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Company Management Prairie Gold, Inc. is located in Bloomington, Illinois and has the following management positions filled:
Philip Shane, President and CEO Mr. Shane has been the Market Development Director for the Illinois Corn Marketing Board (ICMB) and the Illinois Corn Growers Association (ICGA) since 1993 and in this capacity has led the development of the COPE process and formation of the Prairie Gold business. Mr. Shane has shown exceptional commitment to the Prairie Gold business and is knowledgeable of the technical requirements and hurdles of the process, as well as, the opportunities and potential customers on the market side. Mr. Shane is highly experienced in agricultural production, processes and markets, particularly pertaining to corn, and has been a leader in the development of the dry-mill corn ethanol industry. During his tenure at the ICMB, Mr. Shane successfully organized and managed multiple research, education, public relations, and market development programs. Throughout this period, the ICMB invested $7.5 million in over 50 corn utilizations projects, including $1.65 million toward the production of zein from corn. Prior to joining ICMB/ICGA, Mr. Shane was a partner and general manager of a farming operation in Illinois. He holds a Masters degree in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois and is a graduate of the Agricultural Leaders of Tomorrow (ALOT) program and a recipient of the IAA Foundation Foreign Trade Scholarship. In 2002, Mr. Shane was selected to co-author a comprehensive study entitled “The Economic Potential for Ethanol Production Expansion in Illinois” for a combination of state and federal agencies, and in 2004 he also co-authored a paper for the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) entitled “Penetrating the Commercial Marketplace with Bio-energy”. Mr. Shane served for five years as an advisor to the Biomass Technical Advisory Committee for USDA and for USDOE. Mr. Shane has been directly responsible for obtaining the state and federal grants which have funded much of the development of the COPE process over the years, including the Value-Added Producer Grant from the USDA for $288,975 that will fund much of the start-up costs of Prairie Gold. Adam Funk; Acting Chief Financial Officer Mr. Funk is a partner in the accounting firm of Dunbar, Breitweiser & Company, LLP. The company, located in Bloomington, Illinois, has a staff of 28 members and provides entrepreneurial professional CPA services and solutions for complicated audit, tax, and business problems. Since 1967, the firm has used its capabilities to help both U.S. and international clients. Prior to joining Dunbar, Breitweiser in 1987, Mr. Funk worked as a certified public accountant for Arthur Andersen and Company in Chicago, Ill. Mr. Funk received his Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University in December of 1981 and earned his certificate of Certified Public Accountants in May of 1982. Shaun Knapp, Manager of Engineering and Development Mr. Knapp began employment with Prairie Gold in October, 2009. His primary responsibilities are to manage and coordinate development of new technologies, processes, and procedures related to ethanol production and to integrate such technology within ethanol facilities. He is responsible for designing and implementing manufacturing processes, equipment, and plants (from pilot to commercial scale). Mr. Knapp’s overall mission is to develop new processes for ethanol co-product extraction in order to create higher valued products. Mr. Knapp has 25 years of experience in Product/Process development for several companies at various levels. He started with E.I. DuPont as a Bench Chemist developing compounds for testing as potential pharmaceuticals. From there, he joined Wilmington Chemicals as their Chemist/Engineer for their Pilot Plant and worked very closely with new customers to develop specialized products that meet their unique needs. Later he joined Balchem Corporation (a manufacturer of microencapsulated ingredients) as their Pilot Plant Engineer and would eventually become their Manager of Process Commercialization. While at Balchem he developed several new products and redesigned their process to reduce operational cost by 50%. Mr. Knapp designed and built two encapsulation facilities at two independent sites for Balchem. More recently, Mr. Knapp has had the opportunity to operate two manufacturing facilities. One was at Balchem Corporation, where he became Senior Production Manager, operating their encapsulation production. They produced approximately 12 million pounds of product each year. Mr. Knapp’s largest operational experience occurred while working for Corn Products. There, he was the wet mill Operations Manager in charge of wet milling corn, fiber pelleting, and dry starch production. These three areas processed nearly 215,000 bushels of corn per day. It was at this facility that he learned to manage a continuous operation. Education 2005 Marist College, New York, NY, Degree: MBA Ankur Patel, On-Site Project Engineer Mr. Patel will be the on-site Project Engineer. He has been with Prairie Gold since November 2008. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville with a minor in Mathematics. Prior to joining PGI, he was the Lead Operator and a Graduate Assistant Intern (June 2007 to November 2008) at the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center, Edwardsville, IL. He conducted daily plant operations, assisted with Workforce Development & Training programs, trained all new interns on plant equipment operation, including CIP systems, conducted trials for clients and designed new liquefaction systems. He was a Student Ambassador (2005-2007) at the Student Success Center, SIUE., where he worked with donors to bring in funds from major corporations, collaborated with Mackey Mitchell & Associates to design a green building that was student-friendly, gathered support from student organizations, student government, SIU Board of Trustees, Faculty Senate, Staff Senate and various other committees for the new $16 million, 37,000 square foot building and developed a fee structure through Student Government to support the facility. He is a four-time recipient of the SIUE Outstanding Student Leader award. Board of Directors: Including Mr. Shane, there are seven board members:
