Press Release – Monday, August 4, 2014

The American Chemical Society Division of Business Development and Management (BMGT) is pleased to announce that Dr. Judith C. Giordan will receive the 2014 Henry F. Whalen, Jr. Award for Excellence in Business Development and Management in the Chemical Enterprise.

Judy currently serves on boards of advisors and as founder/senior management in start-up ventures such as Qteros llc; Managing Director of ecosVC, Inc., a training and venture development firm; and, co-founder of the Chemical Angels Network. Her former positions include VP R&D and business leader at Henkel Corporation; Global VP of R&D for Pepsi-Cola and Corporate VP/CTO at International Flavors and Fragrances.

Recipient of the Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal in 2010 and elected an ACS Fellow in 2013, Judy’s past service roles have included membership on the Board of Directors of the Industrial Research Institute and the American Chemical Society; various positions at the National Science Foundation including member of the Math and Physical Sciences Advisory Board, Chair of the Waterman Award Committee and Program Officer for the cross-foundational IGERT program. Judy has also been named several times to Who’s Who and has been cited in numerous publications and magazines for her groundbreaking roles for women in corporate leadership over her 30 year career. A sought after author and speaker, Judy is being recognized with the Henry F. Whalen, Jr. Award for her international business development and leadership, entrepreneurship, angel investing and educator roles and as a respected R&D leader underpinned by her development of scientists and engineers, and mentoring of women for leadership positions.

Judy will accept the award and share her insights on Sunday, August 10, 2014 at 5:30 pm, as part of a reception sponsored by BMGT and the Chemical Angel Network scheduled from 3pm - 6pm at the Intercontinental Hotel in San Francisco. Judy’s remarks will link her R&D and business experiences as the VP/CTO of several Fortune 500 companies with the value and importance of both commercial development skills for today’s scientists and engineers and diversity, inclusion and mentoring of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM and chemistry.

About the American Chemical Society (ACS)

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 162,000 members, ACS, a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress in 1876, is the world’s largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

About the ACS Division of Business Development and Management (BMGT)

BMGT is comprised of members from the chemical enterprise around the world. Our mission and vision are to champion business development and management throughout the chemical enterprise, and to be globally recognized as the preferred resource for creating, growing and managing chemical business.

For more information about the Henry F. Whalen, Jr. Award please contact Sharon Wilkerson, skw@polychemistry.com

For more information about Judith C. Giordan please contact info@ecosvc.com

On May 12th, Judy gave the Opening Keynote at Biopolymers 2014 -- a Symposium bringing together key innovators in the bioplastic and biopolymers industry organized by Smithers Rapra -- entitled "Biopolymers and Plastics: Expectations and Reality." 

The promise of transforming traditional petroleum based value streams for polymers and plastics to biobased ones has seen its fits and starts. Larger investments in the first decade of the 21st century are declining and the specter of new, abundant and cheap hydrocarbon sources looms large on the horizon. How will biobased systems compete on the three key parameters for success: cost, performance and scale? And will the results be enough to transform expectations to reality?

On May 8th, Judy was the featured speaker in the Inspiring Women In STEM Forum for her talk "Go Ahead... Brag!" This forum is organized by Delaware Bio, Delaware Sustainable Chemistry Alliance, and the Technology Forum of Delaware, and sponsored by Ashland Water Technologies.

A successful STEM career is not only about doing great science – it is also about convincing and sharing with others why it is important and why we are the ones capable of doing it!

One way women can become successful STEM leaders is through bragging. But bragging gets a bad rap. Shouldn’t we be modest and let the work speak for itself or let others brag about us? NO - bragging is not the problem, being comfortable doing it is the challenge.

ecosVC’s Managing Director and Chemical Angel Network co-founder Judy Giordan moderated the Cleantech Panel at the recent Angel Capital Association Meeting held in Washington, DC. The aim of the panel? Gaining insights from Angel Investors who don’t usually invest in this space and sharing how they can become involved.

Check out an article on the Cleantech Panel ("Cleantech Angels Say They’re Seeing “Green” in Latest Investments") and download Cleantech Investing as Part of Your Portfolio, presented during the Cleantech Panel!

Judy Giordan presented a webinar for AudioSolutionz entitled The Power, Promise and Problems of Biomass and Chemicals.

Biomass has spelled hope and frustration for enabling cleaner energy, delivering a promise for greener products and creating a growing economy. Start-ups abound, Fortune 100 companies are lining up to commit to cleaner products, but with venture firms pulling out of the financing mix, there are few dollars available for actual scale and change over. Biomass is seen by some as the most viable source of alternative energy, but with venture capital virtually drying up, this promising solution for cleaner, greener energy is getting farther beyond our grasp.

