Award Winner

Blaine Bowman is a pioneer in the commercialization of ion chromatography and the leading figure in the success of the Dionex Corporation, now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific. Born in 1946 in Ogden, Utah, Bowman spent much of his youth in the Los Angeles area. He received a BS degree in physics from Brigham Young University in 1970, working summers as an engineer on the Apollo program at McDonnell Douglas. He then went to work for Motorola’s Semiconductor Products Division in Phoenix, Arizona, while simultaneously taking graduate courses in electrical engineering at Arizona State University. Becoming more and more interested in the business side of high technology, Bowman enrolled in Stanford University’s School of Business, graduating at the top of his class with an MBA degree in 1973.
He then took a position with McKinsey and Company and consulted for a range of industries. Eager to move from consultant to business executive, in 1977 he joined a small start-up firm, International Plasma Corporation, and became general manager of its analytical instrument division, which was then trying to commercialize ion chromatography. When Smith Kline acquired International Plasma in 1980, Bowman spun out the analytical instrument division into a new company, Dionex. At that time Bowman became president and CEO of the fledgling firm.

Under Bowman’s leadership Dionex revolutionized the field of ion analysis, reducing the cycle time and the labor involved. Dionex went beyond “selling a box” and developed the chemistry and software to efficiently arrive at solutions to analytical problems. Dionex was at the forefront in developing polymer-based analytical columns and pioneered inert, nonmetallic pumping technologies.
The market for ion chromatography grew dramatically. Originally used especially by power plants that were seeking to reduce the pitting of turbines, applications of ion chromatography expanded into the environmental and life sciences, each of which currently represent one-third of the ion chromatography market.

At an early stage Bowman realized that Dionex needed worldwide reach. He created its first international subsidiary in the United Kingdom in 1980 and in the following years established sales and service operations in numerous countries around the globe. By the early 2000s Dionex was selling around 70% of its volume in countries outside the United States.

Bowman remained CEO until 2002, Chairman until 2005, and a director until 2011, when Dionex was acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific.