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.