Kim Chaffin

Vice President and Corporate Technologist at Medtronic

Speaker

Kim Chaffin is a Vice President and Corporate Technologist, Medtronic Fellow, Bakken Fellow and Technical Fellow in the Global Technology and Innovation group at Medtronic, Inc. She is a member of the Global Officers Team, approximately 150 of the most senior leaders in the company. Kim has responsibility for leading research projects to advance new technologies across all businesses. Kim is a recognized expert in material thermodynamics and characterization, especially as it relates to structure-property relationships that govern long-term stability and performance. Kim joined Medtronic in 1999 and holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota (Advisor: Frank S. Bates) and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. She is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Minnesota. She is an inventor on 19 issued patents and an author on many peer-reviewed publications. In late 2016, Kim returned to Minneapolis after a four-year assignment in Switzerland. Kim’s husband, Paul, is the President of Molex’s Medical and Pharmaceutical Solutions business headquartered in Hudson, WI. Together they have two children, Cole, a graduate student in Mechanical Engineering and Julia, a sophomore in Chemical Engineering, both at the University of Michigan.