John Hopkins named permanent CEO of IACMI

John Hopkins has been named the official CEO of the Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI, Knoxville, TN, US). The appointment was made on Jan. 16 at the winter meeting of IACMI membership in Detroit, MI, US. 

Hopkins had been serving as interim CEO of IACMI since the departure of Bryan Dods, the previous CEO, in September 2017. Dods had left to pursue an opportunity with the United Technologies Research Center.

Hopkins is a former IACMI senior leader credited with establishing the technology projects process and advisory board of technical expertise for the institute. His executive experience includes the University of Tennessee where he served as vice president for research and economic development, leading initiatives such as TN-SCORE, an innovation program with 30 partners focused on solar energy and energy storage research. He earned his M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, while supporting flight experiments on the First International Microgravity Laboratory as a NASA pre-doctoral fellow.

IACMI is a partnership of industry, universities and national universities, as well as federal, state, and local governments collaborating to reduce the cost and increase the speed of composites manufacturing. Emphasis is on autocomposites, wind energy, pressure vessels and design engineering.