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New Biofuels Center of North Carolina Begins Work
Posted: 01-07-2008 : OXFORD, N.C.
OXFORD, N.C. – A new year, and the promise of a new industry for North Carolina. In a week that saw oil reaching $100 a barrel, the staff of the newly-created Biofuels Center of North Carolina met for the first time to begin charting an important new direction for the state. Presently, North Carolina is fully dependent on foreign oil, with the exception of a relatively small amount of locally-produced biodiesel. Each year, North Carolina imports about 5.6 billion gallons of petroleum-based liquid fuels into the state. Over the next 10 to 20 years, the Biofuels Center will work with partners and growers across the state to change this strategic liability.
Constituted by the General Assembly in its 2007 session with a $5 million appropriation, the Biofuels Center has moved to structure and its first staff.
“The best sign of the importance of an idea is the people who come to it,” said W. Steven Burke, Chairman of the Biofuels Center’s board of directors and Senior Vice President of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. “The president and staff are well positioned to ensure the practical success of the Biofuels Center, the nation’s first non-profit agency to assist all aspects of biofuels development.”
John Ganzi, beginning today as President of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina, said that few states are as well positioned to develop a thriving biofuels industry as is North Carolina. “We are already a leader in biotechnology; agriculture is a $60 billion a year enterprise in the state; and the state has a history of collaborating across sectors of society to effect change.” One of the goals of the new Biofuels Center will be to identify next-generation crops and processes for both biodiesel and ethanol that will enable North Carolina to move away from the present corn-based ethanol model found in the United States.
In June of 2006, a summit on biofuels attended by state, academic, legislative and corporate leaders led to Senator Charlie Albertson and Representative Dewey Hill creating legislation. In August, Senate Bill 2051 State Energy Use/Energy Assistance passed. From that legislation, and with input from 75 people from agencies across the state, a strategic plan emerged. That plan, titled North Carolina’s Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership, has nine key strategies, and one bold goal – in ten years, 10 percent of the liquid fuels sold in the state will come from North Carolina grown and produced biofuels.
The long-term task of the Biofuels Center of North Carolina will be to move strategies to accelerated research, to a new industry statewide, to enrichment of rural and agricultural communities and to a liquid resource important at every consumer fueling station.
The Biofuels Center will be based in Oxford, on North Carolina’s Biofuels Campus, established by the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as part of its strong commitment to biofuels development. Symbolically, the campus was once a Tobacco Research Station. The Biofuels Center’s location is close to the state’s biotech heartland while still being within earshot of tractors in fields.
A strong team, which met for the first time on January 2, 2008, has been assembled to launch the Biofuels Center. John Ganzi, President of the organization, is a leader in the environmental and financial industries having created and managed a wide range of start-ups in a variety of sectors, including the non-profit, financial, governmental and academic sectors. He has worked globally designing and developing international programs for the Finance Institute for Global Sustainability, Citibank, Environmental Resources Management, United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United Nations, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Wallace Global Fund. He was an adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for seven years teaching Environmental Business at the Kenan Flagler School of Business while running his own consultancy.
The Director of Production is Mark Conlon, an engineer with broad industry experience. He joined the Biofuels Center from biofuels enzymes giant Novozymes, in Franklinton, North Carolina.
The Director of Farming and Forestry is J.D. Brooks. Brooks has more than 30 years experience in domestic and international business associated with the forestry, agro-chemical, animal health and biotech industries. His management experience includes leading marketing and commercial development teams with multi-national organizations and managing science-based enterprises. Most recently, he helped start up the nationally-recognized life sciences education and training initiative, BioNetwork, at the North Carolina Community College System, where he headed the BioNetwork BioAg Center.
Other team members include Ashley Jones who joined the Biofuels Center from the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services where she was the Federal Liaison for the Department in Washington, DC. As Director of Government and External Affairs, Jones’ role will be to assist in shaping policy as this new industry emerges. Remona Callair, Director of Finance and Administration, joined the team from the Council for Entrepreneurial Development where she was Senior Vice President for Finance & Operations.
The Director of Communications, Public Awareness and Workforce Training is Norman Smit. He joined the Biofuels Center from BioNetwork, where he was a founding member of that initiative. In his new role, he will continue to work closely with the Community College System as new jobs—needing training programs—are created in the emerging biofuels industry.
The Biofuels Center’s founding Board of Directors has overseen its establishment and staffing over the past months, and in addition to Burke include: Billy Ray Hall, President of the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center; Dr. Ghasem Shahbazi, Professor and Director of Bioenvironmental Engineering at North Carolina A&T State University; Norris Tolson, President of the North Carolina Biotechnology Center; and Dr. Johnny Wynne, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at North Carolina State University.
Two positions, Director of Business Development and Director of Science & Research, have not yet been filled and a search is ongoing.
The Biofuels Center of North Carolina is developing a website. In the meantime, North Carolina’s Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership can be downloaded from the following link: http://www.ncbiotech.org/biofuels
A high resolution picture of John Ganzi can be downloaded at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biofuelscenter/
To schedule an interview with either John Ganzi or Steven Burke, please contact Norman Smit at 919-757-6574.
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