About Us
Committed to making the net-zero world a reality.
When it comes to achieving net zero, we are on a mission of fierce urgency. This rules out incremental innovation. Instead, it calls for transformative technology, inherently scalable, with breakthrough economics on every level. Creating that kind of solution requires a company, like ours, committed to making “the impossible possible”
Aether team on the Chicago area GTI Energy campus, where Aether has established its R&D Center.
Our Leadership Team
A passionate team of world-class entrepreneurs, technologists, and project developers.
The Aether Fuels spirit of thinking big, and then executing, is evident in the sum of our shared career experiences. We are successful start-up and big company veterans, and experts with unmatched domain expertise ranging from syngas generation and conversion to energy project development and carbon supply chains. Collectively we have direct experience building energy and fuel projects worth more than 60B dollars.
Conor Madigan
Founder and CEO
Conor previously founded and ran Kateeva, one of the leading suppliers of OLED manufacturing equipment. Kateeva equipment helps make the screens on most Samsung smartphones and iPhones. In April 2022, Conor launched Aether Fuels with Xora Innovation.
Sanjiv Dabee
VP, Engineering (Americas Lead)
Sanjiv is a recognized leader in syngas generation and conversion technology and engineering. He was Director and Fellow at Fluor, where he helped develop gasification, liquids synthesis, and biomass conversion projects for over 20 years. Sanjiv began his career as a process engineer at Sasol.
Steve Liang
VP, Engineering (Asia Lead)
Steve has world-leading experience developing and operating profitable gasification-to-liquids plants. He previously led the world’s largest gasification-to-liquids business as GM at China National Energy Investment Group. There, he was responsible for $40B in successful facility investments, including 56 gasifiers, multiple pilots, and FOAKs.
Claudio Bertelli
VP, Business Development
Claudio is a pioneer in the sustainable fuels industry. He led breakthrough technologies to commercialization and was responsible for global sales and business management at Honeywell UOP. He helped grow LanzaTech as its VP of Business Development and most recently served as VP of International Business Development at Alder Renewables.
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. He began 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.
Investors & Partners
Partnership with GTI Energy
Aether Fuels and GTI Energy (GTI) are partnering to scale and commercialize the Aether Aurora solution. Aether Aurora leverages technology licensed from GTI, and Aether has established an R&D Center on the GTI campus in Des Plaines, IL with GTI’s strong support.
