Theresa Ahrens - Junior Process Development Engineer

Theresa Ahrens completed her BSc in Life Science, with a specialization in biotechnology, at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster, Germany.  She earned a MSc in Environmental Sciences at Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, majoring in environmental technology. For her Master’s thesis she studied the formation of renewable fatty acids to replace fossil-fuel derived oil as their primary building block.

Before joining Electrochaea, Theresa worked at Eawag, the water research institute of Switzerland, focusing on grey water recycling as part of a newly-designed environmentally friendly sanitation system, gaining experience with pilot scale reactors. At Electrochaea, Theresa holds a bridge position between scientists and engineers to address process development of Power-to-Gas technology.

Liam Bansen – Director of Product and Commercial Development

Liam is Director of Product and Commercial Development bringing experience from the clean-tech industry where he specialized in renewable fuels process technologies. Before joining Electrochaea, Liam worked for Quadrogen Power Systems, Inc. in Vancouver, Canada where he focused on the design, construction, and commissioning of novel biogas processing systems for fuel cell and power applications, hydrogen production, and gas grid injection.

Liam started his career as a mining consultant working in remote locations such as Bolivia and the Yukon where he concentrated on mining logistics and operations. Liam holds a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo where he focused on heat transfer and fluid dynamics.

Harald Beschid, COO

Harald has more than 15 years of experience in Industrial Project Management. In his previous roles, he managed major projects over all development phases, from early idea management, concept engineering to basic engineering and detailed engineering. Harald led organizations to successfully transfer ideas into engineering packages and to realization on construction sites and commissioned large-scale industrial process plants all over the world. Harald has extensive hands-on expertise in project management, project controls, operations and cross-department consulting. During his career, his responsibilities increased steadily; he led teams of more than 80 staff members and managed budgets over 320 mio EUR. As COO at Electrochaea, Harald is leading the Engineering, Projects and Operations Team and managing the implementation of upcoming commercial projects.

Harald has a degree in Technical Chemistry from the University of Applied Sciences Georg-Simon-Ohm, Nuremberg, Germany, and an Executive MBA in General Management from the Technical University of Munich.

Maria Beschid – Communications Manager

Maria Beschid possesses a Diploma in Philology and English literature from Samara State University, Russia. Before joining Electrochaea, Maria worked in the regional Parliament in Samara, Russia as a Personal Assistant of the Head of the Legal Department and later as an Administrative Unit Consultant.  She was responsible for the administrative support of the legislative process. Maria also worked at Shell Global Solutions International B.V., Netherlands as a Personal and Team Assistant in the company´s Learning Center. At Electrochaea Maria works as a Communications Manager.  

Jon Dyar Boles – Chief Investment Officer

A sustainable investment and finance professional, Jon brings thirty years of experience as a banker, energy industry professional and independent advisor to renewable energy and cleantech companies to Electrochaea. Jon began his career with Dresdner Bank in Germany and served as the group’s head of project finance in Latin America, advising on, structuring, arranging and financing investments throughout the region.  He subsequently joined E.ON, the global utility, as Head of Corporate Finance for continental Europe, and went on to establish and lead the Group’s Structured Finance team, then moved to Italy where he integrated and restructured operations across the value chain and served as the newly established market unit’s CFO and chaired the Risk Committee. Over the past decade Jon has worked with businesses delivering solutions for climate change, including i.a. Fjord Capital, KGAL, Deutsche Telekom’s Smart Cities Unit and Climeworks.

Jon earned an A.B. with Honors in International Relations from Davidson College, North Carolina, was a Fulbright Scholar at the Universität zu Köln and holds an M.A. in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is a CFA Charterholder.

As Chief Investment Officer, Jon is responsible for the financing of Electrochaea’s asset-level and corporate investments and communications with investors.

Beth Bray, PhD – Consultant

Beth is a retired professor from the University of California at Riverside, where she was a faculty member for 20 years.  She taught classes in plant biology and researched the mechanism of plant response to dehydration stress.

Beth is excited to be learning all she can about archaea and power-to-gas, while participating in company advancement in technical writing, business development and BioCat plant operation.  Beth has a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of Minnesota in St. Paul, MN.

Arianne Bhérer-Breton, Business Development Manager

Arianne holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Resource Management from the Technical University of Munich and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Management and Entrepreneurship from the University of Ottawa in Canada.

Her master thesis focused on the hydrogen fuel cell train technology, for which she performed a patent-based forecast and cost-benefit analysis. Arianne is a Business Development Manager at Electrochaea where she develops and manages business opportunities to achieve commercialization in key markets.

