TRI/Princeton Names New Board Members

Posted: June 2, 2010

TRI/Princeton has elected a new chair, vice chair and two new members to its board of trustees for the 2010-2011 term. The board is the general governing body of the institute, responsible for long term direction and broad financial and legal decisions of the corporation. Robert Bianchini, PhD, vice president of Merck Consumer Care, has been elected to his first term as chair of the board and Kurt Adams, PhD, innovation and growth leader of DuPont, has been elected as vice chair. The board has also elected two new general trustees, Paul Serbiak, vice president of global women’s health franchise, global baby franchise and technology development of Johnson & Johnson and Fred Cervantes, assistant vice-president in charge of hair care, technology and evaluation at L’Oréal USA.

In addition to the members joining the board, two members have completed their terms of service. Completing his term as chairman is H. Karl Krummel  of L’Oréal, and completing her term as trustee is Colleen Rocafort  of BASF.

Robert Bianchini has over 20 years experience in the chemical and personal care industries with expertise in new product development, actives, natural technologies, licensing, strategic ventures and formulation. Bianchini obtained his doctorate in chemistry from Washington State University. He is a member of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, the American Chemical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Kurt L. Adams joined DuPont in 1988 after completing a doctorate in chemical engineering at Princeton University, where he was both a TRI fellow and a DuPont PhD fellow. While at DuPont, he has held a variety of R&D, technology management and business management positions in central R&D, engineering, packaging and industrial polymers, chemical solutions enterprise, and sustainable solutions. In his current assignment, he is responsible for identifying and advancing technology-based growth strategies for his business.

Paul Serbiak began his career working at Procter & Gamble and later Kimberly Clark. In 1998, he joined Johnson & Johnson where he held positions of increasing responsibility leading to his current position. Serbiak is a respected consumer products executive with over 25 years of experience growing strong global brands with proficiency in R&D, marketing, operations, engineering and project management. His product line experience includes the consumer areas of women’s health, infant/baby care (diapers, wipes, toiletries, and OTC), oral care (brushes, floss and rinse), wound care (bandages, topical treatments) and laundry care.