Brent Lilienthal

Chief Executive Officer

Brent brings decades of energy development, operations and engineering experience and innovation to help dairy farms realize their climate and financial goals. Prior to joining LF, he served as SVP at Worley, managing $1billion refinery and gas plant process operations safety improvement projects across multiple customers and President of EMEA for Total Safety, the world’s leading process operational safety and equipment company, overseeing all growth and operations in the Eastern hemisphere.

Brent also has experience in the process optimization industry and is a minority owner in Sky 1, a 50MW power plant in Texas. Brent earned a BS in Chemical Engineering from University of Texas, Austin.

He lives in Houston with his wife and has two grown children and a grandson. Brent is an avid traveler, having done business in or visited over 90 countries. He has a passion for the environment and for scuba diving with his family on the rare occasions he can get everyone together.

Brian Flis

A company co-founder with a passion for driving operational improvements and transformational change, Brian draws from more than 20 years of multidisciplinary military and private sector experience. He currently oversees multiple company functions and spearheads the proprietary Operational Excellence Management System (OEMS). He is also responsible for ensuring regulatory and permitting compliance.

Brian’s 2016 book, Never and Never Again: Lessons from the Frontline, cemented his reputation as a noted leadership expert.

Before joining the private sector, Brian held multiple management and engineering positions within the U.S. Air Force. His academic career includes a BS in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a MS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a MBA from The Ohio State University. He now lives in Colorado Springs, Colo., with his wife, four kids and two dogs. Occasionally he manages to carve out time for his favorite hobbies – snowboarding and golf.

Eric Butler

With expertise spanning business strategy, corporate valuation, investment strategy, fund raising and capital efficiency, Eric leads LF’s financial and business strategies that bring innovation and new revenue streams to dairy farms. Prior to joining LF, he served as CFO and Chief Revenue Officer of Robotic Skies, the only commercial drone maintenance network in the world, overseeing all growth and finance initiatives.

Eric also has experience in the public accounting, hedge fund and upstream oil and gas industries.

Eric earned an MBA from Northwestern University and his undergraduate and graduate accounting degrees at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He lives in Denver with his wife, two children and two dogs. When he isn’t chasing kids, walking the dogs, or trying to tackle the honey-do list, you can probably find Eric on the golf course.

Cyn French

Executive Vice President — Feedstock and Marketing

Cyn brings experience in C-suite leadership, ag politics and ranch ownership to LF Bioenergy. A company co-founder, she currently oversees LF’s Feedstock strategy development and execution in the U.S. and other marketspaces.

Keeping the priorities of LF’s dairy farm partners at the forefront, Cyn ensures each project aligns with U.S. dairy trends, sustainability goals and growth opportunities.

Cyn is active in the U.S. dairy community, in her local community in Northern Colo. and in working toward the alleviation of hunger in Africa. She has served as rural County Commissioner; Senate-appointed Water Quality Control Commissioner; Colo. Ag Commissioner’s Animal Welfare Board Member; Regional Political Trust Executive Director at Dairy Farmers of America; President/CEO at Western Dairy Association; and Sustainability representative to Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Cyn raised two successful daughters and is the proud grandmother of four. In addition to mentoring women-in-need through church, she advises celebrities on branding on a volunteer basis. Somehow she also manages to achieve her own fitness goals!

Julie Veldhuis

A key to delivering on “Farmers First,” Julie identifies dairy farms suited to RNG development and nurtures relationships with LF’s dairy farmer partners at every stage of the process. Born into a dairy farm family in Chino, Calif., Julie’s agriculture roots run deep. Over the past 40 years she has dairied in Calif., N.M., Wis. and Idaho, where her sons currently manage the family farm.

Julie’s professional background includes stints as marketing & public relations manager for Wis.-based Pagel’s Ponderosa Dairy, Ron’s Wisconsin Cheese and The Cannery Public Market. Her leadership roles include Board positions with United Dairymen of Idaho, Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board.

In the community service realm, Julie is passionate about volunteering for Special Olympics and serving on Dairy Girl Network’s Board of Directors.

Julie currently resides in Twin Falls, Idaho. She is “gone fishing” as often as possible and is working toward a goal of playing a round of golf in all 50 states. Julie has four children, two daughters-in-law, one son-in-law and a beautiful year-old grandson who is destined to be a 5th generation dairy farmer!

Dennis Dynneson

Dennis Dynneson’s passion for agriculture has roots in his upbringing on a wheat, barley and corn farm and cattle ranch in eastern Montana. Throughout his three-decade career, he has focused on helping dairy farmers grow their businesses and enhance their management practices through innovative equipment and technology.

At LF Bioenergy, Dennis is building on past experiences as a herdsman, milk safety specialist, equipment salesperson and business development strategist by matching dairy farms with LF’s capabilities and making sure Farmers First is embedded into each project from start to finish.

Dennis has held leadership roles at Westfalia-Surge, BouMatic and Alta Genetics. At Alta, Dennis developed the Milk Works program which focused on getting the most out of milking parlors. He also helped commercialize SCR/Allflex into a premier global health and reproduction monitoring company and has advised two startups, Total Dairy Solutions and Hydrogreen, on their sales strategies in the U.S. and globally.

Dennis resides in Norman, OK with his wife Suzanne, daughter Sarah and son Matthew. When he’s not visiting prospective dairy farmer partners, you will find manicuring his lawn and sprucing up the landscaping.

