Chairman & Board Member – Poet-DSM Advanced Biofuels LLC (JV) 2015-2021

The 50/50 JV was established between Poet (US) and DSM (NL) to build and demonstrate one of the first of its kind cellulosic ethanol facility (80 m litre/yr). Poet brought the US ethanol market knowledge for transportation fuels and DSM brought its biotechnology competencies. Total investment exceeded $300m. The challenge presented to me in 2015 was with two very different cultures between the US and Dutch companies, how to find common ground, vision and path forward to collaborate effectively. My first task was re-build trust after several years of misalignment! The ultimate outcome (in 2019) after several years of steady progress, we built and successfully operated the facility (Project Liberty); introduced DSM bio-technology including convincing the partner to build an on-site enzyme manufacturing plant. As a result of these efforts, DSM is now ready to license commercially demonstrated bio-tech solutions globally to effectively improve the performance and cost position (over 40% reduction in enzyme cost) for a bio-refinery.