2nd Annual
CELEBRATING THE SYNERGY
BETWEEN INDUSTRY AND ACADEMIA
‘Limits to Progress’
WALTER L. ROBB, PhD
Dr. Walter L. Robb, now a management consultant and President of Vantage Management, Inc., was until 12/31/92 the General Electric Company’s Senior Vice-President for Corporate Research and Development and a member of the company’s Corporate Executive Council. He directed the Schenectady, NY-based GE Research and Development Center, one of the world’s largest and most diversified industrial laboratories.
Prior to assuming this position in late 1986, Dr. Robb was General Manager of GE Medical Systems, headquartered in Milwaukee, WI, for 13 years. He directed that organization’s growth into the world’s leading producer of medical diagnostic imaging equipment, building it into a billion-dollar-plus-per-year advanced technology business with a total of approximately 10,000 employees worldwide. Under his management, GE introduced computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) scanners that are now established as the standards in diagnostic imaging. Also under his leadership, GE Medical Systems progressed from producing only X-Ray equipment to featuring a full line of products in ultrasound, nuclear medicine, CT, and MR, as well as X-Ray.
Dr. Robb joined the General Electric Company in 1951 as a chemical engineer at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory in Schenectady, NY, where he performed research on nuclear fuel reprocessing and isotope separation. In 1956, he transferred to the GE Research Laboratory (now part of the Research and Development Center), where he developed advanced membranes. In 1962, he was named Manager of the Center’s Chemical Process branch.
Dr. Robb was appointed Manager of Research and Development at GE’s Silicone Products Department in Waterford, NY in 1966; Manager of the GE Medical Venture Operation in 1968; and General Manager of the Silicone Products Department in 1971. In 1973, he was named General Manager of GE’s Medical Systems Division in Milwaukee and, the following year, was elected Vice-President of the company. In 1983, he was named Senior Vice-President and Group Executive when Medical Systems was elevated to group status.
Dr. Robb holds 12 patents dealing with permeable membranes and separation processes, and is the author of more than a score of articles published in professional journals. His research won him six I-R 100 Awards, sponsored by Industrial Research magazine, for the most significant new technical innovations of the year.
Dr. Robb is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 1989 he became the first recipient of the Medical Technology Leadership Award presented by the Diagnostic Imaging and Therapy Systems Division of the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. In 1988 Worcester Polytechnic Institute awarded him an honorary doctor of engineering degree and in 1994 he received an honorary doctor of engineering degree from the Milwaukee School of Engineering. He is an investor in a dozen other local start-ups, a co-founder with Roger Hull, President of Union College “U-Start”, Schenectady’s High-Tech Incubator. For excitement, he owns Albany River Rats in the American Hockey League. In 1987 he was presented with Pennsylvania State University’s Distinguished Alumni Award. He is on the Boards of Directors of Celgene Corp., Mechanical Technology, Inc., and half dozen private high-tech companies.
In September 1993, he received the National Medal of Technology from President
Clinton for his leadership in the CT and MR imaging industry.
