International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) has named members of its new scientific advisory board (SAB), an effort the company has undertaken to help boost innovation. The five scientists who make up the new board were chosen for their expertise in key R&D areas the company is targeting per its global strategic review.
The SAB will be led by IFF senior vice president of R&D Ahmet Baydar, and its focus will include bringing outside perspectives to the company’s R&D, raising scientific issues and opportunities, identifying new and compatible research partners, providing knowledge and background in particular areas of expertise, and helping to develop key personnel. “I am looking forward to engaging their fresh ideas and passion for our business and sharing the successful outcomes with our customers,” said Baydar.
Joining the board are:
- Steven V. Ley FRS, department head, professor of chemistry, Cambridge University, UK, who was made a Commander of the British Empire in 2002. He also is a fellow of Trinity College, and was president of the Royal Society of Chemistry. His areas of expertise includes organic and flow chemistry.
- Cheryl Perkins, president and founder of Innovationedge, LLC and former senior vice president and chief innovation officer, Kimberly-Clark, offers insight on consumer products and innovation, as well as being a creative catalyst in brand-building initiatives. She has been named a “Top 25 Champions of Innovation” by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and has been recognized as a “top executive driving vision” by Consumer Goods Technology.
- Thomas D. Sharkey is chair of biochemistry and molecular biology at Michigan State University, with an emphasis in studying volatile hydrocarbons given off by plants, especially isoprene.
- Leslie Vosshall is a molecular neurobiologist and has conducted her studies at Columbia and the Rockefeller University. She is an expert in olfactory receptors and olfactory perception in humans and insects, and her laboratory studies the human sense of smell using olfactory psychophysics combined with genomics. She has won numerous awards and was named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 2008.
- Brian Willis, former senior vice president of R&D and board member of Quest Flavors and Fragrances, has also directed research at Fritzsche Dodge & Olcott, directed the detergents and household cleaning division’s research at Unilever North America and personal wash research for Unilever worldwide. He has an extensive knowledge of flavors, food ingredients, fragrances, and consumer products.
Doug Tough, IFF’s chairman and CEO, said, “The addition of this high-quality SAB to our R&D group will help us develop innovative solutions in our flavors and fragrances business and better serve our customers’ needs. We anticipate that it will give us strong competitive advantage not only by tapping into the minds of the board members, but by leveraging their access to a global network of academics, high-level industry members and their associates.”
