Key People
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Mr Gordon Ewart, Chief Financial Officer
Mr Gordon Ewart, IER's Chief Financial Officer, qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 1996. Between 1990 and 2000 he worked for KPMG, a leading accountancy firm, where he specialised in conventional and renewable energy markets. Gordon's work included greenfield project development, large-scale mergers and acquisitions, and project financing From 2001 to 2007 Gordon was General Manager - Commercial of Novera Energy PLC, a company previously listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London. Novera, which was taken over by Infinis Ltd, was one of the leading independent developers and owners of renewable energy assets within the United Kingdom. Prior to joining IER in 2009, Gordon developed biofuel and biomass generation projects in the United Kingdom, completing significant capital raisings in Europe and the United States. |
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Mr John Gulbis, Project Director
Mr John Gulbis, the Project Director of IER, is a chemical engineer and an experienced project manager. As head of engineering operations for two of the world’s largest IT and industrial process automation companies, Honeywell (from 1985 to 1996) and Invensys (from 1996 to 1999), John led the successful implementation of numerous major technology projects, both locally and internationally. John has also held various senior management positions in the Telecommunications and Health IT industries. Most recently, between 2004 and 2007 John was Project Director at Australian Biodiesel Group and was responsible for the design, construction and commissioning of Australia’s largest (160 ML p.a.) biodiesel production plant at Narangba, Qld. This plant was based on technology developed at the company’s R&D facility at Berkeley Vale, New South Wales. |
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Dr John White, Government & Community Liaison
Dr White was the Chairman of Global Renewables and the CEO (and a Director) of a number of major private and publicly listed Australian companies, including Transfield Defence Systems, Visy Industries and Siddons Ramset Limited. John served as Chairman of the Australian Government's Uranium Industry Framework, was a member of the Australian Government's Defence Procurement Board and is a Director of the DefenceSA Board. |
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Mr Steve Rogers, BDM (Licella)Steve Rogers has spent most of the last twenty years establishing new technology companies and developing them into commercially successful operations. Steve joined Licella in early 2008, initially focussing on the opportunities for the technology in Europe. Steve then assisted with capital raising efforts, whilst developing the commercialisation strategy for the company, which is currently being implemented. Prior to Licella, Steve had a successful career commercialising technologies in the software and clean-tech sectors. After 10 years with IBM he joined Software Industry in 1987. He moved to Australia in 1989 to establish BMC Software, which now has annual turnover of over A$70 million. Since leaving BMC Software, Steve has been involved in two successful clean-Tech start-ups; Energy Efficiency Ltd, in the UK, and Horizon Technologies, in Australia. Horizon Technologies were the first organisation to receive Australian Government funding via the CVC Reef Programme. |
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Prof. Dr. Thomas Maschmeyer, FAAThomas Maschmeyer, IER's key technology consultant, is Professor of Chemistry at the University of Sydney, ARC Federation/Future Fellow and Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. He is the author of more than 20 patents and 200 publications, and has been cited close to 5,000 times. He serves on the editorial/advisory boards of eight international journals, and is President of the Catalysis Society of Australia. He received the 2007 Le Févre Prize of the Australian Academy of Sciences for outstanding basic research in chemistry by scientists under 40. After completing his PhD in 1994, he worked with Prof. Sir John M. Thomas at the Royal Institution of Great Britain as Australian Bicentennial Fellow. He later became the Assistant Director of the Davy Faraday Laboratories there in 1996, concurrently holding a research position at The University of Cambridge and a Fellowship at Peterhouse. In 1998, Thomas was appointed as Professor and Head of the Department of Applied Organic and Catalytic Chemistry at the Delft Institute of Chemical Technology, becoming Vice-Chairman of that Institute in 2000. |
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Mr Robert Downie, General ManagerRobert is the General Manager of the Somersby Engineering Facility and, until it was taken over by IER, he was the Managing Director of BEST Energies Australia. Robert has commercial and engineering experience across various renewable energy and low carbon technologies, including biomass gasification and pyrolysis, biomass hydrolysis, direct coal liquefaction and low emissions technology. Robert is also a director of Pacific Pyrolysis. Robert is a Chartered Professional Engineer, a member of the Australian Institute of Engineers, and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He holds a Master of Business and Technology from the University of New South Wales, and a Bachelor of International Business Management and a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Honours) from the University of Queensland. |