| ST. LOUIS (Feb. 27, 2007) - Crosslink, a leader in commercial applications of electroactive polymer materials, today announced Dr. Jill Simpson's promotion to general manager of Crosslink Energy Materials, a division of Crosslink. In addition, chemical engineer Steve Welker will return to Crosslink on March 5 as general manager of commercial development. "As Crosslink transitions from a research-based firm to commercialization, we want to reinforce our technical marketing, provide daily direction to launch teams and speed decision making," said Charles Jongeward, Crosslink CEO. "Both Jill and Steve have substantial chemical experience and proven marketing abilities."
Simpson and Welker's appointments officially separate the Crosslink Energy Materials division from its other initiatives, including electroluminescent lighting (EL), electrostatic dissipation (ESD), corrosion control and military development contracts.
Foremost in their new roles, Welker will guide Crosslink's EL product, SuperFlexTM, to market and direct multiple military development contracts, while Simpson will focus on successfully launching Crosslink's EMPAC coating this year. A step-change improvement for conductive polymer capacitor coatings, EMPAC is a new coating based on soluble polyaniline (PANI).
Simpson knows about speeding products to market. Before joining Crosslink as director of business development in 2006, she worked in technical marketing for a worldwide leader of metals and specialty materials. While there, she was part of a group that successfully commercialized emerging conductive polymer technology.
"Jill knows the capacitor industry players, the competitive ICP battlefield and has a unique blend of technical marketing skills needed to lead this business area," Jongeward said.
With seven years in the functional coatings industry, Simpson's experience includes sales and marketing of new chemical products, particularly in display, electronic components, packaging and flexible electronics markets. At Crosslink, she will supervise the research and development, production and sales teams.
"Managing the entire capacitor line is an opportunity to truly own a product through its entire lifecycle," she said.
Welker, who has a master's in business administration, left Crosslink last year for a position as director of operations in the medical services industry. He said he is returning because he wants to be a part of the growing company. In his first stint at Crosslink, Welker served as director of business development prior to Simpson.
"Steve made great technical strides for us during the three years he was here,? Jongeward said. ?His decision to return adds to Crosslink?s momentum."
Welker will oversee business development activities for all Crosslink initiatives outside the Energy Materials division. In addition to SuperFlex's market debut, he is tasked with identifying and pursuing commercial opportunities for ESD and corrosion control. On the military development side, Welker will lead his team in fine-tuning and improving production methods for prototypes.
"The reward potential in this position is huge," he said. "I have the opportunity to develop and market new technology that could help the military, as well as grow our company and its people."
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