The Northeast Biodiesel Team


LYNN BENANDER

LYNN BENANDER

LYNN BENANDER, PRESIDENT, BOARD MEMBER, FUNDRAISING TEAM LEAD

Lynn builds community ownership of sustainable energy resources and works with Co-op Power's network of Community Energy Co-ops to develop consumer, producer, worker-owned and other locally-owned businesses that meet basic energy needs. Ms. Benander brings expertise in community finance, participatory planning, and governance to support new business development and job creation.  She has provided fundraising, strategic planning, marketing, executive search management, business planning and technical assistance consulting to hundreds of businesses in the Northeast including Cabot Creamery, Collective Copies, Northeast Cooperatives, PV Squared, Hillside Organic Farm and Pizza Company, and River Valley Market. Lynn Benander lives in Shelburne Falls, Mass. and serves on numerous cooperative and community boards and formerly served as her town’s finance committee chair. 

RICK DUREPO

Richard durepo, GENERAL MANAGER

Rick is a retired R & D pilot plant manager at Monsanto/Solutia/Eastman Chemical companies in Springfield, Mass. Rick has 35 years of experience managing operating teams and process equipment in a film extrusion pilot plant, which developed new process and products for the safety glass interlayer and photovoltaic films division.

Rick has proficiency in reactor and extrusion equipment operations, raw material and finished product handling, machinery and facility maintenance and process safety.

Core competencies include team management, facility management, process safety, quality control, new product/process development, maintenance management, Management of Change process, operations and staff scheduling, cost control and managing capital projects.

Rick has participated in start-ups of new manufacturing plants in China and Brazil as well as process upgrades to plants in Mexico and Belgium, primarily working as the embedded technology rep on one of the rotating manufacturing shifts.

Rick is a 3-year US Army veteran, serving in Germany.

Rick is past President of Ware Youth Sports and served as a volunteer coach for 15 years. In his spare time he enjoys running, hiking, skiing, ocean kayaking, camping, golf, and spending time with the grandchildren.

Sam Bartlett

SAM BARTLETT

SAM BARTLETT, Board Chair

Sam is an electrical engineer with 40 years of experience in sensors and motion control. With a BSEE from UMass and an MSEE from U Rochester, he has been a consultant dba Bartlett Technologies to several small businesses. He has also taught physics and engineering at the high school and college levels. He is an investor in Northeast Biodiesel and is an investor representative on the board. In his spare time he is president of the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum and maintains trails and leads backcountry ski trips for the Catamount Trail Association and the Dutch Hill Alliance of Skiers and Hikers.

Scott Reed

SCOTT REED

SCOTT REED, BOARD MEMBER, WORKER COOP DEVELOPMENT LEAD

Scott has a layperson's background in science, mechanics, agriculture, construction, energy efficiency, entrepreneurship, business management, cooperative development, community land trusts, new economy. He has a graduate degree in computer science, worked as an independent software developer for about thirty years and ran an organic vegetable farm with his spouse for a decade. He helped organize a neighbor to neighbor solar hot water installation project in our area and was a green jobs trainer for at-risk youth, a certified residential energy auditor, and a supporter and investor in the biodiesel plant from the beginning. He's now retired and has become closely involved in the biodiesel project in the last couple of years.

BRIAN CLARK

BRIAN CLARK, CLERK, BOARD MEMBER, TECHNICAL TEAM LEAD

Brian Clark was born and raised in Ashfield, MA. He has an M.S. in Computer Science and worked at IBM for 30 years as a computer operating system designer. He was appointed as an IBM Fellow in 1996. In 2007, he returned to family’s 4th generation apple farm (Clark Brothers Orchards), as a partner. There he oversaw the financing and installation of the farms 40Kw Solar PV system in 2011. Currently Brian is serving in Ashfield’s Conservation Commission and Green Communities Committee.  He has served on the Board of Northeast Biodiesel for two years.  He is a member of the board of directors for the MA/RI State Chapter of the American Chestnut Foundation and manages its largest research orchard.

Dan Post

Dan Post

DAN POST, TREASURER, BOARD MEMBER

Dan has been on the Board for almost 3 years, serving as a representative for Class C shareholders. He has been involved with fundraising efforts and with keeping investors and lenders informed on Northeast Biodiesel's progress toward launch. He has been interested and involved with environmental issues and alternative energy since 1978, at which time he was part of a college class that researched, designed, and built a passive solar house when such things were not yet well known. He is delighted to be able to be working on a project that will have a much larger beneficial environmental and social impact than that first project.

NEAL JENNISON

NEAL JENNISON

NEAL JENNISON, ADVISORY TEAM, SECURITY TEAM LEAD

Neal is a retired Shift Manager at the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. Held a Senior Reactor License and managed an operating crew of 13 men and women. Project manager overseeing the roll out of an upgraded protective tagging software package and procedure. Project team member to install a new emergency diesel generator. Current Committee Chairman for Boy Scout Troop 5 in Greenfield. Six year submarine veteran, served on the commissioning crew for the USS Michigan (SSBN 727).