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During eight years as a Senior Scientist in the Fluid Process Chemicals Department and as Group Leader in the Bioprocessing Research Group at Rohm and Haas, Expert developed polymeric materials with controlled morphology and functionality for applications as diverse as ion exchange, enzyme immobilization, and preparative chromatography. His activity resulted in two patented resins (a low-rinse acrylic anion exchanger and a carrier for enzyme immobilization) and the commercial introduction of the large pore members of the Amberchrom line of preparative chromatographic packings.

Expert is experienced with the control of polymer morphology through reaction conditions. He has controlled polymer functionality through sulfonation, amination, Fridel-Craft additions, and the use of functional monomers. He has supported the polymerization process scale-up from lab to pilot to full-scale manufacturing.

In his R&D management role, Expert was active in a team charged with improving research productivity. A stage gate management system was identified as the tool most likely to achieve that objective and was subsequently implemented throughout the division. During his assignment in the Research Planning Group, he completed a full portfolio analysis of the Research Division's projects. The analyzed data formed the base of the annual review of the division's activities for senior management. It also pointed at areas where a change in the portfolio balance would improve alignment for R&D activities with business objectives.

Expert supported a company's decision to enter a new market with a technology analysis; it was shown that a combination of that technology, with one of the company's core competencies, was in the emerging phase and could provide significant returns on R&D investments.

As an independent technology management consultant, Expert has used both statistical and content analysis of the technical literature to complete technology assessments and competitive analysis. This information has been used by his clients to identify partners, make technology acquisition decisions, and benchmark the performance of their technologies versus competitors in general and "best in class" companies in particular. To support these activities, Expert has developed the COMPTRACK(TM) Microsoft Office applications that captures and organizes the typically highly fragmented internally generated competitive information and the TechnoProfile(TM) methodology that analyzes corporate technology portfolios and provides data in a standard format that facilitates comparison of various companies.


As a research manager, Expert has led a group of up to 33 PhD chemists and technicians. He had responsibility for ion-exchange resins product development, application development, and North American Technical Service. During that period, Expert developed cooperative research programs with other companies and academic laboratories. This resulted in the development and successful commercial introduction of two solid acid catalysts. He was also involved in the transfer of technology from the research laboratory in the US to manufacturing sites in Europe and Japan. Expert is knowledgeable of polymer structure and performance relationships in solid acid-base catalysis, enzyme immobilization, water treatment and waste minimization, solid-phase synthesis, adsorption and desorption, and preparative chromatography.

Expert's recent experience includes developing a polymeric reverse phase chromatographic packing suitable for preparative separation of polypeptides and small proteins, which allow penetration of a new, high-profit market segment. He managed a joint industrial-academic laboratory program that demonstrated the superiority of a new catalyst in a major petrochemical application. Expert also helped a pharmaceutical company set up specifications and find suitable suppliers of a key polymeric ingredient.

Over the last three years, Expert, President and CTO of Polymer Phases, Inc., has developed some novel high molecular weight polyesters based solely on renewable resources. These materials are currently being evaluated in a variety of applications and a provisional US patent application has been filed.

Most of Expert's corporate and consulting 28 year career has been in radical polymerization research.
Through this experience, Expert has learned how to control the chemistry and morphology of polymeric materials, and acquired an in-depth understanding of the way in which these parameters impact on their interaction with small organic molecules as well as large biological products such as peptides and proteins. He has applied this knowledge to the development of novel products and processes in water and waste water treatment, chromatography, bioprocessing, catalysis and solid phase synthesis.

As a research manager, Expert lead the product, process and applications development effort of the World’s largest ion exchange resins manufacturer. In that management function, he was also involved in the business planning process. This combination of business experience and scientific skills allows him to propose solutions to problems that are not only technically sound but also economically viable and consistent with corporate capabilities and business objectives.