Jason Pyle, MD, PhD Chief Executive Officer

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Dr. Pyle was formerly Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of Epoc, Inc., a privately held medical engineering company. Dr. Pyle holds an appointment as adjunct professor of bioengineering at Vanderbilt University where he has worked to develop cross-disciplinary programs of biological and engineering research. As the co-founder and Chief Technical Officer of Pria Diagnostics, Dr. Pyle was named Innovator of the Year (2006) by Frost and Sullivan. Dr. Pyle holds numerous pending and issued patents in the engineering and biological sciences and has worked in diverse cross-discipline areas such as nanofabrication, optical engineering, and structural biology.

In addition to his broad technical abilities, Dr. Pyle has established numerous corporate partnerships between small technical companies and some of the world’s largest corporations. He has directly supervised and coordinated both business development and operational activities within large co-development partnerships. Dr. Pyle has worked in finance, technical and manufacturing transactions in Singapore, Japan, and China. His post-doctoral research focused on the large-scale expression and control of neural proteins. He holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Physiology and an M.D. from Stanford University. He received degrees in optical engineering and physics from the University of Arizona. 

Cynthia (C.J.) Warner President and Chairman

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Cynthia (C.J.) Warner joined Sapphire Energy in February 2009 as President. She brings more than 27 years of experience in the energy, refining and transportation industries. At Sapphire Energy, Ms. Warner is tasked with driving the company’s initiative to transition technology trials and research into commercial-scale crude oil operations. Using only sunlight, CO2 and non-potable water, Sapphire Energy’s production of Green Crude is the environmental and economically wiser renewable option for replacing petro-based gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.

A chemical engineer by training and one of the very few senior women in the oil and gas industry, Ms. Warner served as an executive with energy industry giants British Petroleum, Amoco Oil Company and UOP. Ms. Warner is currently a member of the National Petroleum Council. Prior to joining Sapphire, she most recently served as Group Vice President, Global Refining for BP where she was instrumental in turning around BP’s US refining business and achieving record performance in International refining. During her 10-year career with BP she held numerous leadership roles including overseeing refining operations in five continents and developing long-term technology strategies for low carbon and sustainable fuels. Ms. Warner led the groundbreaking cooperative effort with the US EPA to shape a framework for Clean Air improvements which was eventually signed on by the entire US Refining industry.

Ms. Warner began her career at UOP where she had significant hands-on experience learning refining process operations. That was followed by several years at Amoco where she held key operational leadership roles. She is a featured leader in the 2008 book ‘Becoming a Resonant Leader: Develop Your Emotional Intelligence′ (Harvard Business School Press).

Ms. Warner has a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Illinois Institute of Technology. 

James H. Lambright Chief Operating Officer and President-International

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Jim Lambright joined Sapphire Energy in early 2010 as CFO and President-International.  In late 2011, he was elevated to COO and a member of the board.   

Jim was formerly President & Chairman of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, the independent government corporation responsible for financing U.S. exports to over 150 countries.  In this role between 2005-2009, Jim oversaw a $60 billion credit portfolio of project and export finance transactions.  Under Jim’s leadership, Ex-Im Bank became a self-financing institution operating without taxpayer funds. 

During the financial crisis of 2008-2009, Jim also served as Chief Investment Officer of the U.S. Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) under secretaries Paulson and Geithner.  He and his team engineered and managed over 600 investments in the country’s largest banks, insurers, and auto manufactures, with the goals of optimizing returns and preventing the collapse of the financial system.

Jim began his career in private equity at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (later Credit Suisse) after receiving degrees from Stanford University and Harvard Law School.  He is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute.

Lloyd Kunimoto Chief Business Officer

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Lloyd Kunimoto previously served as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for Pacific BioSciences (NASDAQ), a developer and manufacturer of third-generation DNA sequencing systems. Prior to Pacific BioSciences, he was Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Monsanto, a US-based multinational agricultural biotechnology company, and a leading developer and marketer of corn, soy, cotton and vegetable seeds and crop protection chemicals. Prior to Monsanto, Mr. Kunimoto was CEO of two venture-backed biopharmaceutical companies, Epicyte Pharmaceuticals and Galileo Pharmaceuticals, and Senior Vice President, Corporate Development for Exelixis (NASDAQ), a cancer drug discovery and development company. Mr. Kunimoto holds a B.S degree in Mathematics from Stanford University.

Xun Wang, PhD Senior Vice President of Research and Development

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Alex Aravanis, MD, PhD Vice President of Technology

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Dr. Aravanis has over ten years of R&D experience developing products at the interface of engineering and biology. He was a pioneer in developing the first biological applications of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), microfluidics, and polymer optics. He has held R&D positions at Stanford University, Hewlett Packard, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories, and Pria Diagnostics, where he was a co-founder and the Vice President of Engineering. While there, he led the R&D team that developed Pria's disposable diagnostic system, which has been licensed world-wide. Dr. Aravanis received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University where he was a fellow of the Helen Hay Whitney Foundation, the Walter V. and Idun B. Berry Foundation, the National Science Foundation, Stanford University, and the NIH. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings, is an inventor on issued and pending patents, and has presented his work in seminars at Stanford University, UC Berkeley, MIT, Oxford, and The Society for Neuroscience.

