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 and serves as the Green Energy Advisor to Savoil Energy.
Walter Matthew Rogers
Chief Legal Officer
Walt, an IARDC-registered attorney practicing in Illinois, is SynSel’s Chief Legal Officer. For 12 years in the Netherlands, he was a business consultant and became fluent in Dutch. His legal career began at Mayer Brown in Chicago, representing Fortune 100 clients like Mobil Oil and United Airlines. Prior to law, Walt was a business columnist for the Dallas Morning News. He has been published in the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Reuters International, among other media outlets. In 1992, Walt was Editor-in-Chief of the Notre Dame Law Review and graduated cum laude from Notre Dame Law School.
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.
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.
Martin Murray
Executive VP Real Estate
Martin is a director and serves as Executive VP Finance. He is a seasoned executive and a serial entrepreneur with 35 years of experience in commodity trading, finance, and commercial real estate development in the Chicago area. Martin has a strong background in international financing with experience in foreign currency option and cash trading derivatives. He has also customized option trading positions for large investment banking customers and advised clients on the economic and political outlooks for risk-analysis of large institutional accounts. Martin holds a Bachelor of Management and Finance from Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Brian Buckta
Executive Administrator - Director
Brian serves SynSel as Executive Administrator / Director. He has played an integral role in establishing SynSel policies, procedures, platforms, and communications. Among his many duties, he currently leads strategic executive assignments, bringing a wealth of professional experience in communications and administration. Brian is the founder and principal of Written Impressions, a consulting firm focused on serving the renewable energy, environmental protection, and organic/sustainable agriculture sectors. Brian has an AA in Marketing from Gateway Technical College and additional education in communications, business administration and psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Parkside.