Dr. Willoughby is the Chief Innovation Officer of Blue Hummingbird, LLC where she combines scientific and creative design to help clients commercialize climate-positive technology. She served as the Chief Scientific and Commercialization Officer at Circ®, Inc. from 2019-2023; leading the team from recycling one t-shirt a day in a lab reactor to a semi-commercial continuous operation. This work led Circ® to be a 2023 The Earthshot Prize finalist. Previous to her entrepreneurial roles with start-up companies, Willoughby drove corporate entrepreneurship in Nike’s material and manufacturing innovation departments and served as a faculty member in the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University. She is an expert in the fields of textiles & nonwovens, surface chemistry & surface dynamics, coatings, and utilization of renewable resources as feedstock for advanced materials. Her work as the principal investigator for a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenge Exploration grant resulted in a commercial “Wrap & Plant” cellulosic fiber technology that provided smallholder farmers in Africa with over a 50% increase in their crop yields. Willoughby is an avid scientific author and inventor in the areas of polymers, silicone chemistry, interfacial and surface science, and barrier packaging. Her 25+ year career as a chemical engineer has spanned multiple industries - chemical, pulp & paper, packaging, life sciences, textiles and fashion.
Dr. Willoughby has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kentucky and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University.
