Management


William Roe
President and CEO
Bill Roe joined Coskata as its President and CEO in September 2007, bringing extensive leadership experience across many critical functions of growing a global technical business, including operations management, strategy, sales and marketing, and research and development.

Prior to Coskata, Bill enjoyed a 29 year career with Nalco, the world's largest provider of industrial water-treatment chemicals and process additives. Bill was most recently the Chief Operating Officer, a position he held for six years. In that role, Bill had full P&L responsibilities for all of Nalco's business operations globally including the Industrial and Institutional Services Division (which comprises 75% of Nalco's core water treatment business), the Energy Services Division (a business line serving the petroleum and gas industry, with products for exploration and drilling, oilfield production, and downstream refining and petrochemical production), and the Paper Services Division (a business line serving the pulp and paper industry with processing additives and functional products that improve final sheet properties). Bill's responsibilities also included strategic planning, product development and commercialization, and strategic account development and management.

Prior to serving as Nalco's COO, Bill was President of Nalco's Asia Pacific Division, where he was responsible for Nalco's business operations in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, all of Southeast Asia, India, and Australia/New Zealand.

Bill has been a member of the American Institute of Metallurgical Engineers; the American Chemical Society; the American Chemical Council and the Sigma Xi Research Society. He holds a M.S. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame, and a B.S. in Chemistry from Creighton University.


David Blair
Chief Financial Officer

Dave Blair joined Coskata in 2008 as the company’s Chief Financial Officer. With over 30 years of experience, he brings broad expertise in building global and regional financial teams that support enhancing business results.  

Before joining Coskata, Dave most recently worked for Westmoreland Coal Company in Colorado Springs, CO.  Starting in 2005, Dave acted as the CFO for the ninth largest coal producer in the USA and was responsible for all financial functions of the Company.

From 1987 to 2004, Dave worked in various capacities for Nalco.  His positions included VP – Corporate Finance, Treasurer, VP – Finance and acting CFO.  A highlight of his time with Nalco included working as the CFO – VP Finance of the second largest specialty chemical supplier in the Energy Services sector, Nalco/Exxon Energy Chemicals.  

Dave graduated from the University of Toronto in 1977 with a bachelor’s degree in Commerce.  He is a Chartered Accountant (member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario) and is a member of the Financial Executives Institute.

Wesley J. Bolsen
Chief Marketing Officer

Wes Bolsen joined Coskata as one of the early executives, and is now serving as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer and head of Government Affairs.  He has been responsible for publicly unveiling the company, creating and executing their communication strategy, developing Coskata's strategic partnerships, and managing relationships both in Washington, D.C. and at the state level.

Previously, Wes was the Chief Financial Officer of ICM, Inc., the leading U.S. corn ethanol design and build firm, based outside of Wichita, Kansas. At ICM, Wes oversaw finance, HR, IT, and flight operations for the company. During his time at ICM, Wes gained critical exposure to the inner workings of the ethanol industry and established strong relationships with key value chain participants.

Prior to ICM, Wes was a senior consultant with McKinsey & Co. in both their Chicago and Silicon Valley offices, where he worked with the CEO's of Fortune 500 companies around the globe.

Wes holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rose-Hulman, and received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

 

Richard E. Tobey
Vice President, R&D
As Vice President of Research and Development/Engineering, Dick Tobey is responsible for driving the development and commercialization of Coskata's proprietary technology platform.

Prior to joining Coskata, Dick spent 28 years developing and commercializing new products and processes for The Dow Chemical Company within their Ion Exchange, Anti-Microbial, Pharmaceutical and Agricultural business units. While at Dow, he demonstrated success in leading the research, development, scale-up and manufacture of both synthetic and natural product processes, including overseas assignments in Brindisi, Italy and Dublin, Ireland.   

During his last 14 years at Dow, Dick was responsible for the development scale-up and manufacture of Dow's extremely successful insect control agent spinosad - a naturally occurring secondary metabolite insecticide - and winner of the 1998 EPA Green Chemistry Award.   

During this time, he held a variety of positions including Global Technology Leader, Business Manufacturing Leader, and finally Site Manager for The Dow Chemical Company in Harbor Beach, Michigan.   

Coskata fulfills a 30 year vision for Dick, as he has been an advocate for alternative energy since graduating from university on the heels of our nation's first energy crisis. 

He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Michigan Technological University.

Jeff Burgard
Vice President of Engineering & Operations

As Vice President of Engineering, Jeff Burgard is responsible for helping drive the commercialization of Coskata's proprietary technology platform.

Prior to joining Coskata, Jeff was a Senior level Engineering Director for UOP LLC, a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, absorbents, process plants, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries.  In his 27 years, Jeff held various positions within the company helping develop his broad experience in engineering design, design development, project management, basic and detailed engineering, and overall administrative management.

Most recently, Jeff managed the worldwide design development, basic design, detailed engineering, procurement, fabrication, and installation of all major Process Equipment and Fabricated Systems for UOP.

Jeff holds a B.S. in General Engineering from the University of Illinois and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

 

James Fawley 
Vice President of Strategic Development

James Fawley joined in 2009 as Coskata’s Vice President of Strategic Development.  In this role, he will continue to develop Coskata’s long term strategy, as well as the business partnerships required to execute on that plan as the company moves towards commercialization.

He brings with him a long track record of success within the energy industry, specifically with creating and deploying the strategies to lead an organization through change, while managing the exemplary performance of a large and diverse team. 

Prior to Coskata, James spent over 13 years with BP working across many critical functions of the company from finance and business development to communications and management.  Most recently, James led the strategy team for BP’s new Biofuels business where he directed a comprehensive global strategy review and delivered regional participation plans for BP to invest billions of dollars and create a leadership position in a material new corporate division.

James received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago and received his M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. 

 


Dr. Rathin Datta

Chief Scientific Officer

Dr. Rathin Datta is a renowned chemical engineer with more than 32 years experience in developing and commercializing process and product technologies for both established and emerging companies.

Prior to joining Coskata as its Chief Scientific Officer, Rathin founded Vertic Biosolvents, a technology, manufacturing and marketing company dedicated to providing biologically-derived renewable resource alternatives to petroleum-based solvents. Prior to Vertec Biosolvents, Rathin was the Vice President of Research for the Michigan Biotechnology Institute, where he led the commercial development of lactic acid/polymer technology and the commercial development and successful implementation of a fluidized bed reactor for specific waste treatment technology.

Rathin has received numerous awards and commendations for his work, including Discover Magazine's Environmental Technology of the Year Award in 1998; a Presidential Green Chemistry Award in 1998; an Ernst W. Thiele Award, sponsored by Amoco and the AIChE, in 1996; and a R&D 100 award for development of an electrodeionization technology with Argonne National Laboratory.

Rathin holds more than 20 U.S. patents across bioproducts, separations and bioprocess technologies, and has published more than 40 papers in the areas of bioproducts, fermentation, separation, enzyme catalysis, energy conversion and process economics. Rathin holds a Bachelors Degree in Technology from IIT Kanpur in India, and received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University.