Eric "Rick" Luebbe - Chief Executive Officer
With extensive direct leadership, executive management and enterprise sales experience, Rick leads EnerG2 as CEO and co-founder. Rick brings start-up experience to the team as the co-founder and CEO of Hubspan, one of the Web's lasting business-to-business integrators where he raised the company’s first two rounds of funding and developed and closed its flagship customer. As a management consultant with Booz Allen, Rick specialized in manufacturing efficiency developing and implementing lean manufacturing practices for commercial aircraft production. Beginning his career as an Army aviation officer, he led an aeroscout platoon in Desert Storm where he was awarded the Bronze Star and Air Medal (2nd award) in recognition for performance in combat operations against the Iraqi Republican Guard. Rick later flew Apaches as commander of an Attack Helicopter Company. Rick earned a BA in Biology from Cornell University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Aaron Feaver, Ph.D. - Chief Technology Officer
Concentrating on the synthesis and processing of high performance carbon materials, Dr. Aaron Feaver is a global expert on the move to engineered materials solutions for clean technology. Aaron co-founded EnerG2 and has written and spoken extensively on nanotechnology topics. He has led the Company's technology development from inception at the labs of the University of Washington in 2003 to a venture-backed business today. Aaron is the custodian of EnerG2’s Carbon Technology Platform and provides guidance and technical direction for the company including the strategy and execution of EnerG2’s intellectual property strategy. Prior to Aaron’s focus on nanotechnology, he was a project manager and engineer within Boeing's Design for Environment / Manufacturing initiative. Feaver received a BS from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Washington.
Chris Wheaton - Chief Operating & Financial Officer
Chris Wheaton is the Chief Operating & Financial Officer and co-founder of EnerG2. Leveraging a breadth of operations experience spanning 20 years, Chris has executive responsibility for all of the internal operations of EnerG2, including product development, finance and manufacturing. Since co-founding the company in 2003, he has helped capitalize it with over $50 million in funding from venture capital, banks, governments, the military, corporations and community development entities. Prior to co-founding EnerG2, Chris served as VP of Operations for Loudcloud, one of the last successes of the first dot-com era in Silicon Valley. After joining Loudcloud early in its history, Chris rose through the ranks to lead the team of 140 data center operators and developers that produced Opsware, an enterprise software platform that was ultimately sold to Hewlett Packard in a $1.6 billion acquisition. Chris received a BA from Northwestern University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Henry "Rick" Costantino, Ph.D. - VP Research & Development
With over 15 years experience in chemical and biopharmaceutical product development within both large and startup companies, Dr. Henry “Rick” Costantino leads EnerG2’s research and development activities. Dr. Costantino has B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from M.I.T. Prior to joining EnerG2, Dr. Costantino was engaged in the formulation, process, and product development of biopharmaceuticals, including his last post as Chief Scientific Officer of Delivery for a Puget Sound area biotech company with management of multiple divisions totaling nearly 50 personnel. He has been a major contributor to multiple marketed therapeutic products. Dr. Costantino has 15 issued U.S. patents (with numerous more pending), and over fifty publications including peer-reviewed manuscripts, book chapters, and scientific reviews, and co-edited a seminal book regarding lyophilization. As an established scientific leader, he also continues to serve as advisor for industrial, philanthropic and governmental organizations.
Tom Kieffer - VP Marketing & Sales
A seasoned executive with a deep and distinguished track record in the transportation and industrial energy storage industries, Tom Kieffer comes to EnerG2 from Altair Nanotechnologies. Previously, Kieffer held executive positions at Cummins, a global company that designs, manufactures, distributes and services engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. Earlier in his career, Kieffer served as a General Manager for the PACCAR business at Cummins. Tom has also received extensive training in Six Sigma Certification. He earned a BS in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Indiana University.
Phil Souza - VP Manufacturing
Phil Souza has 40 years experience in supply chain, manufacturing operations and quality systems in the chemical industry with over 8 years of start-up experience in electronics and energy technology companies. After almost 30 years at Polaroid Corporation in a variety of manufacturing roles spanning thin film coating, chemical process, battery manufacturing and precision optics, he moved to E Ink Corporation in Cambridge, MA as VP Manufacturing to lead the development and manufacture of electronic ink products that are manifested today in the display used in the Kindle, Nook and other eBook products. Phil then was hired by BASF to lead the commercialization of high temperature fuel cell assemblies in New Jersey. He developed their supply chain and manufacturing capability for the production of electrodes, membranes and assemblies in the Somerset, NJ facility. The assemblies are used in applications ranging from commercial fork trucks to residential CHP devices to mobile devices. Phil joined EnerG2 in June of 2009 and is responsible for supply chain, manufacturing and quality systems and is currently managing the construction and start-up of the EnerG2 activated carbon plant in Albany, OR. Phil received a BS in Chemistry from Bridgewater State College and an MBA from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.