The Klean Industries executive management team comprises an experienced group of leaders who understand the complex supply chain challenges involved in developing and introducing innovative technologies into new and growing markets. Led by a team of experienced and highly praised executives, this team is ideally suited to manage the multi-faceted challenges of simultaneously discovering, developing, and deploying Klean's innovative technologies and solutions for the recovery of energy and resources from waste.
Klean's executive team provides a diverse set of skills necessary for effective control and governance in this emerging field. The team draws on its wide range of expertise in finance, development, operations, and regulatory affairs to provide Klean's management team with guidance during this period of exponential growth in a rapidly changing business environment.
Mr. James Klinkhamer is a Director and is the Chief Logistics Officer in charge of sustainable logistics for Klean. Jim has over 40 years of experience in the logistics industry. Jim manages logistics, customer quotations, contractual agreements from receipt of inquiry through to order acquisition until receipt of the customer's payment.
Prior to joining Klean, Jim was a senior executive at Westrim Express Lines an international transportation company that was bought out by Can-Am in 2008. In this role, he was responsible for sales, company logistics, contractual agreements, and supply chain economics. Jim has handled a number of specialized shipments working directly with prime contractors from the oil fields to entertainment parks.
Jim understands that now more than ever it is important to focus on excellence in the management of the supply chain. Companies can make excellent products, they can run brilliant marketing campaigns, but the performance of the supply chain can make the difference between delighting and disappointing the customer. Companies all around the world are struggling with falling demand for their products, and tightening of the financial markets, so the pressure to cut costs is intense. In such an environment, the spotlight is firmly on supply chain professionals to deliver improved performance and, at the same time, do it more cost-effectively with a small environmental footprint and this is where Jim excels.
Jim entered the logistics industry in 1974 and has served several different operational roles. Jim graduated from the Business Management Certificate Program. Jim is also the father of Jesse the company's CEO.
Mr. Jesse Klinkhamer is the driving force and original founder of Klean Industries and has over 30 years of business development experience, over 10 years of experience in the resources and energy industry with 20 years in the solid waste management sector specializing in projects that utilize pyrolysis and gasification technologies to convert waste into value. He is a leading voice on the low carbon, circular economy, and the goal of zero waste to landfill; and has become a recognized authority in the emerging tire pyrolysis and recovered carbon black sector.
Jesse has traveled the globe working on various projects and has managed more than a thousand assignments worldwide dealing with all aspects of energy production, resources, and solid waste management ranging from feasibility and financial assessment to bid evaluation and contract negotiation. He is now a recognized authority on energy, resource recovery, and environmental technologies, including their applications and product sales markets.
Prior to Klean Industries, Jesse was the founder of Solid State Investments, a private investment firm assisting junior resource mining and technology start-up companies. Additionally, he also provided sales and marketing services to resource companies involved in hydrocarbon exploration and refining in North America. Over a decade ago Jesse realized the potential of the low carbon economy and facilitated the change of SSI's focus to become a financial service provider for niche cleantech companies. After years of research and development, Jesse sought out the best and most commercially proven technologies available in the market, which led to the creation of Klean Industries and the ownership of several of the world's leading gasification and pyrolysis technologies. Jesse has extensive experience in the development of resource recovery and energy from waste projects from the initial feasibility to commercial operation and ongoing project monitoring.
Jesse has a real depth of knowledge in the advanced thermal conversion technology space and has directed engineers' feasibility reports for a wide variety of energy-related projects totaling more than $20 billion in project capital costs. He has interacted with bond rating agencies, financial advisors, insurance underwriters, and investment bankers involved in these financings. His efforts have included the development of detailed spreadsheet rate models establishing the financial feasibility of each project, long-term economic forecasts, and projected rate impact upon project users and customers alike.
Jesse's expertise and knowledge within the industry have led to many awards and nominations, most notably being made Environmental Ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Programme. He is frequently requested to speak at clean technology and environmental conferences worldwide. Jesse is a long-standing member of ASTM International ("ASTM") and is an active voting member of the technical committees ASTM D24 for Carbon Black and ASTM D36 for Recovered Carbon Black which are key technical committees setting the international standards for Carbon Black, Recovered Carbon Black. Jesse is a passionate environmentalist and outdoor enthusiast.
Mr. Rainer Dippold joined the KleanTeam in 2022, further reinforcing the strong working relationship Klean has had with Niersberger for the past decade. He is a qualified industrial clerk with a degree in business administration. In industry, he worked for nine years in central procurement.