Roger Hubele, Chairman Mr. Hubele became a director of the Illinois Corm Marketing Board in 1996 where he served several years on the Research and Commercialization committee. In 2002, Mr. Hubele became Chairman of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. In his role at the ICMB, he has been intimately involved and highly supportive of the development of COPE and Prairie Gold. Mr. Hubele farms 2100 acres of corn, soybeans and wheat in Illinois. He has traveled to Brazil, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to promote corn and distillers dried grains, and he holds an investment in an ethanol production facility. John Kuhfuss Mr. Kuhfuss is currently the President of the Illinois Corn Growers Association. He has been a director on the ICGA board since 1999. Mr. Kuhfuss has extensive lobbying experience on both the state and national level and has served on the National Corn Growers Association’s trade policy task force for two years and has traveled to Mexico on behalf of Illinois corn growers. He has been involved with Farm Bill negotiations and the appropriation process for new locks and dams on the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Mr. Kuhfuss was also instrumental in launching Novecta, a specialized training and certification entity that provides education and quality assurance of production practices for growers and industry. Mr. Kuhfuss farms approximately 1000 acres of corn and soybeans in central Illinois. Kenneth Greene Mr. Greene has represented his district as a director on the Illinois Corn Marketing Board since 2000. In 2001 he was chairman of the Research and Commercialization committee where he helped develop projects related to the COPE process. In 2002 Mr. Greene served as Vice-Chairman of the organization, and in 2003 he became Chairman of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board. During his leadership, he assisted in the licensing of the COPE process from the University of Illinois. Mr. Greene has traveled extensively overseas in support of marketing Illinois commodities, especially corn and distillers dried grains. He currently holds a board position on the U.S. Grains Council, Durand State Bank, and Novecta. Mr. Greene farms 1200 acres of corn and soybeans and raises swine and cattle. He is part owner in a forty-five million gallon ethanol plant and is involved in local activities. Timothy Lenz Mr. Lenz is currently serving on the Prairie National Bank board of directors and the Illinois Corn Growers Association board of directors. He is a past agricultural loan officer of the Shelby County State Bank where he administered a $12,000,000 loan portfolio and managed over 4000 acres for absentee owners. Mr. Lenz held ownership in a feed mill located at Strasburg, Illinois, raising annual revenue from $250,000 to over $480,000 when he sold out of the business. He farms 2400 acres in south central Illinois and tends to a 100 head beef cow operation. Tom Martin Mr. Martin is Chairman of the Board of Mt. Pulaski Farmers Elevator in Mt. Pulaski, IL. Along with his duties there, he farms 1700 acres of corn and soybeans. He has been President of his Community School District, served as Chairman on the board of the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and is currently the Chairman of Prairie Investment Group, LLC. Prairie Investment Group is the second largest investor group in Prairie Gold. Mr. Martin has traveled the world representing the corn industry and promoting the use of corn. Mr. Martin has been a volunteer and an elected official in community, county and state affairs for over 25 years. Richard Ruebe, Group CEO and Executive Director of GTL Resources PLC Richard joined GTL in September 2006. Richard has nearly 30 years of general business experience in the US, most recently in the managing of multi-site manufacturing operations. Prior to taking his position with GTL Resources plc, Richard was, between 2002 and 2006, the Chief Executive Officer and Vice President of Operations of Hollinee LLC, a fiberglass and non wovens filter manufacturing company which had nine manufacturing facilities in the US and Europe and over 750 employees. As its Chief Executive Officer, Richard successfully streamlined the manufacturing facilities, improved profitability and successfully arranged the sale of the business. Prior to this role, Richard spent seven years as Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer of Interlake Material Handling Inc., a company with sales of $300M. In this role, Richard managed four plants and the construction of a Greenfield facility in Mexico. Previously, Richard worked for Boots Pharmaceuticals, part of the Boots UK global business, between 1992 and 1995, and Zenith Electronics Inc. between 1981 and 1992 in several financial roles. Richard has an MBA and BS in Accounting from the University of Illinois, and earned his CPA in earlier roles as a public accountant. Advisory Committee The advisory committee is currently comprised of four individuals that have been chosen for their experience in critical areas for the company.
