The CABLE Advisory Board assists and mentors Student Delegates in their pursuit of leadership development in the bioeconomy. Student Delegates get the unique experience of hearing from existing industry CEOs and executives on a regular basis.
Jim Lane | Editor & Publisher, Biofuels Digest
Nuu Media produces online media, conferences, webinars and original streamed content, focused on the advanced bioeconomy – serving 3.2 million unique online readers, 48,000 daily subscribers, 10,000 streamed content viewers, and 34,000 social media followers.
Rebecca Boudreaux, Ph.D | President, Oberon Fuels
Trained as a chemist, Rebecca Boudreaux, Ph.D. is an entrepreneurial, technology executive with a unique blend of technical skills and business development expertise. She has served on the management team or Board of Directors of various startup companies in the clean tech and life sciences. Presently, she is President and Director of Oberon Fuels, a California-based company making DME (dimethyl ether) as a cleaner, alternative to diesel. In her role at Oberon, Dr. Boudreaux leads the strategic partnering efforts and oversees the regulatory processes for the use of DME as a fuel. Dr. Boudreaux has performed research at MIT, Princeton University and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and National Starch and Chemical. She earned a B.S. in Polymer Science (magna cum laude, University of Southern Mississippi) and a M.S. and Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering (University of Massachusetts). Dr. Boudreaux has co-authored seven peer-reviewed publications and is a co-inventor on 12 patents and applications. Dr. Boudreaux is the Chair of the International DME Association and Chair of the ASTM International DME Taskforce.
Dr. Jennifer Holmgren | CEO, LanzaTech
Dr. Jennifer Holmgren is CEO of revolutionary carbon recycling company, LanzaTech. Prior to joining LanzaTech, Dr. Holmgren was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. She was one of the key drivers of UOP’s leadership in aviation biofuels, and under her management, UOP technology became instrumental in producing nearly all of the initial fuels used by commercial airlines and the military for testing and certification of alternative aviation fuel. Today, under Dr. Holmgren’s guidance, LanzaTech is working towards developing a variety of platform chemicals and fuels, including the world’s first alternative jet fuel derived from industrial waste gases. In 2015, Dr. Holmgren and her team at LanzaTech were awarded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Presidential Green Chemistry Award and she was awarded the BIO Rosalind Franklin Award for Leadership in Industrial Biotechnology. Dr. Holmgren was named as #1 of the most 100 influential leaders in the bioeconomy by Biofuels Digest for 2016-2017. Dr. Holmgren holds a B.Sc. degree from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Eric McAfee | Chairman & CEO, Aemetis
Eric is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and venture capitalist with lifelong commitment to agriculture and renewable energy. He was the founding shareholder of $800 million revenues Pacific Ethanol ($85 million Bill Gates equity), as well as the founding shareholder of several publicly-held companies: Evolution Petroleum, Pacific ASia Petroleum, Particle Drilling Technologies, World Waste Technologies, and Solargen Energy. He has funded more than twenty-five companies as principal investor, and has founded seven public companies with a combined high market value of $4 billion.
Mark Riedy | Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend
Mark Riedy primarily focuses his practice on U.S. and International project development and finance and private placement representation of renewable and conventional energy, clean technology, environmental and infrastructure clients. His clients principally represent developers, lenders, EPCs, OEMs, equipment providers, private equity, venture capital and infrastructure funds. In his more than 35 years of practice, Mr. Riedy has represented clients in domestic and international matters, including energy and infrastructure, project development and debt and equity financing contracts, mergers and acquisitions, technology outsourcing, investment fund structuring and related contracts, and compliance with regulatory and legislative issues. Mr. Riedy has counseled renewable and conventional energy clients doing business in more than 50 countries. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Riedy was an attorney in the Washington, D.C. office of an international law firm, where he co-led its Energy and Infrastructure Project Finance Practice and chaired its Asia Practice.
Atul Thakrar | President, DSM Biobased
Mr. Atul Thakrar has been President of Biobased Products & Services Unit at Koninlijke DSM N.V. since July 2015. Mr. Thakrar has over 20 years of strategic and operational experience in the specialty chemicals and energy sectors. He served as the Chief Executive Officer and President of Segetis, Inc. since January 2010. Mr. Thakrar served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Soane Energy from 2007 to 2009.