Rainer then worked for four years as managing director of a steel construction company before joining Niersberger. He has now been employed there for more than 40 years as a managing partner in residential and plant construction.
The Niersberger Group is an internationally active company with approximately 450 employees and a turnover of more than € 100 million. The spectrum includes the residential and facilities both as a planner and as a general contractor.
Rainer and the Niersberger Team were instrumental in the design and engineering of Klean’s wholly-owned tire pyrolysis technology. Rainer led the engineering team for the Germanization of the technology which is operated at the ReOil Sp. z o.o facility in Bukowno, Poland at a scale of 20,000 metric tonnes per year. Klean’s technology is now known as the most successful continuous tire pyrolysis plant in Europe focused on recovered carbon black production.
Among many other projects, solar power plants, biomethane, and pyrolysis plants are planned, built, and operated by Niersberger. Extensive references confirm the performance strength of the Niersberger Group of companies.
The Group, with eight operating companies, is majority-owned by BSG Beteiligungsgesellschaft mbH, the family office of the Dippold family, whose managing director is Rainer Dippold.
Ms. Judi Morris joined Klean Industries at the start of 2018 handling administration duties, sales, and project qualification. She has skillfully guided new customers and project developers through Klean’s Customer Management Process, preparing Detailed Equipment Quotation services, and following up with all incoming sales both new and old.
Before joining the Klean Team, she worked at the Judicial Justice Centre for 14 years where she attained her Justice of the Peace commission in 2008. She was an integral part of the staff and deemed the go-to person for her vast experience and knowledge of the Criminal Justice System, her leadership skills, and her mentoring of new staff.
She began her career as a civil servant in 1996 for the Provincial Court of British Columbia by starting at the Port Coquitlam Courthouse and also worked at the Maple Ridge Courthouse, operating across multiple disciplines and being respectful of the diverse audiences she engaged with during that time.
She also gained knowledge in accounts receivables and receptionist duties working as an after-school worker which transitioned full-time for a law office in Burnaby, BC beginning in 1989.
Marc Schwarzlose has over 20 years of experience in the aviation and energy sector. He holds a Master´s degree in business administration as well as an Airline Transport Pilot license. Having worked as a Managing director for companies in the energy sector he was instrumental in setting up a project for the construction of a CIGS solar module manufacturing plant in Germany.
In 2011 Mr. Schwarzlose became the Co-founder and COO of CRR Carbon Resources Recovery which completed a JV with ReOil Sp. z o.ol in 2014 and managed the construction of CRR´s continuous tire pyrolysis plant in Bukowno, Poland which was completed in 2016 with an installed capacity of 20,000 metric tonnes per year. CRR and the intellectual property and know-how of CRR were acquired by Klean Industries in 2019.
Mr. Mark VandeVoorde is a highly regarded oil industry veteran with over 40 years of experience in Oil Refining, Crude Oil and Refined Products Trading, Large Project Development, Oil Price Risk Management, and Executive Management. He is a Managing Director at Klean Industries, focusing on Business Development, Product Marketing, and Finance.
Mark comes to Klean after serving as Co-Founder and Managing Director of GCC Bunkers based in Houston Texas where he spearheaded building a 50,000 barrel per day oil refinery in Galveston, Texas, and managed GCC’s Bunker Fuel Business from its inception to becoming a highly profitable $500 million dollar business. Immediately prior to GCC, Mark served as CEO of AM Agrigen Industries, leading a successful process to engineer and permit a greenfield $1.5 billion dollar ammonia plant in St. Charles Parish, LA.
Earlier positions include Fuel Oil Trading Manager for Unipec Americas, based in New York City, in which Mark focused primarily on oil arbitrage between the US and Asia and the US and Europe. Mark also served as President of Bominflot Bunker Oil Corporation in Houston, TX, running a billion-dollar Marine Fuel Business serving 7 ports in the US Gulf Coast, East Coast, and Panama. He also served as US Vice President of Fuels and Feedstocks and Vice President of Fuels in Europe for Chevron Corporation, with responsibility for Operations and Trading in 8 countries in Europe, and 4 offices in the US, serving 4 US Refineries and Marine Fuel Sales Operations in 6 ports in the US and Panama. Mark held trading positions earlier in his career at Equiva Trading Company, Chemoil Corporation, and Shell Oil Company, in Oil Trading and Operations.