Enrique Cabrera – Inside Sales Manager

Enrique brings to Electrochaea international experience as a sales and project engineer in industries like Biogas treatment, cogeneration, and Energy efficiency. His studies in Chemical engineering in Guatemala, Master’s in Business Administration in Chile, and M.Sc. in Energy Systems in Germany allowed him to contribute to innovative technologies in different markets like Latin -America and Europe, which will contribute to Electrochaea’s success.

As Inside Sales Manager, Enrique will support the commercial department with proposals, cost estimation, developing strategic partners and standardizing internal processes,  working closely with other areas of the company. Due to Enrique’s capability in both, technical and commercial areas, he has been responsible for implementing complex technical solutions in different industries to make projects economically feasible.

Josefina Caputo - Project Leader

Josefina joined Electrochaea as a Project Manager for commercial Projects and leads integrated teams of internal and external stakeholders. 

She holds a Chemical Engineering Degree from the Instituto Tecnológico de Buenos Aires in Argentina, then followed by a MSc in Process Engineering at the Politecnico di Milano. Her thesis in applied chemistry focused on the designing and studying the construction of coordination polymers and their dynamic properties for the adsorption of volatile organic compounds. 

She brings professional experience managing and operating two biogas plants for Seeds Energy Group, based in Argentina. As a project engineer, she supervised the final stages of the construction process and supervised the commissioning of the plants, achieving the final commercial accreditation. She then managed the operation of the plants´ production and cost control, performing process planning, troubleshooting and optimization of the biogas process itself.

Alberto Carrillo - Process Engineer

Alberto earned a Chemical Engineering Degree in the Simón Bolívar University in Venezuela followed by a Master´s Degree in Chemical and Energy Engineering at the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg, Germany. His Master´s Thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems focused on the evaluation of a carbon membrane for the improvement of the Methane Dehydroaromatization reaction in a membrane reactor.

Previous to Electrochaea, Alberto worked firstly for an international specialty chemicals company where he executed projects in Germany in the areas of Operational Excellence and Conceptual Engineering, and later on joined an engineering office where he focused on projects in the Detail Engineering phase.

Alberto is a Process Engineer at Electrochaea and his role is to deliver and review all the necessary engineering documentation for clients and contractors, clarify internal and external engineering questions and work together with the different departments to optimize Electrochaea´s technology.

Matteo Cociancich – Group Leader Process Development

Matteo is a scientist and an engineer. He holds a BSc in biology and a MSc in environmental biology from the University of Trieste in Italy. He also completed a MSc in environmental science from the Wageningen Research University in the Netherlands under scholarship - he specialized in environmental technology, focusing on bio-electrochemical systems (BES) and urban environmental technology management.

At Electrochaea, he operates and studies improvements for the laboratory scale bioreactors. He has performed extensive experiments to assess reactor scale-up and industrial client requests, and he contributed to the experimental planning and operation of the industrial-scale plant Biocat in Avedore, Denmark. He has led the commissioning and operation for the S&G plant in Solothurn (CH) - Matteo and his team gained more than 1300 hours of experience with an automated bio-methanation reactor.

His responsibility is to improve the nutrient feeding strategy, the system reaction to fluctuations in energy demand and the identification of key parameters for process automation. Building on his knowledge from laboratory scale to industrial scale bioreactors, he also focuses on reducing and optimizing operational reactor costs. He has evaluated alternative chemicals, ensuring the assimilation of macronutrients and avoiding a lack of micronutrients for the microorganisms. He has been studying the improvement of the supply chain of chemicals for industrial scale systems.

Sabine Creutzburg – Executive Assistant

Sabine joined Electrochaea as an Executive Assistant and is responsible for the executive and administrative support of the Managing Directors.

With diplomas from the European Management Academy, Sabine has many years of international work experience as an Assistant to CEOs in various branches of industry. She started her career in the film industry at Tele Munich Group, handling the licensing rights of all film productions of 20^th Century Fox, MGM, and Universal Studios for the DACH region. Furthermore, she gained experience in mechanical engineering in the Sales Department at Krones AG, Neutraubling, where she acted interdisciplinary as a contact between the European subsidiaries and the internal technical departments.

Previous to Electrochaea, Sabine worked for many years as Assistant to the CEO and CFO at Fair Media Holding, Munich, and later as Assistant to the Directors for RD and Program Management for Charging Solutions at Webasto SE.

Jay Dalal – Controller

Financial professional with over 35 years of strong accounting expertise in limited partnerships, private equity, venture fund, and tax accounting. A strong organizer, communicator with proven track record in managing and leading people in multiple organizations. 

A seasoned practitioner in M&A transactions including due diligence and post-acquisition integration.  

Previous professional experiences have included specific roles as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Financial Controller for a number of portfolio companies and Founder/Entrepreneur firms ranging in size from less than $5M to over $50M.

