Algae Industry Magazine Interview: Sapphire Energy’s Tim Zenk
David Schwartz
Sapphire Energy began in 2007 with a debate between three friends: entrepreneur and bioengineer Jason Pyle; Kristina Burow, a chemist turned venture capitalist; and Nathaniel David, a biologist and serial company builder. Their issue under debate: “Why is the biofuel industry spending so much time and energy to manufacture ethanol — a fundamentally inferior fuel?” By the end of this debate, the seeds had been planted for a revolutionary biofuel company, with the goal to be the world’s leading producer of renewable petrochemical products.
Funding the pursuit of this goal has been a legendary accomplishment in itself. Sapphire was able, as VP of Corporate Affairs Tim Zenk puts it, “to produce a droplet of gasoline” from algae to show their possibilities to investors, thereby launching a cascade of funds which has allowed them, at latest count, upwards of $200 million of running room to get their algae biofuel approach up to scale. Their backers range from Bill Gates’ venture capital wing, Cascade Investments, to the U.S. Department of Energy.
With headquarters and research labs in San Diego, CA, the company plans to build a 300-acre full size open pond algae farm demonstration project in Luna County, New Mexico, near Columbus and Deming. The company also has a research and development complex in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Scientists at Sapphire Energy preparing algae in the lab.
Tim Zenk had worked on projects with some of the Sapphire investors previously, as executive vice president for Edelman, an international communications firm, where he built and led numerous campaigns, organized public-private partnerships, and counseled energy, biotech and technology leaders. “They somehow liked what I was doing and asked me to join Sapphire full time, so I did. And it just happened to be something I was very passionate about — energy security and climate change — things I care deeply about because I think that we have opportunities and problems that we better deal with quickly.” And so Tim moved the family from Seattle to San Diego, the headquarters for Sapphire.
AIM sat down with Tim at a recent Southwest Biofuels meeting in Albuquerque, NM, to talk about Sapphire’s progress.
