August 28, 2017 – Mr. Ralph Wagner joined Microbe Detectives today as the Vice President of Business Development. He will be focusing on developing corporate partnerships to optimize wastewater treatment and resource recovery solutions in the areas of biofuels, anaerobic digestion and biological nutrient removal. Mr. Wagner will also develop partnerships in other industrial and energy markets.
Mr. Wagner’s professional experience spans Director level Marketing and Business Development positions in small privately held and NYSE-listed Fortune 100 global enterprises. He has over 30 years of water industry experience including over 20 years with Nalco in Business Unit sales and marketing leadership roles and Corporate Strategic Marketing leadership roles. His water industry experience began at Linde Division UCC in R&D for UNOX and includes Strategic Marketing and Innovation leadership roles at Siemens Water. Outside of the water industry, Mr. Wagner has formed joint development agreements and partnerships in coatings, polymers and energy in marketing and business development leadership roles at Rohm & Haas and Dorf Ketal Chemicals.
Mr. Wagner holds a B.S. in General Engineering and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois and an MBA from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has been the recipient of Chairman achievement awards at both Nalco and Dorf Ketal.
“I learned a great deal from Ralph in my Nalco years, when he was the leader of Nalco’s corporate marketing training and development program, and continue to do so today,” said John Tillotson, CEO of Microbe Detectives. “His depth of knowledge and experience in water is exceptional. I feel lucky to have this chance to work with him once again.”
“The water microbiome is a truly exciting new field of opportunity,” said Mr. Wagner. “Innovations in genomics technology are opening massive opportunities for discovery. DNA diagnostics in medicine and healthcare alone are rapidly approaching a $20 billion industry. It’s early stage in water, but Microbe Detectives is doing a very solid job as the leading market maker in the wastewater industry. I’m excited to join the team and contribute to what I believe will be an exciting future.”
About Microbe Detectives
Microbe Detectives is an innovator in applying modern DNA science and technology to transform water quality measurement and monitoring of wastewater, anaerobic digesters, process water, and other biological systems. Wastewater facilities utilize the company’s DNA sequencing services to optimize treatment systems, recover renewable resources, and reduce operating costs by 20 to 60%. Product innovators uniquely quantify and validate the performance of their products when applied to water microbiome environments. Microbe Detectives graduated from the Water Council’s BREW accelerator in 2014 and is a winner of the Wisconsin Innovation Awards. https://microbedetectives.com/