Key Management
William J. F. Roach, Ph.D. Chief Executive Officer
Dr. William J.F. Roach brings to Calera 27 years of experience, executive leadership, new technology execution, and broad international project management experience. He has a proven track record for delivering value via entrepreneurial technical and commercial leadership. Most recently he served on the Board of Directors as President and CEO of UTS Energy Corporation, (a publically listed energy company on the TSX in Canada) where he was responsible for the introduction of $1.4 billion in project funding via innovative partnerships, as well as leading the growth of the company’s market capitalization from $50 million to over $1.75 billion in just over 6 years. Prior to that, Dr. Roach worked at Husky Energy in Canada, British-Borneo Oil & Gas PLC in Houston, and Shell internationally, where he developed the necessary capabilities to execute large-scale first of a kind projects around the world.
He is a Professional Engineer in Canada and the U.K. and holds a B.Sc. in Metallurgy and a Ph.D. in Physical Metallurgy.
Robert D. Kelly Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Kelly is an experienced financial executive with demonstrated success in complex transactions involving customers, suppliers, lenders and investors. In the process of completing acquisitions, initial public offerings, spin-offs, divestitures and contract structuring and monetization, he has raised more than $48 billion across multiple capital markets. Prior to joining Calera, he and his company provided strategic and financial advice to growing businesses over the last three years. As Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Calpine Corporation, he was integral to growing the power company from $20 million to over $27 billion in assets.
Mr. Kelly holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Memorial University in Newfoundland and an M.B.A. from Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.
Randy Seeker, Ph.D. Chief Technical Officer
Dr. Seeker brings to Calera more than 30 years of experience in combustion technologies, air pollution control and monitoring, waste treatment technologies and conventional and advanced power systems. Before joining Calera, he was the new product development manager at GE Energy Environmental Services. He served on the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's Science Advisory Board for over 10 years and has served on several U.S. National Academy of Science panels. Dr. Seeker is an adjunct professor in the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of California, Irvine.
Dr. Seeker earned a B.S. from New Mexico State University, and an M.S. and Ph.D. from Kansas State University.
Jon Sobel Chief Legal Officer
Jon joined Calera in April 2010. In previous roles Jon served as Yahoo's General Counsel and Secretary, Tesla Motors' General Counsel and Secretary, and as the President of the open source and media business for SourceForge, the Internet's largest open source forge. He has also served in a senior business role for CBS's internet businesses, as an associate and partner at Folger Levin & Kahn, and as an Associate General Counsel at two Silicon Valley hardware companies.
Jon received his undergraduate degree in public policy from Princeton University, a law degree from the University of Michigan, and an M.B.A from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Martin Devenney, Ph.D. Senior Vice President, Materials and Process Integration
Dr Devenney has extensive experience in the discovery and development of novel materials for a wide range of applications. He joined Calera in March 2010 after thirteen years of experience at Symyx Technologies, a company specializing in the development and application of high throughput technologies for materials discoveries serving the chemicals and life sciences industries. Dr Devenney joined Symyx when it was a start-up and was responsible for developing novel technologies for the discovery of inorganic materials. He has held various roles at Symyx and most recently was Vice President of Operations for the High Productivity Research Business Unit where he had responsibility for over 110 personnel engaged in research to discover new materials for major companies as well as the manufacturing and sale of high throughput products. Dr Devenney was the co-inventor of Symyx’s first commercialized material, an X-ray storage phosphor that was discovered in collaboration with Agfa-Gevaert. He is an inventor on over thirty patents including many for novel materials such as ceramics, fuel cell catalysts, battery materials and semiconductor materials.
Dr Devenney received his B.Sc. in Chemistry and Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Ryan Gilliam, Ph.D. Vice President, Carbon Conversion Research
Dr. Gilliam currently leads Calera’s newest research group focused on providing innovative solutions to Calera’s most pressing issues. Prior to that he started and led Calera’s electrochemistry research group where he was responsible for the development of Calera's Alkalinity Based on Low Energy technology from theory to an operating pilot process.
Dr. Gilliam obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Toronto in Materials Science and Engineering. On his work in catalysis and electrochemistry, Dr. Gilliam has 8 peer reviewed publications and has presented his work at multiple international conferences. He is an inventor on 3 U.S. Patents pertaining to Calera’s work, with many others pending.
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