Assisted in the successful sale, divestiture & investment of US & Foreign Portfolio Entities (China & Mexico).  

At Electrochaea Jay is responsible for the North American operations activities, book-keeping, payroll, Health Plans, 401k plans, corporate Insurance, banking, financial and related reporting. 

Gianluca Del Frate - Project Manager

Gianluca has more than 15 years´ diverse experience in capital projects for the Energy Industry in Europe, Middle East and the Caspian Region. In his previous roles, he worked in all project development phases, from concept, to front-end and detailed engineering and, also disinvestment plans. He brings professional experience by having successfully managed interfaces with internal and external stakeholders based in multiple countries for the timely delivery of multibillionaire projects. Moreover, he coordinated cross-department teams for the delivery of both technical and commercial documentation. He worked in Energy firms and world class engineering companies.

At Electrochaea, as a Project Manager Gianluca will lead integrated teams of internal and external stakeholders.

Gianluca holds a Master in Chemical Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, and a Full-Time MBA from Cranfield School of Management, United Kingdom.

Saruul Demberel - Office Administrator

Saruul studied Mongolian and Literature at the State University of Mongolia in Ulaanbaatar. She used to work as a teacher at a comprehensive school. She also worked as an Event Manager at Mongolian Youth Federation and was in charge of the press contacts. 

Saruul moved to Germany where she studied German as a foreign language and Japanology at the Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich (LMU). For several years she worked in adult education and taught German and Mongolian. Later she got a qualification in Office Management. At Electrochaea Saruul works as an office-administrator. 

Utsav Vikram Dutta - Senior Manager Business Development

In his role as Senior Business Development Manager, Utsav is primarily responsible for enabling sales for Electrochaea’s biomethanation technology at strategic intersection of markets, policies & framework, and customers.

Utsav has about 15 years of experience in sales, proposals, and business development across a wide range of power generation industries and markets. Due to his techno-commercial competence, he has been successful in developing markets to secure projects in the bio energy, waste to Energy, pulp & paper, IBA treatment, and utility power generation across Europe and Asia. In his previous assignments he has been responsible for development of channel partners for global expansion, realization of long-term service business model and for leading the commercial contract signing process.

Utsav will help build strategic partnerships, analyze market to identify target customers, develop business opportunities to secure commercial projects, and support the commercial contract negotiations to contribute to Electrochaea’s profitable growth.

He holds a bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering and earned his Master’s in Business Administration from Kellogg-WHU in Germany.

Johannes Erben -Scientist Biotechnology

Johannes is a physicist and process engineer. He holds a diploma in Engineering Physics from the University of Würzburg (Germany) and received his PhD from the University of Bremen (Germany) investigating the electrode-microbe interaction in bioelectrochemical systems. He also developed tailored, carbon-based, electrode materials for the application in bioelectrochemical systems.

At Electrochaea he investigates the feasibility of new methanation bioreactor concepts for industrial application.

Thomas Friehe, Finance Director

Thomas has 21 years of experience in financial planning and forecasting, business development, M & A, and contract management in large and small multinational companies.  As Senior Financial Controller at Knorr-Bremse AG, Thomas, in addition to controlling income statements and financial forecasts, was instrumental in affiliate consolidation and company risk management.

Thomas also brings considerable experience in cost optimization, company restructuring and customer sales from his successes at Infineon Technologies AG, Boshuku Europe and Resmed. At the EDAG (Engineering + Design AG) subsidiary FFT in Puebla, México, Thomas demonstrated his skills in business development, participating in the growth of an automotive industry technology center. Thomas earned a Diplom Kaufmann in Economics from the University of Freiberg, Germany, and studied at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN, USA, with focus on buyer behavior, communications and marketing.

Dr. Dragan Griebel – Director Product Development 

Dragan has extensive management experience in R&D, production and hydrogen technology. He managed major interdisciplinary projects over all development phases and implemented new products in serial production.

With his strong interdisciplinary background, Dragan leads a diverse team of biologists, biotechnologists, and process engineers at Electrochaea. As Product Development Director, he serves as strategic and scientific representative of the development team.

Dragan studied Chemistry and received his PhD from Julius-Maximilians University in Würzburg synthesizing nanoparticles for life science applications.

Bruna Grosch - Senior Scientist Technology

Bruna is a senior scientist and a part of the development team at Electrochaea. With her extensive experience in anaerobic microbial cultures and the design, construction, and operation of anaerobic reactors, she contributes to improving the process control of the company's bio-methanation technology.

