John Benemann, Ph.D., CEO, graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry, researcher at U.C. Berkeley in the departments of Civil Engineering and Microbial and Plant Biology, Associate Professor at Georgia Institute of Technology and Adjunct Professor at the University of Hawaii. He has authored over a hundred peer-reviewed publications, technical reports, and reviews. His business experience includes several technology startups, strategic planning and execution of major R&D initiatives by large companies and government agencies, and the production and marketing of algae biomass for aquaculture feeds and nutritional products. He is a founding Director of the Algae Biomass Organization, Dr. Benemann has carried out R&D in waste treatment, biofuels, and algal biomass production, including anaerobic digestion, controlled bioreactor landfills, algal mass cultivation, and municipal wastewater treatment. During the 1970s he led an independent research group at U.C. Berkeley where, with the late Prof. William Oswald, he studied bioflocculation for low-cost algal harvesting and introduced paddle wheel mixing for raceway algae ponds. He participated in the 1980-1996 US DOE Aquatic Species Program (ASP) and the main author of its final report.