David Sudolsky - founder, president, & CEO - is a highly experienced entrepreneur.  He was a business officer or CEO of five biotechnology, specialty pharmaceutical and bioprocessing start-ups, one of which (Dura Pharmaceuticals) was sold for $1.8 billion.  Over the course of his career David has raised venture capital, public equity, and secured substantial grants from DARPA and other governmental agencies. He has recruited management teams, built R&D organizations and facilities, and launched new products.  He has hands-on chemical engineering experience doing process design and refinery plant start ups with Union Carbide, and did business management consulting with Booz, Allen & Hamilton.  David has a BS in chemical engineering and an MBA in marketing and finance from Columbia University.

Prof. George Huber - founder & chairman of the scientific advisory board - is the Armstrong Professor of Chemical Engineering at University of Massachusetts-Amherst. His research focus is on breaking the chemical and engineering barriers to lignocellulosic biofuels. Two companies (Virent and Anellotech) are commercializing technology that George helped develop. He has received over $9 million in competitive grant applications since coming to UMass in 2006. He has done two US congressional briefing to discuss the role of biofuels in helping reduce our nation's dependence on petroleum. Prior to his appointment at UMass-Amherst, George did a post-doctoral stay with Avelino Corma at the Technical Chemical Institute at the Polytechnical University of Valencia, Spain where he studied biofuels production using petroleum refining technologies. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison (2005) where he helped develop aqueous-phase catalytic processes for biofuels production under the guidance of James A. Dumesic. He obtained his B.S. (1999) and M.S. (2000) degrees from Brigham Young University, where he studied Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis under the direction of Calvin H. Bartholomew.

Dr. Cawas Cooper - vp process engineering - has over 30 years of industrial experience in process research, development, and demonstration/optimization.  During his career at Air Products and Catalytica, he has successfully scaled up catalytic and non-catalytic processes related to the Energy and Chemicals Businesses.  He holds a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.

Dr. Anne Gaffney - vp research and catalysis - has over 30 years experience with Lummus, Rohm and Haas, ARCO Chemical and DuPont. As VP Technology at Lummus she developed several catalytic processes that were successfully commercialized in partnership with catalyst development and manufacturing partners.  At ARCO, Anne developed a patented fluidized bed process using zeolite catalysts to convert mixed plastic waste to basic chemicals. She is a prolific inventor with over 200 industrial patents, and has a PhD in chemistry from the University of Delaware.

Jeff Whiting - operations director - has over 30 years experience with Monsanto and Solutia in construction, project management, operations and start-up of chemical manufacturing facilities from pilot plant scale to commercial size plants, and troubleshooting and optimization of new process technologies.

Carl Bartoli - advisor, engineering & construction - was President and CEO of the U.S. Engineering and Construction subsidiary of Foster Wheeler Corp., with over 35years of global experience covering all facets of the engineering and construction industry.

Dr. Steven Lerner  - advisor, r&d - was chief technology officer of Praxair, a $10B/yr multinational providing industrial gases, chemicals, and coatings, with responsibilities for R&D, global market development, licensing, and intellectual property management.    

Dr. Frederick Pesa - advisor, r&d/fluidized bed reactors - has held positions of increasing responsibility reaching to the top leadership levels within BP. His team helped introduce the most advanced state-of-the-art catalysts and fluidized bed reactor processes for the production of acrylonitrile, vinyl acetate and 1, 4- butanediol.   

Dr. Andrew B. Swanson - advisor, markets - is a consulting executive for CMAI. He has had over 35 years experience in the global petrochemical process industries, including fifteen years as a consultant to leading companies in strategy, feasibility, and market projects.

Dr. Edward T. Wolynic - advisor, r&d/catalysis - served as chief technology officer at Engelhard Corporation, from 2000 until its 2006 acquisition by BASF. Before Engelhard, Ed was VP R&D at UOP, a Honeywell company focused on petroleum refining and petrochemical process technologies.



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