Joseph J. Romano
Chief Executive Officer

Joseph J. Romano, one of the directors of Zilkha Biomass Energy, has worked with the Zilkhas in the energy industry since 1989. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of Zilkha Renewable Energy and Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Zilkha Energy Company. He served as Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer, and Controller of Texas International Company from 1986 to 1988 and as its Treasurer and Controller from 1982 to 1985. Prior to 1982, Joe spent five years working in the Worldwide Energy Group of the First National Bank of Chicago. Joe earned a B.A. in economics and political science from the University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire and an M.B.A. from the University of Northern Illinois.

Jeffrey McMahon
President

Jeffrey McMahon has over 20 years of experience in wide-ranging areas of the energy industry. Since 2004, Jeff has been the president of Zilkha Biomass Energy and its predecessor entity, Power Generation Inc., developing the business plan, soliciting customers, and raising capital. Prior to that, Jeff spent 8 years at Enron Corporation where he held several senior executive positions. Jeff led the Enron Industrial Markets division, which targeted the forest products and steel markets for Enron Corporation’s market making activities. He served as President of Enron Corporation from 2001 to 2002 after Enron Corporation filed for bankruptcy, designing and implementing the company’s bankruptcy reorganization plan, which was approved by the bankruptcy court in 2004. From 1989 to 1994, he was the Chief Financial Officer of MG Natural Gas Corp., a Houston-based natural gas marketing company. Prior to 1989, Jeff spent 7 years at Arthur Andersen & Company in Houston, Texas, in the energy division. Jeff earned a B.S. degree in Business from the University of Richmond, and he is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Texas.

Norman E. Alton
Operations

Norman E Alton has over twenty five years experience in the energy power plant and turbo-machinery industry. Since joining Zilkha, in 2007 Norman has been Director of Engineering responsible for overseeing all aspects of the power plant activities construction, installation and commissioning. Prior to joining Zilkha, Norman was the Engineering & Operations Manager with North American Energy Services Houston  operation responsible for gas & steam turbine component repair. Norman pioneered the development of the F class advanced gas turbine component repairs. Previous, Norman held several senior leadership positions with GE Power Systems in the Houston Service Center specializing on gas turbine component repair as well as developing new and innovative repair process technology for the advanced F & H class turbine blades. Norman worked as the Senior Manager responsible for Engineering and Quality at the GE Middle Eastern repair facility in Dammam Saudi Arabia. Norman championed the ISO 9002 quality certification of the repair business operations. Prior to his time at GE, Norman worked with Airmotive Ireland in Dublin as senior engineer responsible for commercial jet engine overhaul and refurbishment of Pratt & Whitney and SNECMA CFM jet engines. After obtaining his engineering degree, Norman was hired by GE’s Dublin office into the field engineering graduate program specializing in gas turbine installation and maintenance. Norman worked as technical director for six years on various field assignments throughout the globe working on gas turbine power-plants installations, overhauls and commissioning.   Norman has a Masters Degree in Engineering Design and Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from UCD Dublin Ireland. Six sigma green belt certified from the GE University.  

Craig Van De Mark
Counsel

In addition to serving as General Counsel to Zilkha Biomass Energy, Craig Van De Mark also served as General Counsel to Zilkha Renewable Energy and Zilkha Energy Company. Craig has also worked with Sterling Consulting Group providing strategy consulting to Fortune 500 energy companies, and was previously in private legal practice for several years with a national law firm. Craig earned a B.B.A. degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. degree cum laude from the University of Houston, where he served on the Houston Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. He is a licensed attorney in the State of Texas. Craig has the highest peer review rating (AV) granted by Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory.