Christopher J. Welch is a principal with Welch Innovation, LLC, an independent research and consulting firm.  He serves as the Executive Director of the Indiana Consortium for Analytical Sciences and Engineering (ICASE), a joint venture between Purdue, Notre Dame and Indiana University (link).  Chris also serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Snapdragon Chemistry, Inc.  and Enantiosense, LLC.  Dr. Welch has worked in a variety of fields within the chemical industry, including discovery synthesis of agrochemicals (Velsicol-Sandoz), development of reagents for improved immunodiagnostic assays (Abbott Laboratories), development and commercialization of chromatographic stationary phases, reagents and enantioselective catalysts within a small chemical business environment (Regis Technologies) invention and application of new purification, analysis and high throughput experimentation technologies for pharmaceutical process research (Merck & Co.) and as a  Science Advisor for the US FDA.  While at Merck, Dr. Welch created and administered Merck's postdoctoral research fellows program and managed a multi-million-dollar fund and research network that identified, evaluated and acquired more than 300 new enabling technologies for pharmaceutical discovery and development.  Dr. Welch has authored more than 250 scientific publications and patents.   He is co-founder of the journal, Enantiomer, a member of the editorial advisory board for the journals, Chirality, Journal of the Korean Chemical Society, Chemistry World and ACS Central Science.  Chris is past chair of the ACS Division of Organic Chemistry (ORGN), a member of the Executive Committee for the International Symposia on Chirality and the PittCon Program Resource Team, vice-chair of Pacifichem 2020 and co-founder of the Enabling Technologies Consortium (ETC).  Honors and awards include the NJCG Award for Excellence in Chromatography (2004), the PACS Activated Carbon Hall of Fame award (2007), MRL Presidents Award for Environmental Achievement (2009), Microsoft Life Science Innovation Award (2010), Fellow of the American Chemical Society (2010), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS (2013) the Chirality Medal (2015), the University of Nebraska Chemistry Industrial Award (2016) the EAS Award for Outstanding Achievement in Separation Science (2017) and the Uwe Neue Award in Separation Science (2019).