Bruna holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Biology and Environmental Engineering from the University of Blumenau, Brazil. She conducted her Ph.D. thesis at the University of Leipzig in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Microbiology at the Helmholtz Environmental Research Centre (UFZ - Leipzig/Germany) and the German Biomass Research Centre (DBFZ). Bruna has been involved in projects aimed at producing renewable energy from waste and finding sustainable solutions to society's consumption demands.

Katrin Härtling-Tindl – Head of Administration

Katrin Härtling-Tindl completed her biology studies at LMU Munich and graduated with a neuroimmunological diploma thesis at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology. Subsequently, she worked for several years in project and quality management at Eurofins Medigenomix and established the sub-department "Subcloning and Molecular Biology". Afterwards she worked for ten years at IBB Netzwerk GmbH, first as a project manager, later as a project leader and authorized signatory with administrative tasks, pre- and post-project work, PR & PR & specific communication measures. In 2022 she traveled around Europe in her caravan and joined Electrochaea in 2023 as Head of Administration.

Doris Hafenbradl, PhD - CTO and Managing Director

Doris has enjoyed a successful career as scientist and corporate executive in the biotech and pharma industry in the US and Europe. She joined Electrochaea from Axxam, a leading provider of integrated discovery services for the life sciences industry, where she was responsible for the company's discovery services activities. Prior to Axxam, she held several senior management roles in international, industry-leading pharmaceutical firms including BioFocus, Proteros, GPC Biotech, Axxima Pharmaceuticals, Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, and Diversa.

Doris dedicated her doctoral research in mircobiology to the study of hyperthermophilic archaea in the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Karl Stetter at the Archaea Centre at the University of Regensburg.

Christian Hagenauer - Head of Engineering

TBA

Mich Hein, PhD - CEO and Managing Director

As an inventor, entrepreneur and corporate executive, Mich has 35 years experience in technology development and commercialization. In addition to his role at Electrochaea, Mich is a Partner at Focus First Holdings (St Louis, MO). Prior to starting Focus First, Mich served as Executive in Residence at the University of Chicago's Office of Technology and Intellectual Property, and as Chief of Staff at the Illinois Medical District where he managed the Chicago Technology Park. He started his career as a research chemist with Monsanto and then PPG Industries before joining the faculty at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. Mich's investigations into mucosal immunology and plant-based proteins led him to found Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc which was acquired by Biolex, Inc in 2004. His entrepreneurial career also included positions as CEO at Chromatin, Inc and as founder of Heliose.

Mich holds a BS degree from the Honors Tutorial College of Ohio University and both a MSc and PhD in Plant Physiology from the University of Minnesota.

Nigel Hassanzadeh - Head of project Delivery

TBA

Helen Hoffmeister - Senior Development Scientist

Helen has a Ph.D. in human biology. After her studies at the Philipps University of Marburg, she completed her doctorate at the University of Regensburg and subsequently gained experience as a postdoc in the academic sector and at a small start-up company. In the course of her scientific education, she was able to build up a broad spectrum of methods in the fields of cell and molecular biology, as well as biochemistry.

At Electrochaea, she oversees the laboratory work with the focus on the optimization of biocatalyst performance including molecular and biochemical analysis.

Valerie Horn – Executive Assistant & Strategic Alliance Coordinator

Valerie has a background in humanities with degrees in linguistics, culture and communication from the Universities of Marburg, Frankfurt, and University of Minho in Portugal. With two years of work experience in university teaching and administration, Valerie brings in a view from the outside to Electrochaea. 

Valerie is an Executive Assistant at Electrochaea where she is responsible for executive support and administration. In her role as Strategic Alliance Coordinator, Valerie ensures smooth workflows with Electrochaea’s strategic partners.

Ivan Ilic - Senior Development Scientist

Ivan Ilic is a senior scientist working in the development team of Electrochaea. A chemist by training, he specialized in the development of materials and systems for sustainable electrochemical energy storage.

He studied chemistry in Zagreb and Berlin. During his doctoral research at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany, he developed novel biomass-based sustainable cathodes for Li-ion batteries. Later, he researched sustainable anodes for Na-ion batteries at the same institute. During his postdoctoral stay at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia in Milan, Italy, he developed the first edible rechargeable battery.

Carina Inoue – Junior Development Scientist

Carina earned her BSc in Bioprocess Engineering at the Federal University of Itajubá, Brazil. She completed her MSc in Molecular Biology at the University of Debrecen, Hungary, majoring in Human Genetics. Carina’s Bachelor thesis focused on the molecular biological analysis of an operating biotrickling filter in Germany. Her Master thesis involved RNA screening from blood plasma of ovarian cancer patients and cell culture of ovarian cancer cell lines in order to investigate potential disease biomarkers.

