Bobby joined MBI International in late 2006 as President and CEO. Bobby brings to MBI broad expertise in bio-based technology development; scale-up and commercialization; strategic partnerships; licensing and intellectual property management; and entrepreneurial start-ups.

Bobby is a proven technology innovator and entrepreneur. He previously co-founded and built Phyton, Inc., a biotechnology company that pioneered and commercialized a breakthrough plant cell fermentation technology to produce the anti-cancer drug, paclitaxel. Following successful commercialization with partner Bristol Myers Squibb, he completed a successful merger with a private pharmaceutical company.

Bobby received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University in 1991, with training in plant and biochemical sciences.

David is a Senior manager with 20+ years expertise in nearly all facets of biotech processing including process and project engineering, operations, process development and trouble shooting, facility maintenance, and quality control. As Vice President of Engineering at MBI, he is responsible for process definition, process validation, scale-up/scale-down processing, total plant optimization, production scheduling, new product/process introductions, new process equipment design and selection, and transition with engineering design.

Previously, David was the Director of Engineering and Manufacturing at Diversa Corporation where he was responsible for all manufacturing, capital projects, process transfers, and cost reduction efforts at the company's 380,000-L capacity manufacturing plant. David has also led cross-functional teams in all aspects of the commercial manufacture of a human vaccine. As a Senior Manufacturing Manager at Bioport Corporation, he dramatically increased manufacturing capacity through process de-bottlenecking, improvements in manufacturing success rate, and the development of an empirical model to predict fermenter performance.

David holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering (Biochemical focus) from The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Bernie is a senior manager with a background in microbial physiology and over 25 years of experience in biotechnology. He is currently responsible for all Research and Development operations including Quality Assurance and Laboratory Safety and serves as Biosafety Officer of MBI.

Before joining MBI, Bernie held faculty positions at Auburn University, where he was responsible for the Fermentation and Bioprocessing Laboratory, and the University of Tennessee/Oak Ridge National Laboratory. As a Senior Research Scientist at Boeing Defense and Space Group he was involved in the early development of the Environmental Control and Life Support Systems for the International Space Station. Bernie has spent much of his career leading research aimed at the discovery and development of microbial products, such as enzymes and specialty chemicals, as well as strain development and the use of microorganisms for remediation of environmental contaminants. He has conducted research programs throughout the world including the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Peru, Bolivia, Thailand, Nepal and Belarus.

Bernie received his PhD in Biological Sciences from Columbia Pacific University and a BS and MS in Microbiology from Auburn University.

Darold is a seasoned executive in operations, marketing and finance with domestic and international experience. He has worked at MBI for over 7 years in project management and corporate development. Most of his work has been in ethanol biorefinery development and modeling, improved uses for distiller's grains and pilot plant development for pretreatment of Cellulosic biomass.

Prior to MBI, Darold worked in management and animal health for various livestock companies with US and International interests. He holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from Michigan State University.

Susanne is a Senior Scientist at MBI International with expertise in molecular biology, microbiology, and metabolic engineering. She specializes in bacterial expression systems and currently plays an integral role in microbial strain and bioprocess development. Her most recent work involves strain engineering to enhance succinic acid production in A. succinogenes and development of a bacterial expression system for protein delivery. She is also participating in the determination of how biomass derived sugar streams can be efficiently utilized in a fermentation.

Susanne has a long track record of success. She has developed vector systems and strong promoters in many different organisms. She designed an expression system for the development of an oral vaccine by manipulating the expression of proteins on a spore coat. She also performed contract research work to solubilize a certain protein that was otherwise insoluble, and she generated transgenic canola plants to improve their stress tolerance.

Susanne received her Ph.D. from the University of Cologne, Germany, in collaboration with the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Farzaneh is a Senior Scientist with 8+ years leadership experience in bioconversion of cellulosics biomass to value added products such as fuels, specialty chemicals and materials. As project leader in biomass processing, she has developed broad and deep expertise in both scientific and engineering aspects of biomass pretreatment, enzyme processing and downstream fermentation steps. She is actively involved in developing and scaling up the biomass pretreatment processes.

Previously, Farzaneh was a Postdoctoral Research Associate with Prof. Bruce Dale at Michigan State University (MSU) focusing on numerous scientific factors underpinning the development of AFEX process for treatment of biomass.

Farzaneh received her Ph.D in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University. Her PhD work was part of the Consortium for Applied Fundamentals and Innovation (CAFI)'s biomass utilization study.

Bob is a Senior Scientist at MBI International with broad experience in the synthesis, purification, and analysis of organic compounds. As lead chemist in process and product development, he develops scaleable and economic synthetic methods for polymers, and for the conversion of fermentation-derived chemicals into higher value products. He also develops innovative methods to recover "green" products from fermentation broth or biomass. Bob also provides general and analytical chemistry support for all projects.