There are few dollars available for the scale and cross-over needed for Cleantech to really make its mark.  Start-ups are struggling to survive in this challenging environment, while the Fortune 100 wonder what their role should be. The energy market, however, isn’t the first to face such a plight.  Pharmaceuticals once struggled under a similar scenario, but have emerged victorious by rethinking their strategy.

Today, mainstream Pharma has embraced the need for a pipeline of new ideas and products and is working to move away from the “not invented here” syndrome that plagued them and lost market cap and confidence in their companies. Will this trend take root in chemical, materials and energy companies as we seek to move to a mixed feedstock source of biomass and petro-based energy? Or will “not invented here”, cheap natural gas, and fracking keep the promise of biomass at bay?

Is this a US trend or a global one?  And is the US going to miss out on this new wave of materials based on new sources of petro-intensive feed-stocks?

Purchase a dvd, transcript, or both here at AudioSolutionz.

Judith Giordan presented at the 247th American Chemical Society National Meeting: Chemistry & Materials for Energy on March 18th, 2014. She presented Lens of the Market: Building innovations and innovators (PDF download) during the Best Practices in the Business Innovation Environment Session. 

The American Chemical Society revamps and extends a pilot program to support budding chemical entrepreneurs.

Just a few years ago, Patrick Kearney found himself in a place that is painfully familiar to many chemists. When his position as a senior director of medicinal chemistry at a San Francisco Bay Area biotechnology company was eliminated in 2011, he entered a challenging job market feeling as though his career had stalled.

Eager to find another career path, Kearney made a decision to pursue a longtime dream of starting his own contract research organization (CRO). He was acting on a promising business idea that had come to him during one of his job interviews.

As he sought resources to help him take that leap of faith, Kearney learned about the American Chemical Society’s Entrepreneurial Initiative, a program to support ACS members who would like to pursue starting and operating their own businesses. At the time, it was a new two-year pilot program, and he wasted no time in applying to be a part of it. Read more.

"What’s important to know about a patent is that it simply gives you an opportunity to defend yourself in a court of law. Get it out of your mind if you think it will keep you out of court."

Judy Giordan and Mark Vreeke (cofounder of the Chemical Angel Network), contribute thoughts on patents to Chemical and Engineering News in Mark S. Reisch's article When Start-ups Hit Patent Roadblocks. Reisch discusses patent disputes between chemical company Evonik Industries and start-up firm Materia. 

Judy was honored to be a speaker at the 2013 HBCU Innovation Summit in Stanford, CA, on October 31, 2013. Her keynote presentation entitled "A Time of Brilliance: Solving Global Challenges using both the Lens of Research and the Lens of the Market" discusses the importance of developing innovators along with innovations, and how embracing diversity is critical for success. There is a personal change process when a researcher elects to take on the additional role of an innovator, and this is simply a new lens, the lens of the market that is added on to the researchers already highly developed lens of research. Developing a vocabulary and gaining knowledge about the market are the first steps in the process, and this is all highly achievable with the right training.

Download the slides here.

Judy Giordan joined the "Bio-based vs. Petroleum: Competing on Price, Performance and Quality" panel at the 4th Annual World Bio Markets USA conference in San Francisco, CA, on October 30. Her presentation "Everything but the Squeal: Maximizing Utility and Adoption of Biobased Chemicals" discusses how we need to move beyond simply talking about invention and start thinking about value chains, supply and demand, and scaling the science. There's a language to innovation and we need to learn it to be successful and really solve the global challenges facing us.

Download the slides here.

Judy was an invited speaker in the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Chemical Engineering department's seminar series on October 8, 2013. Her presentation was entitled "A new 21st-century Contact Sport: Solving Global Challenges using both the Lens of Research and the Lens of the Market," and she discussed the necessity for scientists to learn about the innovation process.  This involves embracing a personal change process to learn more and transform from a researcher to an innovator (and this includes more than entrepreneurs!). 

Click to download the slides. 

Judy moderated the STEM Women in Innovation and Investing symposium at the American Chemical Society meeting in Indianapolis, IN, on September 10, 2013.  Her talk at the start of the symposium, "Value Creation... Capturing the Immeasurable  Value Created by Women Innovators, Entrepreneurs and Investors," followed a wonderful introduction by Janet Bryant, Systems & Science Policy Analyst, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Chair, ACS Chemical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council (CIEC).

