Renewable Diesel Virtual Conference

Mr. Thomson is the President of Advanced Biofuels Canada. Since 2005, Ian has helped lead the development of Canada’s advanced biofuels sector. He has worked directly on all key federal/provincial energy and climate action policies in Canada, including renewable and low carbon fuel regulations, carbon pricing, and fiscal policies to build biofuel production capacity and expand clean fuel use. He heads up Advanced Biofuels Canada’s industry and member engagement and broadly represents the sector’s interests with governments, clean fuels sectors, NGOs, and other stakeholders.

Mr. Palmer is CEO of Global Clean Energy Holdings, a renewable feedstock developer and operator which owns and/or operates farms that produce non-food-based plant-derived feedstocks for the biofuels and renewable chemicals industry. GCEH currently owns or contracts farms in the United States, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic GCEH also owns Sustainable Oils, the leader in the development and production of Camelina Oil, the only EPA approved non-food based feedstock for the production of Advanced Biofuels. Mr. Palmer is also President and CEO of the Center for Sustainable Energy Farming. Previously he was the founder and executive vice president of Mobius Risk Group. Mr. Palmer has a degree in business from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Roberts has more than twenty years of chemical process engineering and strategic business operations experience spanning oil and gas, power, and air quality industries. He currently serves as Vice President of Operations for KP Engineering, LP (KPE). In this role, he leads all department managers and staff employees and is responsible for facilitating business strategy planning. He develops economic models and directs commercial execution of renewable fuel-based EPC projects for the firm. Prior to KPE, he was the Vice President of Operations for Integrated Flow Solutions (IFS) where he successfully executed the $300M sale of IFS and sister companies to a publicly-traded company and led all aspects of project management on jobs ranging from$100k to $25M. Mr. Roberts holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M University.

Jimmy Samartzis is the Chief Executive Officer of LanzaJet, Inc., a global leader in renewable fuels technology and production of sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel. Jimmy is leading the company through a scale-up in technology and production, with renewable fuel refineries planned in multiple countries – US, EU, UK, Japan, Canada, and others. LanzaJet’s technology was developed in partnership with the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and the company is financially supported by strategic investors Suncor, Mitsui, and LanzaTech.

Jimmy has spent the majority of his career focused on climate change, advancing the decarbonization of industries reliant on fossil fuels. Jimmy’s work in the airline industry led to pioneering test flights, the first commercial-scale renewable jet fuel deal, and commercial production, and a global industry agreement to enable a reduction in aviation emissions and adoption of sustainable fuels. Additionally, he has led a global coalition of stakeholders across the value chain to break down the barriers to the commercialization of renewable fuels.

Jimmy previously served in several executive roles at United Airlines including as chief executive of a $2B business unit, and as an executive advisor to clients globally through his work with Oliver Wyman, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Slalom. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a global leader in high-energy particle physics.

Jimmy earned his M.B.A. from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, a M.A. from John Hopkins University, and an B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Mr. Baines is President of Neste US. He has a BS in Economics from City University, London, UK, and has over 15 years of commercial and leadership experience with Neste in Geneva, London, and Brussels.

Mr. Fernandes has more than 30 years of experience in the renewable fuels, petroleum, and chemical industries in a variety of roles including business development, sales, marketing, EHS, and process engineering. He currently serves as Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Development for Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REG). In this position, Mr. Fernandes provides strategic thought leadership regarding public policy and leads early stages of strategic business development opportunities while working closely with the business development and strategy teams within the organization. Prior to REG, Mr. Fernandes held various managerial roles at Neste, including General Manager and President of Neste US, Inc., where he led the business development and sales and marketing teams. Mr. Fernandes led the team that successfully commercialized renewable diesel in the US and Canada a decade ago. He also headed up the sustainable aviation fuel development project and managed the sales of sustainable aviation fuel in the US. Mr. Fernandes holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA in Marketing from the Schulich School of Business in Canada. He is also a licensed engineer with Professional Engineers Ontario.

Ms. Byron is the managing editor for agriculture across the Americas. Prior to that, she was based with Platts in London, managing the light ends clean refined product group and leading several major methodology projects. She has covered refined products from fuel oil at the bottom of the barrel to LPG at the top. Before joining Platts, she worked for various media companies. Ms. Byron has a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from the University of Nottingham and a master’s in international finance from Kingston University.

Mr. Lavinsky is the head of the biofuels analytics team at S&P Global Platts, where he is an authority on biofuels law and policy. In 2018, he testified as an expert witness before the U.S. House Committee on Energy & Commerce on the topic of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard. In 2019, he taught a Continuing Legal Education course on Current Developments in U.S. Biofuels Law. He joined S&P Global Platts following its acquisition of PIRA Energy Group. Prior to joining PIRA in 2009, he was the CEO of Growthink Research, a market research firm that helped companies identify prospective investors and raise venture capital. He began his career as an attorney with Kilo & Flynn, P.C., a St. Louis law firm. Mr. Lavinsky earned a B.A. in mathematics from Binghamton University and a J.D. from the University of Missouri, where he was a member of the Missouri Law Review.

Ms. Luismanso has over 15 years of experience in analytical and leadership roles in agri-commodities and network industries. She recently joined S&P Global Platts as Head of Sugar and Biofuels Analytics. Previously she was Head of Sugar and Ethanol Research at Louis Dreyfus Commodities, where she managed a global team with a focus on developing critical market analysis to design trading strategies. Ms. Manso also worked at Kingsman, now part of S&P Global Platts, for seven years as Senior Analyst and Head of Research and Reports.