San Diego (Dec. 14, 2023) — Oberon Fuels, a renewable fuels leader, has welcomed four new executives to help guide the company to new heights. The company hired its first Chief Financial Officer Ann Anthony and new Chief Operating Officer Derek Winkel to drive the company's rapid growth. Both Anthony and Winkel will play critical roles in growing the business as it scales up the commercialization of its renewable dimethyl ether (DME) and methanol.
Along with additional senior leaders, Anthony and Winkel will help Oberon scale to decarbonize the propane industry while accelerating hydrogen infrastructure.
"Ann and Derek each bring invaluable experience to support Oberon Fuels on its journey to commercialization and deliver the full impact that renewable fuels can have on reducing carbon emissions," said Oberon Fuels President and CEO Rebecca Boudreaux, Ph.D. "They're the ideal partners to build new markets, scale our solutions and open up a critical new front against climate change. I'm already seeing their names open doors."
"Ann and Derek have played pivotal roles building clean energy leaders while engineering successful returns for investors," added Elliot Anise-Hicks, Oberon Fuels co-founder and CTO. "Their decision to join Oberon represents an important milestone as we amass a top leadership team to usher in many projects to come."
Anthony brings nearly 30 years of experience helping innovative energy companies scale and successfully introduced OPAL Fuels, a renewable natural gas company, to the public markets. Before OPAL Fuels, Anthony served as the chief financial officer and secretary for Key Capture Energy, a VC-backed start-up focused on stand-alone battery storage in key electricity markets, where she played an instrumental role in the company's acquisition by SK E&S Co. Ltd. She was also responsible for leading the company's finance and human resources function, including financial planning and analysis, corporate procurement and capitalization efforts.
Winkel has nearly two decades of experience leading and scaling operations for renewable energy innovators. He most recently served as the vice president of manufacturing development, commercial performance and services for Chevron following the company's acquisition of Renewable Energy Group (REG) at a $3.15 billion valuation. Following the acquisition, Winkel played a pivotal role in the improvement and expansion of their renewable diesel production facility, which took total site production capacity from 90 million gallons per year to 340 million gallons per year.
Anthony and Winkel's appointments come at a time of notable momentum for Oberon Fuels, with highlights including a number of other notable new appointments and award recognitions:
- Vice president of sales, Jason Sweeney: Sweeney brings more than two decades of experience driving business development for gas producers and pipelines, as well as for power producers. He most recently served as VP of business development for Southern Star Central Gas Pipeline and before that was a director of business development at Kinder Morgan, one of the largest energy infrastructure companies in North America.
- Vice president of project engineering, Karan Dawra: Dawra has an extensive track record of steering engineering teams and capital projects with over 17 years of experience on a global scale predominantly with ExxonMobil. Most recently, Dawra served as the vice president of engineering for Ambercycle and commissioning manager for an $8 billion Exxon-SABIC polyethylene and monoethylene glycol joint venture where he managed a team of more than 150 people.
- Ultra-low carbon propane: Recognized by TIME's Best Innovations of 2023 for its renewable DME, which lowers propane's carbon footprint by up to 60%.
- Best sustainable chemicals product: Named a finalist for best sustainable chemicals product in S&P Global Commodity Insights Platts Global Energy Awards, which recognizes the best and brightest in the global energy industry.
"I've been thoroughly impressed by how Oberon has created several new markets for clean energy solutions while attracting some of the largest players in the industry, " said Anthony. "The company has a proven track record of uniting complex technology, environmental policies and existing infrastructure into a powerful solution for reducing emissions for more than 450 industrial companies. Together, we are well positioned to take the company to new heights."
"Oberon has successfully commercialized renewable DME to reduce the carbon emissions associated with propane, which is used in 50 million American homes as well as a range of industrial applications," said Winkel. "With decarbonization only growing as a top priority, now is the right time to scale Oberon's solutions globally across a range of industries."
