family home in Göttingen, Germany. With his interest in both the publishing business and psychology sparked, he followed his school education with an internship at the American Psychological Association (APA) in Washington. D.C., before he studied psychology at the University of Salzburg in Austria, from where he received his PhD. His career in publishing began in 1985 at the Hogrefe office in Berne, Switzerland, and over the more than 35 years he has developed the Hogrefe Group, the company has earned a reputation as the leading European psychology publisher of books, scientific journals and assessments. For several years he has served on the Board of the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers (STM) and presently is the Chairman of the Copyright Committee of the German Book Trade Organization. He also co-founded the European Test Publishers Group (ETPG) in the early 1990’s and since then is in its Board, working to advance scientific quality and European cooperation in psychological assessment.

Nadine Schuchart is responsible in the GEB for Business Development and the IP & Rights Management for the Group. She also oversees the Hogrefe companies in Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic, and is a key executive in running the business in Germany.

Nadine Schuchart grew up in Eastern Germany and is an experienced psychologist with the diploma (Dipl.-Psych.) from the Georg-August University of Göttingen. She joined Hogrefe more than 20 years ago as a staff member in the R&D department at headquarters in Göttingen, and quickly took over managerial responsibilities in publishing, marketing and sales. She built and continues to manage the IP & rights management function, and training and consulting businesses in the German company. She works closely with many Hogrefe authors and partners and has been intimately involved in each of the company acquisitions, resulting in the globalisation of the Hogrefe Publishing Group both in Europe and abroad.

Milagros Antón is responsible for the operations of Hogrefe TEA Ediciones, the leading psychological test publisher in the Spanish-speaking world headquartered in Madrid with four additional locations in Spain and a large distribution network in South America.  She also oversees the Hogrefe companies in Italy, Portugal, and Brazil.

Milagros Antón grew up and studied psychology in Madrid, with clinical and educational specialties and a master's degree in business psychology from ICADE Business School. Due to her extensive experience in psychological publishing and knowledge about Spanish assessments, she has been asked to be a member of the Test Commission of the General Council of Psychology of Spain (Comisión de Test del Consejo General de la Psicología), is in the Advisory Council of Psicofundación (Fundación Española para la promoción y el desarrollo científico y profesional de la Psicología), and the Jury of the Award for Young Entrepreneurial Psychologists (Premio Psicofundación para Jóvenes psicólogos emprendedores). Early in her career she joined TEA Ediciones, now Hogrefe TEA Ediciones, and became their General Manager in 2011.

Pamela Becker’s responsibilities in the GEB cover the fields of Group Marketing and Joint Publishing. In addition, she oversees the group companies in France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Pamela Becker has more than 30 years of experience in publishing market-driven clinical, occupational and educational assessments. Experienced in all aspects of psychological test publishing from development and research through marketing and sales, she often crossed paths with Hogrefe colleagues during her international work with several leading test publishers from the USA. She brought her cross-cultural expertise and leadership skills, sharpened from managing various publishing and marketing teams, to the Hogrefe Group in 2017. She holds a Masters’ in Psychology from the University of Notre Dame and a certificate in International Marketing from DePaul University.

Paulo da Cruz is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Hogrefe Group and is a key executive in running the business in Germany, where he also has the responsibility for Hogrefe’s internal IT department and the distribution and logistics.

Born in Portugal, Paulo da Cruz grew up and was educated in Germany, earning his degree in business administration with a specialization in the fields of controlling, auditing, and taxes from DHBW Villingen-Schwenningen. He joined Hogrefe in 2018 straight from his success as the European Financial Director of a large media company headquartered in Germany, which included restructuring work processes and improving efficiency. His responsibilities cover all financial and economic aspects of the Hogrefe Group, with its complex organization and companies located in different countries and on different continents.

Jarkko Ylikoski directs the digital testing and innovation strategy across the Hogrefe companies for the GEB. He also serves as General Manager of Hogrefe in Finland, and oversees the Hogrefe companies in Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

Jarkko Ylikoski began his career with Hogrefe in Finland in 2014 as General Manager, and is a psychologist who veered into technology, having worked at Nokia for several years and created a technology start-up business. He brings more than 20 years of leadership experience from these positions as well as expertise in product creation, marketing and strategy. He also supports the executive team with strategic forward thinking and planning, as digitalization has become a focus for Hogrefe growth and development. He holds a Masters’ degree in Psychology from the University of Helsinki, the city where he grew up.

Brigitta Hogrefe, with her PhD in psychology from the University of Salzburg in her native Austria, serves in an advisory capacity to the GEB.

Married to G.-Jürgen Hogrefe for more than 35 years, together they have worked to build the Hogrefe Group into an internationally recognized entity. She brings strategic thinking along with institutional knowledge to the executive team, having been supportive and involved with Hogrefe over many years. She has also taken the lead in designing safe, comfortable and functional work environments for the companies of the Hogrefe Group.

Urs Schweizer serves in an advisory capacity to GEB, having joined the Hogrefe Board in Switzerland in this capacity nearly 20 years ago.  

Having grown up in Switzerland and graduating with a PhD in Business Science from the University of Berne, Switzerland, and Rochester, NY in the United States, Urs Schweizer built a career over the past 30 years working in the mainstream media industry in several executive functions. He has overseen acquisitions, change management, and complete restructuring of companies based on the prevailing markets and company growth strategies. He provides an objective and unique perspective on financial and operational topics and contributes to the strategic development of the Hogrefe Group.