Before joining Electrochaea, Carina worked in the research group of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Sabine Grüner-Lempart, in Freising, Germany. There, she gained considerable hands-on experience in the laboratory working with microorganisms. At Electrochaea, Carina supports the development team, in particular bringing in her expertise in biotechnology and molecular biology.

Hans Christian Knudsen - Head of Operations & Maintenance, Electrochaea.dk ApS

Hans brings a wealth of operating experience to Electrochaea's technical team. He joined Electrochaea in 2013 and was instrumental in the construction, commissioning, and operation of the company's pre-commercial demonstration plant at Foulum, Denmark.

Prior to Electrochaea, Hans spent 20 years at HMN Naturgas, a leading Danish gas distribution and energy services company. He also worked as a consultant and technician for several gas companies in central Jutland, Denmark, and as a teacher at CEU Herning.

Maren Lang  – Junior Scientist Biotechnology

Maren earned a BSc. and a MSc. in chemical and biological engineering at Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen Nürnberg. Her master thesis focused on the topic of electromethanogenesis. Through that she gained experience in designing, starting up and operating bio-electrochemical systems.

At Electrochaea Maren works as a junior scientist in the development team where she brings in her expertise and supports the projects in relation to bio-electrochemical systems.

Birgit Lewandowski, Director Development

Birgit has extensive management experience in R&D, production and QA in industrial biotechnology. Thanks to her profound understanding of market needs, Birgit was able to successfully improve operational and technical processes and expand business segments with focus on economic parameters. In her previous roles, she was responsible for the scale-up of microbial culture production from lab-scale to industrial processes and has led international large-scale environmental assessment projects for the electricity industry as well as for the pulp and paper industry. Furthermore, Birgit has deep experience in writing patent and funding applications as well as drafting expert reports. 

With her strong interdisciplinary background, Birgit leads a diverse team of biologists, biotechnologists, and process engineers at Electrochaea. As Development Director, she serves as strategic and scientific representative of the development team for building partnerships and developing commercial projects. She supports the planning and execution of funded and commercial projects with academics, technology partners and clients and supports the extension of Electrochaea´s IP portfolio.

Birgit is a graduate engineer from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna followed by studies and teaching at international academic exchange programs between Europe and Africa.

Narcis Margall – Business Development Manager

Narcís Margall is in charge of developing Electrochaea’s business opportunities in Southern Europe. Narcis has a 25 year consistent track record assisting companies in executing their business development strategies, mainly in Denmark and Spain. 

Narcis has been working in all cleantech sectors, especially in the bioenergy and environment sectors. The last 20 years Narcis has worked for the Danish Foreign Ministry, in several positions in Spain and Denmark. He has served for 13 years as Danish Trade Commissioner in Barcelona. 

Narcis will contribute to Electrochaea’s business development in this area through his market knowledge, strategic insight and ability to identify and develop business opportunities into well-defined projects.

Narcis educational background is a Degree in Business Administration and MBA from ESADE and a Master in International Trade and Marketing from Copenhagen Business School.

Sajeev Moorthiyedath – Senior Project Engineer

Sajeev is Senior Project Engineer with the Electrochaea North American Team, bringing in experience from the Biogas/Gas Processing industry. Sajeev’s recent experience was working for Anaergia in Carlsbad, California where he led the Design and Engineering, Project Execution and Commissioning for Renewable Natural Gas Projects in Southern California.

Sajeev started his career as a Scientist doing Research & Development in Catalysis and Fuel Cells. He later migrated towards project engineering, supporting commercial projects through various organizations such as Altamira Instruments, GE Oil & Gas and Ship & Shore Environmental. Sajeev holds a Master’s degree in chemical engineering from Mississippi State University, where his research focus was on chemical methanation and bimetallic catalysts.

Mark Pastore  – Director of Sales and Business Development North America

Mark joined the company in April 2022 with the primary responsibility of securing contracts for deployment of our biomethanation technology in North America. 

Mark Pastore brings over 20 years of experience in sales and business development for innovative early-stage technologies. Mark’s renewable energy experience includes consulting and sales development for commercial and utility solar, battery storage and waste to energy projects with a focus on building the circular economy. In his previous role at Environmental Energy Services, he was responsible for building an International Sales Channel Partner Network to grow sales for developing new markets in the industrial and utility power generation sector.

Mark earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from the State University of New York College at Purchase.  

Nitant Patel - Junior Development Engineer

Nitant is a development engineer at Electrochaea, where he supports projects in relation to process control optimization and bio-electrochemical systems. Additionally, with his expertise and experience in various simulation software, he handles projects related to reactor simulation and designing.

