Position CEO and Founder

About Tom is a US and Canadian IP/transaction attorney who trained originally in plant and molecular biology. Tom spent a dozen years with VC-financed biotech startups before being called up to Novartis, the global pharmaceutical company. In 10 years at Novartis, Tom had diverse legal roles in the research division and the Novartis Venture Fund (both in Boston), followed by 3 years managing global IP issues at the head office in Basel, Switzerland. Tom’s interest in carbon negative biofuel began with his chance encounter in 2010 with a climate scientist and an oil-industry investor.

Position Head of Products and Co-Founder

About Chris is chemical engineer whose lab at the University of Bath (Bath, UK) is focused on generating biofuels from hydrothermal liquefaction of all types of biomass, including microalgae. Chris is a Reader at the University and recently held a Whorrod Research Fellowship. He is the lead researcher on a 4 year £4.4 million Innovate UK grant on biomass conversion technology. Chris and Mike have worked together on multiple projects in the past 5 years.

Position Head of Growth Biology and Co-Founder

About Mike, a marine Microbial Chemist, is a program leader at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (Plymouth, UK). Mike has a deep knowledge of phytoplankton species, nutrition and associated viruses which form the complex ecosystem of a rapidly growing microalgae colony. Mike is a founding member of the GW4 AVaRICE Consortium (http://avarice.org.uk/).

Position Head of Corporate Development

About Bryce leads our carbon market strategy. Bryce is a serial entrepreneur who has spent 20 years developing renewable energy carbon management programs. Bryce developed the cleanairpass, a voluntary carbon emissions offset program that was acquired by investors back in 2008. Most recently, Bryce was Director of Business Development for the performance optimization of existing buildings at one of Canada’s leading construction firms. Bryce is an invited member of the ISO Climate Finance Working Group (TC207/SC7/WG10) for the new Carbon Finance standard 14097.

Position Director of Bioreactor Development

About Vasco is our Director of Bioreactor Development. With a background in business and economics, Vasco has general management and startup experience in different sectors and a focus on strategy, market positioning and operations as well as the ability to manage complex projects. Vasco’s most recent start-up was a clinical research organization based in Lisbon. Now in Basel, Switzerland, Vasco has been working with Tom for three years in different operational aspects of the company with the main focus on the development of the Aljadix bioreactor.