ION Team
Dr. Alfred “Buz” Brown, CEO and Chairman
Dr. Brown has over thirty years technology commercialization and venture creation experience, including large and small companies, academic and venture capital roles, with particular expertise in start-ups in the areas of therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices, software and technology based businesses. Previously, Dr. Brown served as BCM Technologies’ President where he directed all investments, provided management assistance and served on the board to more than eleven early-stage portfolio companies. Dr. Brown joined BCM Technologies from Yale School of Medicine, where he served as Director of the Office of Cooperative Research and developed an international reputation for creating venture backed start-ups. Companies created with Dr. Brown’s assistance while at Yale include Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Applied Spine Technologies, HistoRx, Kemia, RibX Pharmaceuticals, and VaxInnate. Prior to Yale, Dr. Brown served as founder and CEO of Penn Technology Group, Knowledge Express Data System and Ontyx, Inc. (now Apelon, Inc.). He started his professional career at SmithKline & French Labs in immunology and cancer research and later assumed responsibility for strategic planning and biotechnology business development. Dr. Brown received a B.A. in Biology from Colby College and a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry.
Jerrod Hohman, P.E., Director of Engineering
Jerrod Hohman contributes over fifteen years of experience with process simulation and engineering design in natural gas processing, refining, chemical production and gasification industries to the ION Team. His work has ranged from research and development through all aspects of process engineering, plant commissioning and operations. Recent work included the evaluation of commercially available CO2 capture technologies and process simulations for CO2 removal systems in biofuels production. Prior to joining ION, Hohman held key roles with Range Fuels in their pilot plant tests and production plant design, NOVA Chemicals, SNC-Lavalin Engineering and Construction, Matrix Engineering and Dickson & Tryer Engineering, where he managed all aspects of the design and fabrication of skid-mounted natural gas processing equipment. Hohman holds a B.S., Cum Laude, in Chemical Engineering at Kansas State University.
Nathan Brown, Director of Business Development and Project Management
Nate Brown joins ION with a strong scientific background and experience conducting basic scientific research and commercializing early stage technology. Prior to ION Brown founded KEMIA, a chemical company specializing in the development of anti-friction and anti-static surface coatings for specialty applications. Brown began his scientific career at the University of Colorado (CU) where he developed polymer systems for bio-responsive drug delivery and tissue regeneration. He pursued translational research efforts at the CU and managed research teams on Boulder and Denver Campus. While at CU, Brown raised significant funding for pre-clinical development of novel bio-polymer chemistries, funding which resulted in numerous invention disclosures all of which have been successfully licensed. Brown has a strong track record commercializing technology, brings additional experience managing intellectual property (IP) portfolios, and has previously been responsible for securing, managing, and licensing academic IP. Brown holds a B.A. in integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado.
Greg Staab, Senior Engineer
Greg Staab has over twenty years of industry experience including work with high pressure gases, chemical analysis, materials analysis, and design and fabrication of research and production equipment. Prior to joining ION, Staab conducted research and development for production of high-temperature ceramic fibers as a scientist with Matech Global Strategic Materials. His work there included distillation, evaporation and filtration techniques with inorganic polymers and thermal/mechanical testing. He also designed and fabricated experimental apparatus and managed a laboratory as a research engineer for the Georgia Institute of Technology. Staab received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida.
Tracy Beavers, Executive Assistant
Tracy Beavers comes to ION Engineering with over 15 years of administrative experience in International Sales, Non-profit Management and the Engineering Field. Prior to joining ION Tracy facilitated the administration of over 300 University and Professional chapters across the United States who implement community-driven international development programs worldwide. As the Chapter and Member Services Manager for Engineers Without Borders-USA, she spent over five years developing and implementing policies and procedures to better align sustainable international development projects in over 45 countries with the young organization’s vision, mission, and strategic goals to grow the organization from 6,000 members to over 12,000 members. She also served as a consultant to the board of directors for Engineers in Action, a newly formed non-profit in Oklahoma doing international development work in Haiti.
Dr. Trevor Carlisle, Senior Research Engineer
Trevor Carlisle joins ION with a strong background in Chemical Engineering, Materials Science, Polymer Science and Gas Separations. He has experience in ionic liquid synthesis, polymer synthesis, and materials characterization as well as measuring gas separation performance of new polymers and ionic liquid-based materials. Carlisle received his Undergraduate Degree with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University in 2006 followed by a Graduate Degree with a PhD in Chemical Engineering at CU Boulder in 2011. His PhD was focused on designing new ionic-liquid (IL) based solvents, polymers, and composites for enhanced CO2 separation applications, specifically CO2/N2, CO2/CH4, and CO2/H2 separations. Carlisle’s primary focus was post combustion CO2 capture from coal-fired power plant flue gas (CO2/N2 separation). His goal was to fabricate thin, defect free IL-polymer films with high CO2 permeance and high CO2/N2 selectivity. Prior to joining ION he held two internships at Sandia National Laboratories working on water purification technologies and metal hydride materials for hydrogen storage applications.
Dr. Rene Kupfer, Senior Scientist
Dr. Kupfer joins ION with a strong background in analytical chemistry including over 15 years of experience in mass spectrometry. Besides analytical chemistry, his experience encompasses synthetic organic chemistry, physical organic chemistry, organometallic chemistry and drug metabolism. Prior to ION, Dr. Kupfer worked in the pharmaceutical industry as a mass spectrometry consultant and as a Senior Scientist in the Pharmacology department at BioNovo. He was also an Instructor at the CU Health Sciences Center in Denver and Research Associate at the Department of Chemistry at UC Santa Barbara. Dr. Kupfer did his undergraduate work at the University of Leipzig in Germany and received his Ph.D. at Binghamton University in Organic Chemistry.