Our Team

  • Martin Keighley

    Chief Executive Officer

    Martin Keighley specializes in accelerating the profitable growth of standalone and strategic business units, with experience as a global CEO. Most recently, he was President and CEO of Tata Chemicals North America (TCNA), where he was recruited to lead and integrate the North American soda ash business with sales of over $460 million. During his tenure at TCNA, he served as Chairman of ANSAC, a global supply chain business for soda ash.

    Martin also served as CEO and Director at Arvia Technology, where he developed multiple markets for early-stage, specialist water treatment technology. As Managing Director for Brunner Mond, he was involved in patenting a sodium bicarbonate service and product for the waste incineration market, creating a $40 million business within 2 years.

    Martin holds a Master of Chemical Engineering from Cambridge University.

  • Scott Gardner

    Chief Financial Officer

    Scott holds a BBA-Marketing from the University of Texas-Austin, as well as an MBA-Finance and MA-Int’l Mgmt from the University of Texas-Dallas.  Scott has over 25 years of financial experience in the high-tech, manufacturing, and cleantech sectors. Prior to Carbonfree, Scott was the CFO at Fluence Bioengineering, a leading manufacturer of LED lighting fixtures for the horticulture industry.  At Fluence Scott oversaw the company’s financial hypergrowth, along with the successful sale to a multinational German lighting company.   Scott has significant prior experience in IPOs, M&A transactions, and fundraising of various types, including equity, debt, and government grants.

  • Jody Black

    Chief Operating Officer

    Jody holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, Oklahoma State University and completed an executive business training program at Duke University. Most recently Jody was CEO of FQE Chemicals where he developed a business to address specialized chemical needs in the refining and upstream market space. Jody was also the Executive Vice President at Linde where he was able to build a profitable P&L of over $1BN USD in the energy sector and in the petrochemical sector. Jody also served as the Program Director at Alstom/GE where he oversaw the deployment of the first ever facilities to capture carbon from power plant flue gas via the chilled ammonia process at an operating scale of 100,000 metric tons/year.

  • Joe Jones

    Chief Technology Officer

    Joe holds a B.S. Chemical Engineer, University of Texas Austin – Joe has over 25 years of experience in corporate leadership, engineering, and technical manufacturing.  He was the CEO/Founder of Skyonic Corporation, the R&D Predecessor to CarbonFree. Prior to CarbonFree, he was the CEO at BridgePoint Technical Manufacturing and VP Operations at Ross Technology. Joe has received multiple grants and awards: IEA Delegate United States, Three-Time US/Canadian Dept of Energy Grant Awards, and the 2007 recipient of the Intel-Laureate Museum of Technology San Jose, California and the 2015 Austin Intellectual Property Law Associate – Inventor of the Year.

  • Adrian J. Gonzalez

    Director of Finance

    Adrian holds a BBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame and a Masters of Accountancy from the University of Texas at San Antonio. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Texas and has over 12 years of experience in accounting and finance. Most recently, Adrian was the Controller for a family office. Prior to that, he was a Senior Manager in the audit practice at Ernst & Young, where he served clients in both the private and public sectors. Adrian has spent his career focusing on US GAAP and SEC financial reporting, accounting policy, Sarbanes-Oxley internal controls over financial reporting, and corporate governance. 

  • Geoff Spahr

    Senior Director, Chlor-Alkali Sales and Marketing

    Geoff Spahr has more than 15 years of experience in the sales and marketing industry – with 10 of those years in distribution, logistics, and direct selling of chlor-Alkali chemical products in the greater Texas market. Geoff worked many years as a Regional Sales Manager for an established chlor-Alkali distribution company based out of Houston, TX.

  • Todd M. Hoppmeyer

    Todd is a senior commercial sales and marketing executive with over 40 years of experience in the petrochemical and performance minerals sectors. His career spans leadership roles within multinational corporations, family-owned enterprises, and early-stage companies, providing him with a broad and strategic business perspective. 

    He brings deep expertise across the value chain, including production, manufacturing, product development, market analysis, and global sales and marketing. Todd has successfully established and managed strategic commercial relationships and alliances with leading organizations across the United States. 

  • Dr. Bill Bryant

    Director of Marketing at PCC

    With over 20 years of dedicated experience in the minerals industry, Dr. Bill Bryant brings a unique blend of scientific expertise and strategic business acumen to drive growth and innovation. He holds a PhD in Organic Polymer Chemistry from Virginia Tech and an MBA in Marketing from Rutgers University, providing a strong foundation in both technical mastery and market leadership.

    His broad expertise spans Marketing, Research & Development (R&D), Purchasing, Supply Chain, Product Management, and Quality Assurance. Throughout his career, Dr. Bryant has excelled at bridging the gap between cutting-edge chemistry and commercial success, delivering value across global operations in the minerals sector. He continues to champion sustainable solutions and market expansion in the industrial minerals space.

  • Nadeem Nisar

    Chairman

    Nadeem Nisar has been with Fortistar, one of CarbonFree’s investors, since 2008 and co-leads Fortistar’s investment activities. He serves as a board member for several of Fortistar’s portfolio companies, including Primary Energy, TruStar Energy, Golden Renewable Energy, and CarbonFree. Nadeem has advised on $30 billion of M&A and $20 billion of financing transactions in his previous roles as a member of Deutsche Bank’s power and utilities investment banking team and Credit Suisse’s M&A and global energy teams.

Our Investors

Fortistar

Founded in 1993, Fortistar is a privately-owned investment firm that provides capital to build, grow and manage companies that address complex sustainability challenges. Fortistar utilizes its capital, flexibility and operating expertise to grow high-performing companies, first in power generation and now in mobility, carbon capture, the circular economy and other solutions that drive our transition to a zero-carbon future. As a team, Fortistar has financed over $3.5 billion in capital for companies and projects in the energy, transportation and industrial sectors.

Apollo Investment
Corporation
Berg & Berg
Enterprises
Husky Partners
Braemar Energy
Ventures

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