Our Team
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| Jim Mason, Founder & Director | |
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Jim Mason is a General Specialist working at the intersection of engineering, anthropology and information science. He is a graduate of Stanford University, with degrees in Anthropology and Philosophy, after a long tour of Mechanical Engineering. (Yes, he has difficulty sticking to one discipline)From 1999-2006 he was the Founder and Director of the Rosetta Project: ALL Language Archive at the Long Now Foundation– a project to create an online archive of all documented human languages, currently the largest linguistic resource on the web. He also directed the New Guinea Sculpture Garden at Stanford– an effort which brought 11 artists from Papua New Guinea to campus to build a permanent outdoor sculpture garden.Jim is also the Founder and Director of The Shipyard collaborative art/build space for large scale mechanical, kinetic and electronic art. As the Founder of ALL Power Labs, Jim is focused on creating tools for distributed power generation and open source comparative research in biomass thermal conversion. |
| Jessica Hobbs, Founder, Director of Communication & Special Projects | |
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Jessica Hobbs is an artist who has exhibited her solo and collaborative work nationally and internationally. She has played a major role in projects with the Flaming Lotus Girls and has had projects selected for display by the San Francisco Art Commission, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, and St. Louis Contemporary Art Center. Jessica has displayed large-scale works of art at the Burning Man Festival in Nevada, USA, the Fire Arts Festival in Oakland, CA, the Robodock Festival in Amsterdam, NL, and Big Day Out at numerous sites in Australia. At ALL Power Labs she does graphic design and coordinates special projects and events. Jessica is an MFA graduate from the San Francisco Art Institute. |
| Business and Customer Support Team |
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| Dusty Swartz, Director of Sales | |
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Dusty is a proven entrepreneur well versed in the fast-paced dynamic work environment of a start-up. His 15 year career includes 10 years of business development experience. He has joined the APL team to support the development and management of strategic partnerships and leading our business development programs which will deliver significant growth. |
| Julia Hasty, Customer Support & Research Scientist | |
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Julia Hasty, also known as Jay, has previously worked in the development, design, and construction of a 1 million gallon per year bio-diesel plant in Portland, Oregon. Growing up in Virginia, Julia has seen first hand the devastation to waterways and the negative impacts to people caused by coal mining which spurred her early interest in gasification. Working with one of ALL Power Labs’ early customers on a gasification project brought her here. At ALL Power Labs Julia wears many hats. While her main interest is in product design and testing with a focus on Gas to Liquids Technology, she also oversees customer support and technical writing. Julia has a B.S. in Chemistry from Radford University. |
| Yoav Palatnik, Eco Power Africa Partner | |
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Yoav is responsible for handling sales to individuals and institutions, multi-unit transactions for industry-specific applications, as well as developing distributor networks.In an earlier life, Yoav spent over 15 years toiling at large advertising and branding agencies in NYC, with senior creative director and business development responsibilities for accounts such as Pfizer, Citibank and Comcast. Over that time he developed a keen appreciation for the absurdities of corporate America and a strong aversion to cubicles. Because his office was near the World Trade Center, the events of September 11 forced an unplanned hiatus and plenty of time for reflection. He decided to step off the corporate ladder and do something useful for a change.Yoav spent the last 4 years at Energy Concepts, the US leader in design and installation of super-efficient cogeneration plants. As Senior Project Developer he initiated several large marquee cogeneration projects in Manhattan and NJ. Yoav joined APL because he believes in the transformative impact of its technology. Yoav attended Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. He divides his time between Berkeley, CA and Washington, DC., where he has one wife, two kids, and two dogs. |
| Research and Development Team | |
| Bear Kaufman, Chief Scientist | |
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Bear has a deep interest and knowledge base in energy and sustainable power generation on the individual user scale. His background led him to ALL Power Labs where he initially began his research in developing producer gas analysis equipment. He has orchestrated numerous studies on the efficacy of characterized biochar. Bear’s main focus at ALL Power Labs is developing control systems for gasifiers and conducting research to inform and motivate product development. Bear has a B.S. in Environmental Studies-Earth System Science from San Francisco State University. |
| Nathaniel Taylor, Prototyping & Engineering | |
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Nathaniel worked on the prototyping and design team at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, CA from 2003 until 2009. He has played a major role in many large-scale art projects, including the Steam Punk Tree House, and was a lead for the Raygun Gothic Rocket Ship currently on display in San Francisco. Nathaniel has his own fabrication shop called Radiorobot. His interest lies in the intersection of science, technology, mechanics, sound, and art. He has brought his considerable fabrication experience and interest in learning new design and building techniques to the ALL Power Labs prototyping and design team. |
| Ariel Fisk-Vittori, Product Development, Prototyping and Design | |
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Ariel’s background is in architecture, with specialties in sustainability, natural and building systems, and life-cycle design. He recently worked with the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Clinton Climate Initiative in Washington, DC to develop models for international, large-scale developments pursuing carbon negative outcomes. Ariel was a design associate with the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems (CMPBS) in Austin, TX, and has extensive experience in construction and fabrication, and in developing innovative design methodologies. Ariel’s passion for natural systems and biochar led him to ALL Power Labs, where he is involved with developing the BEK (Biochar Experimenters Kit) technology. Ariel is a M.Arch. Graduate from Montana State University, Bozeman. |
| Geo Homsey, Electrical Engineer | |
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Geo is a computer and software architect with a deep understanding of physics, biology, and robotics. He has made original contributions in theoretical chemistry, biological computation, secure networks, spread-spectrum data storage, and physiological modeling and simulation. At ALL Power Labs Geo has worked on control systems solutions such as the PCU. Geo has a Ph.D in Computational Biology from MIT. |
| Dan Goldwater, Electrical Engineer | |
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Dan has years of experience as an engineer and architect in the software, hardware, chip, and networking industries. At the MIT Media Lab, Dan developed autonomous swarming robot technology, low-power lighting devices, 3D spatial tracking technology, and more. He has also developed a commercial software server core and novel methods for software development coordination and efficiency, global web caching services, and was a key member of the team working on the Pentium 3 and Celeron 2 projects. Dan has an M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from MIT. |
| Manufacturing Team |
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| Abram Yocom, Shop Director | |
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Abram has been working as a professional builder, fabricator, and glass artist for the last 10 years. His interest in power engineering brought him to the San Francisco Bay Area where he has managed the manufacturing operations at ALL Power Labs since its inception. |
| Nick Bindbeutal, Manufacturing | |
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Nick’s background is in technical theater and fashion, which he pursued while living in New York City. He became interested in alternative energy while participating in the Miss Rockaway Armada, a large-scale boat based floating art installation. His interests brought him to ALL Power Labs where he has been managing production since 2008. |
| More in the family not yet with bio here Josh St. John, Manufacturing Gary Xaoui, Facilities Charlie Sellers, Product Testing Ike Cantrell, Production Team Aron Jacobson, Fabrication Davor Atles, Facilities Gabriel Williams, Fabrication Matt Long, Controller Mike Fulton, Fabrication Nicholas Monahan, Manufacturing Manager Paul Walker, Electrical Ken Boak, Electrical Manager Teiwaz Steenblack-Smith, Manufacturing Assembly |
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| Rachael Norman, CFOO (Chief Financial and Operations Officer) |
