Powering a Reliable Path for Battery Materials

As the President at C-BATT™, Dan oversees the company’s operational processes, ensuring optimal resource allocation for the development and deployment of Obsidia, our high-performance anode material, into the marketplace.

Dan also serves as a member of CONSOL Energy’s senior management team, where he is Senior Vice President of CONSOL Innovations, one of C-BATT’s JV partners. In this role, Dan leads the charge on advancing CONSOL’s ongoing commitment to sustainable growth through new technologies, especially those in the coal-to-products and carbon management sectors. During his more-than 20-year career with CONSOL, Dan has held a variety of roles spanning research & development, marketing, business development, strategy, and engineering. Prior to his current position, he was CONSOL’s Senior Vice President – Strategy in 2020-2023, with a primary focus on developing and executing the company’s growth strategy, while having responsibility at various times for its Baltimore marine terminal, Itmann mine project, and sales & marketing, environmental & sustainability, and business development groups.

Dan earned his B.S. in chemical engineering, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame, and a Certificate of Excellence in Advanced Management and Leadership from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. He has authored or co-authored more than 75 publications and presentations on topics related to energy and the environment.

Bill Easter serves as a VP of C-BATT™ and is responsible for advising on the overall vision and direction of the company.

Bill worked for over 17 years with AT&T and Bell Labs; and since leaving AT&T in 2000, he has started 10 companies. With over 67 US patents issued, Mr. Easter is an established inventor and innovator. He has set up and funded an industrial laboratory for producing prototypes and developmental bulk silicon oxycarbide structures. Additionally, he initiated Material Development activities with Polymer-Derived Ceramics and developed U.S. sourced carbon anode materials for Lithium-Ion batteries.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Texas, a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Drexel and a Master’s in Engineering Sciences from Penn State.

As CTO, Dr. James Fleetwood leads the strategic technological vision, overseeing R&D, engineering, and product development to drive innovation, ensuring alignment with market needs and regulatory standards.

James has worked for over a decade to develop novel energy technologies and the companies around them. Through his work as part of the initial start-up team at the Battery Innovation Center, he understands the needs of balancing time with tight budgets, strict technical development requirements, infrastructure procurement, team building, and networking.

He has a Ph.D. in Material Science and Engineering from Purdue University.

As the Director of R&D, Kyle Marcus is responsible for the day-to-day direction of technology development and leads a team of engineers and technicians.

Kyle has a strong academic, theoretical, and real-world work experience in battery development and testing. He served as Lead Engineer on a $1 million, 3-year DOE NETL contract that focuses on using preceramic polymer technologies integrated with coal for use as lithium battery anodes. He has also served as Principal Investigator on several related Department of Energy Small Business Innovation and Research grants. He has contributed to more than 20 scientific publications and holds two U.S. patents pending and one international patent pending on PDC composites for battery anodes.

Kyle has a Master of Science in Nanotechnology from the University of Central Florida and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Dixie State University.

As the VP of Technology, Dr. Rudy Olson bridges the gap between strategic vision and daily operations, coordinating cross-functional efforts to implement technology development and streamline processes, ensuring efficient execution and integration of innovative solutions into the product plan.

Rudy’s 25-year career has been focused on R&D in manufacturing companies, where he has successfully scaled several new products and processes from concept to market and has been awarded nine patents issued in multiple countries. He led projects that were bestowed the Corporate Environmental Award in 2009 and the Corporate Technical Achievement Award in 2017 by the American Ceramic Society. He has been instrumental in establishing a stronger scientific-based approach to the development and manufacture of advanced carbon products made from coal, including on-going efforts in coal sourcing optimization and beneficial use of waste coal fines. Primary markets of interest include aerospace, military, energy storage, and building products.

Dr. Olson has a Bachelor of Science in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, a Master of Science and PhD in Materials Science from Northwestern University.

Josh McConkey is the Director of Commercialization at C-BATT™.   His work at C-BATT™ includes bringing products to market, industry analysis, customer relations, and accelerating technical and economic forces together to meet customer needs.

Josh brings a wealth of experience in commercializing novel technologies, having shepherded dozens of breakthroughs into product spaces.   He has a background in Electrical Engineering with specializations in RF, power grid design, and material science.  He was the Lead Instrumentation Engineer for NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery, preparing and launching six missions to help build the International Space Station.  At Siemens Energy Josh led the power generation Advanced Instrumentation team, during which time he received 10 patents in materials science, power equipment control, 3D printing, and electrical design.  He brought 14 different technologies from conception to fielded products at Siemens Energy.  At Sensatek he commercialized eight more novel technologies in the areas of electro-ceramics and artificial intelligence into the aerospace and power industry markets. 

Josh has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida.