William Banholzer joined the University of Wisconsin–Madison in fall 2013 following a distinguished 30-year career in industrial research and leadership. At UW, he holds appointments in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, and the Department of Chemistry. His work focuses on developing innovative educational materials that connect industrial chemistry with real-world applications, including business and commercialization.
Prior to joining UW, Banholzer retired from Dow, where he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and led Venture Capital, New Business Development, and Licensing. He also served on the Board of Directors of Dow Corning Corporation, where he chaired the Corporate Responsibility Committee, and held roles on the Dow AgroSciences Members Committee and the Dow Foundation Board of Directors.
Banholzer currently serves on the Board of Directors for Composite Panel Systems and Pyran. He previously served on the boards of JELD-WEN (compensation and audit committees) and Wilsonart International (audit committee).
During his tenure at Dow, Banholzer managed a global research portfolio with an annual budget of $1.7 billion and established the company’s strategic vision for science and technology. Under his leadership, the value of Dow’s innovation pipeline grew from $10 billion to more than $32 billion. His efforts to accelerate innovation were widely recognized: Dow was consistently ranked among the top ten companies for R&D across all industries by R&D Magazine, its innovation portfolio management was deemed “Best in Class” by Booz Allen, and Thomson Reuters named Dow one of the world’s Top 100 Innovators for three consecutive years.
Banholzer has received numerous honors for his leadership and technical contributions, including the Industrial Research Institute’s Holland Award, the Council for Chemical Research’s Pruitt Award, the American Chemical Society’s Earl B. Barnes Award, AIChE’s Founders and Agile Awards, and the National Academy of Engineering’s Bueche Award. He has also received the University of Illinois LAS Alumni Achievement Award and the Chemical and Biological Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award, and has delivered invited lectures worldwide. While at Dow, he initiated a $250 million university research collaboration and championed the Dow Safety Academy, recognized with the 2013 Chemical Engineering and ChemInnovations Award.
Banholzer was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2002 and later served a three-year term as one of 12 elected councilors on its governing body.
Earlier in his career, Banholzer spent 22 years with General Electric. He served as Vice President of Global Technology for GE Advanced Materials, where he led worldwide technology and engineering. He joined GE in 1983 at the Corporate Research and Development Laboratory and held multiple leadership roles before becoming Vice President of Global Engineering for GE Lighting in 1997. He subsequently transitioned to GE Advanced Materials in 1999. His contributions at GE were recognized with the company’s Bronze, Silver, and Gold Patent Awards, the Superabrasives Leadership Award, the GE Plastics CEO Six Sigma Award, and election to the Whitney Gallery of Technical Achievers.
Banholzer earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Marquette University and master’s and doctoral degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois. He is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt, holds 16 U.S. patents, and has authored more than 90 publications with over 4,000 citations (h-index 35).