Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders

Innovation is about creation, but it's also about finding new spaces where those creations can be used. Today's guest has applied a centuries-old scientific process to solve the problems of a global industry.
 
Today's guest is Dr. Jennifer Holmgren, CEO of LanzaTech. Under Jennifer’s guidance, LanzaTech is developing a variety of platform chemicals and fuels, including the world’s first alternative jet fuel derived from industrial waste gases. She is also the Director and Chair of the LanzaJet Board of Directors. 

Prior to LanzaTech, Jennifer was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. While there, she was a key driver of their leadership in low carbon aviation biofuels. Jennifer has authored or co-authored 50 U.S. patents and more than 30 scientific publications and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. 

Jennifer sits on multiple boards and advisory councils, including the Governing Council for the Bio Energy Research Institute in India, the Board of Directors of the U.S.- India Strategic Partnership Forum, the Advisory Council for the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University, the National Academies' Board on Energy and Environmental Systems and the Founder Advisory for The Engine, a venture capital fund built by MIT that invests in early-stage science and engineering companies. 

Jennifer holds a B.Sc. from Harvey Mudd College, a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Highlights:
  • How LanzaTech's biorefinery systems work (4:23)
  • LanzaTech's background, and how their investment process has grown over time (6:01)
  • How Jennifer was introduced to LanzaTech, and her work history before joining the company (6:44)
  • The science and technology behind LanzaTech, and its protection status (7:20)
  • What products LanzaTech produces, and some of their product partners (9:20)
  • Lanzatech's addressable market (11:16)
  • How LanzaTech's technology differs from other direct air capture technologies (12:00)
  • Jennifer describes who Lanzatech's customers are, and where their technology is currently being deployed (13:32)
  • Jennifer breaks down how the company's business model works (14:52)
  • LanzaTech's expansion plan (18:20)
  • Jennifer explain's LanzaTech's LanzaJet project, and where the idea came from (19:19)
  • LanzaTech's plan to grow their product offerings and develop new systems for different chemical compounds (22:55)
  • How the company is managing the fluctuation economy and stock market as a public company (26:45)
  • Additional resources for listeners (29:49)
Links:
Jennifer Holmgren on LinkedIn
LanzaTech on LinkedIn
LanzaTech Website
ICR LinkedIn
ICR Twitter
ICR Website

Feedback:
If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, marion@lowerstreet.co.

What is Welcome to the Arena from ICR – Conversations with Today's Innovators & Business Leaders?

In the increasingly crowded and competitive corporate and financial ecosystem, it’s harder than ever for companies to break through the clutter and be heard. The media, investors, agenda-driven influencers, even customers and competitors, are defining your business story on their terms. Therefore, it is imperative that companies take control and proactively drive the conversation with stakeholders in an effort to build & maintain equity value.

In Welcome to the Arena from ICR, Co-Founder & CEO of ICR, Tom Ryan, interviews key business and financial players who influence the fate of public or aspiring public companies in the capital markets. As a former Wall Street Journal ranked sell-side equity analyst and the founder of one of the largest strategic communications firms in the world, Tom understands what it takes to navigate this complex environment.

This is a forum for CEOs, CFOs, institutional investors, sell-side analysts, financial journalists, private equity professionals and other financial community participants to share their stories and give advice in an open and candid conversation.

For more information, visit http://www.icrinc.com