Team

Daniel Simon - President & Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Simon delivers over twenty years of experience as a senior executive and entrepreneur with a broad background in founding and leading public and private energy and technology businesses. Prior to joining Heliae, LLC, Mr. Simon founded and served as CEO of Elevant Advisors, LLC, a business advisory firm providing management consulting and investment banking services to the energy, technology, and manufacturing markets. Previously, Mr. Simon was a co-founder, Director, Executive Vice President, and Chief Operating Officer of BioFuel Energy Corp., a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: BIOF). Mr. Simon led the company from its inception in 2006 to becoming the fifth largest pure play ethanol producer in the world, with 230 million gallons of annual production capacity and revenue of over $450 million in 2010. Mr. Simon has served as a board member of multiple energy, construction and technology-related enterprises. Mr. Simon received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Colorado and completed additional studies in Japanese language and economics at Keio University in Tokyo, Japan. Mr. Simon has acquired extensive international business experience and is proficient in both Japanese and Spanish.

James Burkhead - Vice President of Operations

Mr. Burkhead is a manufacturing engineer with over 25 years of experience in the commercialization of new technologies, product development, technical sales, industrial engineering and design, project and operations management. Mr. Burkhead has served as Project Manager and Plant Manager for Greenfield industrial projects from concept to start-up, hiring the workforce and running the business. Previously to joining Heliae, Mr. Burkhead was president and owner of Synesus, Inc., a company that provides consulting services to manufacturing companies ranging from development and commercialization of algal biofuels technology, biodiesel plant construction, start up and organizational development, and the development of a new technology for the biofuels industry. Over his career, Mr. Burkhead has worked in various managerial and superintendent roles for Buckman Laboratories, Inc., Bowater Incorporated and Stone and Webster Engineering Corporation. Mr. Burkhead received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering with a Minor in Economics from the University of Maine. He received his Master of Science degree in Pulp and Paper Science with a Minor in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

J. Craig Johnson - Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Johnson has over 20 years of experience in senior financial management and has held a variety of positions including Executive Vice President, CFO, VP of Finance, Treasurer, VP of Operations and Controller for both privately held and public companies, including Armor Designs, Inc. (LSE:ADID), Global Entertainment Corporation (Amex:GEC), Encompass Electrical Technologies, ServiceMaster (NYSE:SVM) and McGladrey& Pullen, CPA's. In addition, he is the co-founder of Andante Properties, LLC, a real estate acquisition and management company. Mr. Johnson is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), an advisory board member to The CFO Alliance and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Johnson holds a Bachelor's Degree in business administration and accounting from California State University, Fullerton, along with an executive graduate program MBA through Wheaton University.

Adrian Galvez – Vice President of Manufacturing

Mr. Galvez brings nearly 30 years of experience in biomass processing and the commercialization of new processing technologies. He recently served as Senior Vice President, Engineering at Solazyme where he was responsible for initializing and managing processes integral to producing algal oils at commercial scale. From 2008 to 2009, Mr. Galvez served as the Chief Technology Officer of EdeniQ, a cellulosic biofuels company. From 2006 to 2008, Mr. Galvez served as the Senior Vice President, Technology and Technical Services at Altra Biofuels, a corn ethanol producer. From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Galvez held various positions at Delta-T Corp., an alcohol plant engineering company, including Vice President, Technology and Technical Services. Prior to joining Delta-T Corp., Mr. Galvez was the Alcohol Division Manager at Grain Processing Corporation, a corn-products company; a Technical Services Manager at Combustion Engineering, a bioenergy engineering company; and Plant Supervisor for Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM), at an oilseed processing plant. Mr. Galvez holds a BA in Chemistry from Benedictine College.

Dr. Anna Lee Tonkovich – Vice President of R & D

Dr. Tonkovich is a proven leader with 20+ years of industrial experience developing new technology for the marketplace. She was a founder at Velocys, where she led the technology and manufacturing development efforts to complete the first generation of commercial micro-channel reactors. Prior to Velocys, Lee worked at Battelle Memorial Institute and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she innovated novel chemical reactor technology. She holds a B.S in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota. Lee has more than 90 issued US patents and was awarded R&D100 Awards in 1999 and 2008.

Mike Rohlfsen - Director of Business Development for Food & Feed

Mr. Rohlfsen has over 20 years experience in agriculture and renewable energy with a broad background in commodity trading and processing, international management, corporate strategy, animal nutrition, and business and new product development. Prior to Heliae, he spent 18 years with Cargill and nearly 3 years with PetroAlgae. Mr. Rohlfsen has worked and lived in the Former Soviet Union and Asia and is a fluent Russian speaker. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Banana Fibre Products, a leading company converting banana tree biomass into high aesthetic, high performance renewable wood products. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College with a BA in Economics, Russian, and Russian and Soviet Studies and also earned an MBA in finance and strategic management from the Carlson School of Business at the University of Minnesota.

Tom Gallegos - Intellectual Property Counsel

Tom Gallegos brings over 20 years of experience in the legal field to Heliae, with a predominant focus on intellectual property in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical development spaces. He specializes in patents, trademarks, and licensing as well IP strategy and litigation. Before joining Heliae, Mr. Gallegos most recently served as Patent Counsel for Large Scale Biology Corporation, Inc. where he developed a patent portfolio that was ranked 8th in the biotechnology field by the IPIQ Patent Scorecard in 2006. His accomplishments there also included development of winning patent strategies, and successful patent litigation. Mr Gallegos has served as Director of Intellectual Property for OncorMED, Inc. as well as various roles for the US Patent and Trademark Office, Venable LLP, E.I. Dupont de Demours & Company, and Genentech, Inc. Mr. Gallegos received a Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences and Master of Science degree in Microbiology from Indiana State University. He received his Juris Doctor degree in law from George Washington University.