DANIEL CARRAWAY
A History of Profitable Partnerships
Creating partnerships to generate profit by leveraging key capabilities and assets is a hallmark
of Dr. Daniel Carraway’s approach to innovation and business. Over the past 25 years, Dr.
Carraway has initiated and successfully developed many partnerships involving academia and
industry, each focused on innovation as a driver of profitable new business opportunities. Dr.
Carraway is an accomplished scientist, inventor and entrepreneur who has raised over $60
million in start-up capital and has founded or co-founded multiple companies to commercialize
new technologies based on natural processes to create value from renewable resources.
Soon after completing his PhD at the University of Georgia, Dr. Carraway joined International
Paper and initiated one of the first industry-university partnerships in the field of forest
biotechnology. He conducted a global evaluation of suitable partners and chose Dr. Vincent
Chiang, who was then at Michigan Technological University, as a
partner. Together, Dr. Carraway and Dr. Chiang forged a strong
collaboration and led their respective institutional teams in a
pioneering project to discover the details of lignin biosynthesis at
the molecular level.
The groundbreaking information that came from this effort
enabled International Paper to create significant value in its
forestry business and enabled Michigan Technological University
to generate millions of dollars of grant funding for its natural
resources programs. Dr. Carraway and Dr. Chiang’s partnership
included a joint effort to transfer Dr. Chiang’s program to North
Carolina State University where he and his team developed a predictive kinetic metabolic-flux
model for the 21 enzymes and 24 metabolites of the monolignol biosynthetic pathway. This tool
is currently enabling research scientists from industrial and academic entities around the world
to develop valuable technology for the forest and forest products industry.
During a decade of work with International Paper, Dr.
Carraway was responsible for creating a Forest
Biotechnology program that included both research and
development as well as commercialization strategies for
successful technologies. Utilizing his partnership model, he
built a world-class forest biotechnology organization with a
global presence, including multiple sites with operations in
the United States, New Zealand and Brazil. Dr. Carraway
was the technical lead and business strategy contributor
for the team that formed ArborGen as a joint-venture
company of International Paper, MeadWestvaco and
Fletcher Challenge. ArborGen is focused on commercialization of forest biotechnology and is
currently the world’s largest producer of seedling products for the forest industry.
In 2004, Dr. Carraway left International Paper to found and launch a new company, DaniMer
Scientific, to develop and commercialize polymers produced from renewable natural resources
(biopolymers). He and his wife, Meredith, started DaniMer at their kitchen table and quickly grew
the company into an industry leader, and one of only two successful
biopolymer producers in North America. One of the first products that
DaniMer commercialized was an innovative new extrusion coating resin
that was based on PLA, a biopolymer produced by NatureWorks.
Green Mountain Coffee wanted to develop a fully compostable hot-serve
beverage cup, so Dr. Carraway formed a partnership with International
Paper and Green Mountain to create the world’s first compostable hotserve beverage cup with 100 percent bio-based material. He used a unique
reactive extrusion process to develop a PLA-based extrusion coating resin
that could be produced economically at commercial scale.
Less than three years after product launch, over one
billion cups had been sold, and today, multiple brand owners and food
service companies produce billions of beverage service cups and other
food service containers annually utilizing the technology that Dr.
Carraway invented and made available to the industry in 2006. This new
product resulted from extensive innovation at DaniMer and from
partnerships that Dr. Carraway developed with industry partners like
NatureWorks and Coca-Cola. The Ecotainer product that was enabled by
DaniMer’s partnership with International Paper has been commercialized
globally. Other companies including MeadWestvaco, Dart/Solo, Georgia
Pacific, Hilton Hotels, Delta Airlines and many others now create value
with the technology developed by Dr. Carraway and commercialized through the partnerships
he built at DaniMer.
Another industry first from Dr. Carraway’s innovative
new company was the launch of a renewable-based
shrink-wrap that was commercialized by Plastic
Suppliers and ConAgra Foods. This effort involved a
partnership with NatureWorks, the producers of PLA,
and Plastic Suppliers, the converter of the film product
for ConAgra Foods. DaniMer worked with Plastic
Suppliers to develop additives to functionalize the PLA
from NatureWorks and Plastic Suppliers worked with
ConAgra Foods to enable a shrink-wrap product that
outperformed the incumbent petroleum-derived shrink-wrap and offered a sustainable solution
for Conagra Foods, which had a corporate goal for its brands to become more energy efficient
and reduce their environmental impact.
Innovative Molding Solutions (IMS) approached DaniMer
with a challenge to develop a new compostable
biopolymer that could withstand the heat and pressure
of a new single-serve coffee and tea brew pod that
Rogers Family Coffee wanted to bring to market as an
alternative to an existing single-cup system. Rogers
Family Coffee wanted a biodegradable resin that would
lower its environmental impact and enable customers to
reduce the amount of plastic that went to landfills.
