Biodiesel interest on the rise, Lee Enterprises expands team

Little Rock, Ark.-based biodiesel consulting group Lee Enterprises has developed a new strategic alliance with an executive recruiting agency, and added two new members to its team.

Lee Enterprises recently announced the formation of a strategic alliance with Ft. Myers, Fla.-based Executive Leadership Solutions. The group has assigned George “Mason” Carpenter to work directly with Lee Enterprises in finding experienced professional employees for biodiesel plants. Carpenter is a senior executive recruiter who specializes in recruiting and placing candidates in the alternative energy sector. He is a Certified Personnel Consultant and has placed engineers, scientists, project managers, and traders/risk managers in alternative energy companies across the country.

According to Lee Enterprises Principal Owner Wayne Lee, he began looking to form a strategic alliance with an executive recruiting agency due to an expanding interest from the biodiesel sector. “We were getting an awful lot of calls from folks that needed biodiesel employees,” he said, such as plant managers, lab managers, engineers, chemicals, and other professionals. Lee Enterprises has also been fielding a great deal of calls from professionals in those fields who are looking to work in the biodiesel industry. “It just made sense to do an affiliation with a recruiting firm,” Lee said.

There were two reasons that Lee Enterprises chose to form a relationship with Executive Leadership Solutions, Lee said. First, the group has a very strong track record in working with the renewable fuels, oil and gas sectors. Second, Lee noted that the group has more CPC-certified consultants than any other firm he identified with experience in the renewable energy sector.

Lee also noted that his company has been receiving a high volume of calls from banks and other entities that need biodiesel plant equipment appraisals. To better serve those clients, Lee Enterprises has added appraiser Catherine J. Rein to its team of biofuels consultants.  Rein received her bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Colorado School of Mines and her MBA from the University of Houston. She is an accredited member of the American Society of Appraisers in Machinery and Equipment and is the principal owner of Louisville, Colo.-based Sandalwood Valuation LLC.

In addition, Lee Enterprises recently announced the addition of Earl Stout II to its team. Stout is a retired U.S. Army Lt. Colonel with more than 40 years of experience in government and private sectors. He owns Stout Solutions Group, the first service disabled veteran-owned small business to provide biodiesel to the Department of Veterans Affairs. “Earl has a very long history in dealing with federal government and will be a tremendous asset to our clients looking to sell biodiesel to the government, and bigger industries such as cruise ships and airlines,” Lee said.