Mansour AbdulBaki, PhD, is an innovation, science, and commercialization executive whose career has been built around turning complex ideas into practical, defensible, and commercially meaningful outcomes. Across more than 15 years, he has worked at the intersection of science, technology, product development, customer insight, organizational transformation, and business strategy. From global R&D organizations and Fortune 500 environments to emerging ventures and direct advisory relationships with founders and CEOs, Mansour has developed a reputation as a “connector of dots”—someone who can see relationships across disciplines, challenge conventional assumptions, translate complexity into clarity, and help leadership teams move from vision to execution.
Mansour’s foundation is deeply technical. He earned both his PhD and Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Houston, with his doctoral research focused on polymer nanocomposites, molecular dynamics, and structure-property-processing relationships. His academic work included research involving advanced polymers, carbon nanotubes, nanoparticles, and composite materials, as well as research experience at the NIST Center for Neutron Research and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He was also selected as a National Science Foundation GK-12 Fellow. That scientific foundation has remained an important part of his leadership philosophy: rigorous analysis matters, but its greatest value comes when technical knowledge can be translated into decisions, products, businesses, and measurable impact.
His transition from researcher to industry innovator took shape during an eight-year career with INVISTA, a Koch company. Beginning as a Research & Development Engineer, Mansour developed patentable technologies involving polymer materials and synthetic fibers while managing commercialization efforts that crossed technical validation, end-use testing, sourcing, environmental health and safety, and manufacturing considerations. His work ultimately expanded well beyond the laboratory. As Open Innovation Director for Advanced Concepts, he led new-product incubation, Voice of Customer research, technology scouting, innovation portfolio decisions, strategic partnership identification, prototyping, business-model development, branding, messaging, and launch strategy. One venture progressed from concept through customer research to a physical prototype in approximately eight months, demonstrating his ability to combine scientific rigor with the urgency and experimentation of an entrepreneurial environment.
That ability to bridge technical and commercial disciplines became a defining theme of Mansour’s career. As Science & Strategy Advisor to the CEO of Jaspr, he advised leadership on product development and the physics of air cleaning while helping bridge engineering, strategy, marketing, and sales. His responsibilities included informing product design and feature prioritization, developing performance-testing approaches, contributing a customer-centered perspective to hardware and digital experiences, and translating sophisticated scientific concepts into accessible communications for customers, partners, and internal teams. The role demonstrated an increasingly important aspect of his leadership: he does not simply understand complex technology—he helps organizations understand what that technology means for the customer, the business, and the decisions leadership must make.
Mansour subsequently broadened his leadership experience through Delta Air Lines’ Supply Chain Management Center of Excellence, where his work encompassed technology, process improvement, analytics, artificial intelligence, and organizational effectiveness. He contributed to capability-building AI solutions and data-led improvements, assessed and implemented improved business processes, led evaluation and selection of enterprise technology, and managed an enterprise-wide technology implementation with an emphasis on user experience and business outcomes. His responsibilities also included stakeholder change management and the development of executive and board communications. This experience expanded his perspective from product and R&D innovation into enterprise transformation—strengthening his ability to understand how technology, people, governance, processes, and strategy must work together to create sustainable organizational change.
Today, Mansour brings that multidisciplinary perspective to organizations through several leadership and advisory capacities. Through Divergent Minds Science & Innovation, he serves as a science and innovation advisor to CEOs, founders, business leaders, and R&D executives, helping organizations assess technologies and markets, identify external partners, develop points of view, strengthen innovation strategies, and translate scientific possibilities into products and business models. His philosophy is fundamentally market-back: understanding where meaningful customer value exists and then aligning science, technology, product development, intellectual property, and execution around that opportunity.
As Chief Science Officer of Valinor Active, Mansour applies this philosophy to the intersection of material science, textiles, human health, and regenerative design. His work encompasses innovations ranging from fiber and fabric engineering to manufacturing processes and material science, within a broader effort to develop plant-based activewear and supply chains designed around environmental and human-health considerations. He also serves as Scientific Advisor to LiveSoil, guiding scientific work intended to quantify performance, substantiate claims, and refine value propositions for strategic market segments. Together, these roles demonstrate his ability to operate not only as a technical authority but as an executive advisor who connects scientific credibility to positioning, customer value, and commercial strategy.
Throughout his career, Mansour has built a body of work spanning product innovation, intellectual property, commercialization, and scientific thought leadership. His experience includes numerous product-development and innovation programs, multiple patent applications covering areas such as polymer technologies, fibers, surface coverings, thermal-management products, and preservation technologies, as well as peer-reviewed scientific publications. His expertise reaches across innovation strategy, portfolio management, product development, technology scouting, strategic planning, commercialization, cross-functional leadership, polymers, textiles, composites, statistical analysis, and experimental design. His professional journey has also provided international exposure through technical and R&D work involving teams and activities across the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, and other international markets.
What distinguishes Mansour is the combination of depth and range he brings to leadership conversations. He is comfortable moving from molecular-level science to a customer value proposition, from a patent landscape to a product roadmap, and from an emerging technology assessment to an executive-level strategic decision. He combines the curiosity of a scientist, the pragmatism of a product developer, the urgency of an entrepreneur, and the perspective of an executive advisor. Rather than treating science, strategy, product, operations, and commercialization as separate disciplines, he looks for the connections among them—and for the constraints preventing organizations from converting their capabilities into meaningful results.
That perspective also shapes the contribution Mansour seeks to make in board and advisory environments. He brings a willingness to challenge assumptions while remaining anchored to an organization’s mission, customer proposition, and long-term objectives. His experience enables him to ask informed questions about scientific credibility, emerging technologies, innovation portfolios, intellectual property, commercialization readiness, customer needs, organizational capability, and execution risk. He is particularly well positioned to contribute to companies operating in science-led or product-driven environments, including advanced materials, textiles and apparel, consumer products, wellness technology, manufacturing, sustainability and regenerative innovation, and other businesses where technical differentiation must ultimately translate into market value.
At the center of Mansour’s professional philosophy is a simple belief: science should empower people to create meaningful change. His personal motto, “Empowering Change-Makers Through Science,” reflects both his technical background and his broader purpose. Whether advising a founder, helping an executive team evaluate an opportunity, improving an innovation pipeline, developing a physical product, or translating sophisticated science for investors and customers, he seeks to make complexity useful. His value is not simply in knowing the science; it is in helping people understand what the science makes possible, determining what matters most, and creating a practical path from possibility to execution.
Character:
Mansour approaches leadership with intellectual curiosity, disciplined inquiry, and a willingness to challenge conventional thinking in service of stronger outcomes. He values integrity in scientific claims, stays grounded in customer and organizational purpose, and brings a hands-on mindset to helping teams transform difficult ideas into tangible progress.
Knowledge:
His expertise combines chemical engineering and materials science with innovation strategy, product development, intellectual property, commercialization, Voice of Customer, technology assessment, analytics, and organizational transformation. This breadth allows him to understand highly technical questions while simultaneously examining their implications for products, markets, operations, customers, and enterprise strategy.
Strategic:
Mansour connects long-term vision with practical execution by identifying the scientific, technological, commercial, and organizational factors that determine whether an opportunity can create meaningful value. His experience evaluating innovation portfolios, emerging technologies, partnerships, product concepts, business models, and commercialization pathways enables him to help leadership teams move from ambiguity toward informed action.
Communication:
Developing a particular strength in translating complex science and technology into language that executives, customers, partners, investors, and cross-functional teams can understand and use. By bridging technical and business perspectives, he helps create shared understanding among stakeholders who may approach the same opportunity from very different disciplines.
https://divergentminds.net/about-us
