Algal Biomass Organization

Mark Allen is a licensed professional engineer with more than 25 years experience in the design, construction, and operation of large-scale engineering, infrastructure, and environmental projects including biological process systems of more than 500 million gallons per day capacity. He holds a Civil Engineering degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology and is a successful entrepreneur having co-founded A2BE Carbon Capture in 2007 and also founded a corporate knowledge management company in 1999. Previously he managed large engineering organizations for Rust Environment and Infrastructure, Metcalf & Eddy, SAIC, and others. Under these organizations he had full profit and loss responsibility for multiple lines of business including: water and wastewater engineering, environmental engineering, hazardous and solid waste engineering, transportation engineering, and information technology and other professional service offerings. In the algal biomass industry he focuses on process engineering, systems integration, and systems architecture for scalable algal biomass production and deployment. Mark is a founding board member of the Algal Biomass Organization and has chaired a number of committees and currently serves as Chairman and President. He is also a former Adjacent Professor of Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

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John F. Pierce is a partner in DLA Piper LLP (US)’s Seattle office, where he represents clients in the development and finance of projects involving wind, solar (including photovoltic, concentrated, and thermal), geothermal, and biomass energy, as well as those involving alternative fuels such as ethanol, biodiesel, algal biomass, and advanced-generation biofuels. John’s practice encompasses project sponsors and investors, and is international in scope, with extensive dealings in South Asia, Southeast Asia, China, India, Africa, and the Middle East. John has advised on the development of biofuels production facilities throughout the United States, as well as on their project financing and construction and has broad international experience in infrastructure development and financing, including projects involving ports and industrial zones; joint ventures and other transactions in the aviation field; telecommunications-related commercial, and licensing matters; and the financing of oil and gas projects.

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Dr. Benemann has both a B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, both from the University of California Berkeley; in addition he spent three years as postdoctoral fellow, Dept. of  Chemistry, U.C. San Diego; then rejoined U.C. Berkeley in the Department of Civil Engineering, where, as an independent researcher where he supervised half dozen Ph.D. thesis students in Civil Engineering, Biophysics and Plant Physiology.  In 1980, he started a small microalgae biotechnology company and from 1983-1988 was Associate Professor at Georgia Inst. of Technology. For the past 20+ years he has been a part time researcher at the University of California Berkeley (Depts. of Civil Engineering and Plant and Microbial Biology).  and at the University of Hawaii (adjunct Professor), and a full-time consultant.  His current research interests are the areas of microalgae products, aquaculture, wastewater treatment, photosynthesis, municipal solid wastes management, biofuels and all aspects of greenhouse gas abatement.  He is the author of numerous publications and reports and belongs to a number of professional and trade organizations.  He was the manager of the “Microalgae Biofixation Network” operated by the IEA Greenhouse Gas R&D Programme.

Thomas Byrne is one of the renewable energy industry’s most experienced project consultants. His experience dates back to 1979 when he began his career as an accountant, later becoming a consultant to the renewable energy industry.Since forming Byrne & Company Limited, he has worked on many successful projects, offering a broad array of client services including feasibility studies, financial modeling, business plan preparation, equity meetings organization, startup management assistance, project organization, and preparing grant applications.

Mr. Byrne has developed a passion for the emerging algae to energy industry. His commitment began with XL Renewables, Inc., now know as Phyco Biosciences, Inc., serving as the CFO since 2007. Mr. Byrne deepened his commitment to develop an algal technology as the President of Algaedyne, Corporation in 2008. In November 2007, Byrne & Company, Limited co-hosted the inaugural Algae Biomass Summit in San Francisco, California and the 2008 Summit in Seattle, Washington. The Summits were the foundation for the establishment of the Algal Biomass Organization in 2008. Mr. Byrne was elected to the ABO’s Board of Directors and serves as Board Secretary.

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Harrison Dillon is the President, Chief Technology Officer, and co-founder of Solazyme, overseeing technology strategy, intellectual property and legal affairs. His scientific training in the field of microbial genetics began in the Microbiology and Immunology Department at Emory University. His later research, including X-ray crystallography and quantitative trait loci characterization, was performed under the direction of Dr. Jean-Marc Lalouel, a Howard Hughes Investigator and Professor of Human Genetics at the University of Utah, where Dr. Dillon received his Ph.D. in genetics.Dr. Dillon formerly managed the biotechnology patent portfolio of the University of Utah in the University’s Technology Transfer Office. Dr. Dillon received a J.D. cum laude from Duke University School of Law and is licensed to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He is a member of the State Bar of California and has worked as an Associate in the Biotechnology Group at Townsend and Townsend and Crew, and has authored many articles in scientific, business, and legal journals.

