Balancing Profitability and Sustainability: Insights from PPG’s Ed Rakiewicz

Thought Leader Interview with Ed Rakiewicz, Corporate Fellow, PPG

November 2024

In this webinar, Dr. Ed Rakiewicz, a recipient of the IRI Leadership Award, will discuss how PPG has successfully driven commercial growth while advancing its sustainability agenda. He will share the key enablers, challenges, and lessons learned in balancing profitability and sustainability, offering practical insights for businesses aiming to achieve both. Ed will also provide advice for early career professionals looking to make an impact in this space.

Ed Rakiewicz is a Corporate Fellow and Intrapreneur at PPG, a leading global manufacturer of paints, coatings and specialty materials headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  In this role, Ed is responsible for the identification and development of early stage adjacent and transformational “front end” ventures that have the potential to create new revenue streams for the company.  He also plays a key role in developing and leveraging external partnership, funding and licensing opportunities with universities, government agencies and other companies.   A 33-year veteran of the coatings and specialty chemicals industries, Ed has held a variety of analytical, product development, innovation/technical leadership and business development roles focused primarily on the Automotive, Industrial and Aerospace markets.  His accomplishments include numerous contributions relating to the characterization, advancement and commercialization of new innovative materials and processes.  His 26 US patents and 8 technical publications cover a wide variety of technologies with a sustainable benefit including NOx-reducing fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) catalysts, lithium-ion battery electrodes and numerous metal pretreatments and corrosion protection coatings systems.   In addition, he has been recognized with numerous external and internal innovation awards, including the 2024 Innovation Research Interchange (IRI) Innovation Leadership Award, several R&D 100 Awards and the 2018 PPG President’s Award for Technical Achievement for the successful development and commercialization of ZIRCOBOND®, a sustainably advantaged metal pretreatment for the automotive and Industrial markets.  He is also a member of the PPG Collegium, an association of PPG leaders who have made key technological contributions that support PPG’s growth and financial success.   A native of Pennsylvania, Rakiewicz received a B.S. in Chemistry with Honors from Mount St. Mary’s University (Emmitsburg, MD) and a Ph.D. in Physical Organic Chemistry from Penn State University.  Ed serves on the External Advisory Board (EAB) for the University of Minnesota’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science (CEMS) and is a mentor at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University.