Management Team
(Click on the names for detailed profiles)
Jerod Smeenk - Engineering Manager
John Reardon - R&D Manager
Norman Reese - General Manager
Bill Lee - Committee Member
Dan Benson - Committee Member
Jerod Smeenk, John Reardon, and Norman Reese are operational managers, with a management committee including leadership experienced in ethanol plant and farm management.
Jerod Smeenk, MSME
Engineering Manager
Mr. Smeenk brings over 12 years experience in project management, as well as research and design of thermochemical conversion systems for biomass (in both gasification, combustion, and pyrolysis). Mr. Smeenk has designed, built, and operated numerous biomass conversion systems including a fluid bed gasifier for Pioneer Hi-Bred International, several pilot gasifiers owned by Iowa State University, and several other gasifiers built by various organizations. Mr. Smeenk has been active in biomass research, development, demonstration, and commercialization of solid fuel gasification and gas cleaning systems throughout the past decade.
Mr. Smeenk was most recently the President of Carbon Energy Technology, Inc., an engineering consulting firm that provided design and consulting services for companies looking to utilize biomass energy. He also worked at Iowa State University’s Center for Sustainable Environmental Technologies as a project engineer developing thermochemical conversion technology. He earned a B.S. in Engineering from Dordt College and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University.
John P. Reardon, MSChE
Research and Development Manager
John Reardon co-founded Frontline in 2003 after seeing a need for first-rate integrated system solutions in large-scale biomass gasification that included environmentally sound gas cleanup and conditioning. Mr. Reardon brings over 12 years experience in engineering thermal process, reforming, heterogeneous catalysis, biomass conversion and hot gas cleanup. He is a technological innovator who strives for technical excellence as he leads the development of Frontline’s CLEANGAS™ technology.
Mr. Reardon earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering and a MS degree in chemical engineering from the University of New Mexico. He received the Associated Western Universities Fellowship in 1996 to perform his graduate thesis work at the Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM), fuel sciences division, where he developed improved supports for hydro-treating catalysts. Key experience includes joining Directed Technologies, Inc (Arlington, VA) in 1999 where he became a member of the Ford-Mobile fuel processing team. Mr. Reardon was a co-inventor in various fuel processing patents filed by DTI and H2Gen. Reardon later served as Research Director in charge of gas cleaning and conditioning technology for CPC (Littleton, CO), before leaving to found Frontline BioEnergy.
Norman Reese, M.Eng., P.E.
General Manager
Norman Reese provides a combination of corporate management, project management, and mechanical engineering skills. Mr. Reese grew up on a farm and is familiar with the needs and perspectives of the rural community.
His education includes coursework at Harvard University, a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at LeTourneau University, and a master's in engineering at the University of Colorado. Mr. Reese furthered his engineering skills working at NASA in Houston where he was responsible for mechanical design and test of a variety of Space Shuttle equipment.
Project and corporate management skills were developed and demonstrated at Peak Industries. As project engineer at this high-tech manufacturing company, he led nine new product introduction teams, generating revenues of approximately $20 million. Teams he led provided mechanical design, component sourcing, development of manufacturing process and test equipment, and process validation. The projects included medical, biotech, data storage and military products with up to 50 suppliers each and customers throughout the nation. He was soon promoted to engineering manager and contributed much in defining corporate procedures and strategic planning while overseeing the documentation, technician, and engineering groups. He left Peak Industries in January, 2003, and co-founded Frontline BioEnergy.
Bill Lee
Management Committee Member
Bill Lee is General Manager of Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company, a 45 million gallon per year, farmer-owned ethanol plant in Benson, Minnesota. Since 1996, he has led CVEC’s efforts to expand fuel ethanol production and to create a uniquely diverse product and marketing portfolio.
Prior to CVEC, Mr. Lee held positions with Delta-T Corporation and A. E. Staley where he was responsible for design, construction and operation of ethanol facilities and other grain-processing operations. Mr. Lee is a Chemical Engineering graduate of Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.
From 2004 to 2006, Mr. Lee served as the Chairman of the Renewable Fuels Association, the trade association for the US ethanol industry. Mr. Lee currently serves as Chairman of the Renewable Fuels Foundation – the educational, research and strategic planning arm of the Renewable Fuels Association. He continues to serve RFA as Executive Committee member.
Dan Benson, PhD
Management Committee Member
For the last seven years, Dr. Benson has been a member of the Chippewa Valley Agrifuels Cooperative which owns Chippewa Valley Ethanol Company. He currently serves on their Strategic Planning Committee and Executive Committee. His education includes a BA degree in Biology from the Univ. of Minnesota, Morris and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul.
Mr. Benson participates extensively in the rural community. Dan and his wife, Pat, are the owner-operators of a corn/soybean/sugar beet/cattle farm. He is on the Southwest/West Central Service Cooperative Board in Marshall, Minnesota and the Appletree Institute Board in Marshall, Minnesota. He is also Treasurer of Louriston Township and the President of the Chippewa County Farmers Union.
