Management Team

Fred Cannon, President & CEO
KiOR, Inc.

Fred Cannon is the President and CEO of KiOR, and a member of the board of directors. As President and CEO he is responsible for managing the rapid scale-up of the company’s Re-Crude^TM conversion platform and all other aspects of the business. He brings to the company strong leadership skills, technical expertise, and a proven 30 year track record of successful international business management in the fuels and chemicals industries, with a particular focus on catalyst and fluidic catalytic cracking (FCC) technologies. 

As President and CEO of KiOR, Cannon has been recognized as one of Forbes’ “Most Powerful People in the World” for clean technology, and one of the Top 100 people in Bioenergy by Biofuels Digest.

Prior to KiOR, Cannon led a distinguished 30 year career at AkzoNobel, a global leader in refining catalysts and specialty chemicals manufacturing. Cannon was most recently president of AkzoNobel Catalysts LLC. In his role, Cannon had full P&L responsibilities for the company’s Americas business and managed various joint ventures around the world. In 2004, AkzoNobel’s refinery catalyst business was sold to Albemarle Corporation. Cannon helped transition the business to ensure continued smooth operations and integration across the new company. 

In all, Cannon has over 20 years in the refining catalyst business, where he has managed the development, scaling and commercialization of new catalyst technologies, including fluidic catalytic cracking and hydro-processing catalysts. 

Cannon holds a Masters in Business Administration and a Bachelor of Sciences in Engineering at the University of South Alabama. 

John H. Karnes, Chief Financial Officer
KiOR, Inc.

John H. Karnes is the Chief Financial Officer of KiOR where he has responsibility for the Company’s financial operations including finance, accounting, planning, investor relations, risk management, and information technologies.

Karnes has over 25 years experience providing high-growth publicly-traded companies with strategic and financial leadership, access to capital, and robust planning and controls environments across the energy, technology, and chemicals sectors. He has served as CFO of numerous energy companies including NYSE-listed Mariner Energy, Inc., NYSE-listed The Houston Exploration Company, and private equity financed Highland Oil &Gas LLC. Earlier in his career Karnes served in CFO and senior management roles with several other public growth companies including Encore Acquisition Company; CyberCash, Inc.; Snyder Oil Company; and Apache Corporation. He began his career in the securities industry and also practiced law with the national firm of Kirkland & Ellis where he focused on M&A and capital markets transactions in the energy, technology and chemicals sectors. 

Karnes holds a BBA in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctorate from Southern Methodist University School of Law.

Chris Artzer, Vice President and General Counsel
KiOR, Inc.

Christopher A. Artzer is the Vice President and General Counsel of KiOR, where he oversees all legal matters related to the company.

Artzer joined KiOR after over six years at TPC Group, a nearly $2 billion annual revenue petrochemicals company, where he served as Vice President and General Counsel. At TPC Group, he played a critical role in helping the company more than double in size through acquisitions and organic growth projects. He was also deeply involved in the transformation of TPC Group from a post-emergence Chapter 11 company into a registered company listed on The NASDAQ Capital Market.

Prior to joining TPC Group in December 2004, Mr. Artzer was counsel at the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Houston, Texas as a part of the firm’s financial restructuring group. Mr. Artzer holds a B.A. in Government from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law.

John Kasbaum, Senior Vice President of Commercial
KiOR, Inc.

John Kasbaum is the Senior Vice President of Commercial at KiOR, where he is responsible for the commercial operations, business development strategy, feedstock procurement, customer development and marketing of KiOR's proprietary cellulosic transportation fuels. In addition, Kasbaum oversees KiOR's government and industry relations. Kasbaum brings more than 20 years of experience in catalysis business strategy, sales, marketing, manufacturing and technology to the company. 

Prior to KiOR, Kasbaum held various positions at Albemarle Corporation, a global leader in refining catalysts and specialty chemicals manufacturing, as well as AkzoNobel Catalysts (now owned by Albemarle). In his most recent role at Albemarle, Kasbaum served as Division Vice President for Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Catalysts, a key division for Albemarle and was responsible for leading all aspects of the worldwide business. He also was a member of the Board of Director's for Albemarle's joint venture with PetroBras (Brazil) for the manufacture, sales and marketing of FCC Catalyst in South America. 

In a previous role at Albemarle, Kasbaum was Division Vice President of Alternative Fuel Technologies where he led a strong and diverse international group to drive innovation and commercialization of catalysis technology for alternative, renewable, and clean fuel applications. He also led the formation of Albemarle's highly successful petroleum refining Hydroprocessing Alliance with Honeywell's UOP division as Alliance Director.

Kasbaum is experienced in leading technology driven businesses across multiple disciplines, including sales and marketing, strategy development & execution, R&D, manufacturing, client technical service, new product development and market introduction.

Kasbaum holds a Masters of Business Administration from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin, as well as a Bachelors degree in Engineering and Business Management, also from The University of Texas at Austin.