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ATRI
Elects Thiel as Board Chairman
 The board of directors of Alfred Technology Resources, Inc., (ATRI), Alfred, NY announced the election of Dr. Frank L. Thiel, IV, as chairman.
Dr. Frank L. Thiel, IV, has spent over four decades in high-technology commercial and university faculty assignments. For 28 years, he was associated with Corning Incorporated in a broad spectrum of technical and management positions. After retiring from Corning in 1997, he operated his own technology management consulting firm, Decision Management International, for more than 6 years.
From 1980 to 1984, Frank served as the founding Technical Director of Corning's first overseas optical waveguide manufacturing joint venture, Optical Fibres, located in the UK. He later spent six years in Japan as Director of Technology in Corning Japan KK, where he was responsible for the start-up and general management of the Shizuoka Operations Center on the southern coast near Hamamatsu.
Subsequently, Frank directed Corning's technology transfer group, encompassing technology acquisition, interactions with universities and national laboratories, research contracts, and technical information services. As part of these activities, he personally directed all aspects of establishing the Corning Scientific Center in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The technologies represented in his consulting assignments include optical communications, photonics, information display, biotechnology, and ceramics. The venues beyond the USA include Europe, Russia, India, and Japan.
During his residence in the UK, Dr. Thiel was a member of the British Standards Institute Working Group on Optical Fibres and Cables. In Japan, he served on the High Technology and R&D Committees of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan. He has also served here in the US as a member of the Industrial Research Institute's External Research Directors' Network and as a volunteer expert with the International Executive Service Corps of the US Agency for International Development.
Locally, Frank is Chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals of the Town of Erwin, and has served on the town’s Zoning Commission and Comprehensive Plan 2010 Committee. In 1993 he was elected to the Board of Directors of Alfred Technology Resources, Inc., which operates the business incubators more commonly known as the Ceramics Corridor Innovation Centers, with sites in Alfred and Painted Post.
Dr. Thiel has studied at the American Graduate School of International Management, and holds PhD (Electrophysics), MEE, and BEE degrees from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He is the author or co-author of more than 25 published technical articles, and has been awarded seven US and twelve foreign patents.
ATRI operates the nationally recognized Ceramics Corridor Innovation Centers (CCIC) program and the newly established NanoMaterials Innovation Center (NMIC), with locations in Alfred and Painted Post, NY. The CCIC programs’ economic development mission has been credited with assisting in the creation of over two dozen businesses and more than 2,500 jobs in the area during the past ten years. Over twelve business entities are currently located in the two program facilities.
Jon Wilder, CCIC executive director, stated that he was looking forward to working with Dr. Thiel in his new role as Chairman on plans for the future of the CCIC program and further development of the NMIC.
Wilder also stated that, “Business incubation is about growing both jobs and commercially successful applications—turning ideas into viable products and services. It is important to emphasize that there is no better place for research and development and start-up projects than in the dedicated facilities of proven business incubators. It is an environment where an idea or concept can be carefully nurtured, while remaining focused on the ultimate goal of transferring the technology to the marketplace.”
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