Organizers of the fourth Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo announce that John Keppler, co-founder, president and CEO of the Enviva family of companies, will deliver a keynote talk at the event to be held April 5-6, 2016 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Over the past decade, Keppler has been responsible for setting Enviva’s strategic direction and leading the company’s growth from a startup company to become a leading producer of wood pellets with operations in Mississippi, Alabama, North Carolina, Virginia and Florida. The company’s portfolio of facilities represents more than 2 million metric tons of production capacity. As part of the company’s strategic vertical integration, these processing facilities complement the first purpose-built wood pellet port facility in the world, which Enviva acquired and expanded in Chesapeake, Virginia to store and export pellets produced in the mid-Atlantic region. The company is constructing a second wood pellet export facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, which it will fully own and operate, as well as an additional wood pellet production facility in Sampson, North Carolina.
In April 2015, Keppler led Enviva Partners, LP (NYSE: EVA) to its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange, making it the first publicly traded company in the industry.
Keppler holds a Bachelor of Arts in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as a Master of Business Administration from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.
This marks Keppler’s second appearance at the Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo. He also spoke in 2012 shortly after the startup of Enviva’s first wood pellet plant. Keppler will address the amazing progression of Enviva and of the worldwide wood pellet industry since then.
“John Keppler led the development of the new generation industrial wood pellet industry,” comments Rich Donnell, co-chairman of the event and also editor-in-chief of Wood Bioenergy magazine, the primary host of the event. “What he and Enviva have been able to accomplish in five years is remarkable.”
Organizers earlier announced that Drax Biomass CEO Peter Madden will deliver a keynote address. He’ll address the company’s new wood pellets plants and port facility in the Southeast as well as new developments.
The Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo also announced earlier that one of its themes will be entitled CHIP CHIP HOORAY! and emphasize speakers and exhibits that address technologies and developments in in-woods chippers, grinders, mulchers, biomass processing accessories, and transportation to markets. CHIP CHIP HOORAY! will complement the other main themes of the Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo, namely wood pellets (industrial and heating), and biomass power generation.
Wood Bioenergy Conference & Expo will feature eight keynote talks, up to 50 technical sessions and 70 exhibitors in the Grand Ballroom North of the Omni Hotel.
Early Exhibitors
The following equipment and supplier companies have already committed as exhibitors through one of the available sponsorship programs:
Gold: B&W MEGTEC; Bandit Industries; Morbark, Inc.; Canadian Biomass
Silver: AGRA Industries; Amandus Kahl; Basic Machinery; Cogent Industrial Technologies; Con-Vey; CPM; Dieffenbacher; Eagle Project Services; Evergreen Engineering; Firefly; Lundberg (Geoenergy); M-E-C; MoistTech; NESTEC; Pallmann; Player Design; Process and Storage Solutions; ProcessBaron; Process Combustion; RUF Briquetting Systems; Spar, Inc.; Sigma Thermal/TSI; Stratachem Solutions; Timber Products Inspection; West Salem Machinery
Bronze: Airoflex Equipment/Wolf Material Handling Systems; State of Alabama; Biomass Engineering; BM&M; Bliss Industries; Flamex; Georgia Forestry Commission; GreCon; Hunt, Guillot & Associates; IMM Inc.; Kice Industries; Laidig Systems; Mid-South Engineering; Process Sensors; Wechsler Engineering; Brunette Machinery.