HERSCHEL REESE:
 
HERSCHEL REESE




 
 
 
 
 
Science and Technology Director for the Business and Technology Incubator of Dow Corning Corp. in Midland. Reese has more than 25 years experience in applications engineering, manufacturing process optimization, and new product scale-up/commercialization, as well as new materials and process research and development. He has held various leadership positions in the Business and Technology Incubator, leading teams responsible for incubating a variety of new materials technologies. These new materials are aimed at a broad range of applications, including photonics, composites, flexible electronics, and flexible photovoltaic and display substrates. Reese started his career in the Dow Corning mechanical development group responsible for developing applications process technology for new materials. He then led a team charged with process development and scale up of new elastomeric materials at three different manufacturing sites. Reese also led the Mixing (Mass, Heat, and Momentum) Expertise Center at Dow Corning for nearly 10 years. There, he was responsible for fundamentally understanding the impact of mixing on reactor design and material performance, then implementing improvements to increase efficiency and yield, reduce waste, and delay capital investment due to productivity improvements. Because of this extensive experience in process engineering, Reese was given responsibility for the entire process engineering function at Dow Corning. He graduated from Georgia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering.


WHERE BORN: "Fairmont, West Virginia."

MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS: "My dad comes from a small company mining town and his dad was injured and ill during the Depression. My dad was probably the poorest kid in town. He helped develop an international business and then traveled the world and has friends everywhere. It’s pretty inspiring. My grandfather on my mom’s side was quite an outdoorsman and inspired me. And, I’m a big history buff so I admire guys like Benjamin Franklin and Leonardo da Vinci. It’s intriguing – they didn’t just invent but did everything."

LAST BOOK READ: "1776 by David McCullough. It’s a detailed history of George Washington and the first year of continental revolution. McCullough went into the minds of those people and how they worked, their leadership skills and how they made things happen."

WORDS THAT DESCRIBE ME: "Possibilities, optimistic. I can always see where something can succeed. Also, I love a challenge when someone says ‘no one else can do this."

WHERE MY FIELD/INDUSTRY IS HEADED: "Dow Corning as a specialty chemical company in the past 10 or 15 years, decided to focus on commodity with big customers to get costs down. And they almost forgot about the little guys. Little guys are doing the innovation to get the new stuff. How can you do mass customization and small things for so many different people? Technology is so diverse – having to do demonstrations with applications in new technology areas is a really big challenge. We work with partners much more than we did in the past."

FAVORITE TECHNOLOGICAL GADGET: "My BlackBerry, but also my handheld GPS. If I had a full-featured GPS with a full-featured BlackBerry..."

FAVORITE PLACE: "Carney, Michigan; Maui, Hawaii; and Athens, Greece."

FAVORITE HOBBY: "Hunting and fishing and genealogy research. I’ve put one book together and am working on others in genealogy/family history."

FAVORITE FOOD: "Very spicy buffalo wings."

MY HIDDEN TALENT: "One is I'm pretty perceptive and intuitive. l excel at Myers Briggs. It really helps to read people. I’m pretty good when I’m in a meeting because I’m able to see where people are coming from and adjust appropriately. I also like genealogy research, along with scientific and engineering research, to problem-solve and put clues together."

HOW I WANT TO BE REMEMBERED: "First of all, as someone who had a great family with kids who turned out successful and happy. A successful career is having some of my inventions get carried forward and commercialized and make a difference. And being able to lead and coach people and teams so they achieve their maximum potential and really enjoy themselves."

Grant Thornton Website At the annual awards reception in April 2014, one Leader & Innovator from the previous 12 months will be selected as the Grant Thornton Leader & Innovator of the Year.