General Biomass Advisory Board

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John T. Allen, Jr. graduated in 1961 from Williams College, cum laude, with highest honors in English, and with a double major in Spanish. An Alfred P. Sloan Scholar and Phi Beta Kappa member, he also captained the swimming team. He earned his LL.B. in 1964 at the Law School of Harvard University, participating in Voluntary Defenders, Choate Moot Court Club, and Lincoln's Inn. A Fulbright Scholarship permitted post-graduate studies of civil law at the University of Ecuador in Quito.

Practicing law in Illinois since 1964, he is admitted to the Trial Bar of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. He chaired the International and Foreign Law and Agri-Business Committees of the Chicago Bar Association, and is a member of the Lawyers Club of Chicago.

Public service includes alderman in the City of Evanston, director of the Union League Club of Chicago and president and director of the International Trade Club of Chicago. As Vice-Chairman of the Illinois Export Council he helped Lieutenant Governor George Ryan create the Illinois sponsored Shared Foreign Sales Corporation and the Illinois World Trade Center (of which he was a founding director). He served as President and Trustee of the Library of International Relations, as a Governing Member of The Orchestral Association of Chicago, and as a member of the Board of Overseers of IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. He founded the weekly free legal clinic at the Technology Innovation Center in Evanston, Illinois. He served on the Illinois Board of Higher Education International Education Act Policy Study Committee and the Illinois International Career Academy Advisory Council.

He founded the Law Office of John T. Allen, P.C., in November, 2000, where he currently engages in general corporate and civil litigation practice. As General Attorney of the United States Gypsum Company, he helped establish its legal department. He has represented transnational business clients for many years, principally in Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, extending to the diplomatic level for the Kingdom of Spain. Devoting substantial time to entrepreneurial start-up technology companies, he established free weekly legal clinics at the Northwestern/ Evanston Technology Innovation Center and at the Chicago Technology Center. These clinics identify and address legal issues which may determine entrepreneurial business success. In part, the clinics led to a new entrepreneurial law course which he helped establish at the Law School of Northwestern University.

André Martinelli, Principal, Blue Ridge Partners, has advised several renewable energy and energy efficiency start-ups and non-profits in the areas of commercialization, market strategy, and product development strategy. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Clean Energy Trust in Chicago. André led the Drug Delivery Systems franchise at Baxter Healthcare, where he directed innovation, lifecycle management, and commercialization activities for his team of 25 engineers, designers, and marketers. As a consultant with the global management consulting firm, McKinsey and Company, he advised numerous senior executive teams from Fortune 500 companies on their most pressing strategic, operational, and organizational challenges.

André earned his MBA from the Harvard Business School, and graduated with a degree in Economics from Harvard College, where he was admitted into Phi Beta Kappa. André is a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional (LEED AP).

Lisa Walker, Founder and Managing Director of Leadership Capital Advisors, a boutique retained executive search firm where she has built the revenue, infrastructure, and managed entrepreneurial growth. Prior to founding this business, Ms. Walker was a senior partner with Korn/Ferry International and a Partner at Heidrick & Struggles. At Korn/Ferry, Ms. Walker's entrepreneurial skills were tested as she initiated, built and led the Global Sustainability practice including co-authoring three white papers, coordinating a global team, driving brand positioning, and delivering incremental revenue in new markets. She repeated the practice development when she initiated the Global Agribusiness practice at Korn/Ferry before embarking on her own.

Lisa Walker has been named one of President Obama's "Champions of Change," as part of the Administration's "Winning the Future" initiative. This initiative highlights change makers and innovators who embody the President's vision for America's future. Lisa was selected for this honor because of her work as a mentor with startup energy companies who work with the Clean Energy Trust (http://www.cleanenergytrust.org/), where she serves on the Advisory Board.

With two decades of experience in executive search as well as in senior roles within the industrial marketplace, Ms. Walker leads general management and key functional searches for clients seeking marketing, strategy, business development, technology and operations expertise. She specializes in commercialization roles and has built her reputation identifying talent with an emphasis on performance, potential and cultural fit.

Prior to entering executive search, Ms. Walker was with BP Amoco PLC, Air BP, as Chief Marketing Officer, managing all marketing aspects of the international jet fuel business. Previously, Ms. Walker worked with Amoco Corporation, holding positions as Director of Strategic Planning and Director of Marketing Strategy. Earlier in her career, she utilized her engineering operations background at Honeywell Corporation, working in design and manufacturing with their solid state electronics division in Colorado Springs and Minneapolis.

Ms. Walker began her career as a management consultant with A.T. Kearney and Bain & Company in strategy, marketing and operations in their Chicago office. She currently serves on the board of the Chicago Children's Museum and on the Women's Board of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Walker earned her Master's of Business Administration in finance and economics from the University of Chicago, and her Bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Cornell University.

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