My focus

My focus is on helping to ensure that both individual scientists and engineers as well as organizations embrace diversity, justice, respect and equity and that scientists and engineers have the skills to innovate sustainable solutions for the challenges of the 21st century!

Here, you’ll find some of my thoughts, writings and presentations on these important topics.  Please take a look around the site. If you have any questions, I’d love to try and answer them.

Who am I?

In a career that has spanned 40+ years, I have served in executive and leadership positions in R&D and operations at some of the world’s top brands - including as Vice-President Research and Development/Corporate Officer at Henkel Corporation the North American operating arm of the Henkel Group, Global Vice President for Research and Development at Pepsi-Cola, and Global Director of R&D/Corporate CTO, Vice-President and Corporate Officer at IFF. In each case I was the first woman in those roles, and I remain committed to make sure I am not the last, by paying forward.. And I am honored to have my work recognized with awards including the Francis Garvin-John Olin medal of the American Chemical Society, Fellow of the American Chemical Society, and as an Alexander von Humboldt Innovative Networking Alumni Prize.

Today, I continue to work to translate my corporate experience into building the brands, technologies and leaders of tomorrow. To do this I have embraced new roles including as the founder and managing director of ecosVC, a venture development and training company; co-founder of the Chemical Angel Network, an angel group funding stage start-ups in the chemical sciences; a member of the Board of Directors/Advisors of several start-up companies and co-founder and/or funder of others. In efforts to train the next generation of STEM professionals with ecosVC training programs, I have been honored to be a Professor of Practice at both Oregon State University and the University of Southern Mississippi, as well as having served at the National Science Foundation in roles that include as former Program Director for the IGERT Program, member of the Math and Physical Sciences Advisory Board, and member and chair of the Waterman Committee.

I am honored to have been able to contribute to important academic, professional and industrial organizations. My current and previous positions include: Member of the Board of Directors of the American Chemical Society, the Industrial Research Institute, and the Educational Foundation of the Commercial Development and Marketing Association; Member of the Conference Board Advisory Board for Technology Conferences; Member of the Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology of the National Research Council; Member of the Math and Physical Sciences Advisory Board and Member and Chair of the Waterman Award Committee of the National Science Foundation; Chair of the Education and Outreach Committee of the Intangible Asset Finance Society; and Member of the Board of Advisors of the University of Maryland College of Life Sciences.

My research and the innovation training program, Lens of the Market, provided through ecosVC have been and continue to be dedicated to supporting and fostering diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). For it is ONLY with respect for diversity that we will fulfill our promise as human beings and innovate the required STEM focused innovation, business and economic development needed to address societal needs in the 21st century.

I have worked to contribute to these goals in areas such as lead investigator in National Science Foundation grants, academic positions such as Professor of Practice at both Oregon State University and the University of Southern Mississippi, Visiting and Adjunct professorships at North Carolina State University, Rutgers University and Dartmouth College and having served as a Member of the Board of Advisors of the University of Maryland College Of Life Sciences and the Institute for Strategic Business Markets at Penn State’s Smeal Business School.

I am honored to be the author of over 200 articles in the areas of entrepreneurship, career development and leadership, intellectual property monetization, market and operational strategy development and implementation, diversity, polymer chemistry, flavor and fragrance technology, and electron spectroscopy. She is highly sought out speaker appearing regularly on industry panels and as a speaker at a variety of events across the country. And to have been included in numerous internationally and nationally based Who’s Who Publications, as well as books, studies and articles on topics including women and diversity, technology and career development.

I received my Bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University, my PhD from the University of Maryland in chemistry, and was honored to be an Alexander von Humboldt Post Doctoral Research Fellow at the University of Frankfurt in Germany.