Decarbonizing aviation and ocean shipping

Conor Madigan

Founder and CEO

An experienced deep tech tech entrepreneur, Conor previously founded and ran Kateeva, a key OLED manufacturing capital equipment supplier that he grew from a benchtop idea into a market leader. If you have a Samsung Galaxy or Apple iPhone, chances are the screen was made using Kateeva equipment. He launched Aether Fuels with Xora Innovation in April of 2022.

Sanjiv Dabee

VP, Engineering (Americas Lead)

Sanjiv is recognized leader in syngas generation and conversion technology and engineering, most recently as a Dir and Fellow at Fluor where he led small and large teams over 20+ yrs developing gasification, liquids synthesis, & biomass conversion projects. Before Fluor he was a process engineer at Sasol, the leading gasification to FT company. He joined Aether Fuels in January of 2023.

Steve Liang

VP, Engineering (Asia Lead)

Steve previously led the world’s largest gasification to liquids business as GM at China National Energy Investment Group, where he was responsible for $40B in successful facility investments, including 56 gasifiers and multiple pilots and FOAKs. Few people in the world have as much experience developing and operating profitable gasification to liquids plants. He joined Aether Fuels in August of 2022.

Claudio Bertelli

VP, Business Development

Claudio is a pioneer in the sustainable fuels industry. Over 20 years at Honeywell UOP he held several positions with global responsibilities in sales and business management for the company’s petrochemicals and renewable fuels portfolio. He also led breakthrough technologies to commercialization. After UOP, he drove BD at LanzaTech where he closed sustainable fuels and chemicals deals. Most recently he was VP of International BD at Alder Fuels. He joined Aether in March of 2023.

Ric Redman

VP, Corp. Strategy & Govt. Affairs

Ric has over 40 years of experience in the energy, electric power, and environmental sectors. He has led the development of over 8GW of renewable power projects throughout North America. Ric is also an expert in renewable energy policy, a pioneer in carbon capture and sequestration development, and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Brian Norris

VP, Strategic Procurement

Brian is a procurement and operations expert with deep roots and expertise in the forestry industry. As a Regional Director at Enviva, he oversaw procurement and supply chain operations for six manufacturing plants. Before Enviva, he was a GM for four Georgia Pacific plants, and started his career as a USDA Forestry Engineer.

Elie Fayad

Head of R&D

Elie is an expert at building and leading world class R&D teams and commercializing new chemical engineering technologies. Before Aether he was at Honeywell UOP for more than a decade, where he most recently led R&D for their Naphtha and Aromatics product portfolio.

Richard Zhang

Head of Catalyst R&D

Richard has been developing and commercializing novel catalysts for more than two decades. He has worked at leading companies including Akzo Nobel, Advanced Refining Technologies (a Chevron-W.R. Grace JV), and was most recently at Honeywell UOP, where he led teams managing numerous catalyst development, characterization, and manufacturing projects.

Xiaodong Zhan

Head of Process R&D

Xiaodong has over 25 years of experience developing Fischer-Tropsch (FT) technologies, spanning syngas generation, FT synthesis, and FT upgrading. He most recently built and led Kaidi’s FT division, and before Kaidi, he was at Syntroleum and the University of Kentucky’s Center for Applied Energy Research.

Alyssa Norris

Dir, Sustainable Development

Alyssa has 10-yrs of experience working on large-scale energy conservation projects, with a focus on strategy, stakeholder engagement, and policy. Previously at the EPC company McKinstry, Alyssa has also worked for energy co-operatives, local governments and the US Department of Energy.

Tom Johns

Sr. Dir., Project Development

Tom has over 30 years of experience in the energy and utility space, with a focus on large scale project development. As VP of Project Development for Summit Power Group, he most recently spearheaded the development of a 700MW natural gas combined cycle power plant in Palmdale, California.