The Pajarito Powder team brings extensive experience from both fuel cell startups and the industry as a whole, from theoretical and practical applications in research, and finally from manufacturing and business development. Pajarito Powder has an experienced Board of Managers, a Chairman & CEO with a successful fuel cell exit, and team with extensive catalyst engineering experience, along with relevant patents and world-class Technical Advisory Board.
All contribute to the effort to produce advanced catalysts for mobility and hydrogen generation. Pajarito Powder’s patented VariPore™ process is readily-scaled for high-volume manufacturing – the condition ultimately necessary for cost-effective, widespread fuel cell adoption.
Board of Managers
Thomas J. Stephenson
Paul Short
Prof. Dr. Christian Mohrdieck
Prof. Dr. Christian Mohrdieck is Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) of cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG. He had been CEO of Mercedes-Benz Fuel Cell GmbH since 2015, which in June 2020 was first merged into Daimler Truck Fuel Cell GmbH & Co. KG, then in March 2021 into cellcentric GmbH & Co. KG in March 2021, for which he served as Managing Director.
After studies of physics in Germany and France, Prof. Mohrdieck joined Daimler-Benz Research in 1989. In 1995 he became head of the Executive Office of the Member of the Board responsible for Research and Technology in Stuttgart.
From 1999 on Prof. Mohrdieck was a Senior Manager for Fuel Cell Systems with Daimler-Chrysler Corporation in the United States. Back in Germany, he became a Director of Structural Materials at DaimlerChrysler AG and afterwards in 2003 Director of Alternative Energy and Drive Systems. In 2005 Prof. Mohrdieck assumed the responsibility for Fuel Cell Drive System Development.
In 2006 he got the additional responsibility for Li-Ion battery development at Daimler AG. Two years later Prof. Christian Mohrdieck became a Director of Fuel Cell & Battery Drive Development. He became a Director Fuel Cell at the Daimler Group in 2012.
In 2013 the University Ulm appointed Dr. Mohrdieck Honorary Professor. He currently teaches at the University of Ulm and the Technical University of Vienna..
Dr. Sukhwan Yun
Dr. Inge Schildermans
Mark Marlow
Management Team
Dr. Michele Ostraat
Melissa Brock
Kyle Ellis
Before joining the team at Pajarito Powder, Mr. Ellis served as Production Facilities Manager for xF Technologies, another New Mexico venture backed company. In this position, he led a team of engineers, chemists and technicians in a pilot facility, producing novel biofuels and green chemical platforms from renewable biomass.
Education
Fort Lewis College, B.S. Chemistry/Biochemistry, 2010Webb Johnson
Mr. Johnson joined Pajarito Powder in November 2015 as Director of Business Development. Over his career, Mr Johnson has worked in varying capacities for software and hardware startups, including his own. Mr. Johnson was Vice President of an emerging technologies consortium called “Next Generation Economy Initiative” in the early 2000s, based upon cluster research developed by Michael Porter and later, the Milken Foundation aimed at leveraging National Laboratory strengths in technology development while addressing weaknesses in commercialization. At SWSH, LLC he helped recruit and assemble senior engineering and science teams for startups throughout the southwest, including Lumidigm, a biometric startup acquired by Swedish firm Assa Abloy through its Texas-based U.S. subsidiary HID.
In 2014 Mr. Johnson helped establish the ABQid Accelerator, a Global Accelerator Network-accredited program based on the Techstars model using Lean Startup processes to “accelerate” startups.