IACMI names Chad Duty as CEO

The Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, Tenn., U.S.), a leader in advanced composites design, manufacturing, technical innovation and workforce development, has named Chad Duty as the organization’s chief executive officer (CEO). An engineering professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UT), and joint faculty member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tenn., U.S.), Duty will immediately begin transitioning into his new role as CEO of IACMI and fully assume it by April 1, 2023.

“We are pleased to welcome Chad as the new CEO of IACMI,” Maha Krishnamurthy, interim president for the University of Tennessee Research Foundation (UTRF), says. UTRF is the sole corporate member of Collaborative Composite Solutions Corp. (CCS), the non-profit organization which operates IACMI. “Chad’s strong background in advanced manufacturing research, technical management, strategic planning, industrial collaborations and working with a variety of stakeholders and funding agencies makes him well positioned to lead this organization in the future.”

Duty, who will continue as a professor at UT, says he is excited for the opportunity to build upon IACMI’s accomplishments. “We have a great team and outstanding members and partners who are pursuing highly innovative approaches to advanced composites that will help to secure the future of American manufacturing,” Duty notes.

Dale Brosius, IACMI’s chief commercialization officer (CCO) and interim CEO, will continue to lead the full-scale daily operations of the institute until Duty assumes the CEO role. Brosius will also continue in his roles as CCO and executive director of the IACMI Consortium.

Krishnamurthy recognizes Brosius for the leadership he has provided as interim CEO, a position he has held since April of this year. “Dale has provided stability to the IACMI leadership role, playing a key part in growing and serving our consortium membership and driving innovation in manufacturing to enable a more sustainable and more competitive U.S. economy,” she says.

Duty comes to IACMI with more than 20 years of research experience in advanced manufacturing — spanning technologies in thin film processing, printed electronics, solar energy and additive manufacturing (AM) of polymer composites. Before joining the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Biomedical Engineering at UT in 2015, Duty served as a research scientist and group leader at ORNL, beginning in 2004, and helped to establish the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Manufacturing Demonstration Facility at ORNL. Duty began his career as a senior aeronautical engineer at Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, Md., U.S.). He has a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech (Atlanta) and Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Virginia Tech (Blacksburg).