Tao Zheng, Ph.D., has been an innovation leader and is a material scientist with 23+ years of experience in the personal care industry. He is currently executive director, SPF & Makeup Charter Innovation at the Estée Lauder Cos. His experience includes leading a team of scientists to create, design and implement key charter innovation programs to develop breakthrough technology platforms for cosmetic brands including Estée Lauder, Clinique, La Mer, MAC, Smashbox, Bobbi Brown, Too Faced and Tom Ford Beauty. Recently, he initiated two SPF Charters to drive global sun care innovations for both organic and inorganic sunscreen products in skin care and makeup categories.
Prior to The Estée Lauder Cos., Zheng headed the sun care and skin care innovation group at Edgewell Personal Care for seven years, where he developed OTC products and technology pipelines for Banana Boat and Hawaiian Tropic, the leading sun care brands in the U.S. and global markets. In addition, he developed antibacterial wipes for Wet Ones following the FDA Monograph. Prior to Edgewell, he worked at Avon as program manager for 12 years, driving color cosmetics and skin care active delivery innovations. He also worked at Procter & Gamble for oral care and denture adhesive innovation.
Zheng received his doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and MBA from New York University Stern School of Business. He holds 30+ patents and patent applications worldwide in polymer materials and formulation technologies. He has served as Judge for the CEW Beauty Creators Awards for four years, and is also a key member of the Committee on Scientific Affairs (COSA) for Society of Cosmetic Chemists (SCC), where he assists in judging research papers for technical awards and organizing the SCC Annual Scientific Meetings.