Management Team
The success of the Company will depend upon management’s ability to further develop the technology through the pilot demonstration stage and deliver a commercial process to the market place. GRT’s management team is comprised of experienced, proven professionals with the talent and experience to drive the process to commercialization.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Director - Eric W. McFarland, Ph.D., M.D. is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California Santa Barbara. From 1996-1998, he was a founding Director of Symyx Technologies (SMMX) where he helped lead a team of scientists and engineers in the development of combinatorial chemistry methods for materials science, which resulted in the development of a number of technologies spanning the entire chemical industry. He has published over 100 scientific papers and holds 24 U.S. patents. Dr. McFarland holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
Executive Vice President and Chief Business Development Officer - Jeffrey H. Sherman, Ph.D. is the founder and a co-inventor of the GRT technology. Dr. Sherman served as Chief Technology Officer for Avista Resources, Inc. in the business of base lube oil re-refining. He has extensive management experience in the petrochemical business and has invented and developed numerous technologies for several industries. He holds over 30 U.S. patents and has extensive business experience at the vice president level and above in several companies. Dr. Sherman holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Miami University. Dr. Sherman has maintained responsibility for GRT’s Intellectual Property since the company’s inception.
Chairman - Thomas W. Hook - is an active participant in developing the GRT management and commercialization strategy. He has held management and financial positions within the energy field at Arthur Andersen, Goldman Sachs, and J.T. Trotter. Mr. Hook co-founded Hilcorp Energy, an oil and gas exploration company, which he sold in 2003. He holds an M.B.A. in Business from Stanford University.
Director - Mr. Don V. Ingram is former Chairman and CEO of IMCO Recycling, Inc., the world’s largest aluminum and zinc recycling company. Mr. Ingram is Chairman of Summit Partners Management Company, a private equity investment firm based in Dallas, Texas and a long time oil and gas investor.
Director - Mr. Leonard Judson is the President and Manager of Cycad Group, LLC, a private venture capital firm located in Carpinteria, California. Prior to joining Cycad Group, Mr. Judson practiced law as a principal with Robbins & Green, P.A., and May, Potenza, Judson and Baran, P.C., both located in Phoenix, AZ. A significant portion of his law practice was devoted to corporate finance (including venture capital) and mergers and acquisitions.