Stephen Sharp | Vice President of Fiber Innovation & Facilities Development, Gaston College; Chief Innovation & Manufacturing Officer, FutureTEX

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Stephen Sharp is Vice President of Fiber Innovation and Facilities Development at Gaston College and serves as Chief Innovation and Manufacturing Officer for FutureTEX, an NC State-led initiative focused on strengthening U.S. defense-related textile and advanced manufacturing capabilities.

Sharp has more than 30 years of experience spanning textile and fiber manufacturing, industrial R&D, advanced materials, product and process development, and higher education research. He spent more than 17 years at North Carolina State University, including as Director of Engineering for The Nonwovens Institute, where he led industrial research and pilot-scale manufacturing programs and worked extensively with industry and government partners.

He subsequently served as Director of Engineering and Operations for a technology-based synthetic fiber manufacturing company, where he led R&D, technology scale-up, manufacturing development, and commercialization activities. At Gaston College, he now leads applied fiber and materials research, technology development, industry partnerships, and the development of the $28 million Fiber Innovation Center.

Sharp has worked extensively with industry, universities, and government organizations on research and technology development and has participated in the development of six patents involving fiber-based products and structures. Through FutureTEX, he is focused on connecting research, advanced manufacturing, workforce development, and industry to strengthen the U.S. textile and defense manufacturing industrial base.