• Aristos Aristidou - Vice President of Bioprocess Development
• Cathy Asleson - Director of Biocatalyst Development
• Bill Evanko - Director of Process Technology

Dr. Aristos Aristidou has over 15 years experience in biocatalyst and bioprocess development for the production of amino acids, alcohols, organic acids and fine chemicals. His work has led to the development of organisms and processes for utilizing plant-based materials to produce environmentally friendly chemicals, fuels and polymers.

Prior to joining Gevo, Aristos provided technical leadership for the development of novel biocatalysts to produce ethanol and lactic acid from C5 and C6 sugars at NatureWorks, LLC. While at NatureWorks, he served as principal investigator for two grants from the U.S. Department of Energy for the conversion of cellulosic sugars to ethanol and other useful chemicals. Before that, Aristos served as technical leader at the Finnish National Technical Research Center (VTT), and held an adjunct professor position at the Helsinki University of Technology.

Aristos has co-authored more than 30 scientific papers in the area of industrial biotechnology, as well as a textbook on metabolic engineering. He holds both a B.S. in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in bio-chemical engineering from William Marsh Rice University, and he was a postdoctoral scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Dr. Cathy Asleson has more than 15 years experience in eukaryotic genetics and molecular biology, including work with baker’s yeast, nonconventional yeast and algae. Prior to joining Gevo, Cathy was the molecular biology group leader at NatureWorks, LLC/ Cargill Biotechnology Development Center - BioIndustrials.

For the past eight years, Cathy’s primary research focus has been developing yeast biocatalysts for the production of lactic acid and ethanol from both glucose and cellulosic sugars. Previously, she was an industrial microbiologist at Minntech Corporation where she developed product tests for the regulatory approval process.

Cathy earned a B.S. from the University of Nebraska and a Ph.D. in molecular, cellular, developmental biology and genetics from the University of Minnesota.

Bill Evanko brings more than 20 years experience in the engineering field to Gevo. His work history includes process development and manufacturing roles at Dow Corning Corporation, with specialization in process modeling, kinetics, and scale-up.

After his work with Dow Corning, Bill joined Chronopol, an Adolph Coors Technology start-up company, where he developed polylactic acid polymers as a new thermoplastic platform based on renewable resources. His responsibilities at Chronopol included process development, engineering, pilot plant and semi-works operations management.

Most recently, Bill worked as a principal project engineer and large-scale operations manager for Roche Colorado, a bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturer. His responsibilities there included capital project management and day-to-day operations of the pharmaceutical production facility.

Bill earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Colorado State University. He is a registered Professional Engineer in both Colorado and Michigan, and is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.