A Professor at the University of California Berkeley, Tasios Melis envisioned and pioneered the concept of “Photosynthetic Biofuels”, entailing the direct application of photosynthesis for the generation of bioenergy, in a process where a single organism acts both as photocatalyst and processor, synthesizing and secreting ready to use fuels. This has been successfully applied to hydrogen production and specific hydrocarbon products.

The Melis lab contributed with a breakthrough in the field, when several years ago they demonstrated, for the first time, how to divert the natural flow of photosynthesis in green microalgae and to sustainably generate hydrogen gas, instead of the normally produced oxygen. This technology is currently employed by many laboratories in several countries, and serves as the platform for further photobiological hydrogen production research in the field.  Professor Melis also pioneered and currently leads an international effort to improve, by up to 300%, the efficiency and productivity of photosynthesis in mass cultures under bright sunlight conditions. This is implemented upon genetically optimizing the size of the array of chlorophyll molecules that serve as antennae to absorb sunlight for the photosynthetic apparatus.  

In 2010, the Melis lab pioneered yet a new platform for the renewable generation of isoprene (C5H8) hydrocarbons, derived entirely from sunlight, carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O), and generated immediately from the primary products of photosynthesis. The process of generating isoprene (C5H8) hydrocarbons currently serves as a case study in the development of technologies for the renewable generation of a multitude of biofuels and other useful bio-products.

Martin LaMonica is a reporter at CNET News where he manages and writes for the Green Tech blog, an online source for daily news, analysis, and commentary on energy, materials, and water technologies.

LaMonica has over 20 years of experience as a reporter, editor, and photographer covering business and technology. Before starting to cover clean technologies in 2005, LaMonica reported on the IT industry, covering Web development technologies and business software at CNET News. Previously, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld where he managed the news department and wrote a weekly column. He worked in Paris for five years during the 1990s as a freelance journalist and correspondent for IT news wire the IDG News Service.

Green Tech was a finalist for Editor & Publishers' EPpy awards in 2010 in the category of Best News or Political blog. The editors of Treehugger named Green Tech the best green science and technology blog in 2010. In 2009, a PR company picked LaMonica as one of the top ten clean tech journalists.

Noubar Afeyan is Managing Partner and CEO of Flagship Ventures, a firm he co-founded in 2000 that focuses on inventing, launching, funding and building new ventures. He is also a Senior Lecturer at MIT where he has taught courses on entrepreneurship and innovation since 2000. In addition, he recently joined Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering as a visiting scholar.  

Dr. Afeyan has authored numerous scientific publications and patents since earning his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT in 1987.  During his 23-year-long career as inventor, entrepreneur, CEO and venture capitalist, Dr. Afeyan has co-founded and helped build over twenty life science, technology and energy startups.   Currently Dr. Afeyan serves on a number of public and private company boards and he is a member of several advisory boards including the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, the Whitehead Institute at MIT, the SKOLKOVO School of Management in Moscow and the National Competitiveness Foundation of Armenia.  Dr. Afeyan's past and current ventures include: PerSeptive Biosystems, ChemGenics Pharmaceuticals, EXACT Sciences, Color Kinetics, Celera Genomics, Affinnova, Adnexus Therapeutics, BG Medicine, LS9 and Joule Unlimited.

Mr. Enriquez is an experienced business leader, author, and academic who is recognized as one of the world's leading authorities on the economic and political impacts of life sciences. He is a Managing Director in Excel Venture Management, a venture capital firm that invests in life science companies whose products/services significantly change their field.

He was the founding director of Harvard Business School's Life Sciences Project. He then founded Biotechonomy LLC, a life sciences research and investment firm, where he remains as Chairman and CEO. In July of 2005, he co-founded Synthetic Genomics, Inc., a synthetic biology company focused on developing and commercializing genomic-driven solutions to address global energy and environmental challenges. He has been an active investor in early-stage private companies in the biotechnology and information sciences sectors. While at Harvard, he wrote various articles and case studies, won a McKinsey Prize, and published the best-selling As the Future Catches You, an analysis of the impact of genomics on business and society. His most recent publication is an eBook co-authored with Dr. Steve Gullans, Homo Evolutis: A Short Tour of our New Species, which describes a world where humans increasingly shape their environment, themselves, and other species. Mr. Enriquez serves on a number of boards including Cabot Corporation, Synthetic Genomics, Catch.com, Shape Up The Nation, the Public Interfaces Steering Committee of the Division of Earth & Life Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences, The Chairman's International Council of the America's Society, and the Visiting Committee of Harvard's David Rockefeller Center.

He earned a BA and MBA from Harvard, with Honors.

Over the last four years, Mr. McAdams has successfully managed and grown an association of 32 advanced biofuels companies that have come to be the leading voice in the biofuels industry. He has testified before Congress and the executive agencies and has been quoted in national and international publications. He has also keynoted a number of advanced biofuels forums.

On June 21, 2010, Mr. McAdams was asked to speak at the House Agriculture Committee  Bioenergy Forum on a panel where he successfully advocated that Congress focus on drafting legislation that recognizes the need for technology neutrality, feedstock sustainability and parity on incentives. His leadership at such events and his dedication to the success of the advanced biofuels industry has put the ABFA and its member companies in a unique position to persuade the federal government to support advanced biofuels.

Mr. McAdams also delivered the keynote address at the "Advanced BioFuels Workshop" on June 14, 2010 where he discussed the need for cooperation in the industry. His speech was covered in Biodiesel Magazine, who praised Mike McAdams for his consistency in his message which they said has been unwavering. Mr. McAdams was recently named one of the top 25 people worth knowing in bioenergy by Biofuels Digest.

