Investor Relations - Directors & Officers

Company Directors

Donald S. Perkins
Mr. Perkins has served as a director of the Company since February 1998. Mr. Perkins retired from Jewel Companies, Inc., the retail supermarket and drug chain, in 1983. He had been with Jewel since 1953, serving as President from 1965 to 1970, as Chairman of the Board of Directors from 1970 to 1980, and as Chairman of the Executive Committee until his retirement. He has served on a number of corporate boards and is currently a director of LaSalle Hotel Properties, three Jones Lang LaSalle REITs and several start-up companies. For more than 30 years, he has served on corporate boards including AT&T, Aon, Corning, Cummins Engine, Eastman Kodak, Firestone, Inland Steel Industries, Kmart, Lucent Technologies, The Putnam Funds, Springs Industries and Time-Warner, Inc. He is Honorary Chairman of the Illinois Coalition and Protector of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Continuity Trust. Mr. Perkins is a trustee and Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University. He is also a member of the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago, a Director of Leadership for Quality Education and a member of Blue Ridge Partners, Potomac Ventures and RoundTable Healthcare Partners L.P. Advisory Boards. Mr. Perkins holds a B.A. degree from Yale University and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.

Joseph E. Cross
Mr. Cross has served as Chief Executive Officer of the Company since December 1998 and President and a director of the Company since joining the Company in November 1998. Prior to joining the Company in November 1998, Mr. Cross served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Aptech, a manufacturer of measurement, metering and control devices for the utility industry, from August 1996 to October 1998. From December 1993 to July 1996, Mr. Cross served as President of Aegis Technologies, an interactive telecommunications company. He holds a B.S. degree from Southwest Missouri University and attended the M.B.A. program at Southwest Missouri University.

James A. Henderson
Mr. Henderson joined the board in July 2001. He retired as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cummins Engine Company in December 1999, after joining the company in 1964. Mr. Henderson became President and Chief Operating Officer of Cummins in 1977, was promoted to President and Chief Executive Officer in 1994 and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from 1995 until his retirement in 1999. Mr. Henderson attended Culver Military Academy, holds an A.B. in public and international affairs from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. Mr. Henderson currently serves as Chairman of the Board of The Culver Education Foundation, member of the Board of Directors of Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), International Paper, Landmark Communications, Inc., Rohm and Haas Company, Ryerson Tull, Inc., SBC Communications, Inc., Heritage Fund of Bartholomew County, Inc. and is a member of the Washington, D.C. Business Council.

James A. McClung
Mr. McClung has served as a director of the Company since February 2000. He is currently Vice Chairman of Charter Consulting and former Senior Vice President and executive officer for FMC Corporation, a leading producer of a diversified portfolio of chemicals and machinery. He has over 30 years of international business development in over 75 countries, having managed and developed new technologies and production processes for diversified global businesses, including specialized chemicals and machinery, while living in the United States, Europe, and Africa. Mr. McClung currently serves as Corporate Board member of Alticor (Amway), Beaulieu of America Corporation, NCCI Holdings, Turtle Wax and Hu-Friedy. He was a founding member of the U.S.-Russia Business Council and is active in other international business organizations, such as the Japan American Society, Chicago Council of Foreign Relations and the Economic Club of Chicago. He serves as a board director at Illinois Institute of Technology, Thunderbird: The Garvin School of International Management, and the College of Wooster (Ohio). Mr. McClung earned a Bachelor’s degree from the College of Wooster, a Master’s degree from the University of Kansas, and a Doctorate from Michigan State University.

Jerry Pearlman
Mr. Pearlman has served as a director of the Company since April 1999. Mr. Pearlman retired as Chairman of Zenith Electronics Corporation in November 1995. He joined Zenith as controller in 1971 and served as chief executive officer from 1983 through April 1995. Mr. Pearlman is a director of Smurfit Stone Container Corporation and Ryerson-Tull, Inc. He is a trustee of Northwestern University and a director and past chairman of the board of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare. Mr. Pearlman graduated from Princeton with honors from the Woodrow Wilson School and from Harvard Business School with highest honors.