Tim Zenk Vice President of Corporate Affairs

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Tim Zenk has spent much of his distinguished career shaping public policy – in helping leaders become better leaders and the public become more educated about key issues impacting the nation and the globe. His more than 20 years of rich experience has taken him from the front lines of Washington D.C., to the back roads of the Middle East, and to rural areas working on big issues in small towns. His passion is apparent and his experience varied. Most recently, as executive vice president for Edelman, an international communications firm, he built and led numerous campaigns, organized public-private partnerships, and counseled energy, biotech and technology leaders. Some clients included Louis Dreyfus Commodities, NorthernStar Natural Gas, Fate Therapeutics and Ikaria. Prior to that, he was founder and vice president of Chameleon Technology, a venture funded cutting-edge leader in wireless infrastructures. He also was a top executive for Telecommunications Systems (NYSE - TSYS), a leading provider of mission critical wireless data systems for wireless carriers, governments and intelligence organizations.

Tim is known nationally for his political acumen, particularly regarding his work on key campaigns ranging from gubernatorial to congressional to presidential. His global work for the Clinton/Gore administration has left him with professional and life experiences that will last forever. Today, his passion for legacy energy solutions are top on his agenda and he is working to help Sapphire be the foremost leader in solving one of today’s biggest environmental, economic and political quandaries – energy dependence.

He is an avid fisherman and science junkie. His favorite channel is sci-fi where he frequently gets confused as to whether the aliens are real or not.

Peter Attia Vice President of Business Development

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Peter Attia came to Sapphire Energy from McKinsey & Company, where he was a consultant in the Palo Alto office as a member of the corporate risk and healthcare practices. Prior to arriving at McKinsey, Peter spent 5 years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland as a general surgery resident, where he was the recipient of several prestigious awards and the author of a comprehensive review manual of general surgery. He also spent 2 years at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland as a surgical oncology fellow at the National Cancer Institute.

The author of numerous medical and research papers, he earned his M.D. from Stanford University and holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where he also taught and helped revamp the calculus curriculum.

Jaime E. Moreno, P.E. Vice President of Projects

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Jaime joined the Sapphire team in January 2009 . He leads Sapphire’s commercial development and engineering teams to plan, design and build the next generation of algae-to-energy farms in the United States and other globally strategic locations. He joins Sapphire Energy with more than 25 years of experience in the field of engineering where he managed the planning, design, construction and operations of many complex and noteworthy civil, environmental, transportation, water resources and energy projects. Prior to Sapphire Energy, Jaime served as Chief Operating Officer and Principal Engineer of AMEC Geomatrix, Inc., Managing Principal for AKM Consulting Engineers, and Engineering Manager for Church Engineering, Inc.. Jaime received his M.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Registered Civil Engineer and a Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Dean Venardos Vice President of Operations

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Dean comes to Sapphire Energy from Western Refining, where he served as the operations director for a 70,000-barrels-per-day refinery on the East Coast. Dean has more than 30 years' experience with Amoco and BP, and held several roles at BP's largest refinery including division manager, technical management, strategic business planning, as well as commercial interface between plant, supply, and trading departments. Dean spent the first half of his career at the Amoco Research and Development center developing and applying new technology in the areas of synthetic fuels, petroleum processing, and environmental controls.

A respected industry executive, he holds five processing patents and has published in numerous journals. Venardos earned his B.S. in chemical engineering from Northwestern University and M.S.ChE from the University of Connecticut.

Jim Butler Vice President of Legal Affairs and Intellectual Property

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Jim joined Sapphire as Senior Director of Intellectual Property in February of 2009. In late 2011, Jim was named Vice President of Legal Affairs and Intellectual property.Jim joined Sapphire from Amylin Pharmaceuticals where he was Sr. Director for Patents. Jim started his legal career in private practice at Senniger, Powers, Leavitt and Roedel in St. Louis, MO where he provided intellectual property services to a variety of clients including Fortune 500 companies, start-ups and academic institutions. In addition to his work at Amylin, Jim has held a variety of positions in industry including at the Torrey Mesa Research Institute (Syngenta) and Diversa, Corp (now Verenium). Jim also served as a judicial clerk at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the Idaho Supreme Court. Prior to his legal career, Jim was a tenured faculty member at the University of Idaho where he conducted research and taught classes in physiology and development biology. He is an author on numerous scientific papers and book chapters. Jim received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis and his J.D. from the University of Idaho. Jim also completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Harvard Medical School.