Team

Mr. Thrall joined the Biosphere Technologies group to lead the commercial operations of the business as head of BioRefinex Canada, a subsidiary of Biosphere Technologies. Chris brings over 15 years of international energy, environment, and agriculture commodity operations experience to the company. Prior to joining BioRefinex, he held a number of senior management positions with Direct Energy Marketing Limited, Centrica plc, and Enron Europe Limited. Most recently Chris headed up Direct Energy’s renewable energy and carbon markets business in North America. Prior to that he managed their Canadian gas and power trading operation. He also led M&A teams that successfully acquired five gas-fired power stations in North America and the United Kingdom representing over 1700 MW of generation capacity. Chris currently is a Board Member of McIntyre Ranching Co. Ltd. He also served on the Boards of the Association of Power Producers of Ontario and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, based out of Washington, DC. He received his MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from McGill University.

Dr. Schmidt founded the parent company, Biosphere Technologies Inc., where he directed the research and development of environmental technologies for Europe and North America, focusing on the transformation of disease-risk residues and waste organic materials into safe, valuable products, such as organic fertilizers. He pursued university studies at McMaster, Hartford Seminary Foundation and Yale University and later returned to Alberta where he obtained his PhD. He served as Special Consultant to Alberta Premiers Manning and Strom from 1965 to 1971, during which time he was engaged in the development of a wide range of innovative social and economic initiatives, including the establishment of the first Ministry of the Environment in the British Commonwealth. Following his government activities, he focused on knowledge based industrial ventures in the field of high-powered lasers for industrial and research applications, and the development of plastic/steel composite products. Dr. Schmidt continues to head up Biosphere Technologies Inc. but is responsible for directing ongoing research and development activities at BioRefinex.

Ms. Graham joined the BioRefinex team in 2021 as Finance Director. She brings over 15 years public practice experience working with SMEs in a variety of industries and stages of development. Her areas of expertise include process development, internal controls and integrated system development. As a public practice accountant Teresa also brings extensive knowledge in corporate finance and taxation. Teresa holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Concordia University, and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta.

Mr. Andrews has been providing business and technical development for the Biosphere Technologies group, primarily developing its technical, business and value proposition models. He was responsible for operating protocol during the BSE trials at the University of Edinburgh. He has held previous positions as Director of Product Development and Director of Research and Development for an Edmonton-based technology company. Mr. Andrews was instrumental in transforming this small start-up company into a recognized leader in a global market (Canadian Exporter of The Year 2002). He holds several patents and has been involved with technology companies for over 20 years.

Carl brings a wealth of engineering and corporate oversight experience to the company at a key stage in its development. In 1982, Carl founded Gemini Engineering Ltd., the predecessor company to Gemini Corporation. He took his company public in 1999 and served as Gemini Corporation’s President and Chief Executive Officer until 2010, after which he served as Chairman of the Board until November 2012. Carl has accumulated experience in engineering, design, project management, fabrication, construction, operations, and maintenance of heavy industrial facilities over the course of his 35-year career. Furthermore, over the past eleven years he acted as a senior advisor for the development of the BioRefinex thermal hydrolysis technology and engaged in several Alberta biogas initiatives.

Kevin brings over 20 years of experience with project execution, operations, and maintenance experience in heavy industrial facilities throughout Alberta.  Through his company, Stride Management Inc., Kevin’s experience includes helping to set up and staff processing plants across a variety of industries, including oil and gas drilling, water well drilling, and mining.  Kevin also owns and operates a farm and has a deep understanding of the livestock industry.

John provides business and strategy advisory perspectives to the Biosphere group from having spending most of his 30-year career working and Product Management and Strategy in the communications industry.  He oversees his family’s long-term investment in Biosphere that was established by his father, Ken McCready, former CEO of TransAlta Utilities.  John currently leads the Product Management organization for Dell Technologies. Prior to joining Dell in 2020, Mr. McCready was the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Genband.