Miami, FL—(HISPANIC PR WIRE)–September 10, 2007–Directors from Florida International University’s (FIU) Energy and Business Forum along with senior engineers and public policy experts from General Motors (GM) will be at FIU on September 12, 2007 to announce the arrival of E85 ethanol in South Florida. Currently E85 ethanol is not available in South Florida, Wednesday’s announcement will disclose when and where E85 ethanol will be available for the first time in the area.
E85 ethanol fuel, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is defined as an alternative fuel by the U.S. Department of Energy. E85 ethanol is one of various initiatives under consideration by government and corporate entities in an effort to reduce the country’s dependency on foreign oil. Ethanol, produced by the fermentation of plant sugars, typically is derived from corn, sugarcane, and other grain products, although other biomass resources such as agricultural and forestry waste and crops such as citrus are under development as raw material.
WHEN:
Wednesday, September 12, 2007, 11:45 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
WHERE:
The symposium will take place at FIU’s University Park Campus at the Graham Center Ballrooms
WHO:
The panel discussion will be moderated by Dr. Edward Glab, Executive Director of the Knight Center for Excellence in Management and founder of the Energy and Business Forum. Presentations will also be made by:
— Dr. George Philippidis, Associate Director, FIU’s Applied Research Center
— Mr. Robert Ruano,Director,Grants and Sustainable Initiatives, City of Miami
— Mr. Karl Doenges, President of CleanFUEL Distribution
— Dr. Mary Beth Stanek, Director of Environment and Energy of General Motors
DETAILS:
Event Flow:
12:00pm Introduction- Dr. Edward Glab, Executive Director, Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management, College of Business Administration, FIU
12:20pm Dr. George Philippidis, Director of the Center for Energy and Technology for the Americas (CETA) of the Applied Research Center (ARC),FIU
12:40pm Mr. Robert Ruano, Director, Grants and Sustainable Initiatives, City of Miami
— 1:00pm Mr.Karl Doenges, President, CleanFUEL Distribution
— 1:20pm Dr. Mary Beth Stanek, Director of Environment and Energy at General Motors
— 1:40pm Question and Answer Session
The event, sponsored by General Motors and the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship Studies, is free and open to the general public but space is limited.
It is presented by the Energy and Business Forum of the Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management of the College of Business Administration and the Center for Energy and Technology for the Americas of the Applied Research Center.
Please RSVP at energy@business.fiu.edu or call 305-348-0399
About the Speakers:
Dr. Edward Glab is the Executive Director of the Knight Center for Excellence in Management at FIU’s College of Business Administration. Dr. Glab has a background in international business, education, media and government service. He was with Exxon-Mobil for more than 25 years and held a variety of positions in public affairs, including political risk; government and community relations; new business development; media relations; corporate and marketing advertising and emergency response, among others. Dr. Glab has a Ph.D. in political science and is currently a professor of business, director of the Knight Ridder Center for Excellence in Management, and the founder of The Energy and Business Forum of the College of Business. He has consulted for USAID, U.S. intelligence agencies, and the U.S. military in the area of political risk analysis and has participated in high-level crisis management scenarios, as well as scenario building, for countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe. Dr. Glab also continues to talk about the energy business to a variety of audiences in the U.S. and overseas; he is often quoted in the media.
Dr. George Philippidis is Associate Director of FIU’s Applied Research Center (ARC) and Director of the Center of Energy Technology for the Americas (CETA). He has 18 years of experience in biofuels and renewable energy. He is an international expert on cellulosic ethanol, has authored numerous publications, book chapters, presentations, appeared on TV, and holds nine US patents. Dr. Philippidis has worked at DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, where he directed a joint venture between DOE and Amoco Corporation on ethanol fuel technology development and at Thermo Electron Corporation, where he commercialized composite products. Dr. Philippidis also is the principle investigator of a $2 million project to develop a cost-effective way of turning sugarcane bagasse into ethanol.
