THE TEAM
Charles L. Christensen
Founder, President and CEO
Chuck founded Recycled Energy Corporation in 2006. He has 25 years general management experience with P & L responsibility in General Manager, President and CEO positions for manufacturing companies serving industrial clients including the oil and gas, waste water treatment, and power industries. He is a global leader in the advancement and commercialization of catalytic depolymerization and thermal chemical fuel conversion technologies into facilities that convert biomass or waste plastics and other feedstock materials into diesel fuel and activated carbon. In leadership roles in both Fortune 100 companies and in privately held enterprise he has consistently exceeded profit goals by executing strategic business initiatives including implementation of lean manufacturing best practices, team cross training, and employee empowerment. During the course of his corporate and entrepreneurial career, he gained expertise in flow measurement, instrumentation, filtration, thermal-chemical processes feedstock preparation and conversion to fuel. While Chuck and his Recycled Energy Corporation technical team re-engineered, constructed and updated a biomass to diesel fuel facility in Poland, Chuck observed many improvements that could be made to the existing catalytic depolymerization process by applying his knowledge of refineries to integrate complementary thermochemical depolymerization and fuel stabilization technologies. He subsequently developed a patent (which is pending) on his improved version of the technology. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota and an MBA from Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. Chuck has been active in the Young Presidents’ Organization since 1995.
Ric Selbie
Vice President Technology Development & Integration
Ric Selbie leads new technology integration for REC’s catalytic depolymerization technology. Ric has 38 years of corporate experience in product and process engineering. In 1979 he founded Filterdyne, a fuel, oil and gas filtration company which he managed for 20 years. Ric’s customers included most oil companies and many power industry companies. He traveled extensively both domestic and overseas promoting and selling the products of his company. Upon selling that company to Kaydon in 2000, he served as Kaydon Filtration’s Vice President of Engineering, Director of Business Development and Sales Manager for the Western U.S. and the United Kingdom. Ric attended the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned his B.S. degree in Ceramic Engineering. Upon completing his degree, Ric enlisted as a Sergeant in the United States Army and served during the Vietnam War. An avid learner, Ric has continued to expand his expertise by taking courses in hydraulics, electronics, PLC programming, mechanical engineering, industrial filtration, marketing, lean manufacturing, Six-Sigma, and sales management.
Brian Burnett
Vice President Information Technology
Brian Burnett is the Vice President of Information Technology with more than 25 years of experience working in international organizations and companies. He also provides leadership in the areas of international business development, project management, and global human resources and operations. Brian’s experience encompasses a broad spectrum of technical consulting and senior technical management roles for technology, consulting, financial, academic and non-profit institutions. His experience includes senior positions with Eli Lilly and Company, Ernst & Young, Andersen Consulting, C/Soft, The National Christian Foundation, Stellar Technology Solutions, and Ronald Blue and Company. Brian has extensive experience in software development and software-related project management and professional services delivery. He specializes in cross-cultural working environments and has traveled through or lived in more than 40 countries on six continents. In addition, Brian designed and implemented the first western-level MBA program in Russia for Moscow State University and has taught MBA and undergraduate classes in finance, marketing, management and business ethics. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Computer Systems from Taylor University and received his MBA with a specialization in multinational management from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
Roberto S. Sonnenberger
Vice President Safety
Herb Hughes
Vice President Project Management
Herb brings years of experience in successfully managing multiple, concurrent large and complex projects. He has professional expertise in Construction Management, Project Management, Design and Engineering Management, Energy Project Marketing and Business Development, and Energy Project Financial Analysis. As Facility Director for ACCO Engineering Services, he managed 16 Company owned or leased and new acquisition properties overseeing the design, installation, and service of industrial, commercial, high-rise, residential, and institutional air conditioning, heating, ventilation, plumbing, process piping, electrical and DDC control systems. Herb also has a strong background designing and implementing electrical infrastructure and industrial generator systems for a number of high-profile client companies. Herb earned his B.A. from USC in Los Angeles. He is also an experienced light sport pilot.
Tomasz Morawski
President, REC Europe
Roberto is the Vice President of Safety and Operations for Recycled Energy Corporation. He has corporate experience in the consumer, industrial, high tech, financial and consulting industries. He also has extensive experience in government sales and relations in the United States, Mexico, Brazil, and Latin America. He has more than 20 years of general management experience in Mexico with P & L responsibility as General Manager / President / CEO. He consistently developed and led strong multinational management teams to exceed business plan profitability goals. Roberto was Co-Founder, Managing Director and C.E.O. of Polaroid’s Mexican subsidiary. Under his leadership, Polaroid Mexico grew from 14 employees to over 1400, and sales and profits increased forty-fold and became the most profitable Polaroid subsidiary in the Americas. Most recently, he founded Grupo Soluciones Tacticas, S.C., a Mexico City consulting firm specializing in operational and profitability improvements; business and market development; government affairs and relations; foreign trade; and private investment studies. Roberto has participated actively in international trade affairs for more than 20 years. He was Chairman of ANIERM (Mexican National Association of Importers & Exporters) and Chairman of AMIFOT (The Mexican Photographic Manufacturers Association). He has been a Board Member of the Mexican Foreign Trade Bank (BANCOMEXT). He chaired the Mexican Trade Office, A.C., within the Office of the President of Mexico. He holds a B.A. in Government and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MS in Occupational Health and Safety from Columbia Southern University.
Tomasz Morawski is a credentialed civil engineer and serial entrepreneur. During his career, he developed a company in Poland that imported structural steel for buildings built in Poland and neighboring countries. His was one of the first western businesses allowed to operate in Poland by the then Communist government. After selling that business, Tomasz co-founded the largest mushroom growing and packaging operation in Europe. He dealt with sources of biomass and compost and established a distribution network for transportation of finished products to serve customers in Europe, Japan and the United States. That business was sold and Tomasz created Sphinx Restaurants, a chain of 125 middle eastern food restaurants located in Europe. He sold that business and then invested in the construction of the Poland biofuel facility that used the first-generation design of the catalytic technology that has been advanced and commercialized by Recycled Energy Corporation.