Frank Dottori, B.A.Sc., Chemical Engineering and Applied Science

Director, Cellulosic Ethanol Division

Frank has 34 years of experience in the forest products industry. He founded Tembec Inc. in 1972 and served as the company's President and CEO from 1979 until his retirement in January 2006. Under his leadership, Tembec grew from a small pulp mill in Quebec to a leading integrated forest products company with 55 mills in North America, Europe and South America. Tembec has also developed the only known pulp mill in North America that produces ethanol.

Frank joined GreenField in 2007 to lead the company's expansion strategy into cellulosic ethanol.

Frank has served as chair of the Free Trade Lumber Council, the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association, the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada and the Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada. He was also co-chair of the Forest Sector Advisory Council of the Canadian government. Frank was awarded the Order of Canada in 1989 and has received four honorary doctorate degrees.

Robert Benson, B.A.Sc. Chemical Engineering

Director, Research & Development, Cellulosic Ethanol Division

Bob has more than 46 years of R&D experience; 39 of which have been in areas related to the production of ethanol from pulp mill waste streams. He supervised the start-up and operation of two pilot plants for Tembec and one crude ethanol plant for the Canadian International Paper Company, as well as developing a high pressure catalytic conversion process for Commercial Alcohol Limited.

He joined GreenField as a full-time consultant in 2007 and is responsible for helping the company develop a commercially viable cellulosic ethanol production process.

Bob is a member of the Canadian Biomass Innovation Network's external advisory panel. He was a speaker at the IEA Task 39 session in Sweden in 2005 and a session chair for "Today's Biorefineries" at a recent conference on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals in Denver, Colorado.

Regis Benech, Ph.D. Biochemistry and Food Microbiology

Manager Research &Development, GreenField Engineering & Technology

Regis has more than eight years experience in protein chemistry and biotechnology, as well as holding a Masters Degree in Biochemistry, a Masters degree in Cellular Biology and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Food Microbiology. Before joining GreenField in 2006, he led the high-throughput enzyme assay platform within Concordia University's Fungal Genomics Project where he characterized fungal enzymes for industrial applications.

He is currently responsible for managing GreenField’s research programs at the Centre of Excellence.

Regis has published articles in several international journals, co-authored a patent and presented his research at national and international conferences.

Chris Bradt, P. Eng., B.A.Sc. Chemical Engineering

Director of Process Engineering, Centre of Excellence

Chris has more than 20 years experience in the chemical industry in the areas of process engineering, manufacturing and plant management. He specializes in advanced process controls, systems modeling and integrated plant design. He spent 18 years as a process engineer, process developer and operations manager for General Chemical’s Soda Ash and Calcium Chloride division before joining GreenField in 2005 as a Process Engineer.

He is currently responsible for reviewing, evaluating and optimizing new and existing process technologies.

Chris is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario and the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

Rick LeHoux, P. Eng., B.Sc. Electrical Engineering

Director of Projects, GreenField Engineering & Technology

Rick has more than 25 years of experience in all stages of chemical plant project engineering and heavy chemical plant maintenance.

After stints at Allied Chemical, General Chemical and SNC Lavalin, he joined GreenField in 2005 to develop and manage continuous improvement projects. He is currently the project manager for GreenField’s cellulosic ethanol program at the Centre of Excellence.

Rick is also a board member of Southwestern Ontario Bioproducts Innovation Network (SOBIN) which promotes the bio industry in Lambton, Kent and Essex counties.

David Salt, M.A.Sc., P.Eng.

Vice President, Corporate Engineering

David has more than 30 years of engineering experience, primarily in a management capacity. Since 1999, he has been the owner and president of a project management consulting firm that has provided project scope development, engineering resource allocation, project budget control and career development services to a range of clients including GreenField Ethanol, Bartek Ingredients, Hanson Brick Ltd., BPB Canada Inc/Certain Teed Gypsum and Wheelabrator Ltd. Prior to that, David was co-owner and operations manager of a full-service engineering consulting firm for 13 years.

David joined Greenfield in 2008 to lead the GreenField Engineering and Technology Group. He is responsible for overseeing the integration of emerging technologies into the company's produciton facilities and the development of commercially viable production methods for cellulosic ethanol. David is a member of the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers.

Mark Schwartz, B.Sc. (Hons) Applied Chemistry

Manager of Business Development, GreenField Engineering & Technology Group

Mark has ten years of experience in business and product development. He began his career developing, testing and validating pharmaceutical and nutritional products, and joined GreenField in 2002 to develop new beverage and pharmaceutical products from industrial ethanol.

Since 2005, he has helped GreenField’s R&D and Emerging Technologies group increase research funding by overseeing the business aspects of research contracts and collaborations with universities, governments and innovative companies such as Vaperma.

As Manager of Business Development, he is currently focused on integrating emerging technologies into the company’s production facilities to improve ethanol yield and plant efficiency. He is also involved in funding and business development for GreenField’s newly formed Cellulosic Ethanol Division.

Team