Steeper Energy was created in 2011 by Perry Toms, and Dr. Steen Iversen. Shortly thereafter TOM Capital became an investor in the company and today is the majority shareholder and active partner in the business.
Over the years Steeper has grown where today it engages a team of scientists, engineers, and support staff advancing Steeper’s core technologies and supporting the build-out of commercial projects. Steeper has locations in Denmark and Canada.
Senior Scientist, Hydrofaction®
Project Development Manager
Senior Technical Advisor
Technical Manager
Senior Mechanical Engineer
Senior Engineer, Energy Systems
Corporate Development Associate
Aalborg Operations Manager
Pilot Plant Manager
Senior Process Engineer
Mechanical & System Engineering Lead
Senior Manager, Corporate and Business Development
Global Engineering and Country (Denmark) Manager
Senior Manager, Technology
Executive Chairman
Senior Technical Advisor, Board Member
Founder, Advisor, Board Member
Founder, Ambassador, Board Member
TOM Capital owns businesses in Canada and the US spanning manufacturing, technology, consumer products, real estate development, retail real estate, and financial services. TOM’s founders have been involved in creating businesses, including oil and gas production, that in a number of instances have become highly valued public companies. TOM Capital has a long-term investment horizon with a focus on driving significant enterprise value appreciation over time. The team at TOM Capital is focused on the most strategic dimensions of its portfolio companies including capital allocation, tax planning, strategy, leadership development, organizational and operating effectiveness, and governance. The resources at TOM have senior level experience in Legal, Finance, Engineering, Project Management, and Operations. TOM is actively engaged in its businesses alongside senior management and often TOM team members are seconded into management positions. TOM provides assistance wherever it can help.
TOM Capital is the majority shareholder of Steeper and is a Calgary-based Private Equity firm. TOM has been an investor in Steeper since 2012.
Tony Grenon is a lawyer by training and has earned a JD from the University of Manitoba Law School. He focused on corporate law and finance, emphasizing detailed structuring and implementation of business transactions in both the public and private sectors. He left private practice in 1996 while partnering with Blake, Cassels and Graydon, a major Canadian law firm.
Tony left private practice to become one of the founders of TOM Capital, a Calgary-based private equity firm. As a Managing Director of TOM Capital, Tony has focused on energy and energy infrastructure-related business over the years. For at least the past ten years, Tony has increasingly directed his attention to technology and renewable energy opportunities. He is currently the Executive Chairman of the Board of Steeper.
Bevan May is a Computer Engineer and has an MBA from Queen’s School of Business. Bevan has served in advancing technical and senior business leadership roles across a number of industries over 30 years including tenures at Hewlett Packard, ATCO, and Honeywell. For 8 years he owned and grew a regional plastics manufacturing and recycling business based in Calgary before divesting it in 2009. For the past decade, Bevan has served in a senior advisory and leadership role with Calgary-based private equity firm TOM Capital, providing direct leadership and supervision of many of the portfolio of businesses under the TOM umbrella.
Bevan has directly led strategic growth initiatives, M&A activity, and has been directly involved in all operational aspects of senior corporate leadership. Bevan’s focus has been helping companies navigate strategic planning and execution work, organizational effectiveness, cost-containment, and the development of financial and operational controls.
Paul Sibanda currently holds the position of Vice President, Finance and is responsible for providing an effective financial governance framework for the company and leading the ongoing finance operations.
Paul is a Chartered Professional Accountant with extensive experience in leading and managing finance operations across a broad range of industries including investment management, real estate development, commercial leasing, technology and manufacturing. Paul’s experience includes over 10 years of progressive leadership roles with various public accounting firms, including KPMG, where he provided assurance, tax and advisory services.
Paul has also served in a senior financial leadership role with Calgary-based private equity firm, TOM Capital, providing leadership and supervision of the finance and tax functions while working closely with TOM Capital’s executive team in developing strategy to drive growth and steward-sound financial management of the company as it pursues its short- and long-term financial objectives.
Dr. Göran Olofsson joined Steeper in 2012, he has more than 20 years of experience in technical, chemical, and environmental issues relating to biofuel conversion technologies, such as biomass combustion, gasification, waste to energy, and catalysis. In addition, he is experienced in the commercialization of new technologies converting biomass to biofuels, especially in the operation of chemical plants at all scales.
