Name:
Philip E Rakita
Country:
USA
City:
Philadelphia
State/Province:
PA
ACS Member:
Member
Local Section:
L304,Philadelphia
International Chapter:
Technical Division Membership:
D515,History of Chemistry Division;D517,Inorganic Chemistry Division
Technical Division Membership Emeritus:
Subdivision Member:
ACS Activities:
Company/Institution Name:
Career Stage:
Professional
Research and Special Interests:
Philip E. Rakita is a senior executive with more than thirty years of international experience in the chemical and related industries. For eighteen years he held various management positions in fine and specialty chemicals and plastics for the Elf Aquitaine Group, including over three years as European General Manager of the bio/fine division of M&T Chemicals (later the CECA subsidiary of Elf Atochem) and two years as Director of Technology for Akishima Chemical (Elf Atochem Japan) in Tokyo. He served as CEO of Syrgis Performance Products, LLC, a privately held $50 million diversified group of specialty chemical companies.
He has lead numerous successful projects in new business development, technology assessment and transfer, divestitures and acquisitions. He has worked and lived in France, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United States and has extensive experience with multinational technical and cultural interfaces within organizations.
Prior to his industrial career he was Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Minnesota, and Senior Fulbright Visiting Professor at Moscow State University (USSR). He also served as a Grants Officer for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
He holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the author of over forty papers and a book in the field of fine chemicals and plastics.
He has served as a consultant to the U.S. State Department Council for International Exchange of Scholars and is a member of the American Chemical Society, the Commercial Development and Marketing Association, the Licensing Executives Society, and both the Robert Boyle Society and the Bolton Society of the Chemical Heritage Foundation. He holds Certificate #918 from the Association of Consulting Chemists and Chemical Engineers.
In 1993 he co-founded (with Elizabeth Ann Armour) Armour Associates, Ltd and currently serves as Managing Director of the firm.
Area of Expertise:
International business management, commercial development, strategic planning, technology focusing and transfer, project management, cross-cultural development
Years of Expertise:
26 or more