Michael is the Director of the Energy Information Administration’s Oil and Gas Division. His primary focus is on producing the oil and natural gas projections to 2030 as part of EIA’s Annual Energy Outlook. His prior experience includes working as a professional engineer with Bechtel Corporation of San Francisco where he was involved in economic analysis, engineering, construction, and operations of first-of-a-kind facilities, and as a consultant with Energy Ventures Analysis, Inc. advising clients on natural gas and power sector issues

Sean O'Hanlon founded the American Biofuels Council in early 2007, and has served as CEO since its inception. Currently his duties include serving as the director of education and public relations. He became interested in agricultural, environmental, health, economic and energy issues while traveling internationally during the late 1990's and began investigating the potential benefits of alternative fuels. His interest in biofuels increased greatly after the events of 9/11 and during his research he saw the need for a unifying organization to bring all interested parties of renewable fuels together. His goals are to unite the entire biofuels chain and educate the American public of the benefits of biofuels in order to gain acceptance and use by every municipality in the U.S. by 2020 through the Certified Biofuels Educator (CBE) program which he co-created and developed.

Sandra Lima de Oliveira is the Premium Refinery Project Manager of Petrobras. She is also involved in biorefinery studies. Ms. Oliveira graduated in 1984 from Rio de Janeiro State University. She has a MSc. Degree in Chemical Engineering and MBA with focus on Corporate Finance. From 1985 to 1999 she worked at Petrobras Research Center as a refining researcher and as a process basic design engineer. From 2000 to 2005 she then worked at the Petrobras Headquarters involved in planning activities as a Business Advisor to the Downstream and to the Corporate Strategy departments. After she held management positions in the Donwstream Portfolio Management and in the New Business Development Management.

Scott began his career in refinery process and operations engineering. Scott moved through Plastics, Petrochemicals, and Natural Gas Liquids. Various assignments included sales, applications engineering, plant scheduling and operations, purchasing, commodity trading, and refining technology licensing. Since 2002, Scott has been focusing on second generation biofuels. He was involved with the successful commercialization of renewable diesel in 2005, and has worked to refine the process since that time. Other areas of study are feedstock diversity such as cellulose, algae, and other forms of biomass.

Joe Jobe is the Chief Executive Officer for the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). The NBB is the national trade association representing the biodiesel industry as the coordinating body for biodiesel research and development in the US. Its members include feedstock producers and processors, soybean commodity boards, biodiesel suppliers, and fuel marketers and distributors. Joe has been with the NBB since 1997, and has served as CEO since January 1999. Joe’s duties included serving as the principle investigator for the $2.2 million biodiesel health effects testing program. Joe became interested in agricultural, environmental, and energy issues growing up on a farm in central Missouri. Prior to working for the NBB, Joe was a fraud investigator for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. Prior to that he worked as a certified public accountant.

Helena Chum, is the Manager of the Biorefinery Analysis and Exploratory Research Group, and Senior Advisor of the National Bioenergy Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Her research areas are in the development of technologies for the conversion of biomass and a variety of organic wastes into fuels, including hydrogen, chemicals, electricity, and high value materials. She participated in the development of the Office of Science and Technology Policy’s National Environmental Technology Strategy released in 1995. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the International Academy of Wood Science. She served as a member of the Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel (1998-2002). She received the Individual Trail Blazer Award presented by HENAAC Inc. and Green Technology Magazine (2006). She represented NREL in the Council for Chemical Research. She served in the Office of Industrial Technologies’ Industry of the Future Program as a NREL representative to the Laboratory Coordinating Council and chaired this Council in 1997. She contributed to the development of the “Brasilia Statement Directives and Action Plan for Solar, Wind and Biomass Renewable Energy Development in Brazil” (1995). She contributed to the development of the Brazilian Fuel Cell program and hydrogen activities.

