Executive Management

Mr. St. John is responsible for setting ClearFuels strategic objectives. His significant experience in the sugar industry provides the Company with significant insight, knowledge and industry relationships to execute on its integrated sugar mill biorefinery vision. He is the former President, Director of Engineering, and Chief Engineer for AMFAC, which owned and operated five sugar mills in Hawaii. Mr. St. John is an expert in engineering, operations management, and project development for renewable energy projects, and served as program manager of the 47 MW waste to energy “H-Power” facility in Honolulu City. A former engineering consultant to The World Bank, The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Bechtel Construction Company, and Hawaiian Electric Industries, Mr. St. John served as a legislative and regulatory spokesman for the independent-power and sugar industries.

Mr. Darmstaedter manages ClearFuels financial and business development activities, including the commercial demo plants in Colorado and Hawaii. Formerly the VP Business Development for HEI Power Corp International, Metcalf & Eddy, Research Cottrell, and other companies active in power generation and environmental engineering markets, Mr. Darmstaedter has 25 years of energy and environmental market experience in the U.S. and Asia, developing project companies, startups, strategic partnerships, joint ventures, and executing acquisitions, technology transfers and licensing agreements. He also serves on the Hawaii Angels Executive Board evaluating new high technology companies for angel investors. Members of Hawaii Angels have collectively invested in 42 companies since 2003. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of Hawaii NanoSciences, Soane Energy and Nanopaper. Mr. Darmstaedter holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from Cornell University.

Dr. Shleser is the leader of ClearFuels technology development efforts. In 1993, as a consultant to the State of Hawaii’s Department of Business Economic Development and Tourism he conducted an evaluation of the technical and economic performance of emerging technologies for conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to ethanol, Dr. Shleser authored the State of Hawaii’s 1994 study of ethanol production technologies and financial analysis for production in Hawaii. Later, he developed and managed the Sustainable Biomass Energy Program of the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research in Hawaii. His responsibilities included managing programs to evaluate technologies that could contribute to the economic performance of sugar production in Hawaii. Independent evaluations of the opportunities for biomass based energy production on the islands of Maui and Hawaii were conducted. These evaluations provided background and perspective on technology selection and opportunities for commercial ethanol production in Hawaii and provided the foundations for developing ClearFuels Technology Inc. More recently as the CTO of ClearFuels Dr Shleser managed a program sponsored by the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute and the US Department of energy to evaluate the opportunities for Hydrogen production by gasification of biomass. Dr. Shleser has served as a consultant to the World Bank, USAID, The Caribbean Development Bank, the Government of Puerto Rico and the private sector in South America, Central America, Asia and Africa. He earned a Ph.D. in Biophysics and Molecular Genetics and a BS in Agriculture from Purdue University.

Mr. Blevins serves as ClearFuels’ Director of Technology. From 1999 until 2007, Mr. Blevins served as plant manager for the PTI facilities where he oversaw plant operations and directed multiple process and plant improvements that contributed to the patenting of the PTI technology. At ClearFuels, Mr. Blevins is responsible for working with ClearFuels’ partners to develop the proprietary design for the ClearFuels reformer as well as the engineering and planning for both the demonstration and commercial facilities. Mr. Blevins has over 35 years of technical and managerial experience, primarily in the production of ammonia and related fertilizer products. Ammonia was the first commercial chemical produced via FT synthesis, which is the same general process used by ClearFuels to produce ethanol and renewable FT diesel. During his extensive career, he has held the senior positions of plant manager, maintenance manager, operations manager and engineering manager. He holds a MS in Engineering Management and a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

Mr. Fligg was Vice President and General Counsel of HEI Power Corp., the international power subsidiary of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. and sister company of the public utility Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (HECO). He was HECO’s principal advisor and representative in negotiations with independent power producers during project development, construction, commissioning and commercial operation of coal, oil, garbage, hydro, wind and recaptured gas power plants, and represented the company in the rearrangement of term project financing for an independent power producer. Previously, Mr. Fligg served in the U.S. Army in various positions of leadership in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, including assignment as the Staff Judge Advocate for the U.S. Army Support Command, Hawaii. A graduate of the Command & General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, he received a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point, a JD from California Western School of Law and an LL.M (Taxation) from New York University School of Law.

Mr. Sharpe is a ClearFuels consultant who has advised the Company on financing initiatives. Steve has been active in the energy, infrastructure and real estate industries. Recent engagements include Competitive Power Ventures, Inc., Basin Water, and Government Properties Trust. Previously, Mr. Sharpe was Vice President and Principal Financial Officer of Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc, a $5 billion diversified construction, mining and materials business. Prior to that, Steve was Vice President of Finance for US Generating Co (PGE/Bechtel) with a leadership role in closing over $5 billion in project financings representing 17 independent power projects and over 3,400 megawatts of capacity. Mr. Sharpe was a banker for 15 years working for Wall Street firms in New York, including Lehman Brothers, Lloyds International, and Chemical Bank International. Steve holds an MBA from Emory University and a BA in Economics from Rhodes College.

Mr. Davis has been working with ClearFuels since 2004, first being introduced to them while working at Black & Veatch to provide support for their biofuels program design, development and commercialization. From 1993 to 2008, Mr. Davis managed business development and marketing strategy for Black & Veatch with private and publicly owned utilities primarily in the Western United States and Asia. Nationally and internationally, Mr. Davis has over 40 years’ experience in marketing, project development, and construction of commercial power facilities including the production of renewable energy and biofuels, with General Electric, Utah International, Bechtel and Black & Veatch. He was the founder and president of GoldenBear Energy Services, focused on energy efficiency programs, which became a subsidiary of Proven Alternatives, Inc. He formerly served on the board of GHDBV, an Austrailian/New Zealand company. Mr. Davis holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University.