With over 15 years of industry experience, Bob has acquired extensive knowledge in developing innovative synthetic processes and transferring the technology from pilot to large-scale manufacturing. Prior to MBI, he developed commercially-viable processes to produce several 4-carbon chiral intermediates by overcoming challenges such as isolating key intermediates, achieving chiral purity, and overcoming scalability concerns. His efforts led to a successful technology transfer to cGMP contract manufacturers.

Bob received his Bachelor of Science and Doctoral degrees from Michigan State University while concurrently working for the MSU Synthesis Laboratory.

Mike has over 20 years of applied microbiology experience in addition to nine years of experience in agri-business. He has been with MBI for 17 years. He has extensive expertise in new strain isolation and characterization methods, strain improvement, and bench scale fermentation process development. Mike isolated and characterized a new bacterial species for succinic acid production and developed improved strains for organic acid production. Mike's prior experience at the University of Minnesota includes the isolation of new species of bacteria and improved strains for amino acid production. He has authored over ten patents for microbial processes.

Mike received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology from Saint Thomas University and has done graduate studies in Medical and Applied Microbiology.

Tonya is an Engineer with over fourteen years experience at MBI International. Her responsibilities have included project management, pilot plant management, development and scale-up of bioprocesses, and engineering support.

Tonya has a broad background of experience in biotechnology, from the laboratory to the pilot plant. She began her career in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomasses to monomer sugars, where she contributed to the evaluation of biomass pretreatments, analytical analysis, equipment and process design, as well as process modeling for economic evaluation. Tonya has managed several projects in the pilot plant where she has successfully developed, scaled-up, demonstrated, and validated bioprocess technologies. She has implemented procedure and process improvements to increase fermentation success rates and reduce yield variability.

Tonya received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University.

Tim recently joined MBI with more than fifteen years of research and development experience in both private- and public-sector research organizations. His areas of expertise include chemical process modeling and analysis, analytical chemistry, and design of experiments as applied to alternative fuel and energy processes, as well as environmental monitoring and remediation technologies.

Tim's recent projects have included development of a method for production of hydrogen from JP-8 for fuel cell electric power generation, a novel device for in situ determination of groundwater contaminant fluxes, and a Sterile Water for Injection generator. His work has led to three U.S. patents and more than fifteen research publications, including Environmental Science & Technology's 2006 Technology Paper of the Year.

Tim received his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry from Northern Michigan University, and his Master of Engineering in Chemical Engineering from the University of Florida.

Dung (pronounced "Young") joined MBI International in September 2007, and is currently working on developing and optimizing the chemical processes for industrially producing succinic acid from fermentation broth.

Dung was a Postdoctoral fellow at Michigan State University. Her Ph.D. work involved measurements and predictions of phase equilibria, and development of separations techniques for complex natural-product molecules. She successfully developed a novel process for isolation and purification of a specialized plant lipid for medical and industrial applications, without using chlorinated solvents. The phase equilibrium data from her works contributed to two patent applications and are currently being used in the development of a facility to produce esters from reactive distillation.

Dung also worked as a process engineer and a supervisor for start-up factories, where she successfully developed and implemented polymerization processes and paint applications. She received her BS in Organic Chemistry from Saigon University, and both BS and Ph.D. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Michigan State University.

Kevin is a senior manager with over 15 years experience in financial management. He currently oversees the accounting and administration functions which include government grants and contracts, human resources, accounting and budgeting, and internal controls.

Before joining MBI, he was Chief Financial Officer for the Association of Child Development, a large nonprofit multistate organization, with an operating budget of $25 million annually and 5,000 members.

Kevin holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from Regis University in Denver, Colorado.

Cathy has over 25 years of experience in contract and grant administration, securities compliance, and office administration. As Division Administrator for Contracts and Grants, Cathy coordinates contract and grant administration and compliance, and acts as key liaison to senior management on intellectual property matters.

Before joining MBI in 1998, she held positions as Marketing Director for a national marketing/buying group in Southwest Florida and Securities/Compliance Coordinator for a million+ dollar financial planning firm in Western New York.

With over 25 years of experience in biotechnology laboratory, pilot plant and greenhouse management, Phil was responsible for the start up and construction of MBI's research and development facility. As Facilities Director at MBI International, he oversees all aspects of building operations including computer systems and general safety of the facility. With respect to the pilot plant operations, Phil is heavily involved in control programming, data acquisition, and equipment design to support all Research and Development projects.

Prior to MBI, Phil was at Cetus Corporation, where he was responsible for the start up of the company's Madison area facilities, including the construction of over 60,000 square feet of laboratories, greenhouses, and a plant growth facility. He also worked for several years as an anaerobic microbiologist at the University of Wisconsin.

Phil received his Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.