In 2008, Mr. McAdams was asked to serve as an energy and climate facilitator for the Clinton Global Initiative in New York City. He also was a recent guest participant at the invitation-only Cleantech Summit in Sundance, Utah. The annual event brings together 100 corporate executives, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, national lawmakers and other key leaders who discuss how they can help foster the next wave of clean energy innovation.

He has also worked in both the federal legislative and regulatory areas with specific experience in energy, climate change, air policy, fuels and tax policy.

In the private sector Mr. McAdams has worked for a number of advocacy organizations focused primarily in the areas of fuels and air policy on behalf of his clients.  He spent more than 14 years working for BP, where he was the Associate Group Policy Advisor to then Chairman of BP, Lord John Browne. In addition, he served as the Vice President of the Eastern United States for Government Affairs as well as Vice President of Government Affairs and Environment. 

During his tenure at BP, he was a major participant in the greening of the company, having been involved in their climate change efforts, clean fuels introductions and strategy for expansion in biofuels, solar and wind.  He was a leader in the negotiations for the legal settlement concerning new source review over all nine of BP's U.S. refineries.

Prior to his move in to the private sector, Mr. McAdams served as Legislative Director to Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX) from 1981-1985, where he was responsible for Energy and Commerce Committee issues.  In 1980, he was a field coordinator for President Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign.  Prior to that, he served on the staff of Congressman Ray Roberts (D-TX). Mr. McAdams holds a bachelor's degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and a J.D. from American University's Washington College of Law.

Nathan Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor of Chemistry, has been on the faculty at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) since 1988 and has served as Professor since 1991. He also served as the Principal Investigator of the Beckman Institute Molecular Materials Resource Center at Caltech since 1992, and is the Principal Investigator of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, the Energy Innovation Hub for Fuels from Sunlight. From 1981 to 1986, he was on the faculty at Stanford, as an Assistant Professor from 1981 to 1985 and as a tenured Associate Professor from 1986 to 1988. Dr. Lewis received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Lewis is Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, and a Presidential Young Investigator. He received the Fresenius Award in 1990, the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry in 1991, the Orton Memorial Lecture award in 2003, the Princeton Environmental Award in 2003 and the Michael Faraday Medal of the Royal Society of Electrochemistry in 2008. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Royal Society of Chemistry journal, Energy & Environmental Science. He has published over 300 papers and has supervised approximately 60 graduate students and postdoctoral associates.

His research interests include artificial photosynthesis and electronic noses. Technical details of these research topics focus on light-induced electron transfer reactions, both at surfaces and in transition metal complexes, surface chemistry and photochemistry of semiconductor/liquid interfaces, novel uses of conducting organic polymers and polymer/conductor composites, and development of sensor arrays that use pattern recognition algorithms to identify odorants, mimicking the mammalian olfaction process.

Matthew Nordan is a Vice President at Venrock, a premier venture capital firm originally established as the venture arm of the Rockefeller family. He focuses on breakthrough energy, environmental, and materials technologies from the firm’s Cambridge, MA office.

Prior to Venrock, Matthew was president of Lux Research, an advisory services firm for science-driven innovation that he co-founded in 2004. Under Matthew’s leadership, the Lux Research analyst team became a globally recognized authority on the business and economic impact of emerging technologies, advising corporations, start-ups, financial institutions, and governments. Before Lux, Matthew held a variety of senior management positions at emerging technology advisor Forrester Research in the U.S. and Europe.

Matthew has testified before the U.S. Congress four times on emerging technology issues, advised the Committee to Review the National Nanotechnology Initiative of the National Academies, and been an invited speaker at universities including Harvard, MIT, and Columbia. He is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Emerging Technologies and has advised the OECD on technology development for energy and environmental applications. A regular speaker at technology conferences, Matthew’s views have been cited by news outlets including CNBC, ABC News, The Economist, Forbes, and Newsweek.

Matthew is a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University, where he conducted cognitive neuroscience research on the neural pathways mediating emotion and memory.

Josef Eichhammer currently serves as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Solar Trust of America, LLC and is also the Chief Executive Officer of Solar Millennium, LLC, two companies globally prominent in the development and operation of utility-scale solar thermal electricity generating stations. Mr. Eichhammer holds over 25-years of experience in business development, project financing and project development across a range of industries. He has led leveraged lease financing for commercial aircraft and has also structured financing for large-scale power generation projects in Germany, India, Indonesia, and China.

In cooperation with international partners, Mr. Eichhammer has completed power plant projects in the United States, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Indonesia, India, and China. He has structured investment funds for oil tankers and real estate. During his career, Mr. Eichhammer has built up companies and teams in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Robert J. Friedland is President and CEO of Proton Energy Systems. Mr. Friedland, a founder of Proton Energy Systems in 1996, has held several senior positions at Proton including  President and Chief Operating Officer, Senior Vice President Hydrogen Generation and Senior Vice President of Products and Manufacturing. He became President and CEO in July of 2008 upon the sale of the business to a private investment group.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Friedland was with the Hamilton Sundstrand Division of United Technologies. At Hamilton, Mr. Friedland held various positions of increasing responsibility
including Program Operations Manager of Navy and Electrochemical Systems. He is Vice Chair of the Connecticut Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Coalition and is on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Technology Council.

Mr. Friedland earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University and an MBA from Renselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang, a co-founder of A123 Systems, is also a full professor in the materials science and engineering department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Chiang’s research at MIT focuses on the design and synthesis of advanced materials as well as the development of new devices enabled by material advances, including new energy storage and mechanical actuator technologies.

In 1987, Dr. Chiang co-founded American Superconductor [NASDAQ: AMSC]. He has published widely in materials science and engineering, and served on numerous government panels and editorial boards of journals in his field. Dr. Chiang earned a materials science and engineering degree from MIT in 1980 and a degree in ceramics from MIT in 1985.