Northwest
Bioenergy Summit

Karl Dye

President/CEO

Tri-City Development Corporation (TRIDEC)

Karl was born and raised on the border of Idaho and Washington. After graduating from the University of Idaho, he embarked on a career in sales, marketing, and management, and has lived in Idaho, Alaska, Florida, Washington, and Illinois, working for companies ranging from Caterpillar Incorporated to small start-ups. In 2007, after a short stint as a county commissioner in North Idaho, he began his career in Economic Development, leading organizations in Sandpoint, Idaho, the Lewis-Clark Valley, and now, in the Tri-Cities. He lives in Benton County with his wife, Tiffany, and their two kids, Jet and Henry.

Corinne Fuller

Manager, Bioenergy Technologies Program

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Corinne Fuller is responsible for Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s research portfolio on biofuels, products, and energy. This portfolio includes sustainable utilization of marine, terrestrial, and waste biomass for fuels and chemicals via thermal, biological, and catalytic conversion. It also includes GIS-based resource availability analysis, TEA/LCA, algal growth parameterization and modeling, and sustainability analysis (GCAM).

Prior to her current assignment, Ms. Fuller’s research focus was on process development and techo-economic analysis for gasification systems (coal and biomass), fast pyrolysis and bio oil upgrading, municipal solid waste to liquid fuels, and CO2 capture systems. Before joining PNNL, Corinne was a process engineer for Esterline Engineered Materials for the manufacturing of high explosives.

Derek Sandison

Director

Washington State Department of Agriculture

Derek Sandison was appointed director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture by Gov. Jay Inslee effective June 15, 2015. As WSDA director, Derek oversees an agency responsible for animal health, plant inspections, food safety, fruit and grain inspection and certification, weights and measures, pesticide registration and marketing the state’s agricultural products regionally and globally. Derek is familiar to many in the agriculture industry from his previous role as director of the state Department of Ecology’s Office of Columbia River, where he oversaw numerous water supply development projects important to farmers and ranchers. He was also a principal architect of the Yakima River Basin Integrated Water Resource Management Plan and has played a key role in the Odessa Ground Water Replacement Project.

Joshua Heyne

Director of the Bioproducts Science and Engineering Laboratory
Co-director of the Bioproducts Institute
Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Washington State University Tri-Cities

Recently Heyne’s work has focused on the development of sustainable aviation fuels, which are low-carbon fuels produced from biomass. He was the principal investigator for the integration and coordination activities of the National Jet Fuels Combustion Program of the FAA’s ASCENT Center of Excellence, which was composed of 150 members and 40 institutions at its peak. Heyne’s collaborations with dozens of companies, academic laboratories and national laboratories establish partnerships for sustainable aviation fuel development.

Heyne recently co-authored a study published in the journal Fuel with Bin Yang, professor with WSU’s department of biological systems engineering. The study analyzed a WSU-developed jet fuel based on lignin, an organic polymer that makes plants tough and woody. The experimental plant-based jet fuel could increase engine performance and efficiency, while dispensing with aromatics, the pollution-causing compounds added to conventional fuels.

Heyne holds four degrees from three universities, including a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University.

Chad Kruger

Director, Wenatchee Tree Fruit Research & Extension Center
Director, Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources

Washington State University

Chad Kruger currently directs WSU’s Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center (TFREC) in Wenatchee and Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources (CSANR). He received a B.A. in Philosophy and History (1997) and an Academic Certificate in Ecointensive Agriculture Technologies (1998) from Northwest College in Kirkland, Washington, and he completed an M.S. (2003) in Land Resources from the Gaylord Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He was an Au Sable Graduate Fellow at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He joined WSU in 2004 and spent the first 11 years of his career located at TFREC in Wenatchee as part of the Center for Sustaining Agriculture & Natural Resources, and directed WSU’s Northwestern Washington Research & Extension Center (NWREC) in Mount Vernon (2015-2020) and the Puyallup Research & Extension Center (2017-2020).

He currently co-chairs the Sustainable Ag Committee for the Cascadia Innovation Corridor, serves on WSDA’s Dairy Nutrient Advisory Committee, the WDNR Climate Resilience Advisory Council, ex officio for the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission, and represents WSU on the Washington Food Policy Forum. He was raised in Washington State and is blessed to be from generational farm families in both Eastern (wheat and cattle near Spokane) and Western Washington (berries in Whatcom County). In his “spare time” he is a co-owner / operator of a small family livestock operation.