Nick Burnett, VP Operations & General Counsel

Nick is a business attorney and executive with extensive experience in structured financing transactions. Nick began his career in private practice with two global law firms (White & Case, LLP and Arent Fox, LLP) where he advised private equity firms and public and private companies. He has sinces served as in-house counsel for several companies in a variety of industries where he gained an acute sense of what it takes to grow and operate a company from the ground up. Nick received his B.A. and J.D. from the University of Florida where he served as an editor of the Florida Law Review. Most recently he has worked on renewable energy projects for Sustainable Northwest and supported efforts for utilities, developers, and operators in the Northwest.

Tom Koenig, VP of Engineering Operations

Tom began his career in the United States Navy as an aircraft structural and hydraulics mechanic before moving on to developing and maintaining manufacturing processes and quality control standards for large scale projects with Fortune 100 companies. He has a background in machining, manufacturing, automation, robotics, composites and plastics engineering. A large portion of his career was spent at Boeing managing several aspects of both the 777 and 787 manufacturing process. Beyond Boeing, Tom worked for Electro Impact and assisted in the implementation of automated robotics systems. Tom’s manufacturing and process experience brings a critical component to the team.

Thurman Cooper, Chief Chemist

Mr. Cooper is a nationally recognized expert in nuclear materials and fuels processing and separations; and is considered an expert in actinides chemistry and processing. He has over 40 years of experience in nuclear fuels chemistry and radio-health physics. He developed the process flow sheets for both the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant, and the PUREX (Plutonium Uranium Extraction) Plant, and performed the chemistry of separations of purified plutonium, and americium from waste materials. Mr. Cooper was the lead scientist on several studies and laboratory investigations on plutonium behavior and chemistry. Mr. Cooper was a lead investigator for an experiment based study of isotopic migration in liquid-metal coolants and consulting studies for corrosive studies and heavy-metal / transuranic suspension in high-temperature salts used is molten-salt nuclear power reactor designs. Mr. Cooper is the inventor of and lead chemist on Renuvi’s sodium-ion battery system.

Andrew Porter, Storage Engineer

Andrew has spent his professional career honing his skills in the development of prototype devices. From in-situ medical devices, to nuclear waste tank inspecting robots, Andrew’s breath of experiences brings enthusiasm, ingenuity, insight, and integrity to the Renuvi Team. During his tenure aas an engineer, he has acted as the lead mechanical engineer for the development of a small modular liquid-metal nuclear reactor and the supporting battery technology which Renuvi is founded upon. Andrew is leading the design and evaluation for the Renuvi grid-scale battery commercial design. Additionally, Andrew is working closely on the support of the nationally recognized Versatile Test Reactor Project currently underway at Idaho National Labs. In his free time, Andrew enjoys hiking and teaching material science at Washington State University Tri-Cities. Andrew has Master’s Degrees in Mechanical Engineering and in Industrial Technologies from Washington State University and the Zürich University of Applied Science, respectively.

Eric Loeffler, Battery Systems Engineer

Mr. Loeffler is a mechanical engineer with a quality assurance and testing background. He has worked in several projects for American Semiconductor and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory before joining the Renuvi team. Mr. Loeffler is principally supporting development in the areas of mechanical design on battery cell internals, design for fabrication efficiency studies, development of the commercial testing plans, and support of test programs for laboratory equipment augmentation and data collection enhancement.

JJ Goldsbury, VP Business Development

Mr. Goldsbury is a strategic advisor with 12 years of entrepreneurial experience in various fields. Specializing in deal structuring and international business development, he has excelled in commodities, international trade, finance, consulting, and real estate. With a proven track record, he has successfully consulted on large complex international projects, working with foreign governments and entities. He's known for his exceptional ability to build powerful relationships, master networking skills, and analyze the emotional side of business, making him a skilled problem solver.

Jenell McLaughlin, Project Manager

Ms. McLaughlin is a high energy, personable business professional with more than 10 years’ experience in startup companies as a project manager, business development, marketing, and PR director. Prior to that, she spent 15 years in finance as a relationship manager and project manager for technology and risk projects. Well-versed in project management methodologies, organizational change management, risk management, project planning, team building, communication, and technical implementations of organizational change, software projects, blockchain and Web3 projects. Project management certifications include the Project Management Professional (PMP), Agile Master, and Six Sigma Green Belt. 

Randall Cox, VP Strategy

Mr. Cox is an accomplished international investment and finance executive with 35 years of experience in senior management positions for leading real estate, private equity and media companies. In the finance sector, Cox has served as Managing Director of Winnick & Co (investment vehicle of billionaire Gary Winnick), board member of Good Morning Securities, Managing Director of Lombard Asian Private Investment Company, and seed investor and shareholder of Midas Assets (managing over $10 billion in assets). In the media sector, Cox has served as President of Digital for Relativity Media, President of Yes Television Asia, and co-founder of Cavite Cable Television. In the real estate sector, Cox’s experience includes hotel operations and management with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, commercial real estate development with Hongkong Land, and negotiation of more than $1 billion in a variety of hospitality, real estate and corporate M&A transactions as Managing Director of LAPIC and co-Founder of a Hong Kong-based boutique M&A advisory firm. Cox’s international experience includes 20 years living in Asia and on going experience in developing private investment opportunities in emerging markets for leading international hedge fund and private equity investors. Cox assists in the global strategy for Renuvi. Cox earned his B.S. in business from the University of California, San Diego and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.

Gianluca Cicogna, Renuvi Europe

Mr. Cicogna is a successful entrepreneur with decades of experience founding, building, managing, and investing in businesses, both public and private, in the U.S., Europe, Asia and South Africa. His background includes mergers and acquisitions, structuring, turnarounds, public listings, and fund management. He co-founded one of South Africa’s leading fresh fruit farming, logistics and export companies, which is built on a bedrock of corporate social responsibility and stewardship of the environment, creating thousands of well-paying jobs and thriving communities.

Jeanne Rose, Renuvi South Africa

Jeanne has over 25 years of business and project development experience with particular expertise in strategic stakeholder management and cleantech project development in the energy sector. She has won various awards for her projects including the Cleantech Breakthrough Innovation award 2011 at COP17 and the prestigious TT100 Most noteworthy achiever in 2004. Currently the president of Xerus Energy, she focuses on working with South African energy companies and local utilities to implement solutions in the region. Jeanne brings her talents and those of her staff to Renuvi as a local partner for the Southern region of Africa.

Sandile Mthiyane, Renuvi South Africa

Sandile serves as the COO of the University of Pretoria specializing in informatino technology and energy. Sandile has a wealth of business experience specializing in energy and engineering while working for the South African Reserve Bank and Barclay’s Africa Group before joining Xerus Energy and the University of Pretoria. Sandile is a registered Professional Engineer with a Master of Science, MBA, and BSc in Electrical ENgineering. In working with Xerus and Renuvi, Sandile brings excellent relationships and business expertise to our South African team.