Dr. Olofsson is involved in the development of Steeper´s Hydrofaction® technology from the beginning. His broad experience in the industry and academia (Lund University and Luleå Technical University, Sweden) has equipped him to contribute to commercializing Hydrofaction® technology for the past decade.
Doug Greening is a professional engineer (P.Eng.) with over 25 years of professional engineering experience turning ideas into commercial products. Doug is a Mechanical and Automation engineering specialist, inventor, entrepreneur, and former Vice President of Engineering with Tesco Corporation and the named primary or co-inventor of 25 granted patents. In addition, Doug leverages his extensive systems integration and managerial skills to keep Steeper’s projects moving.
Steven Gust serves as a Senior Technical Advisor bringing more than 35 years of experience in the advanced biofuels space to Steeper. After graduating with a M.Sc. in Chemistry, he began his career in the battery space before switching to renewable energy projects.
Steven has been the technical lead in various thermal conversion technologies projects such as fast pyrolysis and gasification. In addition, he led European Union projects on upgrading catalytic pyrolysis biocrudes and conducted techno-economic evaluations of different advanced biofuel technologies, including hydrothermal, hydropyrolysis, and biological processes. He also led the Fischer-Tropsch technology vendor selection of a biomass gasification demonstration plant. On the sustainability side, Steven has evaluated the carbon intensity of biofuels and their indirect land-use change (ILUC) effects, as well as their legislative requirements in multiple jurisdictions.
Henrik Egholm joined Steeper in 2014, and he has a Bachelor’s degree in Technology Management and Marine Engineering and is a graduate of SIMAC, Denmark (Svedberg International Maritime Academy).
Henrik has more than 20 years of experience in different energy-related companies, ensuring that energy-consuming equipment runs at its optimal parameters. Currently, he is developing Steeper’s high-pressure pump unit and pressure reduction unit at one of Steeper’s facilities in Denmark.
Hans-Henrik has been working on Steeper’s projects from pilot-scale to demonstration plant after joining the company in 2013. Hans-Henrik is an experienced Mechanical Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the oil and energy sectors. In addition, he has a thorough knowledge of the pharmaceutical and fabrication industries.
Hans-Henrik has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Design from Copenhagen Engineering Academy. He is skilled in AutoCAD, Inventor, Fusion 360, Process Engineering, Computer-Aided Design (CAD), and Automation.
Doug Bull is one of Steeper’s Canadian engineering team members. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, a Master’s degree in Chemical and Process Engineering, and is a registered professional engineer (P.Eng.) in Alberta, Canada.
Doug has eleven years of experience with biomass combustion, gasification, and pyrolysis energy conversion technologies that he has helped develop, troubleshoot, and commercially deploy. Doug also brings knowledge of the Canadian forestry sector related to wood-fired and black liquor fired cogeneration boilers for generating heat and electricity.
Doug’s primary role at Steeper is to assist with the overall development and commercial deployment of Hydrofaction® technology platform. Other roles include evaluating biomass feedstocks, reviewing feedstock transportation modes, configuring and selecting wood handling equipment, and other engineering support activities.
Aleck Grenon has previous experience working in logistics and private equity, where he implemented new control systems, directed workers, managed inventory, and performed financial and strategic analysis. Aleck graduated from the University of Calgary and was initially tasked to help Steeper with financial matters but has since developed expertise in global biofuel incentives, life cycle analyses, and commercial arrangements.
Aleck now holds the position of Corporate Development Associate, where he takes an active role in project development while still managing many other duties, such as, evaluating financial and government incentives.
Anders Velling holds a Bachelor’s degree in Technology Management and Marine Engineering, earned from Aarhus School of Marine Engineering. He initially joined Steeper Energy in January 2019 as a member of the Pilot
Plant team, specifically working on CBS-1. Over time, his commitment and expertise led him to the role of Pilot Plant
Manager, where he took on the responsibility of overseeing the test equipment and operations at Steeper’s pilot plant at Aalborg University.
Anders is recognized for his pragmatic problem-solving skills and possesses extensive experience with all test and pilot equipment at the Aalborg facilities. In October 2022, he briefly joined Nature Energy as a Technical Project Manager
before rejoining Steeper Energy as an external consultant in May 2023. In September 2023, Anders took on the role of Aalborg Operations Manager, where his main focus is leading the Aalborg operations team, coordinating tests and campaigns, and fostering productive collaboration across the entire Steeper organization.
