Argus North American Biofuels, LCFS & Carbon Markets Summit

Paula Wagner

Head of Sales SAF, Renewable Products North America, Neste

Bruce Fleming

Chief Executive Officer, Montana Renewables

Bruce Fleming is Chief Executive Officer of Montana Renewables, a controlled subsidiary of Calumet Specialty Products (NASDAQ: CLMT).

Fleming was previously Vice President Mergers & Acquisitions at Tesoro Corporation and an officer of Tesoro Companies Inc. from 2004-2016. He founded and was Managing Director of Hong Kong-based Orient Refining Ltd 1997-2004, and served in various operations, business development and planning roles with Amoco Oil and Amoco Corporation from 1981-1996.

Fleming holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering (Princeton University) and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering (University of Delaware).

Phillip Garcia

Director, SAF Marketing & Commercial Development, Sumitomo Corporation of Americas

Ryan Flamerich

Senior Manager, Environmental Sustainability, United Airlines

Keith Sawyer

Manager of Alternative Fuels, Avfuel Corporation

Keith Sawyer, manager of alternative fuels for Avfuel Corporation, has worked in the energy business since 1977, including 10 years in the aviation industry. After a 40-year career with Chevron, Sawyer joined Avfuel—a leading independent global supplier of aviation fuel and services with 650+ branded FBOs and 3,000+ fueling locations worldwide—in 2016 as its regional business development/supply chain manager where he was responsible for developing and nurturing relationships with fueling locations throughout the Western U.S., Canada and Alaska. To further capitalize on his expertise in the fuel market, Sawyer became Avfuel’s manager of alternative fuels in 2017, leading all aspects of evaluating and developing the sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) market and its suppliers and securing SAF supplies for Avfuel’s customers while representing Avfuel within the environmental and fuel supply chain groups associated with GAMA, NBAA, NATA and IBAC. During Sawyer’s tenure at Chevron, he oversaw petroleum and natural gas product supply chain management, cargo operations, general aviation business, branded programs, aviation investments, and marketing in various markets, operating out of Perth, Western Australia; Houston, Texas; San Ramon, California; Almaty, Kazakhstan; San Francisco, California; and Vancouver, British Columbia. Sawyer received a bachelor’s degree in economic geography from the University of British Columbia, as well as completed the university’s executive development program, and Alberta’s Banff School of Management business and marketing development program.

Sean Newsum

Managing Director, Environmental Affairs, Airlines for America

Fred Ghatala

President, Advanced Biofuels Canada

Veronica Bradley

Director of Environmental Science, Clean Fuels Alliance

Ronald Sanchez

General Manager of Aviation, Phillips 66

Ronald Sanchez is the General Manager of Aviation for Phillips 66, a leading integrated downstream energy provider. With more than 26 years of international experience in the oil and gas industry, Ronald’s expertise spans commercial strategy, supply chain optimization, joint venture management, and global product marketing. At Phillips 66, he leads the aviation business with a focus on operational excellence, customer growth, and long-term sustainability. Previously, Ronald served as Manager of Clean Products Optimization and Vice President of Excel Paralubes, a joint venture between Phillips 66 and Flint Hills Resources. He has also held senior roles as Clean Products Origination Director, Crude Sales Manager, Director of Petroleum Coke and Sulfur Marketing, and Manager of Clean Products Scheduling. Ronald's professional journey began in 1995 at Deloitte & Touche, where he worked in the Financial Advisory Services group. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Universidad Metropolitana in Caracas, Venezuela, and a Master of Business Administration from University of Houston.

Geoff Tauvette

Executive Director, Canadian Council for Sustainable Aviation Fuels (C-SAF)

Geoff is a senior leader in commercial aviation and an engineering professional at the forefront of airline sustainability with more than 25 years of experience in integrating aviation fuel procurement, environment, and climate risk management, giving him a unique perspective on creating a sustainable aviation fuels market in Canada to support decarbonizing the aviation industry.

His past responsibilities have centred around setting direction on aviation environmental sustainability strategies, being an industry advocate in the design of aviation climate policy and regulatory measures and reducing aviation emissions through stakeholder collaborations to advance the use of sustainable fuels and other emissions reduction initiatives.

Geoff holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in civil engineering. He is also an ambassador with the Alberta Energy Futures Lab, a sustainability-driven, innovation-focused initiative whose vision is to accelerate the clean transition of Alberta’s energy system and a board member of the Clean Resource Innovation Network.

