BIO Announces DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman to Receive the 2014 BIO George Washington Carver Award
Ellen Kullman, Chair of the Board & Chief Executive Officer for DuPont, Honored for Innovation in Industrial Biotechnology
Washington, D.C. (March 13, 2014) – The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) named DuPont Chair & CEO Ellen Kullman as the recipient of its 2014 George Washington Carver Award for innovation in industrial biotechnology. Kullman is the first woman to receive the honor, which has been awarded annually since 2008.
“Ellen is always looking for opportunities to apply today’s breaking science to major global challenges where biotechnology can deliver new gains,” said Brent Erickson, executive vice president for BIO’s Industrial & Environmental Section. “BIO is pleased to honor Ellen for her efforts to drive commercialization of industrial biotech processes and renewable, sustainable biobased products. We look forward to future advances in this field from DuPont under her leadership.”
“I am honored to receive this award on behalf of all of the people who have worked to make DuPont a leader in industrial biotechnology,” said Kullman. “For more than 200 years DuPont has transformed industries through scientific innovation. That tradition continues today with industrial biotechnology, a 21st century scientific discipline that is helping us improve our customers’ products and make industrial processes more sustainable.”
A special selection committee chose Kullman for her drive to grow DuPont’s industrial biotechnology business. Kullman has been leading change at DuPont for the last five years, driving advances in the company’s portfolio and operational capabilities. DuPont’s diverse portfolio has been carefully formed by Kullman to address worldwide trends stemming from rapidly growing populations and demand for healthy food, clean energy and greater protection of people and the environment.
As CEO, Ellen has championed innovation across the company’s businesses and focuses DuPont’s formidable research capabilities on the needs of the world’s markets. She is widely recognized as a global business leader who is transforming this historic science company from its heritage in explosives in the 19th century, through the chemical innovations of the 20th century and now into an integrated science company with broad capabilities in biotechnology. Under her leadership DuPont has made significant progress in commercializing biobased polymers, enzymes and advanced biofuels. Later this year, DuPont will commission one the world’s first and largest cellulosic ethanol facilities in Iowa, helping establish the United States as the global leader in advanced renewable fuel technology and commercialization.
“This award serves as a lasting memorial to the vision of George Washington Carver who, over a century ago, started the ‘chemurgy’ movement and pioneered the creation and commercialization of renewable and sustainable bioproducts and materials made from agricultural feedstocks,” Erickson said. “Ellen’s commitment to creating a biobased economy carries on the great enterprise of George Washington Carver.”
Ms. Kullman will be presented the award and will deliver a brief keynote address during the Tuesday, May 13th plenary lunch session at BIO’s 11th Annual World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology, the world’s largest industrial biotech conference. The conference is being held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 12 – 15, 2014.
Past winners of the annual award have demonstrated significant accomplishments in innovation or business development and have employed industrial biotechnology to facilitate the advancement of a biobased economy and industrial sustainability and include:
· Dr. Patrick Gruber, CEO of Gevo, Inc., in 2008;
· Charles O. Holliday, Jr., chairman of the board of DuPont in 2009;
· Gregory Stephanopoulos, the Willard Henry Dow Professor of Chemical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010;
· Feike Sijbesma, CEO of Royal DSM in 2011;
· Steen Riisgaard, president and CEO of Novozymes in 2012; and
· Dr. Jay Keasling, a professor of biochemical engineering at University of California, Berkeley in 2013.
All World Congress sessions are open to credentialed media. Complimentary media registration is available to editors and reporters with valid press credentials working full time for print, broadcast or web publications. Pre-registration for reporters is now open.