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IBI Board and Advisory Committee
In June 2008, members of the IBI established roles for the organization--including staff and board duties. Our board currently has nine members. Please see below for more information.
IBI also has a dedicated Advisory Committee consisting of 28 members with 5 sub-committees that focus on Policy, Biochar Production/Technology/Classification, Utilization in Soils, Commercialization, and Socio-Economic Evaluation. The members collectively speak seventeen languages and hail from twelve different countries including Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Kenya, Mongolia, Paraguay, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They represent a wide range of institutions and organizations including the academia/research community, small businesses, large corporations, non-profit organizations, and on-the-ground practitioners/farmers.
IBI Board Members (click on a name for more information):
- Johannes Lehmann, Chairman of the Board, Cornell University, United States
- Stephen Joseph, Vice-Chairman of the Board, University of New South Wales, Australia
- Ellen Baum, Board Treasurer, Clean Air Task Force, United States
- Marta Camps, Massey University, New Zealand
- Thomas Harttung, BlackCarbon A/S and GreenCarbon A/S, Denmark
- Guy Reinaud, Pro-Natura International, France
- Saran Sohi, University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- David Wayne, Retired, Formally of Shell Research, United Kingdom
- Yoshiyuki Shinogi, Kyushu University, Japan
Johannes Lehmann, associate professor of soil biogeochemistry and soil fertility management at Cornell University, received his graduate degrees in Soil Science at the University of Bayreuth, Germany. Prior to his appointment at Cornell, he coordinated a research project on nutrient and carbon management in the central Amazon where he started work on Terra Preta soils. During the past 10 years, he has focused on nano-scale investigations of soil organic matter, the biogeochemistry of black carbon and the development of biochar and bioenergy systems. Dr. Lehmann is co-founder and Chair of the Board of the International Biochar Initiative, and member of the editorial boards of Nutrient Cycling in Agroecosystems and Plant and Soil.
Stephen Joseph holds a Bachelor of Applied Science in Metallurgical Engineering and a doctorate in Architecture and Applied Anthropology. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy, a chartered engineer and has been a senior adviser to commercial, government and non government organizations, in renewable energy, biofuels, and sustainable agriculture and forestry. Dr. Joseph has extensive experience world wide developing processes and technologies that convert waste into energy and value added products. These include biodiesel, and other biofuels, oil from algae, biomass combustion, pyrolysis and gasification plant, biochar, plastic wood composite, additives for high strength concretes. He has also developed combustion devices to burn very dilute combustible gases. He has also been involved in multi-country market research into areas of waste recycling and renewable energy. He has written over 100 books and articles and lectured and trained other engineers throughout the world. He is vice chairman of the international Biochar Initiative and co-editor with Dr Johannes Lehmann of the first major publication on biochar. He is now a visiting professor at the University of NSW and director of a number of companies involved in bioenergy and bio sequestration. He is also managing director of Anthroterra Pty Ltd.
Ellen Baum, a founding member of the International Biochar Initiative, is a senior scientist with the Clean Air Task Force, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing atmospheric pollution through research, advocacy, and private sector collaboration. In recent years, Baum’s work has focused on air pollution and climate, with a special emphasis on carbonaceous aerosol science and policy and long-range transport to vulnerable ecosystems, such as the Arctic. She received BA from Antioch College and Masters in Forest Science and Public Health from Yale University.
Marta Camps is currently an Associate professor at Massey University in New Zealand and is the co-director of the New Zealand Biochar Research Centre. Dr. Camps received her M.S. and PhD in Soil Science from the University of California, Davis, United States. Previous to working at Massey University, she was a Senior Researcher (“Ramón y Cajal”) at NEIKER, Spain (2003 - 2008) and a post-doc researcher (1995-1998) and Lecturer (1999-2003) at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Thomas Harttung is an organic farmer and entrepeneur who studied at the Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Since 1984, he has been the owner and manager of the Barritskov Estate which is 690 hectares of agricultural land and forests. All the land was converted to organic practices in 1995-1997 and to biodynamic principles in 2005-2007. His advisory work on organic farming extends to over 2000 hectares of land. In 1997, Mr. Harttung established a major organic box scheme, now called Aarstiderne (the seasons) which serves more than 45,000 families. The farms, forests and the box scheme now employ more than 150 people. Additionally, he is the CEO of BlackCarbon A/S and GreenCarbon A/S and has served on numerous boards and panels in Denmark and internationally including Chairman of ICROFS Intl. Centre for Organic Farming (2001), Member of the Organic Council (Government panel on Organic Farming) (2001-2008), Board member of the Forestry Society (1988-1995), and as Trustee of Pro Silva European Council (1997 - 2005).
Guy Reinaud has been President of Pro-Natura International since 1992 working in agricultural development and biochar. He graduated from Ecole Centrale of Paris and has been Managing Director of Centi Software from 1966 to 1973. He then joined ICI (Imperial Chemical Industries) and from 1973-83 he was President of ICI Sopra, from 83-84 President of ICI Belgium, from 84-86 President of ICI Francolor, from 86-92 International Business Board Member ICI Agricultural Products and was the Chemical Industry representative at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. He has been the lead promoter of Conservation Agriculture for many years and the founder of Eco-Carbone and Green Charcoal International. Mr. Reinaud is also on the Board of several Institutions like IUCN France and a member of the Scientific Council of ICROA – (International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance).
Saran Sohi leads soil science research at the UK Biochar Research Centre (UKBRC), in the School of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh. The purpose of his work is to deliver UKBRC a sound mechanistic understanding of biochar function in soil, and gain from this the predictive capacity required to 'prescribe' biochar in ways that firstly are safe, and secondly offer the best possible results in terms of soil and crop performance at previously untested locations. Previous to joining the UKBRC, Dr. Sohi did eight years post-doctoral work at Rothamsted Research, the research institute based in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. As part of that work, Dr. Sohi spent 2005 working at Cornell with Johannes Lehmann in 2005 on biochar soil science.
David Wayne was born in the UK, obtained his school education and bachelor's degree (in chemistry) in Johannesburg, South Africa, continuing studies in Chemical Physics at Queen's University Ontario and Cambridge, England. After short spells of postdoctoral research in Southampton, the Smithsonian Institution in Massachusetts and the Herzberg Institute in Ottawa, he joined Shell Research, working on various topics including flame radiation, transport properties in liquids, lubrication and finally, biochar.
Yoshiyuki Shinogi has been a professor of irrigation and water management at Kyushu University, Japan since April 2010. Dr. Shinogi is also the vice president of the Japan Biochar Association (since 2009). Prior to his appointment at Kyushu University, he worked at the National Institute for Rural Engineering, Japan for 25 years. He has studied biochar for more than ten years mainly funded by Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and fisheries, Japan. He received his graduate degree on soil mechanics at Kyushu University, Japan.
