Leadership
Robert J. Kumpf
Bayer MaterialScience LLC
Chief Administrative Officer
Bob Kumpf is chief administrative officer for Bayer MaterialScience LLC. He also is a member of the company’s North America Leadership Team with responsibility for Regional Business Support and Administration, as well as the Health, Safety, Environment organization, New Business, and Materials Characterization.
In this role, Kumpf works to ensure the efficient and effective supply of all administration services, including the controlling and planning functions; procurement; organization and information systems; internal and external communications; and central innovation services.
Kumpf is an active member of the Bayer MaterialScience Corporate Compliance / Risk Management Committee. He also is the co-lead of the NAFTA Sustainability Community Council, which fosters sustainable development initiatives within the NAFTA region.
Kumpf has held research, product development and technical marketing positions in various Bayer Business Units and Central Research, including two expatriate assignments in Germany. In his most recent position as vice president of the Future Business group, he led the Bayer MaterialScience group responsible for developing the materials of the future by focusing on innovation-driven polymer products, next-generation application trends and new complex technologies.
Kumpf joined Bayer in 1988 as a research chemist after graduating with a doctorate degree from the Materials Science and Engineering Department at The Pennsylvania State University. He currently holds 20 U.S. and European patents and has published 21 articles in various scientific journals.
He is active in various non-profit organizations and serves as Chairman of the Pennsylvania Nanomaterials Commercialization Center board of directors―a position he has held since 2006. In addition, he is a member of the Pennsylvania State University Material Science and Engineering Advisory Board, the National Board of the Industrial Research Institute, and the Carnegie Science Center Sci Tech Initiative Advisory Board.
In 2009, Kumpf was appointed by Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell to serve on the board of directors for the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority―one of the largest single state technology development programs in the nation.
In 2010, Kumpf was named Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University.
