Association news: NBB opens West Coast office, Growth Energy taps new Chairman

In Missouri, the National Biodiesel Board will open a US west coast office to be led by long-time California Air Resources Board (CARB) Division Chief Floyd Vergara. The expansion will bolster NBB’s presence on the west coast where climate programs are a substantial market driver for low carbon fuels like biodiesel and renewable diesel and will also bring critical regulatory expertise to the association as similar programs take flight across the country.  NBB’s new office will be in Sacramento, co-located with the California Advanced Biofuels Alliance office. Vergara will serve as Director of State Regulatory Affairs for NBB. Vergara brings more than 32 years of experience at CARB to the NBB team. Most recently, he served as Chief of the Industrial Strategies Division and Assistant Chief of the Research Division. Over the years, Vergara has overseen a number of CARB’s key climate and air quality programs, including the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and Cap-and-Trade program, among others.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Growth Energy members elected Dan Sanders as the association’s new board chairman. Sanders is the vice president of Front Range Energy, a 48 million gallon ethanol production facility located in Windsor, Colorado, and will succeed Jeff Broin, CEO of POET, LLC who held the position since the association’s inception in 2008 and through the successful campaign to achieve year-round E15, the original goal on which the association was founded. Upon reaching this industry milestone, Broin announced in September he would step down as chairman, but plans to remain an active member of the Growth Energy Board. Sanders previously served as vice chair of the board, which will now be filled by Mitch Miller. Miller currently serves as the chief executive officer and managing director for Carbon Green BioEnergy, LLC a 55 million gallon biorefinery in Michigan; president of Iroquois Bio-Energy Company, LLC a 50 million gallon biorefinery in Indiana; and managing partner of NUVU Fuels, which owns and operates convenience stores in Michigan and Indiana. Carbon Green BioEnergy joined Growth Energy in January of 2009.