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Nico Duursema has been in leadership roles in the energy business for over 25 years. Nico sees the energy industry through an international lens as he has worked in North and South America, Africa, and the Middle and Far East within the petrochemical, transportation, mining, and oil and gas industries. Nico has led several significant business transformations and project development portfolios resulting in his teams receiving excellence awards including the prestigious Project Management Institute (PMI) Gold Award.

As the president and CEO of the Cerilon Group, Nico's core areas of focus are environmentally friendly, low carbon, energy, infrastructure and downstream beneficiation. This includes gas-to-liquids (GTL), bio-to-liquids (BTL), liquified-natural-gas (LNG), and renewables. Established in 2009, the Cerilon Group exists to provide global energy security with an approach that is strategic, courageous, intentional, and sustainable. Cerilon is committed to helping business lead changes toward a new energy future.

Nico has a BSc in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, along with Honors in Business. He is also a cum laude graduate with an MBA from Stellenbosch University in South Africa and a graduate of the Executive Leadership Development Program at Daniels College of Business, Denver, Colorado, USA. Nico serves on Cerilon’s corporate boards and acts as an advisor to the Board of Impact Nations. He has been a member of the Canadian Energy Executive Association (CEEA) for the last five years and has served for three years as CEEA board governor. Nico is also serving on the Global Energy Show (GES) executive committee and is executive chairman for the Global XTL Summit.

Dr. Paul F. Schubert is the Chief Operating Officer of USA BioEnergy. USA BioEnergy is developing an ultra-low carbon intensity forestry waste to renewable diesel plant in south Arkansas. The plant uses highly efficient gasification, Fischer-Tropsch, and hydrocarbon upgrading technologies combined with capture and sequestration (CCS) to achieve a highly negative carbon footprint.  

Dr. Schubert has over 35 years of experience in renewable fuels, natural gas monetization, mechanical integrity, and commercialization of innovative technologies in the petrochemical and natural gas industries. Prior to joining USA BioEnergy he served as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director for Velocys. In this capacity he was responsible for the development and commercialization of Velocys’ Fischer Tropsch technology for converting biomass, waste, landfill gas, and natural gas to renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel, and wax products. This included responsibility for engineering, reactor and catalyst manufacturing, HSE, and R&D. This resulted in the successful commercial scale demonstration of the technology in partnership with Waste Management and NRG in Envia Energy LLC’s landfill gas to renewable diesel and wax plant on Waste Management’s Oklahoma City, OK landfill.

He previously served as Global Sales Director for Asset Integrity Management and Director of Operations for SGS, the largest testing, inspection, and verification company in the world. Before that Dr. Schubert served as VP of R&D with Syntroleum and increasing levels of technology development and management with Catalytica, Phillips Petroleum, and Engelhard Corporation where he was responsible for commercialization of multiple products in the process and regulatory compliance industries. Dr. Schubert is an inventor on 16 US patents and an author of over 40 publications.