Disrupting the construction industry with biotechnology.

Bert is a new technology commercialization and business operations leader. Previously he was VP of automotive manufacturing at Tesla, responsible for all operations at Tesla’s flagship production plant in Fremont. Before Tesla he consulted for innovation driven companies such as Kindred, Holo, UltraSolar, Apple, and Sunpower. Bert has led teams through complete product development lifecycles, from early R&D to end customer deployment, qualification, manufacturing and revenue scale-up.

He held executive roles at public companies including SunEdison and Cypress Semiconductor; and start-ups such as NextGen Power Systems and SVTC Technologies where he served as COO and CEO respectively. He holds a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Catholic University in Leuven, Belgium and serves as Chairman of the Board of The Ocean Cleanup, a Netherlands based company deploying technologies to rid the oceans and rivers of plastic.

Lily has focused her career on carbon reduction and sustainable development. Her experience spans investment analysis, academic research, and CFO roles in both the for-profit and non-profit sectors. Over the past decade, she followed clean energy stocks as an equity analyst at Goldman Sachs; led the finance team at Edeniq, a venture-backed biofuel technology company; and served as CFO of the Fresno Chaffee Zoo. She holds a B.A. in earth and environmental science, with a concentration in mathematics, and a Ph.D. in sustainable development, both of which she received from Columbia University. While an undergraduate, she spent a semester at Biosphere 2 in Arizona. After college, she taught outdoor education and environmental science at the American Community School in Beirut, Lebanon. As a graduate student, she collaborated with the International Energy Agency, the World Bank, and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Aristos is an entrepreneurial leader with more than 20 years of international technical and operational leadership experience in the area of bioprocess and biocatalyst development with expertise in leading teams of multi-disciplinary scientists involved in the development, scale-up and technology transfer of commercial processes. He was one of the founding members of two of the world’s leading bio-based product companies, NatureWorks and Gevo. He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2018 and in 2022 he became a Cargill Corporate Fellow for his contributions to multiple Cargill businesses.

Aristos holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from William Marsh Rice University. He has also completed postdoctoral studies in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has co-author more than 30 peer reviewed scientific articles in the area of biochemical engineering and is an inventor on more than 45 patents in the field of industrial biotechnology. Additionally, Dr. Aristidou has co-authored a textbook on Metabolic Engineering and has contributed chapters in multiple edited books.

Jan leads Biomason's business development in Europe. He brings over 25 years of international experience in the broader semiconductor and PV industries, with demonstrated excellence in R&D and project management, international business development, management, and marketing and sales. His track record of successful strategic and tactical leadership in positions at global institutions such as Imec, Intel, and Alcatel Microelectronics aided his transition to senior business and technology development roles at Metron Technology, Roth & Rau, and Activ Solar. Prior to joining Biomason, Jan established his own consultancy firm, consulting on projects within the broader technology market, focusing on renewable energy and microelectronics. Previous projects include full business planning for a Brazilian PV module factory, business development for a Swiss R&D PV center, and commercial management of a French solar module fabrication equipment start-up.

Lauren is responsible for the production of Biolith tile from aggregate processing to the delivery of the final product. Lauren’s comprehensive experience in fermentation research and experimentation has helped further the development of Biomason’s solid state fermentation process. After receiving her B.S. in Agriculture from the University of Delaware, Lauren went on to a 10-year career as a Fermentation Scientist in DuPont’s Industrial Biomaterial division. She managed a 20+ unit fermentation facility, specializing in biofuel and bioenzyme production, scaling fermentation production both domestically and internationally.

Troy is responsible for directing the sustainability research for Biomason technologies and enabling our partners' sustainability goals. His team focuses on upstream supply chains, industrial systems evaluation, and life cycle assessment. With over a decade of environmental project management and an expansive range of industrial research through the application of life cycle assessment, Troy has conducted research investigating U.S. electricity grids, petroleum refineries, plastics, cement and concrete, and solid waste management systems.

Troy holds a B.A. in Sociology and a Ph.D. in Civil, Environmental, and Chemical Engineering from Arizona State University. During graduate school, he served as a Project Drawdown research fellow co-authoring the New York Times Best Seller, Drawdown. Troy then served as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Office of Research and Development at the U.S. EPA, where he researched the cross application of extended time-horizon energy modeling and life cycle assessment, materials in light-duty automotive production, and the implications of electricity trading. He has co-author more than 25 peer reviewed articles and reports in the area of sustainable engineering.

Kevin is the head of Biomason's Process Engineering team which involves translating the science of biocement into an industrializable process. Prior to Biomason, he was Senior Manager of R&D, Process Engineering, as well as 3 production departments in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, he helped lead clinical trial strategies, new product development and launch, as well as successfully led strategy and coordination with the FDA on product reference standards. Before that, he received his Masters and PhD in biomedical engineering from Wake Forest university where he specialized in biomaterials, assay development, and immunology while working towards regenerative medicine strategies to treat Type 1 Diabetes.

Carmen is responsible for directing Biomason’s Chemistry team which focuses on analytical chemistry, physical testing, and materials characterization. After receiving a B.S. in Biology from SUNY Plattsburgh, Carmen completed graduate studies in chemistry at NC State with thesis research in establishing capillary electrophoretic techniques for the identification of enzyme binding domains. His experience spans over 25 years in industrial biotechnology from bench to production scale providing leadership for growth initiatives and new product development. Carmen has also developed and led the strategic direction and alignment of laboratory automation systems, data management systems, and IT infrastructure for multidisciplinary, global R&D teams. He has created value with enzyme applications for customers across multiple industries including biofuels, chemical and biological weapon decontamination, pesticide degradation, grain processing, and personal care.

As the Director of Biotechnology, Ben brings nearly fifteen years of senior R&D leadership experience at leading biotechnology companies. His robust academic training has resulted in multiple publications in Science that unveiled novel microbial physiologies. As the Head of Heterotrophic Cell Systems at Synthetic Genomics, Ben led the technological advancement of a diverse portfolio of non-photosynthetic microbial technologies. Subsequently, as the Senior Director of Biocatalyst Engineering at Genomatica, he oversaw teams of enzyme engineers, synthetic biologists, and automation engineers, facilitating the strain development of multiple bio-based chemicals from pre-pilot to commercial scales.

Ben is deeply committed to leveraging innovative microbial and enzyme biocatalysts to tackle global sustainability challenges. He is at the forefront of advancing industrial biotechnology, developing efficient and effective strain development platforms that marry cutting-edge technology with a robust scientific and operational foundation.

Ben's academic journey commenced with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Puget Sound, followed by a PhD. in Microbiology and Environmental Toxicology from Michigan State University. His postdoctoral research at the University of Konstanz in Germany and the Institute for Genomic Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign broadened his expertise in microbial physiology and genetics, contributing new insights to the field.