Dr. Thomas B. Reed
Chairman and Chief Scientist

Tom has pursued an active career in science and invention. After receiving a B.S. degree in Physical Chemistry from Northwestern University in 1947 and serving two years in the Army Air Force, he earned a PhD at the University of Minnesota in 1952. He then worked at the Linde division of Union Carbide for eight years, acquiring a solid background in high temperature chemistry and industrial processes. This experience led him to MIT, where he became a professor and led a project for growing unusual crystals for materials science research.

In 1974, Tom began to think that alternate energy could become a more important part of his future and that of his four children and (now) 7 grandchildren, so he became involved in renewable fuels on the side. He published an article in the journal Science in 1973 on “Methanol: A Clean Fuel for the Future”. This paper started a mid-life career change that converted his career from materials scientist to renewable fuel scientist and he became interested in “Biomass” as the only renewable energy source for liquid fuels.

In 1977 Tom went to work for the Solar Energy Research Institute (then, SERI, now the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL). While there, he developed the world’s first high pressure oxygen biomass gasifier and made 1 gallon of “methanol from biomass”, his vision in 1973. He published a number of books on biomass and presented over 60 papers on biomass energy and gasification while at NREL. He now has 12 patents and has authored or edited eight books.

In 1986, Tom left NREL to continue biomass work at the Colorado School of Mines where he developed a “pyrolysis mill.” In the early 1990s, Tom gradually “retired”, taking his MIT and NREL pensions, but continuing to work full time in the field of biomass gasification as a major challenge and useful tool for the end of fossil fuels that is coming.

In 1989, Tom became interested in the chemistry of waste cooking oil, and was one of the first people to begin making and using biodiesel. He told his friend, Bill Ayres about his discovery and with Tom’s help and encouragement, Bill became the first commercial producer of biodiesel in the U.S. and played a key role in launching the biodiesel industry.

In 1998 Tom joined the Community Power Corporation (CPC) as Principal Scientist. There, he helped develop commercial gasifiers for local and distributed power generation from wood chips. CPC has now become a leading government contractor for wood gasifier systems.

Tom first met Dr. Harry LaFontaine, founder of the Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF), in 1985. Harry invited Tom to be a director of BEF and he left the foundation to Tom at his death in 1994. Since then, Tom has done a number of biomass projects under the non-profit umbrella and he publishes more than 18 books on gasification and related energy subjects at the BEF Press. In 2000 Tom and the BEF published “A Survey of Biomass Gasification – 2000” jointly with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It is now in its second edition.

In 2000, Tom visited Africa and was profoundly affected by the human suffering he saw there. He learned that much of the disease and malnutrition he saw was a result of the primitive methods of cooking over open wood fires still used by more than half the world’s population. He realized what a difference it would make if an easy to use, inexpensive wood-gas stove could be developed. The key would be to gasify available wood and combust the gas to produce a high enough temperature to destroy disease-carrying bacteria and parasites. Tom set about creating a wood-gas stove, and it is now being produced and distributed in Bolivia and India. A camp stove version for backpackers is available through our bookstore. Purchases of these camp stoves help fund distribution of low-cost stoves to people in developing nations.

In 2005, Tom decided to expand the role of BEF from biomass consultant/inventor and small publisher into a full scale research lab and a global educational organization to continue research on methods for converting biomass and waste products to "hydrogen rich gas". The current emphasis of the BEF is on near-term commercialization of many of the renewable fuels technologies he has been working on for years. The BEF has several contracts for gasifier and reformer development, but would welcome more. We also welcome support of member participation at www.biomassenergyfoundation.org. 

