October 11, 2011
BY Erin Voegele
San Diego-based SG Biofuels Inc. has announced several expansions to its management and science teams. According to Brian Brokowski, the company’s vice president of communications, the growth is reflective of the fact that SG Biofuels is experiencing very high demand for its hybrid jatropha, particularly in key markets such as Brazil and India.
“Recently, we announced two major projects,” Brokowski said. In August SG Biofuels announced a joint venture with India-based Bharat Petroleum to develop and deploy elite hybrids of jatropha for the production of biodiesel in India. In September, the company announced it is teaming with JETBIO, a multistakeholder initiative that includes Airbus, to accelerate the production of jatropha oil as a source of biobased jet fuel feedstock in Brazil. “We are seeing a tremendous amount of momentum behind jatropha, particularly from energy companies and the aviation industry,” Brokowski said. “To meet that demand, we are expanding our management and science teams at our corporate headquarters here in San Diego. At the same time, we are also building out our market teams to support those local projects.”
SG Biofuels announced the hiring of three new professionals on Oct. 6: Shawn Swaney will serve as vice president of finance; Grant Aldridge will serve as director of product management; and Livia Tommasini will serve as scientist and project leader.
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Swaney has more than 15 years of experience in finance and accounting. He previously served as vice president and controller at DivX Inc., and also has held leadership positions at Novatel Wireless and Gateway Inc. Aldridge has more than 15 years of experience in seeds, crop production, and fresh produce. He previously worked for Syngenta, Dulcinea Farms, Novartis and Asgrow. Finally, Tommasini holds a Ph.D. in molecular genetics and recently served as a project scientist at the University of California, Riverside.
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