management team
- Dr Andrew Rickman
- Non Executive Chairman
- Sean Sutcliffe
- Chief Executive Officer
- Dr Edward Green
- Founder and Chief Technical Officer
- Kristan Wadrop
- Chief Operating Officer
- Dr Basil Omar
- Chief Commercial Officer
- Fergal O'Brien
- Director of Process Operations
- Dr Timothy Davies
- Director of US Operations
Dr Andrew Rickman (Non Executive Chairman)
Andrew is chairman of Green Biologics Ltd. He was founder and CEO of Bookham Technology plc, now Bookham Inc. (Nasdaq BKHM), the world's largest producer of fibre optic communication components and sub-systems. Andrew brings to Green Biologics Ltd extensive experience of growing businesses in the global technology market. Andrew has a Mechanical Engineering Degree from Imperial College London, a Ph.D. in Photonics from Surrey University and an MBA from Cranfield University, as well as honary doctorates from Surrey and Kingston Universities. Andrew holds positions with the East Asia Institute of the University of Cambridge and Applied Science advisory boards. He was awarded an OBE in the Queen's Millennium Honours list for services to the telecommunications industry and is a winner of the prestigious Royal Academy of Engineering Silver medal for his outstanding contribution to British engineering.
Sean Sutcliffe (Chief Executive Officer)
Sean Sutcliffe has been Chief Executive of Green Biologics since April 2008, contributing to the company extensive commercial and operational experience across the energy and renewables sector. Sean is a Chartered Mechanical Engineer with an Engineering degree from Cambridge University. Prior to joining Green Biologics he was from 2005 Chief Executive of Biofuels Corporation Trading Limited, which operates one of Europe's largest biodiesel plants, and where he remains Non-Executive Chairman. Previously Sean worked for BG Group plc for 14 years in a variety of roles spanning operations, business development and strategy, most recently as Executive Vice President with responsibility for Corporate Development and New Businesses. He is Chairman of Tidal Generation Limited which is developing tidal stream turbines and a trustee of Practical Action, an international development charity.
Dr Edward Green (Founder and Chief Technical Officer)
Edward gained a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) in 1993. Edward spent five years in academia at Rice University, Texas, US and at Gothenburg University, Sweden developing novel microbes for biofuels and chemicals. In 1998, he joined Agrol Ltd., a UK start up where he established a multi-disciplinary team that developed a high temperature ethanol process. In 2003 he founded Green Biologics, a UK leader in industrial biotechnology focusing on renewable chemicals such as biobutanol. The Company currently employs 25 people in purpose built lab space on Milton Park in Oxfordshire. Edward's efforts were recognised in the inaugural Woods Enterprise Awards for Entrepreneurship. Edward has delivered technical improvements in microbial fermentation processes for biofuel production over the past 17 years contributing to numerous scientific publications and patents.
Kristan Wadrop (Chief Operating Officer)
Kris graduated from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1994 with an honours degree in Chemical and Process Engineering. The majority of his career has been with ICI plc where he worked in the petrochemical industry on Teesside, Western Europe and the Far East. Kris has also worked in the USA as a Plant and Commissioning Manager for ICI Americas. Kris joins us from Vireol plc, a first generation bioethanol company, where he was the Project, Technical and Operations Manager leading the project and technical development within the company to deliver two of the first world scale bioethanol plants in the UK. Kris developed Vireol's strategy to address the carbon saving limitations associated with first generation bioethanol technology.
Dr Basil Omar (Chief Commercial Officer)
Basil has a Ph.D. in optoelectronics from Loughborough University and an MBA from Warwick Business School and has held senior positions with a range of high growth technology businesses including Holtronic Technologies, Sharp Corporation, and SpectraSite Transco Communications. Basil has held interim executive positions at Scottish Enterprise and British Sky Broadcasting and more recently at Grant Thornton providing strategic and commercial business support for fast growing technology companies. Basil brings extensive experience in business development and commercial operations for early stage.
Fergal O'Brien (Director of Process Operations)
Fergal is a Biochemist with 25 years experience in the Biotechnology/ Fine Chemical Industry. He has held positions in R&D, operations, business development and senior management for a number of UK based companies including Celltech, Enzymatix, Chiroscience, Chirotech and Dow Pharmaceuticals; he was CEO of Warwick Effect Polymers Ltd from 2004-6. Fergal joins GBL from his own Business Development Consultancy where he has focused on assisting SME's with developing their business strategy. Fergal brings extensive experience in managing technical programmes and commercialising novel technologies and across the biotechnology sector.
Dr Tim Davies (Non Exec Director)
Tim graduated in 1995 with a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from UMIST. Tim has considerable experience in fermentation process optimization and protein purification. Tim spent three years in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Georgia (UGA). In 1998 he joined Aureozyme, a biotechnology company based at UGA that developed industrial hydrolytic enzymes. In 2001 Tim became the Director of the Bioexpression and Fermentation (BFF) contract facility at UGA and currently manages a team of scientists and technicians with a budget of over $500,000 per year. Tim is also a founder and partner in Downstream Biotech Consulting Inc.
Advisors
- Dr Martin Comberbach
- Bioprocess Consultant
- Robert Rickman
- Feedstock Advisor
- Steve Vaux
- Feedstock Advisor
- Dr Martin Tangney
- Scientific Advisor
Robert Rickman (Feedstock Advisor)
Robert graduated with an MA and MSc in Agriculture and Forestry from Oxford University. He is a non-executive director of Highland Timber PLC, the AIM quoted forestry owning company, CSC LLC, a private sawmilling company in Washington State, USA and a number of private forestry companies. Previously he was director of Forestry Investment Management Limited and responsible for the business management of 50,000 ha of plantation forests in the UK and 17,000 ha in New Zealand.
Steve Vaux (Feedstock Advisor)
Steve has been involved for over 25 years in the identification, planning, development and management of a variety of large integrated agricultural and food businesses. Following extensive involvement in palm oil, he spent over a decade seconded as a senior manager to two successful public companies establishing and growing sugar cane for sugar and ethanol production on a large scale, with Booker Tate Limited part of the Remgro Group.
Dr Martin Tangney (Scientific Advisor)
Martin brings expert knowledge to GBL in the area of sugar uptake and metabolism in solventogenic clostridia. He has 20 years experience in the molecular biology, genetics and physiology of industrial Gram positive bacteria and has published extensively in this area, as well as being inventor on several patents. Martin is a lecturer at Napier University, Edinburgh, and has a Ph.D. from the Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, an MSc in Genetics from Trinity College Dublin and a B.Sc. in Microbiology from University College Cork. Martin has recently formed, and acts as the Director of, the Biofuels Research Centre at Napier that focuses on next generation biofuels and bridges the gap between academia and industry.
Martin Comberbach (Bioprocess Consultant)
Martin has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Biochemical Engineering from University of Manchester UMIST. Martin is a biochemical engineer with over 25 years experience in R & D, bioprocess design, and project engineering. He has held Executive positions at GSK Biologicals, Metris Therapeutics Ltd. and more recently as Director of Global Manufacturing at GeneMedix Plc. He founded Comberbach Consulting Ltd. in April, 2005 and is based in Milton, Oxfordshire.
Martin provides help with scale up and demonstration of GBL's proprietary butanol fermentation process