Tom continues to serve as webmaster for the GASIFICATION division of the Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology.
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Agua Das
Director of Research

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Kathy Nafie
Administrator

Kathy keeps everything moving smoothly. She wears many hats, including purchasing agent, financial records manager, and human resources manager. She also is the safety officer. Kathy has lots of experience: she spent many years as owner of Ace Carpet and Upholstery Care. Kathy has a degree in English from California State University in Northridge. In her free time Kathy enjoys sewing and flying with her husband Jon, who is a pilot.
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Mike Maus
Director of Communications

Mike began as the book sales person at BEF and then became Director of Communications. Mike is responsible for working with the media to promote the vision and mission, and the successes, of BEF. A former senior correspondent and chief political correspondent at NBC News, he also has operated his own company, Mike Maus Associates, for several years, focusing on public relations consulting with nonprofit organizations. Mike is a graduate of Alma College (Michigan) with a degree in English. He was awarded a Doctor of Laws by Westminster College (Pennsylvania), where he was a member of the Board of Trustees for 11 years. In his free time Mike enjoys singing, bicycling, hiking and snowshoeing with his wife, Jeri Lou. They live in Arvada, CO.
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Alia Ghandour
International Consultant

Alia became part of the BEF team in May, 2005. She works to give the organization a global reach. 

She has been promoting renewable energy deployment for more than fourteen years, beginning in Washington, DC, with the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Solar Energy Industries Association. Her focus was on research, policy, and advocacy activities. 

Alia Ghandour has extensive international experience, having helped to establish USAID-funded Renewable Energy Project Support Offices (REPSOs) in the Philippines and Indonesia. She also designed and developed an international program for the National Bioenergy Industries Association, which she subsequently managed for four years.

In the late 1990s, Alia briefly left renewable energy to manage The Nature Conservancy’s first ever forestry/carbon-offset project in Brazil. Prior to becoming part of the BEF team last year, she was a Senior Project Leader for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado. She holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and a BA in International Relations from Pomona College.

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Dr. Thomas B. Reed
(see profile under TEAM)
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Vivian Reed
Vivian earned her Bachelor of Science degree in education from Northwestern University in 1947. She took Advanced Study courses at Simms University in 1972.

In addition to raising her own four children, she was a Primary School teacher for more than 40 years and also served as a Girl Scout leader for many years. Vivian has been an avid supporter of biomass gasification for many years and has patiently allowed her kitchen to be used for more experiments than she cares to remember.
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William A. “Bill” Ayres
Bill was in the Special Forces in Viet Nam, for which he received various awards and commendations and was decorated for valor. Following his return, he completed his studies in Chemical Engineering at the University of Missouri, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. He attended graduate school at U of M, focusing on plant physiology and pathology.

It was at this time that his interest in renewable and biomass fuels started. From 1974 to 1980, he was co-owner and manager of an Urban Forestry business. He founded Midwest Wood Recycling in 1978 to utilize wood waste as fuel. He soon met Dr. Tom Reed at the National Renewable Energy Lab, who introduced him to the technology of gasification. This led to a business and personal relationship that has spanned more than 20 years.

Bill’s interest in gasification led to interaction with Dr. John O’Sullivan at the Institute of Gas Technology. Dr. O’Sullivan’s molten carbonate fuel cell research prompted Bill to write a paper in 1979 on the use of hydrogen produced from wood gasification for fuel cell electrical production.

In 1980, he co-founded BRC, Inc., a company specializing in the production of equipment to convert waste wood into hydrogen-rich gas. He commercially introduced the stratified downdraft gasification system that revolutionized gas production from biomass. During this time he converted and drove a pickup that was powered by gasified wood chips. Additionally, Bill sold two of the BRC systems to CSIR in South Africa, who are known for their coal gasification technology but needed a system that could process wood, which is 50 times more reactive than coal.

From 1985 to 1994, Bill was the Director and Executive Vice President of Interchem Industries, Inc. He was in charge of new product development and marketing with a focus on alternative fuels and co-products from biomass feedstocks. This included the conversion of wood to wood oil products for use in the specialty chemical industry.

In 1989, Bill met with Dr. Reed and learned about biodiesel. In 1991, he became the first person to commercially introduce and sell SoyDiesel, a ‘new’ biodiesel fuel in the U.S. market. Over the course of the next three years, he developed additional new markets for soybean oil-based materials including industrial solvents. The SoyClean line of solvents is now manufactured by West Central Coop under the SoyPower brand name. During this time, he was integral in the formation of what is now the National Biodiesel Board and helped direct the funding provided by soybean associations for research and development.