Nitant holds a M.Sc. degree in Process Engineering and Energy Technology from Hochschule Bremerhaven, in Germany. He did his internship at Electrochaea focused on the microbial electrolysis technology and continued with his master's thesis in the company, studying the heat management in the microbial electrolysis cell (MEC). For his thesis, he developed a model which can simulate the heat generation profiles within the MEC and predict the temperatures attained at the electrode and electrolyte, with variable inputs. Nitant completed his bachelor's degree in India focused on the mechanical engineering.

Alejandra Peña – Senior Process Development Engineer

TBA

Maximilian Pfister – Executive Assistant

From 2018-2021, Maximilian Pfister completed an apprenticeship as a mechatronics engineer at MAN Truck&Bus SE. His interest in renewable energies then brought him to the start-up CM Fluids, where he was responsible for sales and site acquisition. Parallel to his apprenticeship, he started a part-time degree program in industrial engineering in 2019, which he will complete in the summer of 2023.

Through his varied experience in different companies, coupled with the topics of his studies, he wants to participate in the further development of internal structures, as well as in the strategic orientation of Electrochaea.

As an Executive Assistant Maximilian will be mainly responsible for supporting the management on IP Issues.

Gabriele Pinzone - Vice President of Business Development

Gabriele has more than 20 years of experience in leading business units and complex projects in the Power Generation and Energy Transition environment. In his previous assignments he was responsible for project development and implementation of Power-to-X and biofuels facilities and had P&L responsibility in leading sales, project management and engineering services for EPC power plants, hydrogen, and new-fuels projects, with more than 60 resources from 10 nationalities and coordination on 4 oversees offices and branches. Gabriele has a successful track record on projects of national relevance up to 10 billion USD at different stages (feasibility, development, implementation, operation), on worldwide base and with direct contacts with Ministers, Stakeholders and Decision Makers. As Vice President Business Strategy, Gabriele will support Electrochaea profitable growth in dealing with Strategic Partners, to implement sustainable, utility-scale Power-to-X projects.

Gabriele has an M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering from the Polytechnic University in Milan, Italy.

Peter Plesner - Business Development Director

Peter Plesner is accelerating Electrochaea’s development of business opportunities in Europe. Through Peter diplomatic experience, his appointment adds an additional dimension to Electrochaea’s expertise in the regulatory and international environment. As the Clean Tech Team Leader of Invest in Denmark, a branch of the Danish Foreign Ministry, Peter provided political advice to companies and cooperation with Danish authorities on framework conditions for energy investments in Denmark.

Peter was instrumental in bringing Electrochaea to Europe and de-risking the technology in Denmark. His interest in supporting businesses as they interact with the energy framework continued in his work with Copenhagen Capacity. As owner of Mr Cleantech.dk, Peter provided consulting support to Danish and international companies in their effort to understand energy framework conditions and establish business cases.

Felix Popp, PhD - Team Leader Biology

Felix is a microbiologist with broad experience in molecular biology, genetics and prokaryotic physiology. Before joining Electrochaea, he completed postdoctoral studies at Helmholtz Zentrum München in the field of groundwater ecology. There, he gained experience in the quantitative analysis of microbial communities and next generation sequencing approaches.

Felix received his PhD from LMU München after completing his doctoral studies in the lab of Prof. Schüler where he investigated the motility of magnetic bacteria. He holds a degree in Biology from the University of Freiburg where he worked on bacterial metal respiration processes.

Caitlin Proctor - Executive Assistant North America

Caitlin is the Executive Assistant at Electrochaea North America and is responsible for all executive support and administration. She has over thirteen years’ experience as an assistant in medical test development, SEO and digital marketing in pharma. She studied Modern American History in Milwaukee and is also a published children’s book author.

Steve Read - Senior Chief of Staff

Steve has more than 30 years experience in leading teams and developing leadership capability in organizations across sectors.  After a successful first career in hospitality, and a brief spell in the recruitment industry, Steve moved into the world of leadership development.  In 2003 he set up The Helix Consultancy and served as CEO of Adair International for 12 years.  Steve was heavily involved with clients in the pharmaceutical and drug discovery sectors.

Steve holds a degree in Hotel Management and post-grad diplomas in Employment Law (UK), Performance Coaching, and Employment Relations.  He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Steve provides support to the executive team and is responsible for bringing together teams across disciplines, geographies, and time zones.

Sven Reimann - Accountant

Sven Reimann studied law in Jena and works as a consultant for various companies. He has many years of practical experience in balance sheet accounting, real estate and foreign asset management and financial services. This expertise is supplemented by secondary professional trainings and qualifications.

Sven was involved in the structural organization and founding of biotech as well as IT companies in Thuringia and Bavaria and participated in several major projects, including the nationwide implementation of the occupational pension scheme at ATU Autoteile Unger. Sven is experienced in accounting, audit monitoring and controlling of various funding projects.

