Ms. Whitmore joined the board in November 2003. She is a former director of Silverleaf Resorts, Inc., where she served as Chair of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee. She is also a former director of Epoch Biosciences, a supplier of proprietary products used to accelerate genomic analysis. Ms. Whitmore is Founder of Benton Consulting, LLC, which specializes in business development and processes. From 1976 through 1999, Ms. Whitmore held numerous engineering and finance positions at Mobil Corporation, including Mobil’s Chief Financial Analyst and Controller of Mobil’s Global Petrochemicals Division. Ms. Whitmore holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University and an M.B.A. from Lewis University. We believe that Ms. Whitmore’s combination of global financial, engineering, and management expertise makes her a valuable member of our Board of Directors.
Mr. Jankowski joined the board in February 2009. He has served as the Company’s President and Chief Executive Officer since that time. He is currently serving as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, in addition to his existing role. After joining the Company in 1995, Mr. Jankowski held offices including Vice President of Finance, Chief Financial Officer, Secretary, Treasurer and Controller. From 1990-1995 he served as Controller for two building and public works contractors in the Chicago area, during which time he had significant business development responsibilities. Mr. Jankowski holds a B.S. from Northern Illinois University and an M.B.A. from Loyola University. He served on the TechAmerica Midwest Board from 2008 to 2012 and was a past member of the TechAmerica Midwest CFO Committee. He was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Nanobusiness Commercialization Association in 2009. Mr. Jankowski was also appointed to the Romeoville Economic Development Commission and served from 2004 to 2010. He has also served on the advisory board of NITECH (Formerly WESTEC), an Illinois Technology Enterprise Center focusing on the commercialization of advanced manufacturing technologies from 2003 to 2008. From 2009 to 2018, Mr. Jankowski was appointed to the board of directors of the Northern Illinois Technology Foundation, an economic development and technology transfer entity that is part of Northern Illinois University. From 2011 to 2015, he served as a subject matter expert for the Invest Illinois Venture Fund. We believe that Mr. Jankowski’s long-term and intimate experience with Nanophase operations, the markets in which it competes, along with his financial and management expertise, makes him a valuable member of our Board of Directors.
Ms. Beres has served as a director of the Company since October, 2020. She has spent her career in corporate strategy and operations in retail and consumer industries, transforming programs and building new organizational and market-facing capabilities. Ms. Beres currently serves as Senior Director of Strategic Portfolio Delivery at Ulta Beauty, where she leads the Conscious Beauty program, a holistic project that offers enhanced transparency and choice around clean ingredients and sustainability. Previously, she has worked at Deloitte Consulting, advising primarily on growth and transformation strategies in Consumer-Packaged Goods, with additional leadership roles in the CMO practice, developing and executing strategies on large global accounts. Ms. Beres started her career working in the financial services, focused on small and middle market companies, with responsibilities including commercial lending and credit evaluation, and credit transaction negotiation. She earned her M.B.A. from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and has a B.S. in Finance and B.A. in Oboe Performance from Butler University. Ms. Beres has also served on Associate and Auxiliary Boards for non-profit organizations in Chicago, as well as the Board of Directors for Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestras. We believe that Ms. Beres’ broad strategic experience in CPG, and specific experience with cosmetics, along with her strong financial background makes her a valuable member of our Board of Directors.
Mr. Miller joined the board in July 2023. Miller, a veteran of many of the industries and markets served by Nanophase, and its wholly owned subsidiary Solésence LLC, brings 36 years of leadership and commercial experience in specialty materials and chemicals in the Personal Care, Pharma, CASE, and Metals markets. Miller was most recently the President & COO of Nagase Specialty Materials NA LLC (Itasca, IL) before departing in April 2023. Prior to Nagase, Mark gained a range of professional and leadership experience while he was a Principal at Business Performance Consultancy, Senior VP for LONZA, Inc., VP of Care Chemicals at BASF Corporation, VP of Americas at McIntyre Group Inc., Director of Marketing for The HaiiStar Company, and Treasurer for the Cleveland-Cliffs Company (formerly Inland Steel Industries). Throughout his career, Mark has valued and had a hand in strategy development & implementation, organic growth & working capital optimization, governance & leadership, realignment & integration, as well as sustainability goals. Originally graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1985 with a B.B.A. in Business Management, Miller further continued his education at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana where he graduated in 1987 with an M.B.A. in Finance. Finally, Miller graduated in 2001 from the University of Illinois' John Marshall Law School with a J.D. in Corporate Law. As stated by Jess Jankowski, President & CEO, we are thrilled to welcome Mark to our board. He has been a great working partner, both on the customer and vendor side, over many years. His addition to our Board of Directors will help to round out the governance and strategic guidance available to management as we continue to focus on expanding our presence in skin health markets.