The panelists in the symposium were leading women scientists, innovators and investors. Kathryn Uhrich, Professor of Chemistry and Former Dean, Rutgers University, and Founder, Polymerix Corporation discussed “Issues women face in research and commercialization from academia: Personal insights from a successful company founder” and Nicola Pohl, Professor of Chemistry and the Joan and Marvin Carmack Chair in Bioorganic Chemistry, Indiana University Bloomington, and Founder, LuCella Biosciences Inc who shared her experiences in “Challenges of starting (and growing) a start-up.” Suzette Dutch, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Triathlon Medical Ventures explained the intricacies of “Attracting Venture Capital for women led businesses – Lessons from 2 decades of venture fund management”. Linda O’Keefe, CFO Consultant, LOK Enterprises and a member of the Chemical Angel Network described the value of angel investments in “Entrepreneur/Angel partnerships to the rescue!!” Mary Phillips, Associate Director, Office for Commercialization and Corporate Development, Oregon State University shared “Challenges and opportunities in technology transfer: How are STEM women faring?”

This ACS symposium was co-sponsored by the following ACS divisions: SCHB, BMGT, WCC and PROF.

Download the slides here.

Judy's thoughts on why bragging is good for women, especially women in STEM, was published on the Huffington Post blog on July 29, 2013. In the article, Judy shared some of her tips as a woman in STEM on how to stand up and proudly declare your achievements: 

• Take charge of your confidence and your conversation.
• Find ways to brag that fit your style and still share the facts.
• Be enthusiastic.
• Or try my personal favorite, the pride angle.

Judy Giordan spoke with Hannah Yates, Research Analyst at Green Power Conferences, about some of the key questions to think about on important developments in bio-based materials.  Judy will be a presenter at the upcoming World Bio Markets USA meeting in San Francisco, October 29-30, 2013, in the "Bio-based vs. Petroleum: Competing on Price, Performance and Quality" symposium during the conference.

Check out Judy's podcast to hear her thoughts on 4 key questions:

1. What do you think has been the most important development of the past 12 months?
2. Strategic partnerships are being announced nearly every week – what do you see as the key factors for integrating bio-based chemicals and materials into an existing company’s supply chain?
3. What are some key points new star-up ventures need to know when approaching a potential strategic partner?
4. What do you think will be the biggest topic of conversation at WBM USA 2013?

Judy Giordan was the featured speaker in the 2013 International Conference on Applied Mathematics, Modeling and Computational Science (AMMCS-2013) special session on Women in Mathematics on August 29, 2013. She kicked off the session with her presentation "The power of diversity: women's leadership in STEM fields. The role of innovators and innovation."

Judy focuses on why developing women innovators and enhancing diversity is key to bringing about the innovations that the world needs. She encourages women to embrace their potential and to succeed and to rely on one another to help everyone move ahead.

Download her slides here, and read the press release from Wilfrid Laurier University - Waterloo campus in Ontario, Canada, where the AMMCS-2013 conference was held. 

Judy's thoughts on obstacles for women in science were published in the C&EN article Women in Industry on August 26, 2013. Judy notes that women are too reserved in talking about their accomplishments and thus rarely gain the clout held by marketing and sales people.

“We are not the ones who will jump up and down,” Giordan tells C&EN. “We are trained to publish and give talks. That is how you get your point across.”

She also points out that women hesitate to speak up or take credit, in fear of seeming aggressive.

“It is false modesty. If you have the solution to the problem and you don’t open your mouth about it, whose fault is it that the problem wasn’t solved?” 

Judy gave her talk "Being HEARD - Powered by YOU: Bragging... and Building Your Personal Brand" at the Women Chemists Committee (WCC) breakfast at the American Chemical Society (ACS) National Meeting in New Orleans on April 8, 2013.

Judy highlighted the true need for empowering women to help solve the global issues we face today.  Women also need to embrace the fact that they need to change in order to take their seat at the table - we have met the enemy and she is us!  Women need to stand up and declare their excellent skills and valuable contributions - don't be afraid to brag and build your personal brand!

Download the slides here!​

Judy moderated the panel "Exit Strategies - Financing to the End Game" at the American Chemical Society Entrepreneur Resources Center Entrepreneur Summit at the Chemical Heritage Foundation in March 2013.  The panel featured Dr. Stephen Flaim of Tech Coast Angels, Dr. Scott Lockledge of Fairbridge Venture Partners, and Dr. Edward Greer of the Venture and Business Development Group of the Dow Chemical Company.

You can watch the presentation here - this panel begins at 01:04:00 of the video.

Watch live streaming video from acswebinars at livestream.com

Download the slides here!​

The CIEC roadmap is the cheat sheet of selected events and programming at ACS meetings that are of interest to our constituencies. Out of the thousands of papers and events we have highlighted the topics of greatest interest - we've done the legwork to make your meeting easier!

Entrepreneurial Track – Programming, Workshops & Events Roadmap
245th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA - April 7-11, 2013

An introduction the ACS Chemical Innovation and Entrepreneurship Council and links to What Women Can Do, presented at the 245th A National Meeting in New Orleans - April 6, 2013