Chris Schach Pedersen joined Steeper Energy in February 2020 after he completed his Bachelor´s degree in Technology Management and Marine Engineering at Aarhus School of Marine and Technical Engineering (AAMS), Denmark.
Chris has been working at the Pilot Plant in Aalborg as Plant Operation & Maintenance Specialist. Over the past year, he has been mostly working on the commissioning and operation of the Demonstration Plant in Tofte, Norway. Recently, Chris started a new role as Aalborg Pilot Plant Manager in charge of planning the overall operation and maintenance of the plant, defining and running campaigns for technology optimization, reporting and analyzing data observed during operation, engineering and procurement of sub-systems, and defining updates on control systems. Meanwhile, Chris will continue to assist the activities in the Demonstration Plant in Norway.
Viktoriia Chukhran is involved in the tasks related to heat integration and process optimization and the design & development of process-related technical documentation. She has over ten years of progressively responsible experience in roles requiring knowledge of Process Engineering, Customer Service Engineering, and Process Simulation in the gas and oil refining industry.
Viktoriia started her career in Ukraine at the refinery as a Process Design Engineer. She developed mathematical models and led technological process simulations to facilitate business goals by increasing operational efficiency. Before joining Steeper, she was the Senior Technical Sales & Service Engineer at Haldor Topsøe, supporting the sale of catalysts and technologies for the European region to produce friendly fuels to lower the impact on the environment from the utilization of hydrocarbon-based fuels. In addition, she was a key person in the technical part of the catalyst sales process, preparing technical proposals for clients’ hydroprocessing units and helping analyze the performance of these units with the associated reports.
Martin Øst-Jacobsen has a M.Sc. in Engineering Design and Applied Mechanics. He has over 15 years of experience working with oil and gas technologies. Martin’s expertise includes designing test setups for testing unbonded flexible pipes for offshore oil and gas, heat transfer and thermo-mechanical modeling, manufacturing processes, and co-developing large production machinery with suppliers and commissioning new production facilities.
Before joining Steeper in 2020, Martin was the Senior Engineer at NKT Flexibles (now National Oilwell Varco). He was responsible for developing key areas of the design guides related to the thermo-mechanical behavior of flexible pipes. Currently, Martin is developing the high-pressure, high-temperature components for Hydrofaction® plants, including heat exchangers and pumps.
Reberth Machado is a Chemical Engineer with 25 years of experience in Project Management, Technology and Business Development, Production and Operations, and Executive Management. He holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Alberta and an Advanced Management Degree from Harvard Business School.
Reberth’s international experience spans multiple countries: Canada, Germany, the United States and Brazil; as well as diverse sectors including Pharmaceuticals, Energy, Engineering and Biofuels. He served in a number of roles, including as CEO, at Bioenergia do Brasil for 14 years and has recently returned to Canada to pursue commercialization opportunities in the Renewable Energy sector. At Bioenergia, Reberth was most recently responsible for running a major Ethanol (from Sugar Cane) production facility in Brazil including responsibility for the farming and crop management aspects of Sugar Cane production in the vicinity of the operating plant. Previously Reberth served as Manager of Business Development and Technologies for Sherritt International in Canada, and before that at ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH in Germany, as part of the Executive Team responsible for developing their operations in the United States.
Dr. Johnny Johansen has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. He has been leading technology development from early concept demonstration to implementation of full-scale production lines throughout his career.
Dr. Johansen comes from a position as CTO in Alumichem, where he has been delivering new and innovative chemical and technology products for water treatment. In his past, Dr. Johansen has also worked in both automotive and mining industries, where he has managed development programs and business processes optimizations in global organizations. Over the past 10 years, Dr. Johansen has been an instrumental part of defining strategic direction and business priorities in his respective positions.
At Steeper Energy, Dr. Johansen leads the global engineering team and provides country leadership in Denmark. His focus will be leading the transition from Steeper’s historic focus on Research and Development, to broaden into the full commercialization of Hydrofaction®.
Dr. Julie Katerine Rodríguez joined Steeper in 2015, and is currently managing the Advanced Biofuels Centre in Calgary while also assisting in all aspects of Hydrofaction® technology development. She is specialized in novel integrated upgrading pathways for renewable oils to “drop-in” transportation fuels and integration into refinery processes. Further, Dr. Rodríguez possesses deep specialist know-how in catalysis, refinery processes, and properties and analytical techniques for renewable and conventional oils.