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Billy Glover, a Managing Director for Environmental Strategy, leads an enterprise-wide team responsible for developing and implementing a global environmental strategy for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Under his leadership the team is addressing key issues facing the aviation industry including aircraft noise reduction, greenhouse gas emissions, alternative fuels research, public policy and opinion.  His cross-functional team is also providing input on key product design elements for maximizing the environmental performance of Boeing aircraft.Glover, who previously led derivative product development for Commercial Airplanes, has held various engineering assignments with the company involving 707, 727, 737, 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787 airplanes, as well as product development, research programs, and government and commercial contracts. He also has extensive experience leading government and industry relations initiatives.

Glover is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics. He is member of the Board of the Algal Biomass Organization. He serves on the board of the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG). Glover is a member of the Industrial Advisory Committee for Herrick Labs, Purdue University.

Glover joined Boeing in 1978, after graduating from Purdue University with a Masters of Science in Engineering, with an emphasis in engineering acoustics. He received his Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Engineering in 1976 from Purdue University. He was honored as an “Outstanding Mechanical Engineer” by Purdue University in 2009. Glover has also completed executive education studies at the Harvard Business School.

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Dr. Keith Cooksey has more than 40 years experience in isolating, growing and performing physiological, biochemical  and ecological studies on freshwater and marine microalgae. He was a lead investigator in the DoE, Solar Energy Research Institute’s Aquatic Species Program to remediate carbon dioxide and form biodiesel. At that time, work from his lab provided the program with a way to measure triglyceride in 1 mL of culture, a new way of looking at triglyceride (TAG) accumulation not previously considered and ideas where the controls of microalgal lipid synthesis and utilization may be located. Recently he has been elected to the Algal Biomass Organization Board of Directors. His current research (with others) is funded by the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Biomass Program of the Department of Energy. The goals of these are to examine the use of microalgae from extreme environments (e.g., Yellowstone Park) for TAG production as well as potential control points in microalgal lipid metabolism.  Professional memberships include American Society for Microbiology, Phycological Society of America, Society for General Microbiology (Great Britain), and the Algal Biomass Organization.

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Dr. McCormick has been with TGI since 2008, managing the company’s Bio-Based Materials program as well as leading various company-wide efforts including legislative and intellectual property strategy.  Prior to joining TGI, Dr. McCormick was a partner with Integra Ventures where she led Integra’s biotechnology investment strategy and its investment in TGI.  Prior to joining Integra, she was the founding president and COO of Sapphire Therapeutics (formerly Rejuvenon Corp.). Earlier in her career she was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Dr. McCormick earned a Ph.D. in Biology (with a focus on metabolic engineering) from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a BS degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

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Dr. B. Greg Mitchell is a Research Biologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO).  His research on algae photosynthesis and growth models, aquatic ecology, ocean optics and satellite remote sensing has been sponsored by NASA, ONR, NSF, NOAA and DOE.  For more than 2 decades he has promoted mass culture of algae to mitigate CO2 and wastewater nutrient loading, and to create biomass for fuel and animal feed.  Applied research currently focuses on optimization and numerical modeling of yields of bioenergy molecules from algae, and design of algae growth systems for optimized yields. Dr. Mitchell assisted in the development of the program for the first Algal Biomass Summit in 2008 and was voted onto the Steering Committee that created the Algal Biomass Organization. He has served on the ABO Board of Directors since its formation. He serves on several committees of the ABO Board including Public and Government Relations, Events, Governance and By-laws, and he served as Program Chair for the 2009 Algal Biomass Summit.  Dr. Mitchell also serves on the Board of Directors of the Houston Advanced Research Center and the San Diego Center for Algal Biotechnology.

