Leadership team
Our leadership team has broad experience in fermentation, renewable chemicals, and process industries.
Kenny Erdoes
CEO
KENNY ERDOES
CEO
Over 20 years of experience in renewables, specialty chemicals, as well as chemical processes in general.
Josh Yelen, CPA
CFO
JOSH YELEN, CPA
CFO
With over twenty years of experience in executive-level finance, accounting, operations, and sales, Josh brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our team. He has worked across diverse industries, including technology, healthcare, and biotech. Throughout his career, Josh has held pivotal roles such as Chief Operating Officer (COO), Vice President of Sales, and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), giving him a comprehensive understanding of how finance intersects with every aspect of a business.
Josh is a licensed CPA, a Certified Exit Planning Advisor (CEPA®), and holds an MBA, further showcasing his dedication to professional excellence and strategic financial planning.
RUSTY PITTMAN
VP, BD
RUSTY PITTMAN
VP, BD
Rusty Pittman has over 25 years of commercial experience in the chemical, building materials, and renewable energy industries. Rusty was previously with Elevance Renewable Sciences, Inc where he spent the last six years as VP/Head of Marketing and Business Development.
ERNESTO SIMON
VP of Bioengineering
ERNESTO SIMON
VP of Bioengineering
Ernesto Simon has 20 years of experience in metabolic engineering and industrial biotech and has led the development of various precision fermentation-based products from bench to commercial scale. He has worked with a diverse range of synthetic biology companies including Evolva (now Lallemand), Firmenich (now dsm-firmenich), Conagen, and Cemvita.
MARCEL LUBBEN, PH.D.
VP, Strategic Alliances
MARCEL LUBBEN, Ph.D.
VP, Strategic Alliances
Successful clean chemistry executive with accomplishments across multiple technologies and markets.
Founding Team
Our founding team are serial entrepreneurs and leaders in synthetic biology and fermentation.
MATT LIPSCOMB, PH.D.
Founder
Matt Lipscomb, Ph.D.
Founder
Dr. Lipscomb is a Founder of DMC, Inc. His career has included a range of development stages from early R&D to commercial deployment in a variety of sectors, including both industrial and pharmaceutical biotechnology. Previously, he was a founding employee of OPX Biotechnologies and served in various roles during his tenure there. His technical leadership supported multiple successful fundraising rounds totaling more than $60M. He provided project leadership on the execution of a successful Department of Energy (DOE) ARPA-E Electrofuels program ($6M) for the production of biodiesel from H2 and CO2. His technical expertise includes microbial fermentation, process development, process modeling, analytical chemistry, and techno economic analysis (TEA) of bio-based processes.
mike lynch, m.d./ph.d.
Founder
MIKE LYNCH MD, Ph.D.
Founder
Dr. Lynch is a Founder of DMC, Inc. He is also an Assistant Professor in the Biomedical Engineering and Chemistry Departments at Duke University. Previously, Mike was founder and CSO of OPX Biotechnologies, Inc. where he led development efforts resulting in the successful piloting and demonstration of technology for the production of 3-hydroxy propionic acid (a precursor to the large volume commodity chemical, acrylic acid) and fatty acids from sugars via fermentation utilizing engineered biocatalysts. At Duke, Dr. Lynch and his team have recently developed the Synthetic Metabolic Valve technology enabling dynamic metabolic control of microbial metabolism in the context of a standardized bioprocess.
Directors & investors
Our directors and investors are global leaders within the synthetic biology, chemicals, and ESG industries.
DOUG CAMERON
Independent Director
DOUG CAMERON
INDEPENDENT DIRECTOR
Doug brings more than 30 years of experience in the biotech industry and has deep knowledge of technology, commercialization, venture capital, and private equity. He earned a Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT and has worked for Cargill, Khosla Ventures, and First Green Partners, among others.
JOŠKO BOBANOVIĆ
JOŠKO BOBANOVIĆ
Director, Industrial Biotech Strategy
Joško Bobanović joined Sofinnova in 2010 as a partner focused on the industrial biotech strategy. He works on early stage deals in Europe and North America with applications in chemicals, agriculture, food, and materials. Prior to joining Sofinnova Partners, he was part of the investment team at iNovia Capital in Montreal, Canada.
In addition to DMC’ board, Joško sits on the boards of Metgen, Comet Bio, DNA Script, Biosyntia, Pyrowave and Protera Biosciences. Before going into venture capital, he created an internet startup and a software company.
He is a mentor at BIRD Incubator, which helps entrepreneurs in software, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning.
rob van der meij
Director
ROB VAN DER MEIJ
Director
Rob is a chemical engineer from Delft University in the Netherlands and has worked both in the corporate, strategy consulting and start-up world in chemicals, process and water technology. Rob has held business management positions with Akzo Nobel and Shell Chemicals, was a founder and CEO of KiOR in the US and worked as CEO for several other start-ups in chemicals and water technology. He is also an investor and has board roles in several start-ups.
Alastair Cooper
Director
ALASTAIR COOPER
Director
Alastair Cooper is a Senior Investment Director at ADM Capital with responsibility for Early Stage Investments. Alastair spent 18 years as an Investment Banker, 16 years of which were at Morgan Stanley, within the Equity Division, as a Managing Director based in London and Hong Kong. His responsibilities included Head of European Derivatives, Proprietary Trading and Head of Asian Equity. Upon leaving Morgan Stanley in 2002, Alastair completed the One Year Farming Course at the Royal Agricultural College and has managed his own mixed organic farm since. As an active private investor, Alastair has made a number of investments within renewable energy and agriculture. Alastair holds a BSc in Zoology from Exeter University, England.