Matthew C. Atwood – President

Mr. Atwood is an entrepreneur with expertise in sustainable technologies, project engineering, project finance, and information technology systems.  Before founding Algae Systems, he conducted an exhaustive global search of various algae cultivation technologies and conducted comprehensive development efforts in several large-scale biofuel production and manufacturing facilities.  Mr. Atwood came to the biofuels industry after careers in non-profit management, government relations, and advanced scientific research and management in organic chemistry.  He continues to be involved in the governance of several non-profit organizations and serves as an advisor to several diverse organizations from public carbon finance corporations to private banks.

John Perry Barlow – Managing Partner

John Perry Barlow has enjoyed a diverse career that has spanned many industries and roles from business owner, rancher, media entrepreneur, early internet pioneer, leadership in multiple foundations and management consulting.  He has and continues to be a technology and management consultant to groups such as IBM, the United States Navy, Visa International, American Banking Institute and many more.  He co-founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation and has served on various non-profit boards including the Wyoming Outdoor Council, External Advisory Board of the National Supercomputing Alliance and several foundations.  Mr. Barlow has extensive experience in developing nations, having personally connected 10 African countries to the internet.  He was called “One of the 25 Most Influential People in Financial Services” by FutureBanker Magazine,  “The Thomas Jefferson of Cyberspace” by Yahoo Internet Life, and a “Cyberspace Cadet” by the Wall Street Journal, which is fitting since he is credited with having coined the phrase “cyberspace”.

Jacob C. Davis – Managing Partner

Mr. Davis is a biofuels industry veteran with as a former COO of a global renewable fuels firm.  He a strong foundation in global economics with key abilities in strategic financial management and project finance.  Mr. Davis has developed processes for monitoring and evaluating projects for benefits, financial viability, and project assessment with sponsors and stakeholders, seeking to consistently achieve overall objectives. He has experience in implementing effective economic prioritization practices, and resource planning. Mr. Davis has depth of experience in identifying and securing significant equity seed capital. He has facilitated complex international engineering projects (Sweden, Israel, Canada, Germany, and U.S.A.) simultaneously working with stakeholders globally. As an experienced biofuels industry resource, Mr. Davis completed site design management for four biodiesel manufacturing facilities with $300 million USD capital costs.  Additionally Mr. Davis has instituted risk management & governance processes, policies and reporting tools allowing enhanced visibility and accountability.

Dr. Zoa Hough-Maguire – Managing Partner

Dr. Hough-Maguire is a seasoned executive with expertise in operational, organizational & systems management. She holds dual Ph.D.s in information systems and organizational behavior, a J.D. and advanced business degrees. Over the past 15 years Dr. Hough-Maguire has become seen as a thought leader for many Fortune 500/Global 1000 clients in efforts to turn around challenging initiatives and has a strong results driven track record of guiding organizations on the path to success. Having lived and worked in many countries during her management consulting and corporate career she has had the opportunity to be the defining leadership in large scale global operational & systems initiatives, project delivery and corporate governance. Dr. Hough-Maguire has lead across organizational areas from advising industry leaders on key decisions to hands on managing and nurturing the development of leading edge technologies in a variety of roles from Project Management to C-Level. Dr. Hough-Maguire was the youngest female Partner globally in a Big5 consulting firm, has been through building two successful spin off technology & consulting busineses as a co-founder/managing partner and one as a CEO. Her career spans many industries, though most significantly those enjoying rapid growth while facing challenges in high technology, biotech & energy.

Alex Gorden – Managing Partner

Mr. Gorden F.R.M, S.I.E (Dip.) is a financial industry executive with 15 years experience of systems design and business management, spanning technology, trading and the environmental markets. He graduated with M.A. Honors in Mathematics and Law from Cambridge University, England, is a Diploma member of the Securities Institute in London, and a GARP-accredited Financial Risk Manager. After starting his career on the bond trading floor of a major Japanese bank, he spent the majority of his career in financial technology, including the design of a bond trading system which has traded in excess of $2 trillion to date. He has played a leading role in two previous start-ups, one of which is now a publicly traded company with a $400 million market capitalization. More recently, he has shifted his focus to the carbon and environmental markets, and is currently leading the commercial development of the U.S. environmental markets practice at a major U.S. financial insitution, focused on the provision of risk benchmarks for the international carbon markets under Kyoto, and the analysis of exotic carbon financial products.