Executive Team
Robert Mayer, Ph.D.: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Mayer has been involved with the chemicals and industrial biotech sectors for over for over 30 years. Prior to joining Cobalt Technologies, he was Executive Vice President at Danisco A/S, the global leader in food ingredients as well as CEO and Chairman of Genencor International, a leading producer of industrial enzymes. He has served on the board of Martek Biosciences Corporation, the largest global producer of DHA, ARA, and other supplements and fine chemicals on its microalgae fermentation platform. He currently serves on the board of Kalsec, Inc. and formerly serviced on the board of EdeniQ, Inc., which respectively serve the food and industrial biotech industries.
Steven Shevick: Chief Financial Officer
Steve Shevick has extensive experience in financial management, fundraising and merger and acquisition transactions from both a financial and legal perspective, and has served as Chief Financial Officer for both public and private companies. Most recently, he was the Chief Financial Officer of Ausra, Inc., a start up in the solar thermal energy industry. Prior to Ausra, Steve served as Chief Financial Officer at Synopsys, Inc., a billion dollar public company, where he was instrumental in leading the largest acquisition in the history of the electronic design automation industry, and Wyse Technology, a thin computing company.
Andy Meyer:Senior Vice President of Business Development
Mr. Meyer brings a deep understanding of both the fuels and chemicals markets to lead Cobalt’s effort to commercialize biobutanol, while driving strategic partnership development and overall corporate strategy. Meyer comes to Cobalt from Amyris where he was Director of Supply and Distribution, having built the company’s fuels marketing efforts from inception. Prior to Amyris, Meyer held senior commercial roles at both Chevron and BP, where he was responsible for chemicals and fuels marketing and procurement, in addition to having significant engineering and plant startup roles. Andy holds an MBA, MS in Chemical Engineering, and a BS in Environmental Management and Mathematics.
David Walther, Ph.D.: Senior Director, Research and Development
Dr. Walther has over ten years of experience directing research teams focused on developing and implementing microsystems in the areas of biosensing, power and energy. Prior to joining Cobalt, Dr. Walther was employed at the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center where he directed research teams focused on projects sponsored by NASA, DARPA, Chevron, and Toyota, among others. Dr. Walther was granted Exceptional PI status for several US Government, State of California and Industry Sponsored Research Grants.
Stacy Burns-Guydish, Ph.D.: Director, Microbiology
Prior to joining Cobalt, Dr. Burns-Guydish held various research positions with the Stanford University School of Medicine where she was awarded with the NIH service award. Dr. Burns-Guydish developed and optimized in vivo models to monitor bacterial infection and immune response utilizing bioluminescence imaging. Dr. Burns-Guydish is an expert in genetic engineering, bacterial pathogenesis, and biophotonic imaging.