Since 2005, our three co-founders, renowned researchers Frances Arnold, Matthew Peters and Peter Meinhold of the California Institute of Technology, have worked tirelessly to bring the best of the scientific and business worlds together to reach our goal of replacing fossil fuels with new, more environmentally sound alternatives. In doing so, they have comprised a team of the most creative, driven and experienced veterans of bioprocessing and the commercialization of bio-based systems.

We invite you to learn more about each of our key team members below, as well as our distinguished Science Advisory Board and Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Gevo, Dr. Patrick Gruber was the President and CEO of Outlast Technologies, Inc. and held several general management positions in technology and business development for Cargill, Inc. He has also served as President and CEO of Lactech, a technology development company, and was one of the founders of NatureWorks, LLC (formerly Cargill Dow LLC), where he was the VP of Technology and Operations and Chief Technology Officer from 1997 until 2005. Dr. Gruber has served as a member of the Federal Advisory Committee for Biomass R&D and the Advisory Committee for the Energy Future Coalition and currently serves on the board of directors of Outlast Technologies, Gevo, Segetis, and Green Harvest Technologies.

Matthew W. Peters received a BS in Chemistry and a BS in Mathematics from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, a PhD in Inorganic Biochemistry from the University of Florida, and was a post-doctoral scholar and American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund Alternative Energy Fellow in Prof. Frances H. Arnold's laboratory at California Institute of Technology. In 2005, he co-founded Gevo, Inc. with Series A funding from Khosla Ventures. He served as Gevo's President from 2005 until 2007, growing the team from 2 to 30 employees and initiating the acquisition of Series B funding with Virgin Fuels. He currently serves as Gevo's Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer.

Peter Meinhold received his Diploma (equivalent to a B.Sc.) in Biotechnology from the University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan, Germany and a PhD in Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology. For his thesis research, he engineered the fatty acid hydroxylating cytochrome P450 BM-3 into an alkane hydroxylating one that accepts substrates as short as ethane. In 2005, Mr. Meinhold co-founded Gevo, Inc. and has led its growing biocatalyst development team as Director of Research since its inception.

Dr. David Glassner has over 20 years experience developing and commercializing technologies that convert annually renewable resources to fuels, chemicals and materials. Prior to joining Gevo, Dr. Glassner led the development of novel yeast biocatalysts for the production of lactic acid and ethanol at NatureWorks LLC. Also during this time he led the development of cellulosic processing technology and economic models for PLA manufacture based on dry corn milling, wet corn milling and cellulosic. Preceding NatureWorks, Dr. Glassner was the Biofuels Technology Manager at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory where he launched the NREL partnerships with the enzyme industry. He began his career at MBI International where he led the development of lactic acid and polylactide research and developed patented processes for lactic acid, succinic acid, acetone, ethanol and butanol.

Tom Dries has over 25 years of leadership experience and a broad base of knowledge in the areas of biotechnology, operations and sales. Throughout his long-standing career at Cargill Incorporated, he led a number of development initiatives and established a track record of designing and executing strong partnership solutions to complex business challenges. He was instrumental in the formation of Midwest Lysine, LLC, a joint venture between Cargill and Degussa AG and served as General Manager of the business from its inception in 1998 until 2004. Prior to joining Gevo, Mr. Dries served as Vice President of Operations for Cargill Biofuels Operating Services, a start-up business responsible for the development of asset-backed investments in the ethanol field. Mr. Dries earned a BS in Biology and an MBA from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.

Prior to coming to Gevo, Brett Lund served as the Chair of the Legal, IP, and Licensing group for Syngenta's Biofuels Business. In his role at Syngenta, Brett led the management of intellectual property, in-licensing, out-licensing, research collaborations, and strategic alliances. Prior to Syngenta, Mr. Lund served as Associate General Counsel for Ford's Wingcast Division. He began his legal career as a corporate attorney at the law firm of Cooley Godward LLP and was a member of the Life Sciences and Intellectual Property Group in the firm’s San Diego office. In his role at Cooley, Mr. Lund represented numerous companies in Intellectual Property licensing, IPOs, venture capital financing, M&A, securities, strategic alliances, and related transactions. Brett holds a JD and MBA from Duke University, and a BA from the University of California, San Diego. He is a member of the California Bar Association, North Carolina Bar Association, Licensing Executives Society and Association of University Technology Managers.

