Lowcountry Economic Network - Beaufort, South Carolina

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Charles Schaller - Beaufort Memorial Hospital - Network Secretary

Charles Schaller has spent almost 50 years in a variety of management and development positions in the chemical industry. After graduating from Yale University in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering, he joined the Chemical Division of Celanese Corporation and spent the next ten years in sales and marketing, ultimately becoming responsible for all marketing programs for a $60 million industrial chemical product line. While at Celanese, Schaller participated in the Program for Management Development at Harvard Business School. In 1967 he joined Commonwealth Oil Refining Co. (Corco) in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was responsible for petrochemical development, which entailed the establishment of major commodity petrochemical projects located within the Corco refining complex at Ponce. The projects were primarily joint venture efforts with major multinational corporations such as PPG Industries, W.R. Grace, Hercules and Mitsubishi. In 1974 Schaller established his own independent chemical consulting practice specializing in strategic planning, project development and venture investing, primarily in advanced materials and health care. His client list included Union Carbide – U.S. and Canada, Olin, SABIC (Saudi Arabia), Union Oil, Shell Chemical and the economic development arms of both Puerto Rico and Alberta, Canada. As an outgrowth of this consulting practice, Schaller established a venture capital division for Essex Chemical Co., a NYSE listed industrial chemical manufacturer. This venture capital arm of Essex invested about $20 million over four years and was responsible for three publicly traded entities in biotech and advanced materials. Through this connection, Schaller became a founder of Medarex, Inc., a major U.S. biotech firm specializing in the development of human antibody-based therapeutics. Medarex was brought public in 1991. Schaller served as Chairman of the Board of Medarex until 1998 and remains active on the board today. He also serves on the boards of Egenix, a private biotechnology firm, Beaufort Memorial Hospital Foundation, Beaufort Boy’s and Girl’s Club, and the Lowcountry Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs. He relocated to Beaufort in 1998.