Lee Laviolette

One of LF Bioenergy’s co-founders, Lee has a long track record of driving growth and leading global teams on behalf of energy and process industry companies. Breakthrough approaches to deliver operational excellence have created enormous value for both the firm and investors.

Early in his career, Lee held engineering, commercial and operations management roles at Exxon and Total (Fina). As a consultant with Arthur D. Little, Navigant and Accenture, he helped National Oil Companies (NOCs) and Majors like Saudi Aramco, Pemex, Marathon, Rio Tinto and US Steel implement new operating models and achieve step changes in operating performance.

He has been a frequent speaker, panelist and 3-time conference Chair at operational excellence and compliance management events in multiple countries.

Lee earned a BS with highest distinction in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He lives in the Houston area with his wife of 41 years, their four adult children and 14 grandchildren. When not dashing across Houston to attend some grandchild’s event, he spends his free time camping in National Parks, saltwater fishing in Galveston Bay, or tinkering with one of many unfinished projects in his woodworking shop.

Russell Kessling

Director, Technical Solutions

Russell focuses on developing the initial RNG solution that aligns with each farm’s current operation and future growth. An experienced control system engineer and project engineer, Russell brings 16 years of experience in the traditional oil & energy industry to LF Bioenergy and the renewables sector.

Russell’s experience spans the power, upstream, downstream and petrochemical industries, through all stages of projects. He began his professional career with designing, programming, commissioning and start-up of control systems and safety systems, including five years as a field engineer on a flagship offshore platform. After obtaining his professional engineering license, Russell left the offshore industry to join a major engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firm as a lead systems engineer and later as project engineer in the chemical and downstream industries.

Russell earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from University of Houston. He lives in Pearland, Texas with his wife and three children and maintains an active half-marathon schedule. When not training for the next race, he is assisting with kid extracurricular activities and working on local service projects with his church. Russell recently discovered that the best way to promote family harmony is to give each child their way – case in point, the family cat goes by three names: Mr. Patrick Unicorn Waffles.

Halli Chesser

Halli Chesser brings a deep engineering background to the LF team. Her experience includes working with natural gas companies in both Nevada and Oregon. In her most recent role prior to joining LF, Halli lead the technical efforts and NW Natural as they worked to connect RNG projects to their pipelines. As Director of Engineering, Halli leverages this experience by leading LF’s efforts in identifying and evaluating injection strategies for LF’s projects as well as leading the engineering design efforts for all of our projects.

Halli has a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Nevada Las Vegas (Go Rebels!) and has appeared at multiple RNG events including the EPA’s 2019 RNG Workshop where she presented “RNG Success Strategies: Three Case Studies”.

Halli lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband Chris, their border collie/Australian shepherd Mitchell, and Optimus, their overweight tabby cat. Outside of work hours, Halli enjoys reading sci-fi novels and foraging for mushrooms with Chris and Mitchell in the forests of Oregon and Washington.

Ashley Garber Browner

General Counsel

Ashley is responsible for all legal matters related to LF Bioenergy and its subsidiaries. A seasoned legal executive with broad expertise in project development, M&A, contract drafting and negotiation, corporate governance, capital markets and restructuring, she brings more than fifteen years of public and private company in-house and private practice experience to LF.

Prior to joining LF, Ashley served as general counsel or in senior legal roles with various upstream and midstream oil and gas companies, including Nine Point Energy Holdings, Inc. and Kinder Morgan Inc.

Ashley received her J.D. from the University of Houston and a B.A. from Colgate University. She lives in Golden, Colorado with her husband and two young kids. When not with her family or working, Ashley is an avid tennis player, competing in leagues and tournaments around the country.

Brian Lewis

With seven years of experience investing in, and working with, businesses at every stage of growth, Brian manages financial planning and analysis for LF and advises the leadership team on capital optimization.

Prior to joining LF, Brian was a Principal at a private equity firm where he handled more than $200M of private equity placement and credit diligence, analysis and structuring.

Brian has served as a board member and financial advisor to Robotic Skies, UbiQD — an advanced materials company focused on clean energy – and the nonprofit Invest Southwest. He is the board chair of Growing Up New Mexico, a nonprofit focused on early childhood education.

Brian graduated cum laude from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash. with a BA in economics and physics, and now resides in his hometown of Santa Fe, N.M. with his partner Caroline and dog Sage. Outside of the home office, Brian is a diehard fly fisherman who loves to be outdoors camping and hiking.

Chris Skinner

Controller

Chris Skinner is a Certified Public Accountant with 16 years of finance and accounting experience. As LF’s Controller, Chris ensures timely and accurate financial reporting and forecasting, and manages internal processes that foster LF’s success.

Chris began his career as a member of EY’s audit practice, where he focused on real estate and transportation services. Following EY, he served in multiple roles including financial reporting, technical accounting and joint venture reporting with MPLX, a Marathon Petroleum subsidiary, gaining experience in technical accounting issues including derivatives, fair value accounting, revenue recognition and consolidation. Chris then moved to Athens, Georgia, to become the Controller at Creature Comforts Brewing Company, the largest craft brewery in Georgia.

Chris currently lives in Erie, CO, with his wife, two young sons and dog Franklin. In Athens, he donated his time and expertise as Treasurer of Love Craft, a non-profit serving adults with developmental disabilities. Chris’s hobbies include outdoor adventuring with his family and visiting new breweries to sample the wares.