Steve Csonka

Executive Director, CAAFI (Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative)

Steve is a commercial aviation professional with 38 years of broad, strategic airline, aviation OEM, and SAF experience. Over his career, Steve has been a strong industry advocate who has worked in roles of developing pragmatic solutions to the challenges of aviation growth, and such engagement led him to accepting the current CAAFI Executive Director role in 2012. CAAFI (the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative, www.caafi.org) is an industry partnership fostering the development and commercialization of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). CAAFI engages in public-private-partnership activities designed to convene the group of participants needed to stand up an entirely new industrial sector.

Steve also continues to serve in leadership, steering committee, consultancy, and BOD roles with multiple aviation industry organizations in areas of applying technology and business concepts to enable commercial progression with SAF, both through the work of CAAFI, as well as independent activities through his consultancy.

Dani Charles

Co-Founder, Veriflux

Jennifer Aurandt Pilgrim

VP of R&D, Marquis Energy

Matthew Wright

Vice President and General Manager , Monterey Fuel Company, LLC

Matthew F. Wright is Vice President and General Manager of Monterey Fuel Company, LLC, where he has led operations on the Monterey Peninsula since 2017. With nearly two decades of leadership experience in fixed-base operations — including roles at Landmark Aviation, Atlantic Aviation, and Jackson Hole Aviation — Matthew brings a ground-level perspective on the operational and commercial realities of aviation fuel delivery. A college of law and business school graduate, he combines legal and strategic fluency with hands-on FBO management expertise. Monterey Fuel Company has been a leader in the customer facing rollout of sustainable aviation fuel, as Avfuel's first branded location to offer SAF as well as the first to deliver fuel to aircraft in an electric powered mobile refueling vehicle. Matthew is passionate about the role sustainable aviation fuel can play in reducing the environmental footprint of general and business aviation, and the practical challenges and opportunities facing FBO operators in the transition ahead.

Chris Cooper

Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, XCF Global, Inc

Chris Cooper leverages more than 25 years of experience in the global energy industry. As President of Neste U.S. (North America), he oversaw regional leadership for renewable products, following his tenure as Vice President, Americas, Renewable Aviation. As Head of Renewables Trading at BGN, Mr. Cooper led global trading activities for renewable fuels, including SAF, renewable diesel, and biogenic feedstocks. Earlier in his career, he spent nearly two decades at Phillips 66 and Chevron, holding a range of leadership roles in commercial strategy, downstream operations, and business development. A professional pilot, Mr. Cooper brings a unique perspective on the aviation sector, combining operational depth with an international view of energy transition, renewable fuels, and infrastructure innovation.

Angela Rosenwood

SAF & Sustainable Program Manager, Alaska Airlines

Nishal Panel

Trading Manager, Valero

Nishal Popovic is a Trading Manager with Valero Energy’s Biofuels Supply & Trading team, where she leads the development of international biofuels market strategy. Her current focus is on the blending and commercial sales of Sustainable Aviation Fuel, supporting production from Diamond Green Diesel—the joint venture between Valero and Darling Ingredients.

Prior to this role, Nishal held multiple positions across Valero’s refining organization, including Process Engineering, Planning & Economics, Process Safety, and Operations. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Martin Croft

Head of Low Carbon Fuels Trading Americas, Shell

Jake Gentry

Director of Renewable Fuels, Fuel Transition, Earth Finance, Inc (Cascadia Sustainable Aviation Accelerator Project)

Elise B. Fox

Director of Sustainability – Aviation, World Fuel Services

Elise Fox is Senior Director of Sustainability-Aviation at World Fuel Services. She serves as lead for aviation sustainability, which includes end-to-end commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), Book & Claim (SAFc), and the associated environmental attributes. Dr. Fox received her BS in Chemistry from the College of Charleston and MS and PhD in Materials Science from Pennsylvania State University. Her graduate work focused on the production of ultraclean fuels, including deep desulfurization of diesel and jet fuel and the purification of hydrogen freestreams from bio-based alcohols. Prior to joining World Fuel Services, she worked at Savanah River National Laboratory on renewable fuel and energy production, deployment, and policy. Dr. Fox was named a Fellow of the American Chemical Society in 2017 for her contributions to the profession in renewable energy and fuels. She is a member of the NBAA Environmental Committee, the NATA Environmental Committee, the GAMA Environmental Committee, and the Business Aviation SAF Steering Coalition.

Caroline Gentry

Director, Environmental Markets, Nodal Exchange

Caroline is responsible for overseeing environmental markets at Nodal Exchange. This involves tracking regulatory developments at the state and federal level in coordination with IncubEx, Nodal’s partner on environmental markets.

Caroline has 25 years of experience in energy and environmental attribute markets. At price reporting agency Argus Media she was responsible for overseeing the launch of North American natural gas and US and European environmental market coverage, including SO2, NOx, carbon and renewable energy certificates (RECs).

Prior to joining Nodal Caroline managed the RECs portfolio at Anew, which was formed from the merger of Element Markets and Bluesource.

