Johan received his BS in chemistry/chemical engineering at the Hoogeschool Eindhoven in The Netherlands. Next, he moved to San Diego State University where he synthesized liquid crystal polymers and subsequent covalently bound these polymers to silica surfaces to be used as stationary phases for chromatography. After receiving his MSc he started his PhD at the University North Carolina at Chapel Hill with Prof. Edward Samulski where he studied conformational and orientational changes during phase transitions of liquid crystal polymers and lyotropic liquid crystalline solutions using NMR. Following his PhD degree Johan worked as a product development manager at P&G's European Technical Center in Brussels. Next, he worked as a research manager at National Starch and Chemical Company/ICI on many projects involving structure-property relationships polymers and colloids in products ranging from personal care to building materials. In 2002 Johan joined International Flavors and Fragrances (IFF) where he was responsible for the engineering and development of new delivery systems for fragrances. In 2017 he accepted the position of Research Director for Global Home Cleaning Research, Development and Engineering at S.C. Johnson where he was responsible for Technology Strategy Road Mapping as well as providing scientific support for claim substantiation. Recently, Johan has started Pluyter Consulting in order to focus on providing scientific and technology development support for small and large companies.