Newlight Appoints Jim Lunt, Global Expert in Biopolymers, as Vice President of Product Development

IRVINE, Calif., Nov. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Newlight Technologies (www.newlight.com) announced today it has added Jim Lunt, one of the world's leading experts in biopolymer commercial development, to its team as Vice President of Product Development.  Lunt's primary role will be to drive sales of Newlight's high-performance, sustainable, cost-effective Airflex™ resins in key plastics markets.

Prior to Newlight, Lunt served as the first head of product development for NatureWorks, LLC, spearheading the growth of NatureWorks PLA to multi-hundred million pound per year sales.  Prior to NatureWorks,  Lunt pioneered the development and commercialization of TPEs, vulcanized polyolefins, environmentally-friendly phenolic foams, and long glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics.  Lunt has co-invented over 20 patents, authored numerous publications, and been an invited speaker at conferences worldwide.  In recognition of Lunt's significant contributions to the advancement of the global polymer industry, Lunt was awarded the Presidential Green Chemistry Award in 2002.

"We are thrilled to have Jim on board," said Newlight CEO, Mark Herrema.  "Jim brings unparalleled expertise in polymer chemistry, product development, and sales execution, and his work in commercializing NatureWorks PLA and other advanced technologies will be an invaluable asset in accelerating Newlight's expansion to large-scale commercial operations."

Founded in 2003, Newlight has developed, patented, and commercialized a groundbreaking technology that pulls carbon and oxygen molecules out of air containing greenhouse gas and converts those molecules into high-performance, sustainable plastics at ultra-high-efficiency.  Newlight's technology is operable using a wide range of gas sources, including greenhouse gases derived from landfills, digesters, wastewater facilities, and energy facilities.  The company's plastics require no oil, no food crops, and, of equal importance, can match or exceed oil-based plastics on performance while significantly out-competing on price.

Lunt joins a highly accomplished team at Newlight comprised of proven leaders in the plastics and chemical industries, including:

- Jim Stoppert (Business Development), the first CEO of NatureWorks, LLC, one of the most successful bioplastics companies in the world.  Following NatureWorks, Stoppert was CEO at Segetis, Inc., and Rivertop Renewables, two leading renewable chemical companies.  From 2001-2008, Stoppert led the Industrial BioProducts Business Unit at Cargill, which led to the creation of Elevance and BiOH.  Stoppert also served as the head of Dow Chemical's 1.2 billion pound per year styrenics division.

- Dave Henton, Ph.D. (Research and Development), former Senior Scientist at Dow Chemical, Chairman of Dow Chemical's Material Technical Advisory Board, and co-inventor on over 30 patents.  Today, Dow Chemical sells millions of pounds annually of ABS resins and polymer blends based on technology developed and patented by Henton.  In recognition of his significant contributions to the polymer industry in PET, thermoplastic composites, ABS, nylon fibers, and PLA (for NatureWorks), Henton was awarded the ACS Award for Outstanding Achievement and Promotion of the Chemical Sciences in 1999 and the ACS Regional Innovation Award in 2004.

- Glenn Fredrickson, Ph.D., Director of UCSB's Mitsubishi Chemical Center for Advanced Materials (MC-CAM) and Director of the Complex Fluid Design Consortium (CFDC).  Fredrickson has over 250 publications and 10 patents published or pending.  In recognition of Fredrickson's significant achievements, he has been awarded: an NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, a Sloan Fellowship, the Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award, the Dillon Medal and Polymer Physics Prize of the American Physical Society (APS), the Alpha Chi Sigma Award of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and election to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

- Wes Coleman (Human Resources), former Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at The Walt Disney Company.  Before Disney, Coleman served as Vice President of Global Human Resources at Nike, Inc., where he was responsible for nearly 28,000 employees worldwide.  Coleman holds an MBA degree from the University of Pittsburgh and a business management degree from Hampton University, and brings a wealth of knowledge around building a world-class management, compensation, employee development, and cultural development platform.

- Patrick O'Brien (Business Development), former President of North America and European operations for S.C. Johnson & Son, Inc., as well as President and COO of Johnson Outdoors.  O'Brien graduated from the University of Wisconsin with undergraduate and graduate marketing degrees, and brings invaluable insight into marketing, sales, and operations within the consumer goods industry.

About Newlight

Founded in 2003, Newlight Technologies, LLC has invented, patented, and commercialized a game-changing carbon capture and plastics manufacturing technology.  On a large-scale, continuous basis, Newlight converts air and greenhouse gases, such as methane and carbon dioxide (which can be derived from a range of sources, including wastewater treatment systems, digesters, landfills, and energy facilities), into PHA-based plastics that can match or exceed oil-based commodity plastics on performance while significantly out-competing on price.  Newlight's plastics require no oil, no food crops, and can be made into biodegradable products that offer revolutionary recyclability: starting, finishing, and recycling as greenhouse gas.  Newlight currently sells the company's sustainable plastics to customers with applications ranging from furniture parts to storage containers to packaging films, and is currently expanding commercial production capacity towards the company's objective of commodity-scale operations.  Cost-effective, high-performance, sustainable, patented, and proven.

For more information, visit www.newlight.com.

Media Contact:

Newlight Technologies, LLC
John Williams
Scoville PR for Newlight Technologies, LLC
206-625-0075 x1
[email protected]

SOURCE Newlight Technologies, LLC

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