She has an MBA from the University of Sussex Business School and a BA in Russian and Soviet Studies from the University of Manchester.

Mike Taylor

President, Emissions Experts

Mike Taylor is President and Founder of Emissions Experts which is a leading environmental credit brokerage and consulting firm. Mike has over twenty-five years trading, brokering and consulting on environmental credits including the California and Washington Cap and Invest Programs. He is a bestselling author with a book on California and Quebec carbon cap and trade programs. Mike has transacted over two billion dollars’ worth of environmental credits in his career as well as been quoted in numerous publications including CNBC, Fortune, Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg.
Previous to Emissions Experts, Mike successfully founded Emission Advisors and successfully grew and sold the firm after it achieved US Emissions House of the Year and landed on INC 5000 Fastest Growing Company List.

Jon Constantino

Founding Principal, Tradesman Advisors

Jon Costantino is the founder and Principal of Tradesman Advisors, Inc., a Sacramento-based consulting
and advocacy firm. He has 33 years of regulatory experience both within Government and in the private
sector, focused on air quality and climate change regulatory implementation and policy development.
He was the original Climate Change Planning Manager for the California Air Resources Board and
oversaw the first publication of the State’s economy-wide climate policy document—the AB 32 Scoping
Plan.
Prior to founding his own firm, Jon managed a climate change regulatory practice for a diverse portfolio
of clients at a national law firm. He also was the lead legislative analyst at CARB, focused on energy and
transportation fuels. He started his career as an Air Quality Engineer at one of California’s local air
quality districts.

Chelsey Robinson

Director, Bioeconomy & Sustainable Ag Systems, Bayer

Geoff Cooper

President & CEO, Renewable Fuels Association

Alycia Tolman

Director of Carbon Markets, American Biogas Council

Alycia Tolman is the Director of Carbon Markets at the American Biogas Council (ABC), where she leads efforts to ensure that the carbon benefits of biogas systems are recognised and rewarded across existing and emerging environmental markets. In this role, she plays a critical part in ABC’s policy team, working closely with members and industry partners to shape regulatory frameworks and develop market-based solutions that support the growth of the biogas industry. As a part of this work, she manages the Biogas Carbon Accounting Tool (Biogas CAT), that helps quantify and communicate the greenhouse gas benefits of biogas projects. The tool empowers project developers and policymakers to make data-driven decisions that accelerate emissions reductions and capital investment. Alycia’s work focuses on analysing complex policies, assessing their impact on the industry and ABC members, and drafting technical summaries and legislative or regulatory text to support member engagement and informed advocacy. She brings nearly a decade of utility-sector experience, including the development and launch of voluntary RNG and carbon offset programs, and specializes in renewable energy programs, market-based carbon instruments, and systems-level decarbonisation strategies. Her insights and cross-sector experience make her a strong voice in the conversation on lifecycle analysis and the role of biogas in global carbon markets.

Jessica Johnson Bennett

Partner, AJW, Inc

Jessica Johnson Bennett brings more than 20 years of experience in public and government relations, focused largely in the energy, agriculture, and sustainability areas. She provides political strategic guidance and counsel to clients as they interact with policymakers in Washington, DC, and beyond.

Her thought leadership offers valuable insight to help clients successfully engage with Congress to meet their business objectives.

Jessica’s knowledge of Capitol Hill helps clients navigate the political environment seamlessly as they work to advocate on behalf of their issues from both sides of the aisle. As a former congressional staffer, Jessica understands firsthand that a meeting alone does not translate to results; success takes follow-up and hard work through all levels of a congressional office.

Her dedicated approach and in-depth understanding of government processes and client technologies fit AJW’s philosophy of government affairs service.

During her tenure in Washington, Jessica also worked as the federal affairs representative for various national trade associations representing agriculture, clean fuels, and small businesses, and Bunge North America, a Fortune 500 agribusiness and food company.

Arjun Patney

Senior Advisor, Avondale Private Capital

William Tyndall

Partner, AJW, Inc

During a 30-year career in the energy industry, Bill has held senior roles in the private sector, government, and NGOs. Bill serves AJW clients as a strategic co-lead for our Energy Transition practice. He applies his passion for harnessing private sector innovation to solve policy challenges to create growth strategies and investment opportunities.

Bill’s private sector experience includes:

*Serving as the President of NLC Energy LLC, a biomethane developer and operator
*Leading a distributed energy investment and acquisition group as Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for the Commercial Business Unit of Duke Energy
*Leading the Corporate Strategy and M&A group for Cinergy Corp.
*Structuring carbon investment vehicles and clean energy investments for a Wall Street boutique investment firm
*Managing environmental compliance and environmental markets as Vice President of Environment of Cinergy Corp.
*Twice running Federal Government Affairs Offices for energy companies (Cinergy Corp. and Duke Energy)
*Serving as President of the Center for Clean Air Policy, a nonprofit that provides advice to developing countries on climate strategy and energy transformation.

