4 Minutes With…Alan Propp, Business Development Manager, Merrick & Company

Tell us about your organization and it’s role in the Advanced Bioeconomy.
Merrick & Company is one of the leading design engineering firms in the industrial biotechnology space. Merrick specializes in developing biotechnologies from lab through commercial scale. Merrick’s expertise includes biofuels, biochemicals, waste-to-energy/fuels, and algae production systems, from project feasibility through detailed design.

Tell us about your role and what you are focused on in the next 12 months.
My primary role is to communicate Merrick’s expertise to new, potential clients to convince them to choose Merrick for their engineering needs. I also remain involved with our clients in a project sponsorship role, ensuring that our clients are delighted with our performance.

Both Merrick’s and my personal goals and focus over the next year will be to expand our international presence. I will also continue to advocate strongly for industrial biotechnology implementation, as the drivers for changing from a fossil fuel to a bio-based economy remain as strong as ever.

What do you feel are the most important milestones the industry must achieve in the next 5 years?
Like everyone else in the industry, I think it’s imperative that we demonstrate the commercial viability of non-food-based, industrial-scale production of biofuels and biochemicals.

If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about the Advanced Bioeconomy, what would you change?
I would give this industry the same political clout as that of our fossil fuel cousins.

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?
The notion that I could pursue a challenging, interesting and fun career in an industry that will leave behind a positive, lasting legacy is what drove me to this field.

Where are you from?
I am originally from the State at the heart of the U.S. bioeconomy — Iowa. My hometown was the same as Radar O’Reilly’s, Ottumwa. Interestingly, I went to high school with Tom Arnold.

What was your undergraduate major in college, and where did you attend? Why did you choose that school and that pathway?
I obtained my B.S. in mechanical engineering from the University of Iowa. I would like to claim that I had a grand strategic plan for my career. The truth is that after a few starts and stops in my choice of majors I took a course in thermodynamics from a great professor named Don Madsen. I studied that field for the next ten years. Thanks Don!

Who do you consider your mentors? What have you learned from them?
My primary mentors were and are my late father and my mother. I learned and continue to learn from them the importance of leading a balanced, ethical, family-oriented life. My dad was an engineer for John Deere for his entire career, and while he worked hard while he was at work, he left it at the office when he came home. He and my mom enjoyed life, and taught me how to do so through example.

What’s the biggest lesson you ever learned during a period of adversity?
Through the losses of several loved ones over the last couple years I have had permanently imprinted on my psyche the importance of never taking a day for granted. Life is short, and is not a dress rehearsal. Live today, because you never know what’s around the corner.

A corollary to the above is to not sweat the small stuff. There are only a few things in life that are truly important, and the key to a happy life is to focus on those and let the rest of it go.

What hobbies do you pursue, away from your work in the industry?
I am an avid skier and golfer, which is why I choose to live in Colorado.

What 3 books would you take to read, if stranded on a desert island?
“The Road Less Traveled,” by Scott Peck.
“Battlecry of Freedom,” by James McPherson.
“Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” by Richard Feynman.

What books or articles are on your reading list right now, or you just completed and really enjoyed?
“The Greatest Show on Earth,” by Richard Dawkins.
“Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption,” by Laura Hillenbrand.
“The Foreign Correspondent,” by Alan Furst.

What’s your favorite city or place to visit, for a holiday?
Boy, that’s a hard one — I enjoy so many places. If I had to pick just one city it’d be London. My one place would be Yellowstone National Park.