Mark was born and raised in the Seattle area in Washington State and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts (Summa Cum Laude) from Washington State University in Marketing, Transportation, and Supply Chain Management, with a minor in Economics. Over the course of his career, he has lived in Seattle, Los Angeles, Houston, London, and New York City.
A skilled executive and entrepreneur with broad international experience, Jeffrey Flannery has guided several industry-changing technologies to commercial success. Over the course of his career, Jeff has raised more than $100 million and guided many of his projects to successful exits.
Recently, as CEO of Delta Energy, Jeff oversaw the development, engineering, and construction of one of the first commercial-scale tire pyrolysis plants in the United States. This plant, which began as a joint venture with Bridgestone Tires, continues to operate today, processing 100 tons per day of end-of-life tires. Jeff was instrumental in introducing Delta Energy’s recovered carbon black into several rubber, plastics and chemical applications and developing new markets for tire pyrolysis oil.
Dedicated to playing a role in sustainable and paradigm changing technologies, Jeff is excited to be a part of the Klean Industries team and delivering on new ways to help the world better manage energy and other key resources.
Scott Carley is one of the founding members of Klean Industries Inc. Mr. Carley has over 25 years of business experience and has a proven record in company development, sales, marketing, and distribution with full profit and loss responsibility as a public corporate officer and as a private company owner. Prior to joining the Klean Team, he was President and Director of Check Marketing where he applied his vision and direction into the company, revamping their business model, providing fiscal decisions, and implementing a new software platform which increased efficiencies.
Prior to Check Marketing, Mr. Carley was contracted by CYOP Systems, a software development company. During this time, he developed new software on time and within budget in which the company had completed a third-party evaluation of its software valued over US$ 200 million.
In early 2000, Mr. Carley became CFO of NextLevel, which was one of the fastest growing internet marketing providers for both advertisers and publishers. NextLevel's clients included Madonna, Kiss' Gene Simmons, and many other high-profile companies. As CFO, he streamlined operations and identified new market opportunities while also establishing a new financial plan which brought fiscal responsibility to the company during his tenure.
Starting in 1996, Mr. Carley had been an executive of Starnet Systems International, a company that was processing more than US$ 2 billion annually in Internet transactions by the year 2000. Starnet was the first Internet processing system to be certified by any Canadian chartered bank. Key to this success, he was responsible for creating a division that was extremely successful in the sales and licensing of this groundbreaking software.
Craig Conner is an accomplished business development executive with more than 25 years’ industry experience in energy, fuels, project development, and engineering. Mr. Conner is an expert team leader with a proven record of executing large-scale, technically sophisticated initiatives from conception to completion.
Craig has served as a consultant and held positions of Vice President Finance and Business Development for energy-related businesses as diverse as Gas to Liquids plant development, coal/biomass to liquids development, ethanol and biodiesel project development. Mr. Conner has extensive utility experience including energy retrofit/upgrade, general management, and director of business development for a major utility company.
Mr. Conner has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Ohio State University and extensive course work and experience in financial and economic modeling, valuation, strategic planning, and business and contract negotiations.
Martin Loffler has over 25 years of industry experience in chemical process engineering and was instrumental in developing, testing, and optimization of a number of industrial chemical processing systems. His main area of expertise is carbonization technology. He was instrumental in the development, engineering, construction, and training of plant operators for Europe's largest continuous tire pyrolysis plants during his time as technical director at CRR Carbon Resources Recovery which provided the intellectual property, know-how, detailed design and engineering, and equipment for the ReOil Sp. z o.o facility in Bukowno, Poland. Martin has hands-on experience with the operational and process parameters of Klean's fully commercial technology which has been operating commercially since 2016 at a scale.
Dr. Löffler also has extensive knowledge of recovered carbon Black (“rCB”) applications in the rubber and plastic industry. He is the author of several publications in scientific journals and conference papers for pyrolysis process systems and the application of rCB in the rubber and plastic industry. He is the inventor of 8 patent applications regarding pyrolysis systems, application pyrolytic carbon black, and microbiological rubber powder treatment.
Dr. Eckart Pelz is a distinguished engineer with over 40 years of experience in electrical, chemical, and structural engineering. Having started his engineering career in 1976 he became involved in carbonization technology in 2005 founding his own tire pyrolysis plant in 2007 called TPL and obtaining a German operating permit for the facility. TPL was designed as an R&D facility to further commercialize technology and output products such as recovered carbon black and recovered fuel oil (pyrolysis oils).
