Dean Benjamin

Dean Benjamin received a Bachelor of Science degree in paper science and engineering from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and then went on to earn a doctorate in chemical engineering from the University of Minnesota. While at Minnesota, he studied computational and experimental fluid mechanics of the roll coating process under Professor L.E. Scriven.

Upon graduation, Dean joined Avery Dennison as a research engineer at the Avery Research Center in Pasadena, California, where he led projects to develop coating processes for the production of pressure sensitive labels and tapes. 

Dean then joined Consolidated Papers, Inc. as a senior research engineer at their R&D facility in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin. His research focused on developing new coating and finishing equipment and he eventually became the manager of the Coater Research & Engineering Department. He also worked in the areas of coating color preparation, paper finishing technology, high-speed coaters, fountain applications, corrosion engineering, kraft chemical recovery systems and product development. Dean then became the manager of Product Development - Publication Papers where he worked on a variety of product developments including high-bulk paper, alternative-finish paper and high-brightness, carbonate-based paper coatings, and later was appointed as director of research for NewPage. Dean is now the director of product development for Verso Corporation.