In May 1999, Richard L. Stadterman joined Warner-Lambert Co., which last June merged with Pfizer Inc. to become the world's fifth largest company. As director of global engineering for the firm's Schick Wilkinson Sword Division in Milford, Conn. Stadterman has leadership responsibility for engineering, including product design, tooling, automation systems and blade process engineering.
He worked most of the previous two decades for different units of General Electric Corp., including 1996-99 for GE Appliances in Louisville, Ky., overseeing materials application and technology support services.
After earning a chemical engineering degree in 1975 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stadterman began his career as a plastics research engineer with Dow Chemical Co. He moved to GE Plastics as a sales development specialist in 1977 and for the next six years worked for GEP both in Pittsfield, Mass., and in Los Angeles, during which time he also earned an MBA in 1981 from Pepperdine University.
He left in 1983 for a change of pace, to work as vice president of sales and engineering for small custom injection molder, MEI Plastics Inc. in Newbury Park, Calif., then returned to GE Plastics in Pittsfield the following year as a technical marketing manager for Lexan polycarbonate.
For the next decade, Stadterman held various posts, from marketing manager at Azdel Inc., a GE Plastics/PPG Industries joint venture serving primarily the auto industry, to GEP's automotive global technical leader, before taking up the GE Appliances post in Louisville.