Jim Wade joined Gevo in July, 2006 to direct the company’s efforts in analytical and process analytical chemistry. Prior to joining Gevo, Mr. Wade was a Research Fellow at CPKelco, where he was intimately involved in developing and troubleshooting new fermentation processes for food hydrocolloids, and implementing new analytical techniques and high-throughput (HTS) methodologies. Before CPKelco, Mr. Wade spent 13 years at Hercules, Incorporated, where he served in a number of scientific and project management roles. His analytical experience during this period ranged from advanced materials, rocket fuels, and high explosives to specialty chemicals derived from plant biomass (more than 60% of Hercules’ chemical business). He developed a number of proprietary HTS methods, and led a project which built and prototyped new analytical equipment for the high-throughput analysis of polymer physical properties. Hercules management recruited Mr. Wade to form a team which successfully recommended and led a new research effort into biotechnology. As part of that team, he drafted many of Hercules’ public statements and speeches on bio-technology, and managed a number of internal and external research programs aimed at plant biomass utilization, enzyme and plant bioconversions, and directed evolution. Mr. Wade is a native of the Midwest; he grew up near Chicago, and pursued his education in Minnesota, where he received his BS from Carleton College, and his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Aristos Aristidou has over 15 years experience in the areas of 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, Dr. Aristidou 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 Department of Energy for the conversion of cellulosic sugars to ethanol and other useful chemicals. Before that, Dr. Aristidou served as Technical Leader at the Finnish National Technical Research Center (VTT), and held an Adjunct Professor position at the Helsinki University of Technology. He has co-authored more than 30 scientific papers in the area of industrial biotechnology and a textbook on Metabolic Engineering. Dr. Aristidou holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering (1989), a PhD degree in Bio-Chemical Engineering (1994) from William Marsh Rice University, and was a Post-Doctoral scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1994-97).

Bill Evanko brings over 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. He then joined Chronopol, an Adolph Coors Technology startup 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, Mr. Evanko worked as a Principal Project Engineer and a Large Scale Operations Manager for Roche Colorado, a bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturer. Responsibilities there included capital project management, followed by day-to-day operation of a pharmaceutical production facility. He received his B. Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Colorado State University, is a registered Professional Engineer in the states of Colorado and Michigan, and is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Dr. Cathy Asleson has over 15 years experience in eukaryotic genetics and molecular biology, including baker’s yeast, nonconventional yeast and algae. Prior to joining Gevo, Dr. Asleson was the Molecular Biology Group Leader at NatureWorks LLC/ Cargill Biotechnology Development Center--BioIndustrials. For the past eight years, her 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. Dr. Asleson received a B.S. degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and Genetics from the University of Minnesota.

Paula Dinwiddie came to Gevo with more than 20 years experience in establishing and successfully managing human resources functions for companies in various industries, including services, hi-tech, and telecom. For the past 10 years, Ms. Dinwiddie has worked with start-up companies, the last being a financial services company that manages over $6 billion for the federal government. Ms. Dinwiddie has two Master of Arts degrees in Educational Psychology in Personnel Services & Counseling, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Secondary Education from Tennessee Technological University in Cookeville, Tennessee.

Glenn Johnston has over 19 years experience in the biotech/chemical global regulatory arena where he has focused on creating seamless regulatory compliance with “back-of-sheet” R&D ideas. Prior to joining Gevo, Mr. Johnston was Director of Regulatory Affairs with NatureWorks, LLC, where he managed product stewardship issues and integrated his work with global influences regarding toxicology, environmental, and safety. Preceding his tenure at NatureWorks, Mr. Johnston helped lead the regulatory effort in the plastics division of Sandoz Chemicals. During his long-standing career, he has gained extensive experience related to food legislation (FDA, EU, JHOSPA, KFDA, MERCOSUR, etc), chemical legislation (TSCA, EINECS, DSL, METI, KCL, and AICS), animal feed requirements (US FDA, AAFCO), and other regulatory laws that affect the biotech supply chain. He has worked with industry groups in Japan (JHOSPA), Taiwan (EBPA), the U.S. (BPI), the European Union (IBAW) and China (BMG). He is currently a Member of ASTM D02, and has also been a Delegate of ISO TC61 and CENTC249, and a Member of ASTM D20. Mr. Johnston has participated on the board of directors of various industry trade associations and has published papers and given speeches on biotech/chemical regulatory framework throughout the globe.