Jose Rodrigo Quejigo - Group Leader Innovation

Jose has a solid experience in environmental biotechnology.  Before joining Electrochaea, he completed postdoctoral studies at Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ (Leipzig, Germany) in the field of microbial electrochemical technologies. There, he developed bed electrode reactors and electrochemical methods to analyze the interaction between electroactive bacteria and granular electrodes.

Jose received his PhD from UAH/Rey Juan Carlos University in Madrid (Spain) investigating bioelectrochemical methods to degrade pollutants.  As part of his PhD training, Jose worked in the Helmholtz Zentrum München (Germany) working with ¹⁴C-radioisotope techniques.  He also holds a degree in Biology from the Univesity Autónoma of Madrid (Spain).

Jana Schütz – Office Administrator

Jana studied management, marketing and accounting at General Business Administration College in Presov, Slovakia. After graduation, she moved to Munich in order to learn German.

Before joining Electrochaea as an Office Administrator, she worked in the Munich hotel and conference industry where she was responsible for purchasing, conference management and general administration. At Electrochaea, Jana is in charge of travel management, accounting support and purchase and team support.

Aafko Scheringa - Senior Director, Sales

Aafko Scheringa has over 30 years experience in international sales management. Before joining Electrochaea GmbH he was a Global Account Manager with Paques Technology BV, one of the world’s leading companies in the development and construction of biotechnological purification systems for wastewater and gases. In this role, he was responsible for the capital sales management in North America, Northern Europe and Global Accounts. Prior to that, he spent six years as a Sales Engineer and Account Manager for a global U.S. chemical company.

Aafko Scheringa holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Groningen. Within Electrochaea GmbH he is managing and leading the Sales and Business Development departments for implementing commercial bio-methanation projects.

Matthew Shaver – Process Engineer

TBA

Manuel Tertsch – Process Engineer

TBA

Clara Tschiersch – Scientist Biotechnology

Clara is a biologist with a strong background in microbiology and biotechnology. Before joining Electrochaea, she gained experience in industrial biotechnology in a private company where she was responsible for the implementation of bioreactor experiments in a high-cell-density fermentation process for the production of biodegradable plastics. There she also worked on projects to investigate plant growth-promoting microorganisms.

Clara holds a diploma degree in biology from the Technical University Munich TUM majoring in ecology, ecotoxicology, and microbiology. At Electrochaea Clara supports multiple projects in the development team with her expertise in process optimization and genetic analysis.

Hans Wendelboe – Operations Technician

Hans joined Electrochaea.dk ApS as an Operations Technician in 2015. He brings 15 years of operating experience to Electrochaea's technical team and has worked in the district heating and water and wind industry.

Chris Wilson - Renewable Energy Engineer

Chris is a Renewable Energy Engineer at Electrochaea where he assesses and quantifies the environmental benefits of the company’s synthetic methane. These characteristics underpin Electrochaea’s technology and its importance in the global energy transition. Chris holds a master’s degree in Sustainable Engineering and a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, both from Villanova University in Pennsylvania.

Prior to joining Electrochaea, Chris served in the US Peace Corps as a water, sanitation, and hygiene volunteer working with rural communities in Peru, and as a thermal engineer for communications systems in the aerospace industry.

Dr. Martin Kröner

Martin Kröner is a managing partner of Munich Venture Partners. Prior to joining the MVP team, Martin was co-founder and CEO of Agnion Energy Inc. and worked at Linde Engineering as member of the R&D team developing green hydrogen production. Prior to Linde, Martin built up Thermotec Engineering Services, a spin-off of the Technical University of Munich. Martin holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering and a Ph.D. in combustion engineering from the Technical University in Munich. During his industrial career, he made several inventions reflected in 10 international patent applications.

Fabiana Limongi

Fabiana Limongi holds a Geological Engineering degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the energy sector where she occupied positions as Asset Manager, Asset Developer and Technical Leader.

In her current position as Asset Manager at Storengy (a company of ENGIE) Fabiana acts as Board Member for several entities developing renewable energy solutions, including geothermal energy and biogas (Methanisation and Methanation solutions). Fabiana is used to work in multicultural environments and has worked in projects in Africa, South East Asia, South America and Europe. Previous companies include Total and Schlumberger where she occupied technical and management positions.

Victoria Gonzalez

Victoria Gonzalez has spent thirty years leading as a change agent. Educated as an engineer, she has worked in large corporations like DuPont and Monsanto, learning how big corporations implement new technology solutions, and rising to the level of Director of a chemical ingredients business. She has also spent more than eighteen years with tech start-ups, learning what it takes to gain the confidence of the market – passion, reliability, relentless customer service and always delivering on a promise. Gonzalez’s experiences building start-up companies include assembling extraordinary management teams, raising investment and grant funding, creating company strategy and innovative & rapid product development.