The improved design and engineering were acquired by Carbon Resources Recovery ("CRR"). Eckart then became Head of Project Engineering for Carbon Resources Recovery ("CRR") in 2012 and he played an instrumental role in setting up a continuous tire pyrolysis plant the ReOil Sp. z o.o facility in Bukowno, Poland. Dr. Pelz has continually refined and updated the continuous tire pyrolysis process and his expertise will be invaluable for the design and refining of the next generation of plants.
Mr. Anders Bergman is an innovative and well-versed professional with 25 years of extensive experience in marketing, project and risk management, retail, marketing management, and business development.
His primary assignments at Klean Industries involve business development in Europe and heading the KleanLoopTM project internally. This along with being a naturally driven entrepreneur with strong execution skills makes him a valuable asset to the Klean organization.
During his career, Bergman has worked for a number of leading agencies and with premium brands including Proctor & Gamble, Universal Pictures, Netflix, Volkswagen Group, and Volvo Car Corporation. He is a graduate of IHM Business School.
Mr. Alan Bloomfield recently joined Klean Industries Oceania as a Director with an extensive background in business development and project management throughout Australia, Africa, Asia, and New Zealand.
He commenced his career in the mid-1960s as a geotechnical engineer consulting for Lonrho and Anglo-American on the Zambian Copperbelt before relocating to Rhodesia to help establish the first ready mixed concrete business in that part of Africa.
After 16 years Alan returned home to Australia and was employed by Barro Group as GM of the largest independently owned ready-mixed concrete operation in Australia, before accepting the CEO role at Readymix (HK) to manage Cheung Kong Holding’s Hong Kong ready-mixed concrete operations and modernize their concrete production facilities for supply of concrete during construction of Chek Lap Kok International Airport.
In 2000, joined the Alex Fraser Group in Melbourne as GM Recycling, before transferring to Singapore as Project Director of the Group’s JV with Sembenviro, planning the construction of a C&I waste recycling facility and an 800TPD autoclaving plant to extract recyclables prior to incineration of MSW as RDF in WtE power generation.
Joined City Circle Recycling in 2010 as GM and expanded the Group’s concrete crushing and recycling operations in Melbourne to the present-day capacity. During this time, planned and supervised the construction of a 1.0MW timber pyrolysis plant to supply off-grid power for concrete crushing and disposal of contaminated waste timbers from building demolitions.
In 2021, City Circle Group approached Klean Industries Inc. for professional input and advice to capitalize on the experience gained from the waste timber gasification project and expand the range of recycling activities undertaken by the Group. Tyre recycling presented an immediate opportunity that led to the JV between Klean Industries and City Circle and plans to establish Australia’s first waste tyre carbonization facility.
Over the years, other business development contracts included port, railroad, and mining infrastructure projects in the Republic of Congo, plantation forest management, and timber products manufacturing in New Zealand and Fiji.
The administrative skills and operational experience gained while working in many different countries and cultures provided unique insight and appreciation of the need for synergistic relationships between future business developments and the environment.
Mr. Raffaele Cotroneo recently joined Klean Industries Oceania as a Business Development Manager with an extensive background in business development, project management, and manufacturing throughout Australia, the United States, and New Zealand.
He commenced his career in the early 1980’s as a Chemical Engineer for Visy Industries in Melbourne Australia and helped establish the first 100% recycled paper plant in Australia.
In 1988, Mr. Cotroneo joined Exxon Petroleum as a Business Development Manager in charge of wholesale and retail operations of the company’s western and southern districts of Victoria.
Seven years, later in 1995 Mr. Cotroneo explored new polymer applications in textiles and launched a vertically integrated clothing business specializing in the manufacturing of unique fabrics that ultimately led to a retail and wholesale business of a new line of clothing brands on a private label basis.
During the 20 years that Raff managed this business, he increasingly developed a portfolio of investments in both public and private securities alongside other investments.
In 2019 the fashion business was sold, and Mr. Cotroneo continued to manage a diverse set of investment assets. This included many early-stage investments in renewable energy and the ESG sector. Just as the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in early 2020, Mr. Cotroneo became an investor and shareholder in Klean Industries as a part of his investment portfolio.
