Cliff Spiro

Cliff Spiro received a BS degree in chemistry from Stanford University and a PhD degree in chemistry from Caltech where he shared the 1980 McCoy Prize for the top thesis. Cliff joined General Electric in 1980 and held a series of progressively responsible research and management positions for GE between 1980 and 2001. In 2001 Spiro was named Vice President of R&D for Nalco, a leader in water, energy and paper chemistry. Dr. Spiro joined Cabot Microelectronics in December, 2003, where he served for eight years as Vice President of R&D and CTO. Cliff has also served as a Director on the Boards of the Mississippi Polymer Technologies Corporation, Maxdem Corporation, Strategic Diagnostics (Nasdaq:SDIX), and Araca Incorporated, and on scientific advisory boards at U. of Chicago, Northwestern, U. of Arizona, and NanoTerra, Inc. In 2011, he formed Cliff Spiro Consulting Group LLC, located in Savannah, Georgia, for the purpose of coaching innovation leadership. He holds 22 US patents and has published 86 scientific articles and has given 101 technical conference presentations.

Cliff recently authored two books. In “R&D is War – and I’ve Got the Scars to Prove it” he delves into the human side of innovation. Cliff tells illustrative R&D war stories from his career about coal, turbines and diesels, the stealth bomber, synthetic diamonds, silicone rubber, light bulbs, water treatment and semiconductor processing. He also published “Up Yours – What to Do With an Engineering, Research and Innovation Career,” a career guide for innovation professionals. In 2017, he published “From Bench to Boardroom- the R&D Leader’s Guide,” a practical manual for research directors.

In 2018 Spiro was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.