Bill’s government experience includes serving as minority counsel to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Before working for Congress, he served first as a Senior Counsel and then as a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and Radiation.

Heidi Herzog

Director of Sales & Trading, Renewable Diesel, Americas, Neste

Heidi Herzog is Director of Renewable Diesel Sales & Trading for the Americas at Neste. Heidi joined Neste in 2024 and is responsible for the execution of the company’s renewable diesel sales & trading commercial strategy, business development, portfolio growth and customer engagement within the Americas region.


Heidi has 30 years of experience working in the energy industry. Prior to joining Neste, Heidi was the Vice President, New Energies and Head of Commercial and Business Development at Vopak Americas, where she was responsible for revenue delivery and organic and inorganic business growth for bulk liquids, gases, and renewable products. Before that, Heidi held commercial roles at Phillips 66, BP, Enron and others. Heidi holds a BA in Economics and Finance from Simpson College and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

Michael Dreibelbis

Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP

Michael Dreibelbis advises sponsors, developers, and investors on energy and infrastructure project development, with an emphasis on energy transition, carbon removal, low carbon fuels, and carbon capture and sequestration.

Michael brings extensive experience guiding clients through project development and investments across the full spectrum of the energy transition, including:

*Nature-based carbon removal
*Engineered carbon removal
*Carbon capture and sequestration
*Low-carbon fuel supply and certification
*Hydrogen
*California cap-and-trade compliance

In a prior role he served as commercial lead in development of carbon projects, including dairy methane capture, renewable energy, EV charging, and improved forest management.

A recognized thought leader, Michael frequently speaks at major conferences, including VERGE, NACW, Argus, IETA, and New York Climate Week.

Josh Bledsoe

Partner, Latham & Watkins LLP

Josh Bledsoe advises clients on complex infrastructure and development projects, particularly those utilizing renewable or low-carbon technologies. He has broad experience in the permitting, entitlement, environmental review, and financing of cleantech projects; and also handles related administrative and judicial challenges. Mr. Bledsoe has deep experience with climate change law, including California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (commonly known as “AB 32”) and associated Air Resources Board regulations such as the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and the Cap-and-Trade Program. He guides clients to monetize the low-carbon attributes of their products or services under various carbon pricing and regulatory regimes. He also possesses in-depth knowledge of the California Environmental Quality Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Air Act (and its state and local counterparts throughout California), the Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and the Warren-Alquist Act.

Leah Kennon

Principal, Analytics & Consulting, Argus

Leah Kennon joined Argus Media in December 2023 to lead Argus’ Biofuels Consulting group. Leah and her team have taken on several projects in the biofuels space, including market outlooks, strategy reviews, and feasibility studies around Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Renewable Diesel, Ethanol, Biodiesel and Renewable Natural Gas. Prior to Argus, she spent 10 years at Shell in various roles from chemicals sales and marketing to conventional and renewable fuels supply in the California market. During her time in the chemicals business, Leah created global strategies and developed logic to forecast product pricing, assisting in sales negotiations as well as capital investment evaluations. In her time in Shell’s Trading and Supply organization, Leah optimized the California fuels supply chain to meet the needs of Shell’s retail customers by procuring the most advantaged fuels and delivering them to market centers. Leah also worked for Dow Chemical and Schlumberger as an engineer early in her career. Leah holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Rice University and a Chemical Engineering Degree from University of Virginia.

Jessica Dell

Editorial Manager, Environmental Markets, Argus

Louise Burke

SVP Business Development, Argus

Zander Capozzola

Principal, Analytics & Consulting, Argus

Matthew Oatway

SVP North America, Argus

Matthew Oatway is Head of North America for Argus, based in Houston. Matt joined Argus in London in 2018 as Chief of Staff. Since 2020, he has led Argus’ business in the United States and Canada. Prior to joining Argus, Matt worked in market analysis and corporate strategy roles at fundamental data provider Genscape and media company DMGT. Matt holds a bachelor’s degree in English Literature from Dartmouth College.

Michael Ball

Editor, GenFuels, Editor, Argus Air Daily

Michael Ball is editor of Argus Air Daily, the leading source of pricing, news and analysis for the North American environmental markets. Michael joined Argus in 2003 and has been editor of Air Daily since 2012. He has covered wide range of state and federal environmental issues, including the development of California’s AB 32 legislation, US Environmental Protection Agency regulations such as the Clean Power Plan, and Clean Air Act cases before the US Supreme Court.

Elliot Blackburn

Senior Reporter, Argus