Start

Dr. Adil Dhalla is the Managing Director of the START Centre, and the Deputy Director of NEWRI, since August 2015. Prior to these assignments, he was the Director of the GE Singapore Water Technology Centre from 2010 to 2015, where his role included liaising with regional government agencies and universities on collaborative efforts relating to technology development, while ensuring that GE’s technology efforts in Singapore were aligned with the company’s business focus.

Before moving to Singapore, he was the Technical Director of the Polymer Science and Technology team, and earlier the Chemistry and Characterisation team, at GE’s John F. Welch Technology Centre in Bangalore, India. Since joining GE in 2000, he established and led technical centres of excellence in chemistry, materials and process technologies.

After completing his five-year integrated master’s degree in chemistry from the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai), he earned a doctorate in chemistry from Cornell University. Following a post-doctoral stint at Pennsylvania State University, he was a research fellow at the Bristol-Myers Squibb PRI in Princeton, N.J., and a senior manager in the research and technology division of Ciba Specialty Chemicals in Mumbai, India.

With industrial experience spanning 23 years, including 20 years in management roles, his key areas of professional expertise include the leadership and operational management of large, multifunctional teams, strategic planning, R&D in product/process development and commercialisation. He has co-authored more than 20 issued patents (US and Europe), more than 30 GE internal reports and several publications in peer-reviewed international journals.