Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc. has hired Robert “Bob” Kumpf as the company’s chief technology officer. In this role, Kumpf will focus on expanding the organization’s product and applications development capabilities.
Prior to joining Elevance, Kumpf served as chief operating officer at Plextronics, a leader in the research, development and commercialization of conductive and semi-conductive polymers and ink formulations, which enable the commercialization of printed electronic devices. In this role, he led the company’s research, engineering and manufacturing operations. Previously, Kumpf served as chief at Bayer MaterialScience. During his 25-year tenure at Bayer, he also held executive leadership roles in the company’s polymer division, polyurethane division, plastics division and future business group, and served two European assignments. He joined Bayer as a research chemist after graduating with a doctorate degree from the materials science and engineering department at The Pennsylvania State University. He currently holds 20 U.S. and European patents and has published 21 articles in various scientific journals.
Kumpf is active in various non-profit organizations having previously served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Industrial Research Institute. In addition, he is a member of the Board of the Pennsylvania Nanomaterials Commercialization Center, the Pennsylvania State University Materials Science and Engineering External Advisory Board and the Carnegie Science Center STEM Advisory Board. Additionally, Kumpf serves as Adjunct Professor of Material Science and Engineering at Penn State.