Event Information
November Breakfast Meeting
Biofuels: Structuring Successful Collaborations
As the U.S. looks for ways to meet the goals of the Renewable Fuel Standard and address rising oil prices, biofuels technologies are being viewed as the Promised Land by policymakers and consumers.
Join us at the November 18th BIOCOM breakfast meeting as our panel discusses the future of biofuels collaborations including:
•structuring the collaboration
•regulatory considerations
•trend
Speakers:
William H. Baum, Executive Vice President, Business Development, Verenium Corporation
William Baum became Executive Vice President of Business Development in June 2007, after the merger of Diversa Corporation and Celunol Corporation. Mr. Baum joined Diversa in 1997 as Vice President, Sales and Marketing, and was promoted to Senior Vice President, Business Development in November 1999 and to Executive Vice President, Chemical, Agriculture, and Industrial Enzymes Business in July 2002.
From July 1993 to August 1997 Mr. Baum was Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing with International Specialty Products, a specialty chemical company. Prior to joining International Specialty, he was with Betz Laboratories, also a specialty chemical company, for 20 years in a variety of international and domestic executive management positions, including Executive Vice President of European Operations and as Managing Director of Betz GmbH.
Mr. Baum also serves as a director for Genomatica, a private biotechnology company and serves on the Industrial and Environmental Governing Board of BIO.Mr. Baum received a B.S. from Widener University.
B. Greg Mitchell, Research Biologist, University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO)
Dr. B. Greg Mitchell is a Research Biologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of California San Diego, Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO). Dr. Mitchell received his Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in Aquatic Biology and Special Honors in Botany from the University of Texas at Austin. At the University of Texas he carried out his Honors research project with Dr. Richard Starr, founder of the UTEX algae collection, and Dr. Harold Bold, the leading pioneer of algae research. In 1987 he received his PhD in Biological Oceanography from the University of Southern California under the advisement of Dr. Dale Kiefer, with a focus on physiological ecology of algae as related to absorption, fluorescence and aquatic optics. After a year as a Postdoctoral Scholar at SIO he joined the permanent staff as a Research Biologist. From 1990-1992 Dr. Mitchell served the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as Program Manager for the Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry Program and as Program Scientist for NASA's SeaWiFS and MODIS ocean color satellite missions.His research on phytoplankton photosynthesis and growth models, aquatic ecology, ocean optics and satellite remote sensing has been sponsored by NASA, the Office of Naval Research, the National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
As the leader of the Scripps Photobiology Group, his present research focuses on use of satellites to monitor change in global ocean ecosystems, including the impact of the El Nino Southern Oscillation on the California Current, and future changes in the primary production of the Antarctic Ocean caused by glacial melt associated with climate change. For more than 2 decades he has promoted mass culture of algae to mitigate CO2 and wastewater nutrient loading, and to create biomass for fuel and animal feed. Applied research currently focuses on optimization of yields of bioenergy molecules in the light-temperature-nutrient matrix that regulates algae growth, numerical modeling of algae yield optimization and design of closed and open photobioreactors that optimize yields. Dr. Mitchell has published more than 65 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and more than 150 conference proceedings or abstracts for national and international scientific meetings. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Houston Advanced Research Center, the Algal Biomass Organization, and the San Diego Center for Algal Biotechnology. More details can be found here: www.spg.ucsd.edu.
Edward T. Shonsey, M.B.A., Chief Executive Officer, HR BioPetroleum, Inc.
Mr. Shonsey has been the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of HRBP since January 2008. He has an impressive record of executive management and leadership experience across several industries, including the industrial and ag biotechnology and agribusiness industries. Prior to joining HRBP, from 2005 to 2007, Mr. Shonsey was the CEO of Diversa Corporation, a public biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development, large-scale manufacture, and commercialization of industrial enzymes for a variety of applications, including ethanol, biodiesel, and other biofuels, where he led a highly successful strategic repositioning of the company and oversaw a doubling of the market capitalization. Prior to Diversa, Mr. Shonsey was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Syngenta Seeds Inc. / Northrup King, Inc. (formerly Sandoz Seeds and Novartis Seeds) where he led the launch of the first agricultural biotech product which was named global product of the year. While at Northrup King, he acquired and/or integrated nine separate corporations and was part of the leadership team that merged Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy (creating Novartis) and, subsequently, Novartis and Astra-Zeneca agricultural companies (creating Syngenta). Previous to that, Mr. Shonsey held senior level executive positions at Global Trading Resources (GTR), an international trade, customs clearance and strategic planning corporation he founded. Before that, Mr. Shonsey spent ten years at Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (now subsidiary of DuPont Corporation), where he served as Senior Vice President; Chief Financial Officer; Sr. Vice President, International Operations, Administration and Human Resources, and Business Development. Mr. Shonsey began his career at Procter & Gamble serving as an Operations Manager. Mr. Shonsey has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Marquette University and an M.B.A. from Creighton University.
Moderator:
Wain Fishburn, Partner, Cooley Godward Kronish
M. Wainwright Fishburn, Jr. is a partner in the Cooley Godward Kronish Business department. He joined the Firm in 1992 as a founding partner in the San Diego office and currently serves on the Firm's Marketing Committee.
Mr. Fishburn's practice emphasizes general representation of high growth technology and other operating companies that range from start-ups to publicly held corporations. His practice focuses on corporate governance matters as well as mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances, and intellectual property licensing and management. He also assists his client companies in financing matters, often involving the placement of debt and equity securities. Mr. Fishburn has been counsel to public and private companies operating in a variety of environments, including biotechnology, information technology, internet, computer hardware and software, communications, composite materials, retail, service and manufacturing industries. He has also represented U.S., European and Japanese companies in international transactions of varying descriptions.
Mr. Fishburn lectures frequently on corporate governance matters and is a founding board member of the Corporate Directors Forum as well as BIOCOM/san diego. He has assisted as counsel to numerous start-up companies and is a founder of two publicly-traded companies. Mr. Fishburn served as a Director of the Burnham Institute and is currently active on the Board of Trustees. He has been active with the UCSD CONNECT program in entrepreneurship, having served as the President of the CONNECT San Diego Technology Financial Forum and is active in numerous other community organizations.
| When | Wednesday, November 18, 2009 - Wednesday, November 18, 2009 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. |
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| RSVP | Tuesday, November 17, 2009 12:00 p.m. |
| Where |
Marriott La Jolla 4240 La Jolla Village Dr La Jolla, California 92037 |
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