Previous to joining Weyerhaeuser, Dr. Tao was the Corporate Director of Technology Partnerships for Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., a $10 billion company headquartered in Allentown, Pa.
His responsibilities include worldwide external technology development via collaborations with universities, national labs and start-ups; intellectual asset management; government contracting; and licensing/technology transfer. His work in the field of open innovation and licensing has been cited in articles in the Harvard Business Review, the New York Times, The Economist, and in Henry Chesbrough’s book “Open Business Models.”
Previously Dr. Tao was involved in engineering and R&D management, commercial development, venture management, and planning and business development in the areas of synfuels, co-generation, co-polymers, adsorption and membrane separations position. He holds B.S.and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University, and an M.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.
He is currently a board member of the Industrial Research Institute, and the Lehigh Valley Ben Franklin Technology Partnership and a Board member and Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He also served as a voting representative and member of the Governing Board of the Council of Chemical Research, the Advisory Board of Yet2.com and as a two-term board member of the Commercial Development and Marketing Association. Dr. Tao was Chairman of Chemical Industry Environmental Projects, a LLC of chemical companies created to jointly develop environmental technologies. He has published and presented over 70 papers and has 9 patents.