Board of Managers
Thomas J. Stephenson
Board Chair
Prior to co-founding Pajarito Powder in the spring of 2012, Mr. Stephenson was a co-founder of the Verge Fund in 2003, and currently serves as Managing General Partner in addition to his responsibilities with Pajarito Powder. Mr. Stephenson has worked with a number of current and past Verge portfolio companies, including Altela and Wellkeeper, and was previously on the Board of Directors of LabStart, a joint-venture entity created to assist in commercialization of technologies from Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the sources of technology for Pajarito Powder. He previously served as a director and the lead investor for Mesofuel, a start-up company commercializing novel hydrogen reforming technologies for the fuel cell industry.
Paul Short
Vice Chair
Prior to co-founding Pajarito Powder in the spring of 2012, Mr. Stephenson was a co-founder of the Verge Fund in 2003, and currently serves as Managing General Partner in addition to his responsibilities with Pajarito Powder. Mr. Stephenson has worked with a number of current and past Verge portfolio companies, including Altela and Wellkeeper, and was previously on the Board of Directors of LabStart, a joint-venture entity created to assist in commercialization of technologies from Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the sources of technology for Pajarito Powder. He previously served as a director and the lead investor for Mesofuel, a start-up company commercializing novel hydrogen reforming technologies for the fuel cell industry.
Prof. Dr. Christian Mohrdieck
Vice Chairman
Prof. Dr. Christian Mohrdieck was Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for Hyzon Motors.
Previously, Prof. Dr. Mohrdieck was the 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.
Paul Whittleston
Ecovyst, Inc. - President, Catalyst Technologies
Paul has achieved a long and successful international career across the chemical industry, with leading global companies including Allied Colloids, CIBA Specialty Chemicals, BASF Corporation, TI Fluid Systems and most recently with SI Group. He holds an MBA from the University of Bradford, an MSc in Environmental Analytical Science from Sheffield Hallam University and a BSc in Chemistry with Analytical Chemistry from the University of Huddersfield, all in the UK. Paul is currently the President of the Advanced Materials & Catalysts Division of Ecovyst.
Mark Marlow
Westways Staffing Services, Inc. - Chief Financial Officer
20+ year finance executive with two successful IPOs. Helped grow Virtual Radiologic Corp into one of the largest Telemedicine providers in the United States. Former Managing Partner at Omphalos Venture Partners. B.S.B.A in Accounting and an MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.
Dr. Inge Schildermans
NV Bekaert SA - Group Technology & Innovation Officer and SVP Energy Transition at Bekaert
Dr. Ir Inge Schildermans is the Senior Vice President of Fiber Technologies at Bekaert, a world market and technology leader in steel wire transformation and coating technologies. After finishing Chemical Engineering studies in Belgium, she combined a PhD in Applied Bio Sciences with R&D project management at Bekaert Fiber Technologies. Mrs. Schildermans held several positions within Bekaert, ranging from Technology and Innovation management at the HQ to Operational & Country management in Eastern Europe (Slovakia) before she returned to Belgium in 2019 to take up the current role of SVP in Fiber Technologies. Her Business unit develops, manufactures and commercializes high-end metal fiber products for several end-applications in Filtration (polymer, semicon, gas) and in Automotive applications offering Conductive & Heat resistant Textiles and Heating Cables. Since 2000, Bekaert Fiber Technologies is active in the development and commercialization of Porous transport layers for PEM electrolysers. Additionally, Mrs. Schildermans is Board member of Hyve, a consortium of Belgian industry and research players developing new breakthrough water electrolysis solutions.
Boki Kim
Hyundai CVC - Senior Manager
Boki Kim is a Senior Manager in Hyundai's Corporate Venture Capital division who leads vesting in Series A to D startups in mobility, energy, and tech industries, conducting and coordinating strategic investment covering M&A and PMI. Mr. Kim attained the rank of Sergeant in the Republic of Korea Air Force, where he served for more than 2 years. Mr. Kim has a MBA from INSEAD and BA from Yonsei University.
Management Team
John Rice
Chief Executive Officer
As an Interim CEO, Rice has stabilized and reset companies to bring in a full-time CEO. As the Chair and CEO of public companies, Rice has worked well with NASDAQ and the SEC in the course of conducting several successful offerings. As the Chair, interim CEO, Director in Charge of the Audit Committee, and in other similar capacities, Rice has been instrumental in building as well as negotiating investor exits for a number of companies from (re)start-up into enterprises yielding 10X and more in investor returns. First trained in turnarounds and then in venture capital investment, Rice is expert in architecting both public and private financings, creating an atmosphere of confident urgency based on financial plans that keep the fundamentals fundamental, sales and marketing strategies that rapidly accomplish goals, and upon strategies that lead/drive companies to perform. As a strategic thinker and problem solver, Rice is often brought into companies on special assignment in order to help resolve crises and sensitive conflict issues as well as to develop new business strategies and initiatives. In his capacity as a discreet negotiator/facilitator for crisis resolution, Rice has served clientele ranging from the Fortune 500 to start-ups, and handled problems ranging from executive succession and terminations, to negotiating license agreements with large companies, to litigation settlement, to formulation and execution of growth 'breakout strategies', to negotiations of company sales, divestitures, and acquisitions.
Dr. Michele Ostraat
Chief Operations Officer
Dr. Michele Ostraat is an accomplished materials scientist and technical leader with more than 20 years of experience in advanced materials, catalysis, and clean-energy technologies. As Pajarito’s Chief Operating Officer, she is responsible for driving strategic growth, scaling manufacturing operations, and advancing the company’s intellectual property portfolio in support of the global transition to clean hydrogen.
Prior to joining Pajarito Powder, Dr. Ostraat held senior leadership positions at several prominent research organizations. She served as Chief Operating Officer at the US DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory, where she guided large-scale energy R&D programs, organizational alignment, and technical operations. Earlier, she was Aramco’s Boston Research Center Leader, where she established and led a cutting-edge research center focused on porous materials, polymeric membranes, and heterogeneous catalysts. At RTI International, she directed applied R&D efforts spanning nanotechnology, chemical processing, and international development, collaborating extensively with U.S. federal agencies and global partners.
Dr. Ostraat earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology and holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Trinity University. She is an inventor on more than 25 patents and has authored over 35 peer-reviewed publications with more than 2,400 citations and a h-index of 24, reflecting her sustained impact in materials chemistry, nanotechnology, and energy systems.
Daniel Topley
Director of Manufacturing
Mr. Topley joined Pajarito Powder as Director of Manufacturing, following his role as Plant Manager of the Materion factory in Albuquerque. Daniel provides guidance in the scale-up of catalyst and component manufacturing. Previously, Mr. Topley worked in various manufacturing and engineering management roles at Materion, Emcore Photovoltaics, and Texas Instruments. He brings nearly three decades of manufacturing experience, and knowledge in process optimization, scale-up, and driving profitability. Daniel has a Masters of Manufacturing Engineering and an MBA from the University of New Mexico, and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from New Mexico State University.
Webb Johnson
Senior Director of Business Development
Mr. Johnson joined Pajarito Powder in November 2015 as Director of Business Development. Over his career, Webb has worked in varying capacities for software and hardware startups, including his own. Webb was Vice President of emerging technologies consortium “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 Webb helped establish the ABQid Accelerator, a Global Accelerator Network-accredited program based on the Techstars model using Lean Startup processes to “accelerate” startups.