Chairman/CEO
President/co-Founder
Prior to founding Kent BioEnergy, Mr. Van Olst directed projects for world-class academic and industrial organizations across the U.S. (Kent SeaTech Corporation, San Diego State University, Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric) and abroad (Africa, Canada, China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, and others). He is also an experienced industrial bioengineer and has designed, built, and operated 14 state-of-the art aquaculture research facilities. He received his M.S. in Zoology at San Diego State University and went on to direct the Aquaculture Program there until founding the predecessor company to Kent BioEnergy with partner James Carlberg.
Chief Business Officer
He was a partner at Ventana Capital (San Juan Capistrano, CA) and held executive/management positions in early-stage and established biotechnology companies, as well as within various divisions of Johnson & Johnson.
Additionally, he was the founder of Ontogen Corporation, a pioneer in the field of automated synthetic chemistry and one of the only combinatorial chemistry companies to move an in-house discovery successfully through early human clinical trials. As president and CEO for over 10 years, he closed equity financings ($30MM), realized strategic alliance revenues ($50MM), and grew the company to over 100 employees.
Dr. Toyonaga was a Visiting Research Scientist at The Scripps Research Institute (La Jolla, CA), the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA), and Yale University (New Haven, CT). He was also a MRC postdoctoral fellow at the Ontario Cancer Institute (Toronto, ON) and involved in the discovery of the human T Cell Receptor. He received a Ph.D. in physical organic chemistry from the University of Toronto (St. George Campus, Toronto, ON).
VP, Operations/co-Founder
Jim Carlberg, former President of Kent SeaTech, and now VP of Kent BioEnergy, received on behalf of the company the prestigious annual Joseph McCraren Award for Outstanding Contribution in Promoting the Growth of Aquaculture from Dr. Randy MacMillan, President of the National Aquaculture Association (NAA), at the annual meeting of the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) held in Seattle, WA on February 16, 2009.
VP, Systems Development/co-Founder
Prior to Kent BioEnergy, Mr. Massingill conducted research on the culture, feeding and spawning of several warm water fish species at UC Davis. In addition, he was a lecturer and teaching assistant giving courses in fish nutrition, physiology of fishes, and fisheries biology. He also has served more than nine years on the Board of Directors of the California Aquaculture Association.
Executive Vice President of Business Development
Before joining Kent Bioenergy, Mr. Pyrce was CEO of Nexsun Energy, Inc. Nexsun is an international renewable energy firm whose vision is to develop first of its kind renewable energy projects around the world with projects in the United States, Mexico, China and Korea. Prior to Nexsun, Mr. Pyrce served as the Chief Executive Officer for Canton Biotechnologies, Inc., an industrial biotechnology firm developing synthetic biology and bioengineering products for the life science and biofuel industries.
Prior to Canton, Mr. Pyrce was President of Bear Creek Capital Management LLC, a technology and cleantech investment management firm and Managing General Partner of Bear Creek Capital Partners, LP, an investment fund. Mr. Pyrce completed the Advanced Executive Program at Northwestern University, received an MBA degree in Finance and Marketing from the Stuart School at the Illinois Institute of Technology, and has dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Chemistry and Biology.
Director, Molecular Research
Prior to joining Kent BioEnergy, Dr. Levin has also focused on the study of how microorganisms interact with their environment and mechanisms of eradicating harmful species. He is an expert in bacterial microbiology, the development of anti-infective agents for hard-to-treat pathogens, and molecular biology techniques to elucidate relevant questions of bacterial pathogenesis. He was Infectious Disease research Group Leader at Gemini Science Inc., and Group Leader, Pre-clinical Microbiology, at Quorex Pharmaceuticals. His earliest research work focused on mechanisms by which bacteria survive in cadmium laden soils as part of a larger bioremediation program. Before that he was an Instructor and Research Fellow in Medicine at the Channing Laboratory of Harvard Medical School. Dr. Levin received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Maryland at College Park.
Director, Systems Engineering
Dr. Schwartz received his B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from California Polytechnic State University. He also obtained experience in the design of earthen ponds while working for the Soil Conservation Service at the Alabama Fish Farming Center. Dr. Gregory Schwartz received his Ph.D. from the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering at Clemson University, under Professor Dr. David Brune, one of the company's key scientific advisors.
Managing Director, South Carolina Flue Gas Applications
Knox V. Grant, LL.B., has twenty years experience in developing, financing and operating aquaculture businesses ranging from initial conception, environmental permitting, start-up operations, management and marketing of final product. He has worked in the United States, Latin America and Europe. He brings extensive experience in operating large-scale algae production systems to provide commercial, algae-based solutions to environmental issues.
Before joining Kent BioEnergy, Mr. Grant developed an integrated clam and oyster hatchery and nursery operation in South Carolina, supplying juveniles to commercial shellfish producers on the Eastern seaboard.
Construction Engineer