Dr. Carraway developed a new material that became the
first biopolymer resin to achieve commercial success in single-serve coffee brew-pod industry.
Because of the unique capability that Dr. Carraway brought to the project through DaniMer,
Rogers Family Coffee has eliminated 97% of the petroleum-based plastic that was used in its
unique single-serve brewing solution, and the favorable cost enabled the Rogers product to
capture significant market share in North America.
Another leading global company that approached Dr. Carraway for help was
Henkel, the largest producer of adhesives in the world. Dr. Carraway, through
his company DaniMer Scientific, formed an alliance with Henkel to develop hotmelt adhesives that use bio-based raw materials. The alliance combined
DaniMer’s expertise in biopolymer science, innovative production capabilities
and bio-based technology platform with Henkel’s expertise in hot-melt adhesive
application, and global marketing and sales footprint.
Henkel’s customers in the consumer-packaging industry have corporate goals to
reduce the carbon footprint of packaging materials and deliver on consumerdriven environmental initiatives. Henkel also needed to diversify its supply
chains for adhesive materials. Dr. Carraway’s leadership and innovation enabled Henkel and
DaniMer to deliver a technology platform to the consumer-packaging market that includes a
family of globally supplied bio-based, hot-melt adhesive formulations.
In October of 2007, Dr. Carraway acquired the intellectual property assets of Procter and
Gamble related to a class of bio-polymers called polyhydroxy alcanoates (PHA). Procter and
Gamble had decided to sell the technology because its expertise did not include
commercialization of this type technology, and because its ability to create value with PHA does
not come from production of the polymer but rather utilization of the polymer in packaging for its
consumer brands. Several large global companies were bidding to acquire the PHA technology
from P&G; however – because of Dr. Carraway’s history of success in working with large, global
companies to invent and commercialize new, value creating products – Procter and Gamble
chose to sell its technology to Dr. Carraway, who formed a company called Meredian to
commercialize PHA and developed a strategy to integrate the entire value chain from feedstock
to bio-resin. This vertical integration into the supply chain resulted in the capability to create
value utilizing the entire production process from seed, through planting and harvesting, oil
extraction, fermentation, and final extrusion into bio-polymer pellets that are supplied to
converters.
Unique Perspective
One of the key reasons Dr. Carraway believes he has found success where other efforts have
failed is the unique perspective that comes from his intense study of natural systems. Starting at
a young age with an intense and ongoing interest in nature, Dr. Carraway developed a deep
understanding of natural systems and processes. He has leveraged this into a unique
perspective that allows him to create unique approaches to development and manufacturing of
biopolymers – approaches that are derived from the natural systems found in the metabolic
activities of plants and microorganisms.
Thorough Preparation
Dr. Carraway’s preparation to leverage his interest and insight into natural systems began at
Mississippi State University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Forestry. His initial
experience in business, to supply fiber for manufacture of packaging materials, led to an
increased desire to find ways to use nature’s elegant mechanisms to create more efficient and
more environmentally friendly methods of meeting the needs of people and improving their lives
and work. Dr. Carraway continued his formal study after working for several years in industry
and completed a Master of Science in Plant Systematics and Ecology again from Mississippi
State University.
Dr. Carraway completed his formal scientific and technical training at the University of Georgia,
where he earned a PhD in forest biotechnology. Since then, Dr. Carraway has continued his
quest for continuous learning in order to enable society to benefit from the resources provided
by nature without the destructive exploitation that is sometimes practiced. Study at the Columbia
University Graduate School of Business in marketing management and business strategy has
enabled Dr. Carraway to gain insight from some of the brightest minds in business, and he has
incorporated this knowledge into his work with leading global corporations.
Entrepreneurship Based on Service to Others
Dr. Carraway has over two and a half decades of demonstrated success in creating value
through invention and commercialization of new products and processes. He has the proven
ability to conceptualize problems, find solutions, set strategic direction and plan resources to
meet the goals of partners, and he has extensive experience in new-business creation via
innovation and market development. Dr. Carraway is recognized globally as a leader in
biopolymer technology, and is often consulted with regard to opportunities related to utilization
of natural resources for bio-based products. All of this accomplishment is based in Dr.
Carraway’s desire to serve others and to improve their lives/work through the wise use of
nature’s resources.
Dr. Carraway serves on several non-profit and university boards, including the Georgia Youth
Science and Technology Center (an organization dedicated to promoting student interest and
achievement in science and mathematics), the board of his local elementary and high schools,
as well as a technical advisory board associated with the University of Georgia Biorefining and
Carbon Cycling Program.
Dr. Carraway lives by the principle that individuals can achieve anything in life they desire, if (1)
they help enough other people achieve what they desire and (2) they will do it in a way that
results in good stewardship of our planet’s natural resources and in a way that honors and
respects the needs and desires of fellow humans.