Board of Directors

Jim Murphy
President, Carbon Green LLC (CG)
Over the past 20 years Jim Murphy has gained invaluable experience in the liquid carbon dioxide field.  As Director of Strategic Planning for EPCO, a company that produces and distributes liquid CO2 captured primarily from ethanol producers, he has gained in-depth knowledge of the CO2 and ethanol industries.

In addition to his 20 years in the CO2 business, Jim has been a leader at the Chicago Board Options Exchange.  As New Products Chairman Jim gained firsthand knowledge in the introduction and expansion of new products, helping to make the Exchange more competitive and dynamic.  While serving as Chairman of the Stock Selection Committee, the number of companies listed for options trading grew from 200 to 700.  Likewise, his experience in managing a trading group on an exchange from its infancy to maturity makes Mr. Murphy well-suited to become a leader in the emerging environmental markets. 

Jim also founded and served as the president of two major not-for-profits in the Chicago area: The Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation and The Chicago Charter School Foundation.

Ed Heslop
CEO, Environmental Credit Corp. (ECC)
Ed is the Chief Executive Officer of Environmental Credit Corp (ECC), a leading supplier of high quality environmental credits to emerging global financial markets. Prior to joining ECC, Mr. Heslop co-founded Ecovation, serving as Chairman, CEO, President and Chief Operating Officer.  Ecovation, an innovative technology early-stage growth company in the wastewater and energy sector, completed an $18 million venture financing in 2003.  Previously, Mr. Heslop co-founded several companies, including Paracelsian, Inc., a biotechnology company.  Paracelsian progressed from funding through several rounds of financing, culminating in an initial public offering in 22 months.  Mr. Heslop serves on the Advisory Board for the Applied Economics and Management program and the Executive Council for the Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise, both for Cornell University.

Rick Wiesemann
President, EPCO
Mr. Wiesemann has 22 years of experience in the CO2, natural gas and dry ice business.  From 1977 to 1987, he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Continental Carbonic Products.  In 1987, Mr. Wiesemann founded EPCO Carbon Dioxide Products, Inc. in Sterlington, Louisiana.  Since then, EPCO has grown to become the leading independent supplier of food-grade liquid carbon dioxide throughout the Central United States.  EPCO recently became a member of CCX.

Jerry Johnston
Chairman, Critical Mass
As the current Chairman and former CEO of Critical Mass, Jerry has worked on marketing campaigns for some of the most successful brands in the world.  Previously the head of Corporate Marketing for the 3COM Corporation, he helped guide the successful launch of an entirely new category with the Palm PDA.  Jerry also spent several years in financial services serving as SVP of Marketing and Communications at PaineWebber (now UBS) in New York.  Before that, Jerry was Director of Client Services for J. Walter Thompson.

Ben Brown
CEO, Heartland Corn Products (HCP); Founder & Past President, Renewable Products Marketing Group.
Mr. Brown has served as General Manager and CEO of Heartland Corn Products since its inception in 1995.  Heartland produces 100 million gallons of ethanol annually.  Operating from this platform, Mr. Brown has recruited 18 ethanol producers as members of the Renewable Products Marketing Group, of which Mr. Brown is a founder, which in aggregate produces 605 million gallons of ethanol, currently accounting for 15% of US ethanol production, and will produce over 1 billion gallons in 2007.  Prior to joining Heartland, Mr. Brown was employed with Harvest States Cooperative as Director of Line Operations.  From 1978 to 1988, he served as General Manager of the Fairfax Farmers Elevator in Fairfax, MN.

David W. Fennema
Vice President, Biofuels, Marathon Capital
Mr. Fennema is Vice President, Biofuels, at Marathon Capital, LLC. He is responsible for developing sources of equity, debt and sub-debt financing for Marathon clients through the family office, hedge fund, private equity and venture capital markets, and is also focused on leveraging the firm's success in the Biofuel sector. Prior to joining Marathon, Mr. Fennema was the Founder and Managing Director of TPOH Ventures LLC, a diversified private equity fund located in Chicago. Before founding TPOH, Mr. Fennema spent nearly 14 years in the financial markets. Most recently he served as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Blackhawk Financial, a derivatives trading firm.