
Laura Matz is the Chief Science and Technology Officer for Merck, KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, driving innovation and digitalization across the company¡¯s life sciences, healthcare, and electronics sectors. Serving as an executive vice-president, she is responsible for the corporate innovation teams including the digital office and new digital business models. She is also CEO of Athinia, a company that enables data sharing within the semiconductor industry. She possesses 20 years of experience in semiconductor manufacturing and a decade of experience running semiconductor materials businesses. Laura is an advocate for science and engineering in young talent. She has collaborated with universities to build a strong pipeline of interns with a focus on building data analytics skills in the chemical engineering and technical workforce. Laura serves on the board of AIChE¡¯s Institute for Learning and Innovation (ILI), which serves as a conduit for advancing chemical engineering talent. She has a PhD in analytical chemistry from Washington State Univ.