Episode 15: Research Chair Roundtable

In this episode we thought we would do something a little different. We decided to sit down “virtually” with some of our Research Chairs of the past to find out about their time with the program, how it has changed and where they see research headed in the future.

Douglas Lehrian, Ph.D. retired Senior Director, Product Development The Hershey Company was Research Chair from 1982-1985 and served again from 1992-1994.

Doug Lehrian was Senior Director, U.S. Core Chocolate Product Development, of The Hershey Company. In this role, Lehrian was responsible for setting the scientific strategy for the Core Chocolate department and managing the development of new products for the Hershey’s, Kisses and Reese’s brands. Read more

Adrian Timms, Assistant Teaching Professor at The Pennsylvania State University was Research Chair from 1998-2005.

Adrian had technical and consumer business roles in all aspects of innovation with Hershey Company, with Cadbury in the USA, and in the UK, working with familiar brands in several confectionery, snack and food product categories. After Hershey, he was Senior Director, Confections for Chew LLC, where his team developed products for global food company clients. Then, as an independent consultant, he provided innovation strategy and technical consulting services to startups, and small to large companies, before commencing his teaching career with Penn State. Read more