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Kurt Swogger is vice president of Performance Plastics & Chemicals Business Development involved in the corporate strategy to drive market facing businesses and responsible for New Business Development for the Performance Portfolio. He is also a member of the Market-Facing Steering for the Company.
Swogger began his career at Dow in 1972 and held a variety of research, manufacturing, marketing and administrative assignments in Agricultural Chemicals and Consumer Products prior to returning to research in 1991 as U.S. R&D director for polyethylene. In 1995 he was appointed global R&D director for polyethylene, and in 1998 was named global R&D vice president for Polyolefins. In 2003 responsibilities for polystyrene, automotive, engineering plastics, building and construction, and rubber were added as Swogger was named R&D vice president for Plastics. In 2005, he was named as R&D vice president for the Performance Plastics and Chemicals portfolio, and assumed his current role in 2007.
His interests are in developing faster product development using a philosophy called Speed-based Development, linking technology to market needs to create new opportunities. The practical outputs of this philosophy were recognized in 2003 when the Polyolefins business was recognized for its development work as the recipient of the Outstanding Corporate Innovator Award by the Product Development Management Association (PDMA), marking the first time the PDMA had selected a chemical company for it's most prestigious recognition.
Swogger graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree, and is a Professional Engineer registered in Michigan and Texas. He is the 2002 winner of the American Chemistry Society Earle B. Barnes Award for Leadership in Chemical Research Management. In 2005, Swogger was awarded the First Annual Product Development and R&D Metrics MVP Award at the Management Roundtable's 10th Annual Conference. | 