Corey Tyree is the co-founder and CEO of Trillium Renewable Chemicals. Prior to Trillium, he was Senior Director of Southern Research, an R&D service provider to clients in the chemicals and energy sectors. Before joining Southern Research, he was Engineering Manager at Georgia Power where he oversaw $100M in capital projects at large fossil energy facilities. His expertise includes technology commercialization and large project delivery. Corey holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kentucky and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University.
Liesl Schindler is the Vice President of Technology Development at Trillium Renewable Chemicals. Prior to Trillium, Liesl was General Manager of Process Development at Shell Chemicals. While there, she oversaw a global team of ~100 professionals focused on technology development. With over 20 years of experience, she is an expert at chemical process technology development from lab to demonstration-scale. Liesl holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin and a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Minnesota.
Aiguo Liu is the Chief Engineer of technology development at Trillium Renewable Chemicals. Prior to Trillium, he worked for Sud-Chemie (now Clariant) and UOP; and biochemical startups including REG Life Sciences in a leading role for process and product research and development. His expertise includes heterogeneous catalysis and reaction engineering. Aiguo holds a BS and MS in Chemical Engineering from the Tianjin University and a PhD from the Tulane University in Chemical Engineering.
Dennis Jewell is the Chief Process Engineer at Trillium Renewable Chemicals. Prior to Trillium, he worked at the Dow Chemical Company in roles in production, process engineering, research, and lastly as a Fellow in Polyurethanes R&D focused on new technology development, scale-up and commercial implementation. His expertise includes process development, process design, and unit operations. Dennis holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Lamar University and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Texas.
Anthony Martinez is a Process Development Engineer at Trillium Renewable Chemicals. Prior to Trillium, he was a Chemical Engineer at Prometheus Fuels where he oversaw the testing of a direct air capture system for a CO2-to-liquid fuels process. Before that, he was an R&D Engineer at Full Cycle Bioplastics, where he developed downstream processing methods for their novel biomass-to-biopolymer process. Anthony holds a BS in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
Joe Powell worked for Shell Chemicals for 33 years and spent the last 15 years of his career as Shell’s Chief Scientist. He led R&D programs in new chemical processes, biofuels, and enhanced oil recovery. He has been a co-inventor on more than 120 patent applications with more than 50 granted. He has received several industry awards including the A. D. Little Award for Chemical Engineering Innovation, an R&D 100 Award, the American Chemical Society Team Innovation Award, and the University of Wisconsin College of Engineering Distinguished Achievement Award. Dr. Powell is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, member of the AIChE Board of Directors, and was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He has a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Virginia and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Wisconsin.
Paul Weider worked for Shell International Exploration and Production for more than 35 years as a process development scientist. He has taken new and novel chemical processes from inception through development to construction and start up of world scale production facilities. He was co-recipient of the 2000 American Chemical Society Team Innovation award. Prior to that he received an R&D 100 award. Paul has an MS in organic chemistry from The Ohio State University and a PhD in organometallic chemistry from Colorado State University.
Simon is leading the commercial development of Trillium Renewable Chemicals. Prior to Trillium, he was in various leadership roles at HELM AG, a globally operating marketing firm for chemicals. He has almost 20 years experience in marketing and distribution of chemicals. In the recent years, he gained considerable expertise in the field of sustainability. Simon holds degrees in Foreign Trade and Business Administration.
Wouter Van de Putte is an Investment Manager at Capricorn Partners, where he leads venture investment activities for the Capricorn Industrial Biotech Fund and the Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund. Graduated from the University of Leuven with a M.S. in Bioscience engineering and an executive MBA, he began his career in the environmental remediation industry as well as the biotechnology sector, where he worked in product engineering and project management. Before climbing on board with Capricorn, Wouter was program manager at Group DC, responsible for building a new fermentation technology & production platform.
Josh Carpenter, Ph.D., joined Southern Research in June 2021. Dr. Carpenter most recently served as Director of Innovation and Economic Opportunity for the City of Birmingham, where he led the city’s efforts in workforce development, COVID recovery and business expansion. Previously, he served as the Director of External Affairs at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He earned his doctorate in political economy from the University of Oxford where he studied on a Rhodes Scholarship.
Dr. Young-Joon (Jay) Lee is currently Vice President and Managing Director of Business Development at Hyosung Advanced Materials Corporation. Graduated from Seoul National University with B.S. in Chemical Technology and earned his M.S. and Ph. D. in Polymer Chemistry from the University of Akron, his research and business interest areas span from electronic chemicals to various polymeric materials through his over 20 years of industrial career at IBM and Sumitomo Chemical. He is the author of more than 30 peer reviewed research articles and patents across the various specialty materials space.
Ron Skelton worked as an Analytical Chemist for various Shell Oil Company affiliates for 32 years. His background and passion remain chromatography, but over the years he became fascinated with the use and development of many instrumental Analytical tools in problem solving and process support. He worked mostly in R&D, but also on assignments in Canada, China, Singapore, the Netherlands, India and around the USA supporting various Shell businesses. He was a Principal Scientist and the global technical lead for the Analytical Chemistry team in the years before retirement in 2020. Ron has his BS and MS degrees from Virginia Tech and his PhD from Brigham Young University.
Erik has held a variety of senior leadership roles in energy, chemicals, hydrogen, and cleantech companies over the last two and a half decades. He is currently the Chief Commercial Officer for Koloma, leading its strategic partnership strategy and product commercialization. He was an Operating Partner at True North Venture Partners where he supported investments in and held executive/Board roles in chemicals technology licensors, hydrogen producers, and hydrogen consumers. Prior to that, he co-founded Siluria Technologies, where he was COO, President, and Interim CEO. There, he drove the successful development and scaling of Siluria’s novel olefins technology, including multiple strategic investments, commercial partnerships, and numerous commercial plant licenses. Erik sits on multiple Boards as an Independent Director and/or Strategic Advisor. He holds a Bachelor’s in Chemistry from Rice University and a PhD in Materials Chemistry from the University of California - Berkeley.
A University of Toronto Chemical Engineering graduate, Ian has over 30 years’ experience in the petrochemical, and sustainable chemical industries. In various roles, while at Shell and Americas Styrenics, Ian had P&L responsibility for a $1B/yr. turnover businesses, development of corporate strategy, and execution of mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures. As the Vice President Strategic Projects for HELM AG, he has been responsible for identifying, developing, and financing capital investments in HELM’s four business areas, Chemicals, Crop Nutrition, Crop Protection and Pharmaceuticals.
Chad Ellis is the Process Development Chemist at Trillium Renewable Chemicals. Prior to Trillium, he led various market research projects at Darcy Partners, an innovation-focused management consultancy. Before that, he developed several catalysts and conversion processes in refining and petrochemicals at Phillips 66 and Chevron Phillips. Chad holds degrees in chemistry from Washington and Lee (BA) and Carnegie Mellon (PhD), and was an NSF postdoc with Prof. Geoff Coates at Cornell.