Education and Professional Experience
Dr. George Polson received his M. Phil. and Ph.D. (Org. Chemistry, 1987) from Syracuse University, NY, after securing a B.Sc/M.Sc in Applied Chemistry (1st Rank, Gold Medalist) from the University of Kerala, India. He was awarded a Rotary International Fellowship and a Petroleum Research Fund fellowship to pursue his graduate studies in the US. In 1987 he joined OLIN Chemicals as a Sr. Research Chemist in the Molecular and Vibrational Spectroscopy and later worked in various areas in central R&D holding increasing responsibilities in New Product Development, Product Registration and Global Technical Support. He became the Technology Manager for Arch Personal Care Products in 1999 and led NPD efforts that culminated in several successful new products. He also completed an accelerated Technology Management program at the Kellogg School of Business, Northwestern University. Later, he directed the Global Analytical and Microbiology groups at Arch Chemicals and provided regulatory support for product registration of marine Anti-fouling actives. As Director of Technology services, he managed a global group of 28 scientists in Analytical, Microbiology, Research, Process and Product Development areas supporting all of Arch’s global businesses in Water products, Wood Preservation, Personal Care Ingredients, Industrial Anti-microbials, and Polyurethanes. From 2005 to 2010, he served as the Global Business Director for Arch’s substantial global business (>$100 M USD) with Procter and Gamble. Additionally, he established alliances and pursued technology transfer and licensing opportunities with companies and institutes in India, Japan, Australia and Singapore for synthesis, technology procurement and collaborative research. From 2010 to 2013 he was the Global Director for Innovation Research on New Actives, New Products through Open Innovation collaborations, enhancing Lonza Microbial Control’s product portfolio in all of its 7 global business segments, authoring 7 patents. In mid-2013 he joined Vivimed Labs as the Chief Operating Officer heading the Global Specialty Chemicals division (Personal and Home Care ingredients, Hair and Photochromic dyes, Anti-microbials, Automotive chemicals, Functional ingredients and Naturals) managing a workforce of ~150 people spread across Europe, North America and Asia. From April, 2017 to April 2019 he was Global VP of Technology for Food, Health, Nutrition and Industrial Solutions at Innophos-NJ. Currently he advices a software company as co-founder of SMART Formulator (a PLM and ERP solution for SMEs in the PCare and Nutrtiiton industry).
Presentations and Publications
He is the author of several scientific publications, holds over 70 US and world patents (including co-inventorship for the potentiation technology commercialized in “Head & Shoulders” (a $3B global Anti-dandruff brand). He has presented several papers and posters at the FACSS, ACS, SCC, In Cosmetics, World Dermatology Congress, SID, SETAC, SCMS, IFSCC and the American Pharmacognosy meetings. He has participated in the Marine Anti-fouling Workshop at the University of Portsmouth, England (1998), Perspectives on Percutaneous Permeation at the University of Montpelier, France (1999). In 2000, the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists awarded him the prize for the best technical paper for his presentation on the "Chemistry of Curry". He presented a technical review on “Zinc pyrithione - a Highly Effective Anti-dandruff Active” at the Personal Care Ingredients-Asia conference in Bangkok, Thailand (2000), presented several posters/papers on the “Environmental Fate and Behavior of Pyrithione Molecules” at the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry conference at Lille, France (2005) and co-authored a poster on “Scalp Benefits of Zinc” for the World Dermatology Congress in Argentina (2007). He gave a technical talk on “Skin Lightening benefits of Lotus Symbiozome” at the In-Cosmetics show in Mumbai, India (2008). He also presented poster at the Society of Investigative Dermatology-Atlanta, USA (2010) on “A Safe and Effective New Topical Treatment for Nail Fungus (Onychomycosis)”. He presented a talk (2011) on “Natural Origins of Pyrithione Antimicrobials” at the American Pharmacognosy Conference in San Diego. In 2012, he presented the innovative research findings on “Iron Deprivation as a Strategy for Potentiating Topical Antimicrobials” at the IFSCC Congress in S. Africa. In Oct. 2019 he presented a seminar on “Design and Data” to Architectural students at the Asian School of Architecture Design Innovation (ASADI) and in Dec. 2019 he presented a talk on the “History of Spice Trade” to Rotary Club of Jasper, GA.
Affiliations and Volunteer Work
He is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS) for the past 30+ years and also held memberships in the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC), Asia Society-NY, Strategic Account Management Association (SAMA) and Society of Investigative Dermatology (SID) and American Society of Pharmacognosy. He served as an industry member of the Connecticut Innovation and Technology Program and also served as the liaison from Arch Chemicals for the Industry Associates Program at the University of Connecticut. He also served (2012) as a business mentor in the NSF- Innovation Corps program for City Univ. of New York (CUNY) that transitions university lab inventions to commercial ventures. He served as an advisory Board Member (from 2015- 2020) to the Dean of Arts & Sciences at the NJ Institute of Technology (2015) and is a Board advisor (since 2015) to ASADI (Asian School of Architecture and Design Innovation – Cochin, India). He advises a start-up software company (SMART Formulator) that develops software for formulation management and manufacturing of personal care products.
Personal Information
He was born in Cochin, India, and is a naturalized US citizen. He has traveled extensively on business to countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. He is an accomplished tennis (~4.0 USPTA) player and a Ping-Pong player (represented the state of Kerala in the Nationals), and loves to cook ethnic, spicy food and also is interested in the Science of 'Magic'. He is happily married to his wife Dawn for 35 years and has three adult children.