The American Chemical Society (ACS) Board of Directors has named Dr. Thomas M. Connelly, Jr., executive vice president and chief innovation officer at DuPont, as the Society's next executive director and chief executive officer (CEO), effective February 17, 2015. Connelly is retiring from DuPont at the end of this year after a distinguished 36-year career. He succeeds Madeleine Jacobs, who is retiring after 11 years as CEO and a total of 24 years with ACS.
Connelly joined DuPont in 1978. Over the course of his career, he has led worldwide businesses and operations, with special emphasis on developing markets. He has been chief science and technology officer since 2000 and became executive vice president and chief innovation officer in 2006.
His accomplishments in these assignments are numerous. Connelly led DuPont's $1.8 billion science and technology operation into new areas, including materials for semiconductor processing and packaging, advanced display materials, alternative energy and fermentation-based chemical products. He developed Open Innovation activities including DuPont Ventures, the DuPont-MIT alliance and DuPont Inbound Marketing. He launched DuPont's photovoltaics unit, revitalized a $4 billion electronics and communications business, and overall was responsible for a 10,000-person science and technology team and businesses with more than $12 billion in revenues.
DuPont's research since 2000 has garnered four ACS Heroes of Chemistry Awards for innovations that promote the welfare and progress of humanity, as well as a Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award. Connelly has also led research laboratories in three countries, growing a staff of 100 to more than 2,000.
He has extensive interactions with federal, state and local governments, and he serves extensively on committees of the National Research Council. Connelly is currently chairing a study on chemical manufacturing via industrial biotech.
