Corporate Facts
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Founded:
May 2007 -
Locations:
- Headquarters and primary lab in San Diego, California
- Engineering and project management, Orange County, California
- Research and Development Facility, Las Cruces, New Mexico
- Green Crude Farm (Integrated Algal Bio-Refinery), Columbus, New Mexico
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Employees:
More than 150 -
Funding Status:
Privately held company -
Executive Team:
- Cynthia (CJ) Warner
- Chairman and CEO
- Jeff Webster
- Chief Operating Officer
- Thomas 'Tom' Willardson
- Chief Financial Officer
- Lloyd Kunimoto
- Chief Business Officer
- Dr. Matthew Croughan, Ph.D.
- Chief Technology Officer
- Tim Zenk
- Vice President of Corporate Affairs
- Jaime E. Moreno, P.E.
- Vice President of Projects
- Dean Venardos
- Vice President of Operations
- Jim Butler
- Vice President of Legal Affairs and Intellectual Property
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Board of Directors:
- Cynthia (CJ) Warner
- Chairman and CEO
- Steven Goldby
- Board Member
- Robert Nelsen
- Board Member
- Robert Shapiro
- Board Member
- David Allen, PhD
- Board Member
- David E. Shaw
- Board Member
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Scientific Advisory Board:
- Leroy Hood, MD PhD (Chair)
- President and Co-founder, Institute for Systems Biology
Seattle, Washington - Roger Y. Tsien
- Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Professor in the Depts. of Pharmacology and of Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of California, San Diego - Joanne Chory, PhD
- Professor and Director, Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology
Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory - Steve Briggs, PhD
- Distinguished Professor of Cell & Developmental Biology
University of California, San Diego - Stephen Mayfield, PhD
- Director of the San Diego Center for Algae Biotechnology, John Doves Isaacs Chair of Natural Philosophy
University of California, San Diego - H. Scott Fogler
- Ame and Catherine Vennema professor of chemical engineering Arthur F. Thurnau professor
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
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Investors:
Sapphire Energy is supported by a world-class syndicate of investors led by co-founder ARCH Venture Partners; along with The Wellcome Trust; Cascade Investment, LLC; Venrock, Arrowpoint, and Monsanto. -
Partners
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and through the biorefinery assistance program in the 2008 Farm Bill, Sapphire has partnered with both the USDOE and the USDA to build a next-generation algal biorefinery. Sapphire is also collaborating with leading scientists from the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute; University of California, San Diego; The Scripps Research Institute; University of Tulsa; and San Diego Center for Algal Biotechnology.
