TRI/Princeton Names New Board Members

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.

Frederic Cervantès was with R&D at L’Oréal France for 13 years and then at L’Oréal USA for 11 years, where he developed extensive knowledge of hair formulations for US and international markets. Additionally, he has acquired and developed knowledge in instrumental, sensorial and consumer evaluation of hair care products. In his current role, he focuses his organizational leadership and technical skills on bringing new hair care innovations to international markets.

Colleen M. Rocafort is currently manager of technology scouting and portfolio management for the care chemicals division of BASF Corp. She has over 30 years of varied R&D experience in cosmetic science R&D, new commercial product development, aerosol technology and analytical chemistry with specific expertise in global formulation development and new polymer product development. She has worked for companies such as Fluid Packaging Company, Playtex Beauty Care Inc., International Specialty Products and Ciba Specialty Chemicals Corp., which is now part of the BASF Group. At Ciba, she was the global business head of polymer systems for the home and personal care business line at Ciba Corp. Rocafort was the 57th President for the Society of Cosmetic Chemists in 2003, and elected as SCC Fellow in 2004. She remains active on several National SCC Committees, instructs several SCC Continuing Education Program (CEP) courses and holds numerous patents and publications. She is currently on the editorial advisory board for the Journal of Cosmetic Science.

Karl Krummel began his career with The Procter & Gamble Company developing household and personal care products. In 1992, Krummel joined ISP as senior director of hair care applications and technical services. In 2001, Krummel joined L’Oréal USA as assistant vice president of corporate research and innovative raw materials. He holds numerous patents, has served the Society of Cosmetic Chemists as the chairman of the Connecticut Chapter and as a member of the Committee of Scientific Affairs. Krummel is past chairman of the board of directors of TRI Princeton. He has served the Cosmetics, Toiletries, and Fragrances Association on the scientific advisory council, the nomenclature (INCI) committee and the color additive committee. He served as the first president of the Association of Formulation Chemists and is on the advisory board of Cosmetics and Toiletries Magazine.

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