Zsolt Rumy

Outstanding Achievement Award Recipient

College of Science and Engineering, June 22, 2019

Zsolt Rumy received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering in 1966 from the College of Science and Engineering at the University of Minnesota. In 1975, he founded the company Zolteck, a global leader in carbon filter manufacturing, headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Described as being “ahead of his time,” Rumy is credited with revolutionizing the commercialization of carbon fibers by developing a low-cost process, which made it affordable to use in ordinary everyday products such as aircraft brakes, giant wind turbine blades, and in cars, like the Tesla Roadster, Cadillac, and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06. Rumy sold Zolteck to Toray Industries of Japan for $584 million (2014). His achievements in business, innovation, and entrepreneurship provide an outstanding example of the exceptional achievement by a University of Minnesota alumnus.

Biographies are as-of time of award presentation.