Victoria Gonzalez received a B.S. degree in electrical engineering from Texas A&M in 1984 and a M.B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Christian Reitberger 

Christian is an active business angel working with the b-to-v Group, and serves as a Partner with Wellington Partners. Christian is a savvy technologist with a passion for transforming breakthrough innovations into real businesses that have the potential to improve the state of our world. He has led venture, growth and buyout investments in the Electronics, Resource Efficiency and Software/AI & computer vision area.

Christian spent nine years with Apax Partners where he was a Partner in the Tech & Telecom team and five years with McKinsey where he worked with clients in the electronics, digitial media, telecom and medtech industries. He earned a PhD in physics from the University of Vienna with sub auspiciis praesidentis distinction. He conducted research at CERN and had exposure to a number of corporate R&D labs

Johannes Peschko

Johannes is serving as investor, board-member and business angel in a number of young companies. He is the co-founder of Sirius EcoTech Fonds Düsseldorf and currently has the role of a venture partner. He is an expert in renewable energy technologies and has set himself the goal to improve how we use our resources. Johannes has also led investments in the IT and manufacturing industries.

Johannes studied Mechanical Engineering and Management at Technical University of Berlin. He is an alumnus of Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft e.V.

Luca Rossi

Luca Maria Rossi is Vice President, New Frontiers at Baker Hughes.

In this role Luca is focused on scouting, incubating, accelerating, and commercializing new technologies to expand Baker Hughes “green” and “decarbonized” offering in the Energy Transition Market. 

Luca began his professional career at GE in 1997 and has held a variety of engineering and commercial positions within GE’s Oil & Gas organization, including a two-year assignment in Houston, Texas, where he worked as Area Manager in the Contractual Services business at GE Energy Service.

In November 2004, Luca moved back to Florence, Italy, to run the GE Oil & Gas Global Services Sales Team for Europe and North Africa. During his three-year tenure in the position, business in the region grew 200%, largely as a result of the successful expansion of the Upgrades business and sales of new products. Luca then led the Global Commercial Operations organization for the GE Oil & Gas - Turbomachinery business, where he was responsible for supervising proposal generation, technical support, contract negotiations and contract closure. 

Prior to his current role, Luca was the Chief Technology Officer of the Turbomachinery & Process Solutions business in Baker Hughes.  In this role, Luca was responsible for all aspects of technology development, including Product Management, Design, and Requisition Engineering. 

Luca Maria holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Federico II University in Naples, Italy.

Lars Angenent, PhD - Strategic Consultant

Dr. Lars Angenent, Professor of Environmental Biotechnology at the University of Tübingen, is interested in waste conversion to generate specific products such as energy carriers or platform chemicals. His research interests include anaerobic digestion, anaerobic fermentation, microbial electrochemistry, and syngas fermentation.

Dr. Angenent earned his Ph.D. at Iowa State University and is a Kavli Fellow (U.S. National Academy of Sciences, 2008), Electrochaea Board member, and Electrochaea Technical Advisory Board member. In May 2016, he received an Alexander von Humboldt Professorship.

Andreas Kunz – Technical Advisor and Observer

• Manager, project realisation renewable energy at Energie 360° AG Switzerland
• 20 years of experience in power plant commissioning, operation & maintenance, service contracting and project management
• Commissioning and Power Station Manager at ALSTOM Power Asia Pacific, Malaysia
• Mechanical Engineering, University Burgdorf, Switzerland
• MBA University Burgdorf, Switzerland

Laurens Mets, PhD - Principal Investigator

Dr. Laurens Mets, Associate Professor of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology at the University of Chicago, is the Electrochaea technology founder. He has an extensive background in understanding how plant and algal cells construct their photosynthetic apparatus and on how photosynthesis functions as a solar energy conversion system. More recently he has focused on the conversion of carbon dioxide and hydrogen into methane using thermophilic archaea. Dr. Mets earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Fernando Keuchen - Technical Advisor

Fernando is an experienced industrial engineer with a wealth of experience in project management, plant commissioning, and technology development. He started his career as a commissioning engineer for Alstom Power, leading commissioning teams for sub-systems of very large combined cycle power plants in Spain, Brazil, Malaysia, and the United States. He then became an expert in concentrated solar power by working as a lead engineer for SENER, FLAGSOL, Siemens and STS.

Fernando holds a Licentiate in Industrial Engineering from the RWTH Aachen. A dual-citizen of Germany and Spain, he speaks German, Spanish, English, Italian, and Portuguese.