Dr. Rodríguez has been Steeper’s lead engineer on two third-party engineering projects related to upgrading technologies and has been managing a number of industrial and academic collaborations. Dr. Rodríguez is listed as an inventor on eight patents and has published six peer-reviewed papers in international journals.
John-Paul Grenon is the Senior Technical Advisor and a Board Member of Steeper. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manitoba. He initially worked in Oil & Gas engineering designing and executing drilling and completion operations of oil and gas wells on land and offshore in Canada. Then JP moved to manage an oil and gas producing area in Northern Canada, where all aspects of the operation, from the reservoir face to the sales pipeline, were under his engineering leadership. From there, JP gained senior leadership experience by managing a large sour gas plant and finally managing an area with a production of 50,000 boe/d.
JP joined TOM Capital in 2010, working part-time as a member of the Senior Management Committee for Foremost, a diversified manufacturer of heavy vehicles for the mining, construction, and oil industries as well as tanks and pressure vessels for the oil & gas, and mining business, also bins and other products for the agriculture sector. In addition, JP also works on evaluations of companies that are potential acquisition targets for TOM Capital.
Dr. Steen Brummerstedt Iversen co-founded Steeper Energy. With a PhD in Chemical Engineering, he currently serves as a technical advisor to Steeper Energy.
Steen has broad managerial, technical and business strategical experience in developing new, cutting-edge technologies, from concept to commercialization in the renewable energy and nanotechnology sectors.
He has over 25 years experience in the energy, renewables and environmental industries including the conversion of biomass and waste to energy by combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, and liquefaction.
Steen also has 20 years’ experience in the development and commercialization of supercritical and hydrothermal technologies, including two of the most significant new commercial applications of supercritical fluids within the last 20 years: Superwood and DIAM cork stoppers. He is also the inventor of 60+ patent families and has authored approximately 50 papers presented in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences.
Perry Toms co-founded Steeper Energy in January 2011, and served as its CEO and/or President until March 2022. Today, Perry serves as the company’s Goodwill Ambassador. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario’s Richard Ivey School of Business, he has held various executive management positions related to corporate and business development within the conventional and renewable energy industries.
Perry has over 25 years of senior executive strategic experience with a number of companies in the energy space.
His recent career has focused on corporate and business development services to the emerging renewable energy and clean-tech sectors located in North America, Australasia and Europe. This includes non-conventional technology project development and commercialization, including natural gas cogeneration, wind, biomass, gasification, bio-diesel, hydrothermal upgrading and carbon offset projects.
Dr. Ane Søgaard Avlund focuses on all the major process-related tasks involved in the commercialization of Hydrofaction® technology. She has a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering and won the Christopher J. Wormald Prize for her innovative research in thermodynamics. In addition, Dr. Avlund has authored more than ten papers presented in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences.
Dr. Avlund has over ten years of experience in the oil & gas and chemical industries, giving her a thorough knowledge of many aspects of process engineering. She started her career in Infochem (now KBC Advanced Technologies), where she was part of the core group developing the models and the software for the phase equilibrium software Multiflash. After leaving Infochem, she joined Haldor Topsøe, where she worked on project execution for chemical plants and process development of both existing and new technologies.
Gro Kallehave Hansson has a M.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark. Before joining Steeper, Gro has had 15 years of experience with Haldor Topsøe as a leading cost estimator on various petrochemical and chemical process plants.
Her strong technical background has given her a profound understanding of the industry’s process and cost structures of projects and development work. Gro has the role of Senior Engineer, Process and Cost Estimating at Steeper Energy.
Rodrigo Rincon Prada is part of the team developing the design of commercial-scale Hydrofaction® plants. He has a M.Sc. degree in Oil and Gas Technology with over 14 years of experience in all phases of engineering projects within the oil and gas and chemical plants industries. Rodrigo’s experience includes more than eight years of engineering work for ammonia, hydrogen, methanol, and other syngas-related technology projects. His technical knowledge centers on process plant layout design, piping engineering, reactors, pressure vessels, and heat exchangers engineering. In addition, his work experience includes site work roles as lead supervisor of mechanical works.
Rodrigo has been appointed Project Manager for the development of the commercial scale standard modular plant design.
