Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech – Fueling the Future: Transforming Pollution into Energy Solutions
Innovation is about creation, but it's also about finding new spaces where those creations can be used. Today's guest has applied a centuries-old scientific process to solve a global industry problems.
Today's guest is Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. Under Jennifer’s guidance, LanzaTech is developing a variety of platform chemicals and fuels, including the world’s first alternative jet fuel derived from industrial waste gases. She is also the Director and Chair of the LanzaJet Board of Directors.
Prior to LanzaTech, Jennifer was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. While there, she was a key driver of their leadership in low carbon aviation biofuels. Jennifer has authored or co-authored 50 U.S. patents and more than 30 scientific publications and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering.
Jennifer sits on multiple boards and advisory councils, including the Governing Council for the Bio Energy Research Institute in India, the Board of Directors of the U.S.- India Strategic Partnership Forum, the Advisory Council for the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University, the National Academies' Board on Energy and Environmental Systems and the Founder Advisory for The Engine, a venture capital fund built by MIT that invests in early-stage science and engineering companies.
Jennifer holds a B.Sc. from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Highlights:
- How LanzaTech's biorefinery systems work (3:23)
- LanzaTech's background, and how their investment process has grown over time'(5:02)
- How Jennifer was introduced to LanzaTech, and her work history before joining the company (5:45)
- The science and technology behind LanzaTech, and its protection status (7:35)
- What products LanzaTech produces, and some of their product partners (8:39)
- LanzaTech's addressable market (10:17)
- How LanzaTech's technology differs from other direct air capture technologies (11:00)
- Jennifer describes who LanzaTech's customers are, and where their technology is currently being deployed (12:32)
- Jennifer breaks down how the company's business model works (13:53)
- LanzaTech's expansion plan (17:21)
- Jennifer explains LanzaTech's LanzaJet project, and where the idea came from (18:20)
- LanzaTech's plan to grow their product offerings and develop new systems for different chemical compounds (22:39)
- How the company is managing the fluctuating economy and stock market as a public company (25:44)
- Additional resources for listeners (28:48)
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If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, marion@lowerstreet.co.