| KEY PERSONNEL |
Pyramid BioEnergy has assembled a strong program management team with extensive experience in capital construction, construction program management, energy, gas plant operations, pulping operations management, agronomy and biofuel plant science, federal government and military base maintenance, logistical support management, finance, marketing, accounting, business law, maintenance engineering, computer systems design and deployment, and associated skills, disciplines and technologies. Our program management team team includes professionsals with experience in design, construction, and plant operations, involving closely similar chemical and energy facilities. Our executives have experience in large capital construction programs ranging from $200 million to $8 billion. Where necessary, we will supplement our in-house expertise with additional specialty as necessary, to provide:
Brent Hawkins, President
Brent Hawkins has over 20 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry from engineering to senior management. He has experience managing engineering, construction, maintenance, and operations on a variety of pulp and paper mills that utilize processes, equipment, and technologies similar to the plants that we will construct for ethanol production. He also has direct financial management experience that includes restructuring, divestures, mergers, and acquisitions, all within the pulp and paper industry. He rose from engineer to plant manager at Champion International while participating in their Executive Management Education Program administered thru the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. Brent has additional senior management experience with Simpson Paper Company, Donohue Industries, Shasta Paper Company, Samoa Pacific Cellulose, and Stockton Pacific Enterprises. He was brought in as an executive by Plainwell Inc. and LaPointe Partners to oversee acquisitions of paper mills, which included the Shasta Paper Company and Samoa Pacific Cellulose whose combined assets exceeded $90 million. Under Brent’s leadership, those mills dramatically reduced staffing, increased automation, improved process control, negotiated more favorable labor agreements, reduced energy consumption, enhanced their customer base, improved quality, and increased yield. These improvements translated into lower operating costs. Subsequently Brent led the management buyout of Samoa Pacific Cellulose, LLC with the related restructuring into Stockton Pacific Enterprises, Inc. Brent has served as a Director, President, and CEO of the Nile Group’s pulp and paper operations and is a Director of Trendsetter Industries, a solar energy equipment company. He is one of the founders of Pyramid BioEnergy, LLC. Mr. Hawkins attended North Carolina State University for his Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering. Ben Altheimer has over 30 years of progressive experience in operations, management, marketing, and contract development. He has been national program manager of several multi-service Base Operation Service (BOS) contracts with the Federal Government. He has managed $300 million in military base maintenance contracts. His tenure managing base contracts included, maintenance, base closures, hazmat cleanup sites, facility remodeling, and associated military support contracts. Ben has demonstrated his management experience by directly supervising over 3,000 employees nationwide, while maintaining customer relations with the military contracting officers and the command staff at the various bases. As the past Chief Operating Officer of The Nile Group, Ben was responsible for oversight of R&D, Intellectual Property, Marketing, and operations of cultivated and wild stand harvests at multiple sites in Southern California. Mr. Altheimer was instrumental in the first inaugural shipment of new chip feedstock to Samoa Pacific in Northern California for the historic mill runs and he provided oversight of research test plots in Alabama and Eastern Washington for growth studies in association with University of Washington, Washington State University and Auburn University extension program. Ben also coordinated a farming program in Central Oregon that will be a part of raw material supply contracts for Pyramid BioEnergy, LLC. Ben has served as a Director, Chief Operating Officer, a charter member of The Nile Group, and is a founder of Pyramid BioEnergy, LLC. Education: Pierce College. Laurence Stewart, Vice President Mr. Stewart has broad management and technical experience in a variety of disciplines ranging from project development, project management, research, development, commercialization and marketing of Renewable Energy Technologies, Gasification and Advanced Gasification Technologies, Gas to Liquids Technology, Computer Technology and Law. In addition to his experience in the renewable energy field, he has been a manager of Software Engineering for AT&T and Illinois Bell, an International Economic Development Consultant working on projects for organizations as varied as The World Bank, Inter - American Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, the United Nations Development Program and the governments of Jamaica, Pakistan, Liberia, and Turkey, as well as an lawyer, educator, and businessman. Mr. Stewart earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland, Magna Cum Laude, and a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard University. Mr. Stewart has co-authored two technical papers on thermochemical conversion of fossil and other kinds of biomass for energy and transportation fuels: Clean Coal without Compromise, Klepper, R. E. and Stewart, L. W., The Proceedings of the Annual International Pittsburgh Coal Conference (PCC), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, September 12th - 15th, 2005 Clean Coal Technology - Beyond IGCC, Klepper, R. E. and Stewart, L. W., The Proceedings of the 30th International Technical Conference on Coal Utilization & Fuel Systems, Clearwater, Florida, April 17 – 21, 2005, pgs. 856-863 Ken Scarisbrick, Accounting and Financial Consultant Mr. Scarisbrick has over 40 years of experience including financial administration, accounting systems, cash management, information technology and operations management in pulp and paper and forest products industry. Ken has held progressively responsible positions throughout the US and Canada with Weyerhaeuser, Columbia Plywood, Crown Zellerbach, International Forest Seed Company, James River, Simpson Paper Company, and Shasta Paper Company. Ken graduated from Liverpool College of Commerce in Liverpool England and later attended the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants at the Liverpool College of Commerce.
David Bransby, PH.D., Professor and Principal Research Advisor Dr. Bransby is a Professor of Energy and Fiber Crops and Forage-Livestock Management, in the Department of Agronomy and Soils at Auburn University. He has 30 years of experience in agricultural research, and 17 years of experience in research and development on energy and fiber crops. Dr. Bransby has a national and international reputation in the fields of energy and fiber crops and forage/livestock research, and serves on the Board of Directors of both the New Uses Council, and the Association for the Advancement of Industrial Crops. He is also on the Editorial Board of the international Elsevier Journal, Biomass and BioEnergy. Dr. Bransby is on the President’s Energy Commission for Renewable Energy. He attended the University Of Natal, South Africa for his Ph.D. in Grassland Science.
Hamid Qaasim, Finance and Program Management Consultant Hamid A. Qaasim is the Finance and Program Management Consultant for Pyramid BioEnergy, LLC. Mr. Qaasim has over 30 years of progressive responsibility in design, construction management, project management, operations, and financial management of complex capital construction programs. Hamid has taught at Pepperdine University, is a qualified DOE auditor, and has conducted training seminars attended by up to 300 design and construction professionals on implementation of best management practices and project controls in design, construction and program management. Additionally, Mr. Qaasim has several technical publications and manuals covering best practices in design program management, quality management, reliability, and system safety. Mr. Qaasim attended Illinois Institute of Technology for his B. S. in Civil Engineering.
Joshua King, Patent Counsel, (Graybeal Jackson Haley, LLP) Graybeal Jackson Haley, LLP has technical expertise in computers, software, electronics, medical devices, biotechnologies, applied physics, and mechanics. The firm maintains relationships with associate organizations in foreign countries to assist its domestic clients in obtaining and enforcing foreign patents and trademark registrations, and has established overseas contacts for assisting foreign companies to obtain United States patents and trademark registrations. Mr. King is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and is admitted to practice in the states of Washington and California (presently inactive) and before the Courts of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Ninth Circuit, the Eastern and Western District Courts of Washington, and the Central and Southern District Courts of California. Mr. King received a B.A. in Biology from the University of Utah (emphasis in genetics and biochemistry), and a J.D. from Cornell Law School (Moot Court Board). Company Personnel to be added include other financial, operations and sales personnel who will be recruited in the near future specifically for their skill set to meet the requirements of the enterprise. Others to be added include the engineering, construction and equipment supplier team members for the project. |