Dr. Munir Cheryan; Professor, Food and Biochemical Engineering, University of Illinois Dr. Cheryan is the inventor of the COPE process. He is an internationally recognized expert on membrane technology with over 25 years experience developing value-added industrial products from agriculture (www.cheryan.com). He has been developing methods to improve corn wet milling and dry-grind ethanol plants for the past 18 years. He holds six patents in related areas, over 200 publications and is the author of the widely-circulated “Ultrafiltration and Microfiltration Handbook”, first published in 1986. Dr. Cheryan has provided on-going support to Prairie Gold in process design, scale-up and membrane development and will continue to provide such services as may be required in the future. Dr. Robert Dorsch; Independent Consultant Dr. Dorsch is highly experienced at establishing new businesses based on novel materials and processes and in 2006 became an independent consultant in the field of biotech-based biofuels and materials. Prior to consulting, Dr. Dorsch spent over 30 years with DuPont in various bio-technical management positions. In 1994 as Director of Biotechnology Development, DuPont Central Research, Dr. Dorsch launched a $300 million biomass based 1, 3 propanediol (PDO) R&D program and three other bioprocess efforts (two now commercial) and created and managed a collaborative research relationship that successfully developed the bioprocess for PDO. In 2000 as Director of Biotechnology Business Development, DuPont Biobased Materials business, Dr. Dorsch authored and was awarded a grant of $38 million in a Collaborative Development Award by USDOE for the “Integrated Corn Based BioRefinery (ICBR)”. Dr. Dorsch received a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the Institute for Molecular Physics at the University of Maryland in 1965 after completing a B.S. in physics from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY in 1972. Philip Madson; President, Katzen International, Inc. Mr. Madson is a highly distinguished registered professional engineer concentrating on value-added agricultural processing – such as motor fuel, potable and industrial grades of ethanol. Since joining Katzen, (www.katzen.com) Mr. Madson’s work has ranged from feasibility studies through final process and equipment design packages to liaison during procurement, construction, and start-up. He has also provided a leadership role in the development of several integrated agricultural processing systems. Mr. Madson has been a guest lecturer since 1983 at Alltech’s Annual International Alcohol Short Course as well as the principal author of The Alcohol Textbook. He is a co-founder of the annual World Ethanol Conference and has been the technology keynote speaker and workshop lecturer since 1998. Mr. Madson received his M.S.Ch.E. from the University of Iowa in 1970. Dr. William Eykamp; Independent Consultant Dr. Eykamp is a world leading expert in the field of ultra and micro-filtration using membrane technology. From 1969 through 1988 he worked in management of a leading membrane technology company, Koch Membrane Systems, including seven years as president. After leaving Koch, Dr. Eykamp taught membrane technology at the University of California, Berkley and in 1995 he was awarded the Distinguished Engineer Award by Purdue University. Since leaving Berkley, he has consulted with industry in the field of membrane technologies and from 1997 to 2003 he served as director of Osmonics, Inc. Dr. Eykamp received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 1965 from MIT. He is director and treasurer of the North American Membrane Society and a member of the European Society of Membrane Science and Technology and has been a speaker at the Gordon Research Conferences on Synthetic Membranes. Dr. Eykamp has a long list of publications in the field of microfiltration and ultrafiltration. |