SynSel has assembled a top-tier team of seasoned professionals and leading engineers and scientists to deploy the SynSel Synthetic Fuels Revolution. Our mission of deploying 100 biorefineries across the US in the next 10 years requires expertise in all phases from development to operations. Additionally, our external advisory team includes renowned subject matter experts and leading firms in the following sectors:
Biofuel technology development & implementation
Industrial site & construction engineering
Enviro Industrial Park technology master planning
Plant operations & maintenance
Law, risk mitigation, environmental remediation, accounting, finance, regulatory advice, fuel merchandising, biomass management and community outreach.
Key members of the SynSel leadership team include:
Tim Tawoda
Chief Executive Officer
Tim is the founder and visionary of SynSel and serves as its Chief Executive Officer. He has held sales-engineer positions with Westinghouse and executive positions with Teledyne, where he provided mathematical reliability analysis of critical power systems. Tim was also the founder of Preon, Inc., which was the business incubator for SynSel. While Preon focuses on critical power systems for data centers and electrical energy from fossil fuels, SynSel evolved into producing liquid energy from renewable feedstock. Tim has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Bradley University.
Mike Judd
Chief Technology Officer – Core Plants
Mike serves as Chief Technology Officer for core plant technologies after being a consulting scientist in the renewable energy sector for much of his career. He has been a contract scientist for the largest international drop-in biofuels producer and worked on many biorefinery initiatives including the Forestera process that takes wood to an intermediary pyrolysis oil for #2 diesel replacement. He is the founder and president of the St. Louis Inventor’s Society. Mike has a BS in Chemistry/Biology from Washington University.
David Dewis
Chief Technology Officer – Enviro Industrial Parks
David serves as Chief Technology Officer for Enviro Industrial Parks after having a vast career designing, developing, and commercializing advanced technology energy systems. He has worked for Rolls Royce, Honeywell, and Sundstrand. He was also President and COO of Elliott Energy Systems, a subsidiary of Ebara Corp. He also has numerous patents in energy applications and served as Chair of the U.S. Clean Heat & Power Association. Also as Chair for IGTI Small Gas Turbine Committee - advocacy groups for clean energy & technical leadership. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lanchester (Coventry) Polytechnic (UK).
Craig Chynoweth
Chief Deployment Officer
Craig serves as Chief Deployment Officer after being a career engineering manager who formerly held executive positions with Westinghouse and Bechtel Corporation. He managed design and construction of numerous major construction projects for infrastructure systems and complex nuclear spent fuel processes for US Naval Reactors Idaho National Laboratory. He has a BS Electrical Engineering, Michigan Technological University and qualified as Engineer and Chief Test Engineer under United States Nuclear Navy Program.
Robert Brylski
Chief Operations Officer – Core Plants
Bob serves at Chief Operations Officer for SynSel’s core plants. Previously, he was Executive Director of the Wisconsin Bio-Diesel Association and was the production supervisor for the state’s high-capacity facility: Sanimax bio-diesel plant. In addition to being a scientist, he is a professor and instructs a number of courses at technical colleges throughout Wisconsin. Bob holds a BS in Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh and an MS in Analytical Nuclear Chemistry from Florida State University.
Todd Marescalco
VP of Finance
Todd serves as Vice President of Finance for SynSel where he is focused on early stage working capital funding. Prior to forming his RIA firm, Navigant Consulting, Todd was a financial advisor at Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner, where he held Series 7 and 66 securities licenses. Additionally, he is an NFEC Certified Financial Education instructor and an Accredited Asset Management Specialist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Merchandising and Music from the University of Wisconsin – Oshkosh.
Jeff Ritter
Chief Marketing Officer
Jeff serves as SynSel's Chief Marketing Officer following extensive Fortune 100 management careers at PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble. Recently, he managed marketing and sales activities for two of the Auto Industries top marketing firms providing highly targeted, data-driven, market mining platforms via omnichannel communication methods. Additionally, he is an active member of a private pilot association and has served on several boards. He holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison with adjunct studies at Ealing College, London School of Economics, UK.
Gunnar Nilsson
Director – International Banking
Gunnar serves as Director of International Banking. He has a strong background in international finance , which pairs nicely with his serial entrepreneurship activities in the IT, investment, digital insurance brokerage, mobile payment, and e-Identification sectors. He co-founded his consulting firm, Nilsson International AB, 30 years ago and has expanded it internationally. Gunnar has received advanced education at Jönköping's International Business School, Stockholm University among other higher educations. Mr. Nilsson is fluent in English, Swedish and Portuguese and conversant in Spanish, Danish and German.