Dr. Mary Beth Stanek, Director of Environment and Energy of General Motors, has primary responsibilities in the area of bio-fuels and safety policy at General Motors. Dr. Stanek has been with General Motors twenty-four years and has had a number of assignments in several staffs including Purchasing, R&D and most recently in Public Policy located in Detroit, MI. Dr. Stanek is currently leading many of the co-marketing E85 ethanol partnership activities with fuel retailers and ethanol suppliers. In addition to Dr. Stanek’s position at General Motors, she is also a frequent contributor to MCB University Press. Her articles can be found in Management Decision, European Business Review, Journal of Workplace learning and Management Research News. Dr. Stanek was a 2002 recipient of the Wall Street Journal Achievement Award and is a member of the Academy of International Business. Dr. Stanek a Doctorate of Business Administration from the University of Sarasota. Her concentration areas are international business and alliance management.
Mr. Karl Doenges is President of CleanFUEL Distribution, a joint venture between CleanFUEL USA and Protec Fuel Management that specializes in turnkey ethanol and biodiesel programs for fuel distributors, retailers, fleets and ethanol and biodiesel plants. Mr. Doenges previously was VP of Business Development for CleanFUEL USA and worked for an independent oil and gas firm, heading up their alternative fuel efforts. Mr. Doenges also worked in the International Trade Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce, the White House and coordinated the various Federal Agencies within the U.S. Government involved in energy issues to jointly better assist American companies export energy technologies. He earned a BBA in International Business from the University of Texas at Austin and a law degree and MBA from Texas Tech University.
Mr. Robert Ruano Robert Ruano serves as the Director of Grants and Sustainable Initiatives for the City of Miami. In this role Robert is responsible for securing grant funds which support numerous City programs and environmental initiatives. In addition, he oversees compliance with the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement to ensure the City’s commitment to sustainability. Prior to joining the City of Miami, Robert was Executive Director of Regis House, a local nonprofit. He is alumnus of Volunteer Florida, serving two terms as a governor-appointed Commissioner, and a graduate of Leadership Miami. Robert is a member of the United Way’s Emergency Food & Shelter Board and the Miami River Commission. Until recently, he was on the board of Citizen’s For a Better South Florida, an environmental education organization. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University.
About General Motors
General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world’s largest automaker, has been the annual global industry sales leader for 76 years. Founded in 1908, GM today employs about 280,000 people around the world. With global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in 33 countries. In 2006, nearly 9.1 million GM cars and trucks were sold globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. More information on GM can be found at http://www.gm.com.
About Florida International University’s Energy and Business Forum:
While recognizing the key role fossil fuels will continue to play in the world’s energy mix, the focus of the Energy and Business Forum is to contribute to energy security by acting as a catalyst for the public and private sectors to develop a diverse portfolio of commercially sustainable alternative fuels, many of which will be renewable and based on new technologies. Led by business and technology experts Dr. Edward Glab and Dr. George Philippidis, the Forum calls upon experts with industrial and market experience in oil, gas, and biofuels, including cellulosic ethanol, and other novel fuels.
In February 2007, Dr. George Philippidis, a co-founding member of the Forum, was awarded a $1M grant to develop cellulosic ethanol technology under the Florida Renewable Energy Technologies Grant Program. FIU-ARC and Florida Crystals Corporation FCC will investigate promising pretreatment processes for bagasse conversion to sugars that can be readily fermented to ethanol and will scale up those findings to a pilot facility to assess the feasibility of commercialization of the bagasse-to-ethanol technology. More information can be found at http://krcem.fiu.edu/energy or by calling (305) 348-0399.
About Florida International University’s College of Business Administration
Florida International University’s College of Business Administration, South Florida’s leading business school with unique expertise in international business, entrepreneurship, and a broad range of financial services, is the largest of the university’s professional schools. Among the college’s nearly 30,000 alumni are some of South Florida’s most successful business leaders and entrepreneurs. More than 6,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate business courses in its R. Kirk Landon Undergraduate School of Business and more than 1,000 graduate students study in its Alvah H. Chapman, Jr, Graduate School of Business every year. Another 1,000 business professionals participate annually in one or more of its professional and executive education programs.
For additional information about the college, please visit http://business.fiu.edu/ or contact Sally Gallion, assistant dean, at 305-348-6631, sally.gallion@business.fiu.edu/