In 1994, he co-founded Ag Environmental Products, LLC (AEP), a joint venture with Ag Processing Inc. (AGP) headquartered in Omaha. The joint venture was formed to manufacture and market biodiesel from soybean oil produced by AGP. As a partner in this company, Bill worked with many companies to develop other soybean oil-based products, including SoyGold biodiesel, SoyGold solvents, an explosives medium (AnSoy), a patented fingernail polish remover, a mosquito larvicide, oil well stimulation products, fracturing fluids, pipeline cleaning products, various lubricant products and the development of a novel bioremediation technique for chlorinated chemical contamination cleanup in ground water. In 2002 and 2003, Bill applied for, received and managed grants to begin looking at the potential of utilizing soy methyl esters as a hydrogen source for fuel cells and other industrial applications.

Bill has consistently received recognition from his colleagues as a leader in the development of technology and products benefiting many industries. Some of the organizations which recognized these achievements include the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Soybean Association and the United States Department of Agriculture. Bill was a founding partner of a consortium comprised of representatives from Allied Signal, Georgia-Pacific, Aristech Chemical and the US Department of Energy. This elite group won a prestigious R&D Magazine “100 Award” for work with wood pyrolysis oil for its use as a replacement for phenol in adhesives.

Bill has successfully written and been awarded over $5,000,000 in grants from DOE, USDA, United Soybean Board and soybean associations for projects and companies in which he was directly involved. Additionally, he assisted in the investment of over $35,000,000 of soybean association check-off funds for research and development of biodiesel during his 15 years of work in the biodiesel industry.

In October of 2003, Bill started Renewable Solutions LLC, a consulting company focusing on commercialization of renewable technologies and new research and development of projects utilizing renewables for both energy production and bio-based products manufacture. He helped shape the vision for the Renewable Hydrogen Foundation and continues to be one of our most dedicated champions.
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William A. “Chuck” Stevenson
Chuck is a chemist and management consultant with over 45 years of experience in alternative fuel technology development, formulation and processing of novel optical materials, special high performance polymers and polymer coatings. He received a B.A. in Economics from Amherst College and B.S. in Chemistry from MIT. During the 1950's and early 1960's he was employed as a senior manager by W.R. Grace and Co. –Chemical Group, the Standard Fruit and Steamship Company (now part of Castle & Cooke) and the Freeport Sulfur Company (now Freeport-MacMoran).

During the 1970’s he joined the MIT Energy Laboratory to develop technologies that could provide alternative liquid fuels from renewable domestic resources to lessen our dependence on imported oil. To hasten this transition he focused his research efforts on the use of “oxygenates” –alcohols, esters and ethers that could be produced from waste wood or agricultural sources as economical octane enhancers for unleaded gasoline. He supervised several fleet tests of vehicles running on both neat oxygenate fuels and oxygenate/gasoline blends. In 1979, together with Texaco and Elf Acquitane, he founded Evergreen Energy Corporation to develop and build the first large scale wood-to-methanol fuel plant utilizing Texaco’s oxygen blown entrained flow gasification technology. Falling oil prices during the early 1980’s stopped this project before it reached the construction stage.

In 1983 he played a leading role in introducing new technologies to Foster-Miller, Inc. through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. He developed a model technique for the preparation of SBIR proposals and won a significant number of grants. His efforts were a major factor in establishing Foster-Miller as the leading SBIR contractor in the United States.

During the 1990’s, as founder of the Optical Sensing Group at Foster Miller, Inc., Chuck directed the development of a family of novel infrared fiber optic sensors and the miniature mid-infrared “wedge” spectrometer. These developments have become the basis for a number of new devices including the oil condition monitor (OCM), which is now in use on US Navy ships, and the handheld miniature spectrometer for detection of chemical threats. He also founded Iris Fiber Optics, Inc., a manufacturer of infrared transmitting optical fibers and IR spectroscopic systems, which he sold to Galileo ElectroOptics.

Chuck is the inventor of five patents regarding the use of infrared transmitting optical fibers as spectroscopic sensors and six patents on the processing of advanced high performance polymers. He also is co-inventor of a MEMs technique for patterning surfaces on silicon substrates to obtain finely tuned emitters/detectors. In 1990 he was a co-recipient of a R&D 100 Award for the development of the Fiber Optic Polymer Reaction Monitor. Chuck is a member of AAAS and SPIE. He is the author or co-author of over 50 publications and presentations.
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