Bigger Than Us #211 Dr. Gruber, CEO and Board Member of Gevo
Dr. Gruber, CEO and Board Member of Gevo, has spent over 30 years developing and commercializing renewable biobased technologies to replace petrochemicals. His teams have developed and commercialized several renewable resource-based products, including organic acids, plastics, fibers, advanced alcohols, hydrocarbon fuels, and the like. Gruber led the development and commercialization of PLA at Cargill and co-founded Natureworks. As CEO of Gevo, Dr. Gruber leads the business to commercialize Isobutanol for gasoline blendstock, renewable, low carbon jet fuel, and low carbon renewable gasoline.
Dr. Gruber received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Minnesota. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.
Dr. Gruber has received numerous awards including: The George Washington Carver Award from BIO, The Presidential Green Chemistry Award, The Discover Award for Environmental Innovation from Discover Magazine, The Lee W. Rivers Innovation Award from CDMA, an Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of MN in 2011, The Julius Stieglitz Award from the University of Chicago, The Kirkpatrick Award from Chemical Engineering, Design and Engineering Award from Popular Mechanics, Technology of the Year Award from Industry Week, Technology of the Year Award from United States DOE, and numerous others. Dr. Gruber was the editor of the two-volume book “Biorefineries—Industrial Processes and Products,” and holds more than 60 US patents, with several others pending.