Management Team

Management

John S. Scott, Ph.D.

John S. Scott, Ph.D. has been our Chief Executive Officer since August 2009 and the Chairman of our board of directors since December 2008. In 2002, Dr. Scott founded XL TechGroup, Inc. and has been its Chief Executive Officer since 2002 and a director since 2004. Since 2008, XL TechGroup has been an inactive holding company controlled in part by Dr. Scott. Dr. Scott is an entrepreneur and inventor who has founded 11 technology companies within the past 25 years. He was a professor at the Universities of Maryland and Arizona, and a visiting professor at the University of North Carolina. Dr. Scott has published extensively on the development of successful technology enterprises and also lectures at business schools throughout the United States. Dr. Scott has served as a consultant to the United States and various European governments, and was a national research council fellow at NASA. He holds a B.Sc. in physics and astrophysics from Michigan State University and a Ph.D. in the astrophysics/physics dual program from the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory. Dr. Scott’s experience with founding and developing technology companies, along with his academic credentials, enables him to provide important insight and guidance to our management team and board of directors.

David P. Szostak

David P. Szostak has been our Chief Financial Officer since August 2010 and the Chief Financial Officer of our operating subsidiary since its inception in 2006. Since 2002, Mr. Szostak has been a director of XL TechGroup. Since 2008, XL TechGroup has been an inactive holding company controlled in part by Mr. Szostak. Mr. Szostak, a certified public accountant, began his career in Chicago, Illinois working as an auditor for Laventhol and Horwarth LLP, a large accounting firm. In 1987, he became the Corporate Controller at Extel, Inc., a global manufacturer of electronic communication equipment for industry and government. In 1990, when Extel acquired Hetra Computer, Inc., a manufacturer of government specialty computers, Mr. Szostak became Hetra’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In 1993, when XL Vision Inc., the predecessor company to XL TechGroup acquired Hetra, Mr. Szostak continued in the same positions with XL Vision. He holds a B.Sc. in finance from Southern Illinois University, with graduate studies at DePaul University.

Gregory W. Haskell

Gregory W. Haskell has been our Executive Vice President - Strategy since August 2010. He is responsible for our corporate strategy. Mr. Haskell joined our operating subsidiary in 2008 as its Vice President - Corporate Development. With over 25 years experience, Mr. Haskell has created, co-founded and built numerous technology companies. In 1993, he co-founded XL Vision Inc. and served as its President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Haskell was a member of the management team at Internet Capital Group where he served as Managing Director of Operations. In 2001, Mr. Haskell rejoined XL TechGroup as its President and Chief Operating Officer. Since 2002, he has also been a director of XL TechGroup. Between 2005 and 2008, Mr. Haskell was the Chief Executive Officer and a director of AgCert International, PLC. Prior to XL TechGroup, Mr. Haskell spent over a decade in various technical and management roles in private industry. Mr. Haskell holds a B.Sc. in engineering and applied mathematics from Iowa State University.

Fred G. Tennant

Fred G. Tennant has been our Executive Vice President - Business Development since August 2010 and has been our operating subsidiary's Executive Vice President - Business Development since 2007. He is responsible for business development and marketing for our operating subsidiary. From 1992 to 2007, Mr. Tennant was President and Managing Director of Shinkoh Technologies, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in international business development. His earlier experience includes management and marketing positions with Continental Grain Company and the agri-chemicals division of W.R. Grace & Co. Mr. Tennant holds a B.Sc. in agri-business from the University of Arkansas and an MIBA from U.S. International University.

Heinrich Gugger

Heinrich Gugger, Ph.D. has been our Executive Vice President – Technology since August, 2010 and has been our operating subsidiary's Executive Vice President – Technology since December 2009. He is responsible for engineering programs, research and process development as well as the supporting analytical laboratories at our operating subsidiary. He has significant research and development, technology and business management experience in a variety of industries. Dr. Gugger joined XL TechGroup in 2007 as a serial Chief Executive Officer to lead Quonova, LLC, a subsidiary of XL TechGroup. Dr. Gugger was the President of Syngenta Crop Protection Inc., an agricultural chemicals and bio-technology business, from 1998 to 2002, and subsequently became the Chief Executive Officer of Paradigm Genetics, Inc., a biotechnology research services company in the area of systems biology, from 2002 to 2005. Dr. Gugger holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and was an IBM World Trade Postdoctoral Fellow in Applied Physics at IBM’s Research Division in San Jose, California.

Ottmar Dippold

Mr. Dippold is Chief Executive Officer of PetroAlgae - Asia Division. As a member of the senior executive team of PetroAlgae, Mr. Dippold is involved in all aspects of the company’s operations. Mr. Dippold joined Space Systems Laboratory in 1967 where he served as team leader for the design of next generation optical systems for the US Air Force and NASA. He was the founder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Opto-Mecanik, Inc., a designer and manufacturer of infrared optical and laser-based systems and served in this capacity for 27 years. Mr. Dippold also served as Chairman of Applied Photonics, a provider of laser-based solutions to the semiconductor and flat panel display industries. Mr. Dippold received a degree in optical engineering from the Deroy Optical Institute, Munich, Germany.

Jim McCreary

Mr. McCreary is responsible for Operations and Deployment for our operating subsidiary. He joined PetroAlgae in 2006 and is currently building and managing the operations team. Mr. McCreary manages PetroAlgae’s strategy modeling and quantitative analysis, recruiting and training, research facility operations, production scale-up planning, quality management and customer technical support groups. Before joining PetroAlgae, he was the founding Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, or Chief Technology officer of over a dozen different new venture companies, most recently in software (ValueLogix), mobile communications (ThisInstant) and medical devices (VirtualScopics, RTek Medical Systems). Mr. McCreary has a B.A. with Honors in Economics from Yale and an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School.

Harold Gubnitsky

Mr. Gubnitsky serves as Executive Vice President for PetroAlgae with a focus on business development and strategic relationships. Prior to his role in PetroAlgae, Mr. Gubnitsky served as a founding member and Executive Vice President for XL TechGroup where he was a member of the executive team which founded and built several global cleantech and biotech companies. At XL TechGroup, his roles and responsibilities included serving on the boards of several companies. His execution of key corporate initiatives as well as creating and growing strategic relationships with several Fortune 100 partners. Mr. Gubnitsky's professional experience includes serving as a seasoned executive within several corporations with responsibilities spanning executive management, operations and business development. Mr. Gubnitsky has extensive international business experience across Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prior to XL TechGroup, Mr. Gubnitsky founded a technology services company, and served as the company's Chief Executive Officer. In 1997, Mr. Gubnitsky served as an officer and senior executive of Proxicom, a consulting firm with a market capitalization in excess of $1.5 billion. Prior to Proxicom, Mr. Gubnitsky served as Vice President of US-based Cambridge Technology Partners and as a member of the management team of Accenture/Andersen Consulting. Harold has a B.S. from Florida State University in business management and information technology.