4 Minutes With…Mike Knauf, CEO, Rivertop Renewables

If you’ve been to Missoula of late, you’ll note that there’s a bit of an innovation corridor building up in what insiders have known for a long time as one of the really great college towns in the country. A couple of years ago, the combination of a great lifestyle and a highly promising technology lured Mike Knauf to the Bitterroot Mountains and to Rivertop Renewables.

You probably know him from his many years at Genencor and then as one of the top guys on the biodustrials side of Codexis — but what you may not know is that he is a diehard Packers fan from Green Bay — and knows just a little about how smaller teams with focus and great ideas can take on almost any team, anywhere, any time.

Former Packers coach Vince Lombardi put it best: ““After all the cheers have died down and the stadium is empty, after the headlines have been written, and after you are back in the quiet of your room and the championship ring has been placed on the dresser and after all the pomp and fanfare have faded, the enduring thing that is left is the dedication to doing with our lives the very best we can to make the world a better place in which to live.”

Tell us about your organization and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.

Utilizing a proprietary chemical process, Rivertop oxidizes plant-derived sugars to sugar acids.  Glucaric acid—from glucose—is the most widely known of the sugar acids, having been selected as one of the’ top value added chemicals from biomass’ by the U.S. DOE ten years ago.  We are currently building our first commercial-scale plant and will be launching our first glucarate-based product, Riose detergent builder, in mid-2015.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.

As the CEO, it is my overall responsibility to build and lead a great team that can attract customers, funding partners and develop novel chemicals that help change the world. We’re off to a great start with our existing team and funding from Cargill and First Green Partners. Bringing new sugar acid products to commercial scale provides exciting opportunities for innovation with partners across a number of industries.  We are: hiring at a breakneck pace; recruiting customers and planning our new product introduction to the automatic dishwash detergent market; expanding our corrosion inhibitor business for road de-icing markets; and, with potential business partners, seeding and nurturing a number of attractive business opportunities.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?

I look forward to the day when bio-based products replace incumbent chemicals in multiple new markets and become the new “industry standard” in the eyes of customers. This won’t happen overnight, and it certainly won’t happen until many of our peer companies achieve bottom-line profitability.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change?

I think many, if not most, people in this industry would agree that we need to reverse the politicization of sustainability. After all, there is nothing more American than innovation, job creation and making better products that lower costs and improve quality for consumers. That’s exactly what this industry is doing, and our efforts shouldn’t be a wedge issue.

Of all the reasons that influenced you to join the Advanced Bioeconomy industry, what single reason stands out for you as still being compelling and important to you?

I am still motivated every day by the opportunity to build a profitable business that meets customer needs without depleting natural resources or harming people or the environment.

You’ll be speaking at the next ABLCNext conference in San Francisco this November. What’s special about that week for you?

ABLC Next gives us all the opportunity to keep abreast of developments in our industry.  We can learn from the experiences—both positive and negative—of our peers.

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway?

I earned an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry & Biophysics from the University of California, Davis. I’d like to say that I had some incredible inspiration, but I was a kid and didn’t really have much of a clue, to be honest.  I stumbled into it.  In retrospect, UCD was a perfect match for me, a Wisconsin-raised kid who moved to California less than a year before starting college.

Who do you consider your mentors?

There are quite a few business mentors that I could mention; however, a famous person stands out as having had a big influence on me.  I grew up in the neighborhood where Vince Lombardi, Head Coach of the Green Bay Packers, lived in the 1960’s.  He probably didn’t know who I was, but he sure made a big impression on me.  Mr. Lombardi was known for being hard-nosed, and he also had what I believe to be the right mindset for success, in sports and in business.  This quote really says it all:

“Winning is not a sometime thing: it’s an all the time thing. You don’t win once in a while; you don’t do the right thing once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit.  Unfortunately, so is losing.”

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?

Believe in yourself, and take the time to think through the potential consequences of each and every thing you do when it’s tough sledding.  When you are in a leadership role, always remember that what you do—and how you do it—matters to a lot of people that depend on you!

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry? 

Downhill skiing, golf, floating on the Clark Fork River, tailgating, and exploring Montana with my wife, Pam, and all of the family and friends that visit us (pretty much non-stop) in this ‘last great place’ in the continental US.

What are 3 books you’d want to have with you, if you were stranded on a desert island.

I could answer this with some really excellent books hand picked by my PR guy to make me look super intelligent and introspective. But really, I’d just hope I never end up on a desert island, and I’d rather have a couple of cases of scotch than books.

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?

Business and leadership best sellers. Plus anything and everything having to do with bio-based chemicals, the companies we are working with or would like to work with, and (chemical) technology advances in our customers’ markets.

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?

My home town, Green Bay, Wisconsin, especially when there’s a home Packers game during the Christmas holidays.