Mr. Cotroneo joined the KleanTeam in 2024 as a part of Klean’s expansion into Australia and brings with him a diverse background combined with unique experience gained over the years as an operational manager and an investor. He has a vested interest in taking on the challenge to help Australia meet with sustainability targets, while also contributing to his skillsets to develop other opportunities within the Oceania region as a whole.
Mr. Cotroneo is based in Melbourne and will be a great asset to the KleanTeam as several projects are being developed in Australia for converting waste to value that specifically targets end-of-life tyres, end-of-life plastics, municipal solid waste, and hydrogen applications.
David Parkes is one of the UK’s leading used tire experts and is formally a Board Director of an automotive waste company that collected and reprocessed a third of the annual UK tire arisings of 450,000 tonnes, Credential Environmental Ltd, the UK’s largest scrap tire re-processor. David has financial and operational experience with major tire-shredding, chipping, and crumb rubber facilities and specifically, was responsible for all the commercial aspects, business development, and development of new end-use markets for tire products.
David worked with the Government and Southampton University and pioneered the introduction into the UK of processed tires within leachate drainage blankets as a virgin aggregate replacement David assisted the Environment Agency and the Defra Working Group in producing Guidance on aggregate replacement use, and with the drafting of the BSI Standard PAS107 for size reduced ‘products’ from tires.
David is a co-author of many published technical papers by Southampton University on the performance of tire-derived materials in landfill drainage projects. David has been responsible for clearing up some of the UK’s major tire dumps and has successfully cleared over 30,000 tonnes of illegal tire fly-tipping. David now runs his own limited company collecting and reprocessing used tires, providing technical performance information, design, and sales for back-end products for engineering, and tire-derived fuels.
David still works with the government developing used tire protocols, regulatory positions, environmental law, specifications, and used tire product guidance. David’s company is a specialist contractor that carries out large and small tire ‘fly-tip’ clearances for private and public-sector clients. These can include the clearance of tires ‘dumped’ on commercial premises, or from failed tire reprocessing businesses, such as from farms, LA civic amenity sites, old airfields, and quarries.
David works with the government’s national intelligence team to mitigate used tire crime and is a specialist consultant for several clients in many diverse areas of waste management and energy recovery from waste, both on tires, plastics, automotive, and other waste streams David has worked on major green technology projects on the treatment of waste - including tire pyrolysis, gasification of municipal and hazardous waste, hazardous waste disposal, and rendering of animal byproducts – all to create alternative fuel or energy from waste.
Kingsley Kobayashi has over 30 years of experience in Africa and international market place. Nigerian born, living in Japan for over 20 years Kingsley specialises on connecting Africa with the world and bringing new, innovative business and technologies to the continent. He has extensive contacts, in-depth marketing knowledge and extremely strong work ethics, combined with proven management and project developmental skills.
Kingsley and Klean's CEO have a +20-year relationship and both share a great devotion for creating meaningful businesses that can positively impact people lives, for long term and in a sustainable way. Kingsley's goal is to effectively implement Klean's strategy in growing business opportunities for creating renewable energy, resource recovery and recycling projects to drive inclusive and green growth for Africa starting with the creation of projects that address waste to energy opportunities in Nigeria. By focusing sharply on areas of high-impact, building strategic partnerships and mobilizing resources to deliver impact at scale. His goal is to help build a new Africa with prosperous, sustainable and inclusive growth; one that is peaceful, secure and united, regionally integrated and globally competitive. A continent filled with hope, opportunities, liberties and freedom, with shared prosperity for all. An Africa that is open to the world, one that Africans are proud to call home.
Kinglsey has been doing multi channel trading actives throughout Africa for over 2 decades, creating hundreds of millions of dollars of trade between Asia, Europe and Africa working with various companies and international trade organizations. Kingsley plans to position Klean effectively to become a leading company in developing and building "Integrated Smart-Infrastructure" in Africa. Integrated Smart-Infrastructure is targeted and focused infrastructure that considers the entire development ecosystem in situating infrastructures to effectively deliver on operational effectiveness, scale which deliver long term sustainable economic impacts.
Kingsley maintains strong ties to Africa and strives to bring the best to it. He runs his own trading company with branches in Nigeria, Japan and Europe. Kinglsey speaks 6 languages fluently including English, Japanese, and three major African languages, Afroasiatic, Nilo-Saharan, and Niger--Congo. Kingsley is a proud husband and father, he also devotes a lot of his spare time to international charity organizations that have a focus on creative collaboration between Africa and Japan.
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