Press Release
Rivertop Renewables Announces Steve Donen as Vice President of Process Development and Engineering
Chemical industry veteran to lead company from the lab to global scale, industrial processes
(Feb. 16, 2011) MISSOULA, Mt. -- Rivertop Renewables (www.rivertop.com), a Montana-based renewable chemicals company, today announced the hiring of Steve Donen as the company’s Vice President of Process Development and Engineering. Donen has more than 30 years of experience in the chemical processing industry, including executive leadership positions in manufacturing, engineering and technology development. Donen previously worked at industry-leading companies such as NatureWorks, Segetis, and Dow Chemical.
“Steve’s expertise will allow us to effectively scale our green chemistry platform, while maintaining the cost efficiencies and product performance we’ve proven in our lab,” said Stoppert. “Having worked closely with Steve in the past, I know his skills and ability to execute are second to none in this industry and will allow us to build a successful, world-class production process.”
Prior to joining Rivertop, Donen served as Director of Process Development and Engineering at Segetis, a company developing bio-based industrial materials, where he led the scaling of the company’s lab to a world-class, scalable, semi-works facility. Previously, Donen spent 13 years with industry pioneer NatureWorks (originally a joint venture known as Cargill Dow LLC) as Director of Manufacturing Technology and Engineering, where he led the development and construction of the first ever global-scale polymer plant making plastic from biobased feedstocks. During this time, Donen also played a key role in raising $300 million to build the first global-scale PLA/Lactic Acid facility, ultimately taking the joint venture from the developmental state to commercialization. Before Cargill Dow, Donen was the Global Technology Manager for Dow’s Polystyrene Business in Midland, Michigan where he was responsible for long term strategies, identifying new technology opportunities, and solving technology gaps.
“I’m eager to take on the challenge of scaling Rivertop’s promising technology from the lab to a commercial process,” said Donen. “I’ve worked with numerous technologies in this space, but I recognized Rivertop’s as having a quick pathway to commercialization and market success so I wanted to be involved.”
About Rivertop Renewables
Based in Missoula, Montana, Rivertop Renewables is innovating a new category of science – Progressive Chemistry. Merging proven science with renewable resources, Rivertop Renewables is creating an abundant and economical supply of sustainable, biodegradable and non-toxic chemicals and bioproducts derived from renewable plant sugars. In 2009, Rivertop was a national finalist in the Cleantech Open, the nation’s premier business plan competition for clean tech startups. More information is available at www.rivertop.com.