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Joel Murdock is Managing Director, Strategic Projects leading an engineering team that that investigates and develops new, innovative technologies for the purpose of seeking breakthrough advancements to benefit the FedEx Express’ transportation system by capitalizing upon principle improvements in areas of cost, quality, speed, efficiency, customer service, and customer satisfaction.  The types of projects vary from Alternative Fuels, to safety related projects such as Fire Suppression System, CounterMANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense System) and HUD/EFVS (HeadUp Display/Enhanced Flight Vision System), to airspace capacity and efficiency improvement programs such as LAAS (Local Area Augmentation System), CNS/ATM (Communication, Navigation, Surveillance / Air Traffic Management) and Stage IV Noise and Emissions, to projects not directly related to the aviation side of the business.Joel’s department is actively involved with ASTM in helping to establish alternative fuel certification standards and through the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuel Initiative (CAAFI), is working to develop fuel off-take agreements to enable emerging alternative fuel companies to transition from the laboratory to production.  Joel is also working with the USDA and is co-chair of the Southern Region with an objective of fostering alternative fuel development with the region.

Joel earned a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering at Christian Brothers University, a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Masters of Engineering Management at the University of Missouri – Rolla.

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Herminia Rodríguez received her PhD. degree in 1989 under the supervision of  Professor Manuel Losada working with microalgae and cyanobacteria. From 1993 to 1995 she made a postdoctoral stay at the University of Freiburg (Germany) working on Molecular Biology of microalgae. In 1995 she got a position as Associate Professor at the University of Sevilla. In 2002 she became a Full Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology also at the University of Sevilla. From then she conducts a research group at Instituto de Bioquímica Vegetal y Fotosíntesis: “Production of Chemicals of Industrial Interest by Microalgae and Cyanobacteria”, composed by 7 people.She is a member of the Steering Board and the Scientific Board of EABA (European Algae Biomass Association). She is also an evaluator of European and Spanish R&D Projects and evaluator of AIDIT (Agency for Credits on Research, Development and Technological Innovation) evaluating the R&D profile of companies.

Prof. Herminia Rodríguez has been the Research Manager of many Projects in collaboration with companies, as the German Multinational COGNIS, as well as Scientific Consultant for them. She has made many scientific contributions in journals as Plant Physiology, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, Journal of Biotechnology, Journal of Phycology, Molecular General Genetics and many others. She also holds 5 International patents, all of them granted.

Her field of research includes the production of Carotenoids, Fatty Acids, Phycobiliproteins, Polysaccharides and Antioxidants by Microalgae and Cyanobacteria, with a multidisciplinary approach that involves Physiology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Classical Genetics and Molecular Genetics.

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Prior to founding Algenol in 2006, Mr. Woods was Chairman, President and CEO of Alliance Gas Management between 1989 to 1999. He founded the firm, raised $80 million in capital, completed an IPO in 1997, and sold the business in 1999. At the time of the sale, the company had 490,000 customers and $100 million in revenue. Mr. Woods was Chairman, President and CEO of United Gas Management Inc., which he founded in 1997. United Gas Management grew to over 240,000 customers, 130 employees, over 800 sales people and $75 million in revenue. He sold the company in 2000 and retired. In 1984 Paul Woods invented DIRECT TO ETHANOL® technology. Patents for the original technology were granted in 1998(Australia), 2001(US), 2004(US) and 2007(EEC).

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Tim Zenk has spent much of his distinguished career shaping public policy – in helping leaders become better leaders and the public become more educated about key issues impacting the nation and the globe. His more than 20 years of rich experience has taken him from the front lines of Washington D.C., to the back roads of the Middle East, and to rural areas working on big issues in small towns. His passion is apparent and his experience varied. Most recently, as executive vice president for Edelman, an international communications firm, he built and led numerous campaigns, organized public-private partnerships, and counseled energy, biotech and technology leaders. Some clients included Louis Dreyfus Commodities, NorthernStar Natural Gas, Fate Therapeutics and Ikaria. Prior to that, he was founder and vice president of Chameleon Technology, a venture funded cutting-edge leader in wireless infrastructures. He also was a top executive for Telecommunications Systems (NYSE – TSYS), a leading provider of mission critical wireless data systems for wireless carriers, governments and intelligence organizations.Tim is known nationally for his political acumen, particularly regarding his work on key campaigns ranging from gubernatorial to congressional to presidential. His global work for the Clinton/Gore administration has left him with professional and life experiences that will last forever. Today, his passion for legacy energy solutions are top on his agenda and he is working to help Sapphire be the foremost leader in solving one of today’s biggest environmental, economic and political quandaries – energy dependence.