Mississippi State University appointed a new head of the forest products department, who will lead the largest state-funded laboratory of its kind in the United States.
Liam E. Leightley, previously a top industry executive who served as global manager for the specialty chemical manufacturer Rohm and Haas, will begin heading the department this month.
“Leightley has a wealth of academic, governmental and industrial experience,” Sam Foster, dean of the College of Forest Resources and research center director, said. “His diverse research and international knowledge will be an asset to the university and to Mississippi’s forest products industry.”
Leightley holds a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and microbiology from the University of Portsmouth and a doctorate from the University of Bradford, both in the United Kingdom. He also worked for two years in Japan as a research department manager with Rohm and Haas establishing a biocides research department and directed research and development for the biocides business in the Asia-Pacific region.
Leightley’s extensive leadership experience in the globalization of wood products to key market segments in the areas of building products, coatings, plastics and woods is a powerful asset to MSU.
“Mississippi State University’s forest products department is the pre-eminent department of its kind in the United States,” Leightley said. “The United States has the lead role in the production of wood worldwide, which places Mississippi State at the top of industry.”
Established in 1964, the forest products department is part of MSU’s Forest and Wildlife Research Center and serves an industry that contributes more than $14 billion annually to Mississippi.
Leightley’s primary research interests include technology transfer, wood protection and marketing. He has also held positions as visiting professor at the U.S. Departments of Agriculture’s Forest Products Laboratory in Madison, Wis., and as a research manager at Queensland Department of Forestry in Australia.
“Moving to new places helps you become a more open person. The hardest part of moving is setting up relationships with people and finding places to shop for things,” Leightley said. “A man in Japan once told me that people shouldn’t look for differences in each other; they should look for similarities. This outlook makes moving to a new area a much easier process.”
Leightley said there are two main reasons for his change to work at MSU.
“There is the desire on my part to change career pathways and get back into teaching and academia. Second, I will have the opportunity to work with a tremendous group of people in the top of the forest products industry, Leightley said.”
Leightley’s career interests have focused on planning and directing business development policies, objectives and initiatives as well as developing new marketing initiatives, assessing new markets and analyzing business opportunities.