Neville Fernandes was appointed Business Manager at Neste Oil's North American headquarters at Houston, Texas and charged with launching NExBTL™ renewable diesel technology in North America. Neville joined the Neste group in 1992, and has worked in the engineering, environment and safety, marketing and sales, and business management disciplines at Neste's oil and chemical businesses (now divested). NExBTL™ (Next Generation Biomass to Liquid) is a new renewable, synthetic diesel fuel developed by Neste Oil. NExBTL™ offers excellent fuel properties that meet the highest requirements of the automotive industry, as well as very low exhaust emission levels. NExBTL™ can be produced from virtually any vegetable oil or animal fat.

Raffaello was appointed Secretary General of the European Biodiesel Board (EBB) - i.e. the European federation of biodiesel producers - in May 2002. Previously he worked for four years within FEDIOL, the European Federation of Vegetable Oils Producers, dealing among others, with non-food uses of vegetable oils, which include bio-lubricants, bio-solvents and of course, biodiesel. In 1998 he worked temporarily in the European Commission (DG Agriculture) as well as within the Research Directorate of the European Parliament. EBB’s aim is to represent its members to the institutions of the European Union and other international organizations. It studies problems confronted by the biodiesel industry and suggests solutions at economic, political, legal, institutional and technical levels.

Alexandre has worked at the Brazilian Ministry of Environment as a consultant of the United Nations Development Programme as well as at the private sector and NGOs, mainly on renewable energy and climate change issues. Currently, he is Head of the Department of Sugarcane and Agrienergy which is responsible for the biofuel policy at the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply.

Carlos plays a dual role in the development of Latin America’s burgeoning renewable energies industry. He is Managing Director of Santiago & Sinclair, LLC, a biofuels consultancy that includes the region’s only Biofuels Advisory Board, comprised of a mix of public and private sector experts from the region. He is also the President of the Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber, a non-profit organisation that promotes the industry’s development in that country.

William Thurmond is the President and founder of Emerging Markets Online, a global energy and biofuels intelligence firm. William's assignments include feasibility assessments for biodiesel production plants, alternative feedstock procurement strategies for biodiesel producers, and global market strategies for feedstock providers. He is also the author of the multi-client study Biodiesel 2020: A Global Market Survey, 2nd Edition and is the feedstock trends columnist for Biofuels International. William's work has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, Biodiesel Producer Magazine, Swiss Derivatives Review, BBC News, the Futurist, Reuters TV and his business has received Forbes Magazine's "Best of The Web" award seven years in a row. William is a member of The United States Association for Energy Economics, and is a member of the Association of Professional Futurists.

Dr Renato Penteado is a senior researcher of the Institute for Technology and Development, a Brazilian private R&D institute. His research areas are in the evaluation of performance and emissions in combustion engines operated with different types of fuels, mainly Diesel and biodiesel. His studies cover engines applied for automotive traction and electrical power generation. He has participated in studies related to the conversion of combustion engines for natural gas application.

Steve brings over more than 20 years of experience in sales management and strategic business development for industrial and municipal membrane based product lines. He most recently held the position of Regional Vice President for GE Zenon. He also held various senior management positions as Director of Global Business development and Regional Manager for Zenon. Steve successfully executed strategic growth initiatives in both Municipal and Global Industrial markets for the membrane based technology. He brings a proven track record of success in sales activities, business development and project execution that will enable Vaperma to stay at the forefront of the membrane market.

Mr. Alfredo Langesfeld is a shareholder and CEO of GEA Biodiesel, S.A. He has been an entrepreneur since 1958 throughout Argentina, Europe and the US. Beginning in 2002 he became involved in renewable energies, and now has biofuels investments and business in the US, Malaysia and Argentina, where a 60,000 ton capacity biodiesel plant will begin operations in early 2009. He is an active Founding Member of the Argentine Renewable Energies Chamber and very well regarded in the biofuels industry.

Jim Anderson is a Technical Expert in the Systems Analytics & Environmental Sciences Department in the Research and Advanced Engineering organization at Ford Motor Company. He joined Ford in 1999. His current research is in the area of biofuels science, which includes the study of their chemical, physical, and environmental (life-cycle) properties and in particular how these properties relate to vehicle performance and environmental impacts. His background is in the areas of biological treatment processes for organic contaminants and manufacturing emissions control in general.