Heliae Hires 3 Execs, Granted Patent

January 10, 2012
AlgaeIndustryMagazine.com

ilbert, Arizona-based algae technology company, Heliae, has announced the hiring of three key team members, as well as announced that the company has added a significant piece to their catalog of intellectual property.

“The progress we’ve achieved at our demonstration facility, coupled with the addition of seasoned industry experts, represents the final step in preparing Heliae for commercial operations,” said Heliae’s President and CEO Dan Simon.

The three new executives are Adrian Galvez, Vice President of Manufacturing; Anna Lee Tonkovich, Vice President of Research and Development; and Mike Rohlfsen, Director of Business Development for Food and Feed.

Galvez joins Heliae from his recent role as Senior Vice President of Engineering at Solazyme. Dr. Tonkovich, an inventor credited on more than 90 patents, most recently was founder and Chief Technology Officer at Velocys, where she helped take a variety of bio-energy products from the lab to the marketplace. Rohlfsen, who held several positions at agri-business giant Cargill, joins Heliae from his recent role as Vice President of Business Development at PetroAlgae.

On the IP front, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent number 8,084,038 to Heliae, entitled “Methods of and Systems for Isolating Nutraceutical Products from Algae.” Heliae received a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for two additional patent applications focused on Heliae’s extraction technology. These two patents are expected to issue in the first half of February.

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