Dr. Alex Tkachenko, President
"The opportunity to transition from oil to natural gas as the foundation of our daily lives is the greatest technical challenge of our generation. This material shift echoes the wood- to-coal transition in the 19th century, and coal-to-oil in the 20th. Ahead we face a bright industrial age that is more adaptive and innovative.”
Dr. Tkachenko joined Siluria in 2008 and is business co-founder of the company. He brings a unique combination of commercial and technical expertise to Siluria drawing upon deep, global experience in the the biotech and chemical engineering sectors. Prior to Siluria, Dr. Tkachenko was Vice President, Corporate Development and Strategic Planning of Hana Biosciences, Inc (NASDAQ: HNAB), a biopharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing, and commercializing innovative products to advance cancer care. Prior to joining Hana, Dr. Tkachenko was employed by Genentech, Inc., most recently as an Associate Director in its development organization, where he led the Companion Diagnostics initiative to maximize clinical benefit from Genentech’s therapeutics by improving patient selection and trial design. Dr. Tkachenko earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Earlier, Dr. Tkachenko served as a squad leader in the Soviet Army and completed a tour of combat duty in Afghanistan.
Dr. Erik Scher, Vice President – Research & Development, Engineering
“Solving a difficult problem with a multi-disciplinary approach is extremely gratifying for any scientist or engineer. At Siluria, we combine recent advances in biotechnology, nanomaterials synthesis, high-throughput screening, and chemical engineering – applying them together to address an economically important need."
Dr. Scher was Siluria’s second employee and oversees the company’s research and development and engineering groups. He is responsible for developing a commercial process based upon the combination of Siluria's catalyst, reactor, and process technologies. Prior to joining the Siluria team, Dr. Scher ran several engineering groups at Kovio Inc, including the process engineering and tool development groups that were responsible for Kovio’s pilot processes. Prior to Kovio, Dr. Scher was the first technical hire at Nanosys in Palo Alto upon its founding in early 2002, most recently serving as the program manager for Nanosys’ materials and photovoltaics efforts. Dr. Scher earned his Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley under the tutelage of Prof. A. Paul Alivisatos, now the Director of Lawrence Livermore Berkeley National Labs. For his work in nanocomposite materials, Dr. Scher was selected as one of MIT Technology Review’s Top 100 Innovators under the age of 35. He holds over 35 issued patents and has over 50 patent applications in process.
Rahul Iyer, Senior Director of Corporate Development
“A flood of new fuel and chemical technologies will hit the market in the coming years, some with real potential to positively impact industry, customers, and the environment. Siluria has the ability to fundamentally change the heart of these industries with dramatic improvements in both economic and environmental performance. Our process technology is compatible with the scale of petrochemical infrastructure, and we produce truly fungible products from increasingly abundant raw materials.”
Mr. Iyer serves as Senior Director of Corporate Development. With his experience navigating clean technology commercialization for multiple award-winning projects and companies, Mr. Iyer plays an instrumental role advancing Siluria’s strategy development and financing activities. Prior to Siluria, Mr. Iyer worked in clean energy for more than a decade co-founding multiple companies where he drove the commercialization of new technologies. Most recently, Mr. Iyer co-founded and served as Chief Strategy Officer of Primafuel, a waste-to-chemicals company recognized in 2008 by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer. Previously, he co-founded a fuel cell technology company acquired by Intelligent Energy, a UK-based company known for its compact Proton Exchange Membrane fuel cells. At Intelligent Energy, he supported financing efforts, the development of the ENV Fuel Cell Motorcycle (recognized by Time and Popular Science as one of the Best Inventions of 2005) and helped develop projects with the World Bank, US Department of Defense, and US Department of Energy. Mr. Iyer is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley in Mechanical Engineering.
Sam Weinberger, Executive Advisor
“After decades in the chemical industry I can say with confidence that commercially viable methane activation was a veritable ‘holy grail’. Every major chemical company has sought the direct, economic one-step conversion of natural gas to ethylene. I am excited to be on the team that has finally made it happen.”
Mr. Weinberger serves as Business Development Advisor for Siluria. In this role, he is forging strategic partnerships to deploy the company’s breakthrough technology for economic, energy-efficient chemical and fuels production, as well as leading the team engineering a plant for the first commercial deployment of the technology.
Mr. Weinberger served 32 years with ExxonMobil in professional, management and executive positions of increasing responsibility, including 10 years as the business manager for the multi-billion dollar North American ethylene business. In his culminating position with ExxonMobil, Mr. Weinberger served as Vice President of a joint venture with the leading petrochemical concern in China. During his time between ExxonMobil and Siluria, Sam acted as an independent consultant, advising well-known clients in North America, China, Europe and South America, including Petrochina, Braskem, Yangzi Petrochemical and Nova Corunna. Mr. Weinberger earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a M.S. in chemical engineering from Columbia University, and is a licensed professional engineer (PE).
