ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Z. George Zhang is Vice President of R&D of Valvoline Global Operations (a subsidiary of Saudi Aramco) based in Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A., where he leads corporate R&D, long-term strategy development, and innovation management. Dr. Zhang joined Valvoline in 1999 as Senior Staff Scientist for the R&D group. He held various roles within R&D with increasing responsibilities. In 2011, he was named Technical Manager of Central R&D Lab, and in 2013, Technical Director, and then Senior Technical Director for Valvoline International. In 2019-2020, he served an expat assignment as Managing Director of Valvoline China, leading and managing the business of Valvoline Inc. in the Greater China region, and those of its two joint ventures.
Dr. Zhang currently serves on the board of directors of Shanghai Valvoline Cummins Lubricating Oil Co., Ltd. (SHVC). From January 2015 to August 2019, he served on the board of directors of Valvoline Cummins Private Ltd. (VCPL).
A native of Nanjing, China, Dr. Zhang holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Nanjing University (Nanjing, China), a PhD degree in chemistry from Clarkson University (Potsdam, New York, U.S.A.), and an MBA from the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A.). He is an STLE certified lubrication specialist (CLS) and certified oil monitoring analyst (OMA I), and a certified Six-Sigma Green Belt. He is the inventor/co-inventor of eight U.S. patents, and the author/co-author of 49 peer-reviewed technical publications.
Dr. Zhang’s expertise includes product research and development, business and budget management, production engineering, IP development and evaluation in automotive fluids, due diligence in mergers and acquisitions, and deep global lubricant and additive market knowledge and fundamental understanding. His current research interest includes lubrication and thermal management for battery electric vehicles and fuel-cell vehicles.