Richard W. Siegel
Dr. Siegel is a co-founder of the Company and has served as a director of the Company since 1989. Dr. Siegel also has served as a consultant to the Company since 1990 with regard to the application and commercialization of nanocrystalline materials. Dr. Siegel is an internationally recognized scientist in the field of nanocrystalline materials. During his tenure on the research staff at Argonne National Laboratory from July 1974 to May 1995, he was the principal scientist engaged in research with the laboratory-scale synthesis process that was the progenitor of the Company's physical-vapor-synthesis production system. Dr. Siegel has been the Robert W. Hunt Professor in Materials Science and Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute since June 1995, and served as Department Head from 1995 to 2000. In April 2001, Dr. Siegel became the founding Director of the newly created Rensselaer Nanotechnology Center at the Institute. During 1995-1998, he was also a visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics in Germany on an Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize received in 1994. He chaired the World Technology Evaluation Center worldwide study of nanostructure science and technology for the U.S. government, has served on the Council of the Materials Research Society and as Chairman of the International Committee on Nanostructured Materials. He also served on the Committee on Materials with Sub-Micron Sized Microstructures of the National Materials Advisory Board and was the co-chairman of the Study Panel on Clusters and Cluster-Assembled Materials for the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Siegel holds an A.B. degree in physics from Williams College and an M.S. degree and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

R. Janet Whitmore
Ms Whitmore joined the board in November, 2003. She is currently a director for Silverleaf Resorts, Inc., where she serves as Chairman of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee. Ms Whitmore is Founder of Benton Consulting, LLC, which specializes in business development and processes. From 1976 through 1999, Ms. Whitmore held numerous engineering and finance positions at Mobil Corporation, including Mobil's Chief Financial Analyst and Controller of Mobil's Global Petrochemicals Division. Ms. Whitmore holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Lewis University.

EXECUTIVE OFFICERS

Kevin J. Wenta
Mr. Wenta joined the Company in January 2007 as Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing. He brings twenty years of business development, sales, marketing, finance and operations experience to Nanophase. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Wenta was a Partner at Accenture, a global consultancy. Previous to that he was a General Manager at Eastman Chemical Company, successfully leading a turnaround of their $520 million resins, monomers and textiles businesses. In addition, he held the position of Director of Corporate Strategy for the $5.5 billion parent company. Previous experience includes VP of Business Development at ChemConnect (formerly CheMatch), a global electronic chemical exchange, financial positions at ARCO and he began his career at Shell Chemical in sales. Mr. Wenta holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago.

Richard W. Brotzman
Dr. Brotzman joined the Company in July 1994 as a senior scientist and has served as Vice President, Research and Development of the Company since July 1996. He is the inventor of much of the Company's coating technology. Dr. Brotzman has 15 years experience in research and development of advanced materials leading to new products. His technical areas of expertise include interfacial adhesion and chemistry, self-assembled polymeric coatings, nanosized inorganic powders, powder processing, reactive coupling agents, solgel derived protective coatings, non-destructive evaluation of composites, neo-debye relaxation in green inorganic gels, asymmetric membranes and plasma processing. From January 1991 to July 1994, Dr. Brotzman served as Director of Research at TPL, Inc., an advanced materials company. He holds a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Lafayette College, an M.S. degree in engineering and applied science from the University of California, Davis and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Washington.

Robert Haines
Mr. Haines joined Nanophase Technologies in January 2001 as Vice President of Operations. Beginning in 1996 and prior to joining Nanophase, he served as Corporate Director of Quality at Legrand North America. Previous experience includes two years as Vice President of Operations for Aegis Technologies and eight years with Digital Equipment Corporation. Mr. Haines has a B.S. in Chemistry/Engineering Physics from East Tennessee State University.

Jess Jankowski
Mr. Jankowski has served as Controller of the Company since joining in 1995. He was elected Secretary and Treasurer in November 1999, Acting Chief Financial Officer in January 2000 and Vice President in April of 2002. From 1990-1995 he served as Controller for two building contractors in the Chicago area. From 1986-1990 Mr. Jankowski worked for Kemper Financial Services in their accounting control corporate compliance group, serving as unit supervisor for his last two years. Mr. Jankowski holds a B.S. in accountancy from Northern Illinois University, an M.B.A. from Loyola University, and received his certified public accountant certificate from the State of Illinois.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, SALES & MARKETING

Edward G. Ludwig
Dr. Edward G. Ludwig has served as Vice-President of Business Development for Nanophase as of April, 2003. With over eighteen years of domestic and international technical and business experience, Dr. Ludwig’s background encompasses leadership positions with Rohm and Haas Company, Lighting Technologies International, and Penford Products Company. Dr. Ludwig’s career has been highlighted by success in new product and new business development as well as market and business management. As an inventor on several patents in a variety of fields, Dr. Ludwig has continued to be a key innovator and contributor to technological advances. Dr. Ludwig received a B.S. in Chemistry from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in organic chemistry from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Iowa.

David W. Nelson
Mr. Nelson joined the Company in April 2007 as Vice President of Sales. He is an executive who brings over 15 years of business development experience. Prior to joining Nanophase, Mr. Nelson started and managed the LCD business for Eastman Chemical Company. Prior to that, he was a consultant with Mercer Management Consulting working on corporate strategy development and implementation. Mr. Nelson has also started two consumer goods manufacturing companies and has served as National Sales Manager for Pelouze Scale Company. He holds a B.S. in Marketing from Miami University and a M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.