New Energy Blue announces the hiring of bioenergy veteran Kelly Davis as Vice President. Davis joins New Energy Blue after a decade as Vice President of Technical and Regulatory Affairs for the Renewable Fuels Association and she also brings three decades of biofuels experience in quality management, production, and marketing.

“We’re building our first biomass refinery here in the U.S., optimizing a process proven by a commercial operation in Denmark,” says Thomas Corle, CEO and co-founder. “Having Kelly’s counsel from this point forward will be invaluable. I’ve worked with her and witnessed the full spectrum of her abilities since the late ’90s. She knows the biofuels industry inside and out, and there’s almost nothing she can’t do.”

“I’ve never taken on an easy job,” says Davis of her move to New Energy Blue. “The irresistible challenge here is turning corn stalks into cellulosic ethanol—and doing it profitably at commercial scale. That’s the holy grail of the bioenergy business. That’s what excites me.”

Davis joins the team planning the New Energy Freedom Biomass Refinery for a site outside Mason City, Iowa. The project can keep over one million tons of CO2 out of the atmosphere every year–equivalent to taking 200,000 cars off the road, achieved in part by replacing fuels and chemicals now produced from oil and gas refining.