FASTER. SAFER. GREENER.
OUR TEAM
Dr. Joseph Marasco
CEO Emeritus
Dr. Joseph Marasco is an established veteran of the fine chemical industry. He has been CEO/President of four life-science firms, three of which he co-founded, with two exits and another currently pending public offering. He brings highly pertinent leadership to the company in not only commercializing chemical technologies, but also in successfully building start-up enterprises.
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Dr. Marasco has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Virginia and was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Walter Reed Medical Center, Division of Biochemistry, where he worked on new nerve gas antidotes for the Defense Intelligence Administration (D.I.A.) and NATO.
Robert Titus
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Titus is Chief Executive Officer of Verdimine and the President of Synthetics USA, LLC, an international fine and specialty chemical consultant company. He has an MBA from the University of New Haven and holds Bachelor's degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester and Math from Houghton College. With over 50 years of experience, Bob is very well known and respected in the pharmaceutical, fine & specialty chemical, and personal care industries. His expertise centers around sourcing, manufacturing, and supplying complex chemical products used in pharmaceutical, specialty, and fine chemical supply chains. Bob is based in Mahwah, NJ.
Dr. Jacqueline Bennett
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Eric Helms
Chief Technical Officer
Caroline Wilson
Executive Vice President
Mel Kluesner
Vice President
Jacqueline Bennett has an MS and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California-Riverside, and B.S. and B.A. in Chemistry and Biology from West Virginia University. She is a professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at SUNY Oneonta, where she leads her research group the BLONDES: Building a Legacy of Outstanding New Developments and Excellence in Science.
Eric Helms has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently a professor of Chemistry at SUNY Geneseo, where he won the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in 2014. He has industrial experience in paints/coatings chemistry, process chemistry, and separations chemistry.
Caroline Wilson is Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Verdimine. Her background is in sales, marketing, and business development in the chemical and healthcare industries. Caroline is based in Syracuse, NY.
Mel is Vice President of Synthetics USA, LLC, an international fine and specialty chemical consultant company. She has Bachelor's degrees in Chemistry and Biology from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She has worked in the pharmaceutical and fine chemical industry for 8 years and her expertise lies in business development and market research and analysis.
Mel is based in Charlotte, NC.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Judith Albers
SUNY Advisor
Judy Albers is the VanArsdale Chair in Entrepreneurship at SUNY Geneseo, where she has introduced a comprehensive entrepreneurship and student incubator program. She holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Duke University, a Ph.D. from Brandeis, and completed her post-doc at Princeton.
Steve Wood
SUNY RF Representative
Steven Wood is Assistant Director of Innovation Services for SUNY RF. He is an experienced patent attorney and has worked with many tech startups. He has an MS in Electrical Engineering and JD from Syracuse University, and Advanced LL.M., Air and Space Law from Leiden University.
Tanya Waite
SUNY RF Representative
Tanya Waite is the Partnership Manager for the SUNY Research Foundation. She has a B.A. in History and Politics from SUNY Potsdam, MS in Legal Studies with Specialization in Technology Transfer from Albany Law School of Union University, and MBA from SUNY Albany.