|
Click HERE to see Christopher Seebach Bio
| Dan Abbott | Robert E. Howard IV | Guy Peckham |
| Monrow (“Red”) L. Trammell | William Guthrie McGregor Michie |
| Dr. Leslie (Les) Keith Gornall |
Dan Abbott
Dan Abbott became Chief Executive Officer and Director of a company that develops alternative energy in June, 2005. Mr. Abbott’s prior 30 years in management includes:
* President for Harken International and Trico International from 1989 to 1997,
* Texaco Corporation 1998-2003, Director for International Development for sixty-six countries, and International Franchising and Licensing Manager for Retail, Wholesale, and Technologies,
* 7-Eleven Corporation 1978 to 1989, International Operations Director for five years in Europe, North America, Brazil and the Caribbean, and various management positions in domestic divisions.
Mr. Abbott graduated from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles with a Masters Degree in Public Administration. He graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Administration and Therapeutics from California State University in Northridge, CA and worked for three years after college in Northridge Hospital’s psychiatric department.
Mr. Abbott’s leadership and entrepreneurial skills emerged early in life. He co-chaired the very first Special Olympics and Wheelchair Olympics in the United States, and was recognized for this achievement when then Mayor Tom Bradley awarded him the Key to the City of Los Angeles in 1974.
While at Texaco Mr. Abbott also demonstrated his independent leadership by initiating a system of consolidating major buying agreements for major suppliers and contractors, saving Texaco over $550 million in a single year. During his tenure, Mr. Abbott opened up the Russian market for Texaco.
Originally a California native, Mr. Abbott now lives in Ft. Worth. He and his wife have a son and daughter; their daughter has made them proud grandparents of a three year old, and a newborn who arrived September 21, 2006.
Robert E. Howard IV
Mr. Howard is a 25-year veteran of Wall Street, including a stint in New York City from 1978-1984. Most recently he served as a Managing Director for  Deutsche Bank Alex Brown in the Dallas, Texas office, where he has lived since 1984. Previously, he worked with both Merrill Lynch as well as Lehman Brothers.
In addition to advising institutions, corporations, and high net worth families, Mr. Howard established Palo Pinto Ventures, a private venture capital fund, where he invested in more that 12 early- stage companies, including: Fibrogen, Texas Capital Bancshares, Sense Technologies, Globe Composites and Clearview Teleplace. Most of the portfolio companies enjoy substantial success, especially Texas Capital Bank, which achieved the distinction of being America’s fastest growing bank, with assets now exceeding $2.5B, and trades on NASDAQ. Recently, investment banker Goldman Sachs & Co. has committed to take one of these companies public in 2007.
In May 2006, Mr. Howard retired to become the VP Finance and Director of US Activities of what will become the DragonHeart™ City of the Future in China. Mr. Howard enjoys travel, especially to emerging countries, and has long been involved supporting various development initiatives around the world. He spent a good deal of time in Africa prior to starting projects in China.
A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mr. Howard earned his BA in Economics from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. He and his wife, Dana, have been married for 21 years. Their daughter, Molly, is an undergraduate student at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and their 16-year old son, Robert, is a student at Highland Park High School.
Guy Peckham
Mr. Peckham, Owner of Canadian-based Goodlife Brands, successfully built his consumer packaged convenience foods company into a CAD$128M business in annual sales. He employed over 550 people across Canada before selling the company in 2001. His responsibilities included the day-to-day management of the organization, developing and implementing strategies, and preparing and reporting budgets and monthly/quarterly results to the Board of Directors. Other duties entailed recruiting executive and senior management, purchasing and disposing of major assets as well as negotiating major purchase agreements with suppliers and sales programs with major customers. Mr. Peckham successfully implemented his vision to consolidate a fragmented distribution market, through acquisition and merger, and also developing strategic alliances with other players in the market, thus allowing Goodlife to gain tremendous market share in a short period of time.
After negotiating the sale of Goodlife Brands, Mr. Peckham stepped in as an
Executive Director of the Calneva Financial Group, an integrated financial
advisory firm specializing in linking high growth China-based companies with
foreign capital markets. Since joining Calneva, he has split his time between
Canada and China, preparing candidate companies for public and private
financing events. Mr. Peckham has worked with Shanghai-based online gaming company, T2, and Shanghai-based digital signage network provider i-level Media Group.
Mr. Peckham is Managing Director of DragonHeartTM Foundation activities in China.
Monrow (“Red”) L. Trammell
Mr. Trammell has a distinguished 40-plus year career in the world of construction, contracting, project management and design in various industries, including residential housing, power stations, hotels and motels, and other commercial development. Mr. Trammell is currently CEO and President of Dallas-based First Trinity Worldwide (www.FirstTrinityWorldwide.com), offering the following services to DragonHeartTM City of the Future:
Planning and Design
Develop and improve the transportation systems and infrastructure on which society depends. Produce high-quality designs for buildings and facilities that keep pace with the needs of a new century. Provide environmental solutions that restore ecosystems and protect the earth's resources.
Construction Services
Apply proactive and proven program and construction management techniques to meet quality, schedule and cost objectives. Bring the value of practical experience in planning, design, and program to construction management. Provide demolition and remedial contracting solutions for all phases of site decommissioning.
Operations and Maintenance Services
Operate and maintain traffic management systems for state highways and water distribution, treatment and disposal facilities for local municipalities. Perform detailed civil, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation and process engineering, project management, construction management, environmental and architectural services. Emphasis is on value-added services contributing to the success of all full-service projects. Implement and direct environmental remediation programs at commercial and industrial sites.
In 1976 Mr. Trammell took early retirement after an illustrious career with GAF Materials Corporation, specialists in building materials supplies. Following retirement, he founded and operated a large contractor lumber yard in Houston, Texas, which owned Access Development Company, Better Bilt Homes, two concrete ready mix plants, a gravel pit operation in La Grange, Texas, Shamrock Roofing Supply Company, and Shamrock Wholesale Builders Supply Company. Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Trammell was a pioneer in tilt-wall concrete construction in the Houston area.
Mr. Trammell lead his company to total annual sales of approximately $750 million, not including incremental revenues from Better Bilt Homes’ residential real estate sales. Better Bilt Homes developed approximately 12,000 custom homes in the Houston metro area. Mr. Trammell took the combined companies public under MLT Industries, Inc. He then exited the company after accomplishing his goals and selling his shares.
He was later employed by Westinghouse, where he handled many of their largest accounts, including project coordination for power station construction, and large project negotiations and funding. Following Westinghouse, Mr. Trammell was a business development manager for Mustang Electric Supply.
Mr. Trammell grew up in Dallas, Texas. Following graduation from Sunset High School in 1957, he attended Texas Christian University.
William Guthrie McGregor Michie, LLB, CA
Scotland native Gregor Michie has a distinguished career in corporate finance, backed by his training in both Law and Accounting. Mr. Michie completed his Law Degree from Aberdeen University in 1968, then trained with a firm which is now part of PWC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) to become a Chartered Accountant (1968-1972). He launched his career in corporate finance in 1972 when he joined the Banking Division of Morgan Grenfell & Co. Limited, a firm later acquired by Deutsche Bank. Over the subsequent 25-plus years, his focus was equally divided between advising clients on raising finance from other institutions, and in managing the Bank’s assets. At the end of 1998 he retired from the Deutsche Bank Group, and is now practicing as a company director and financial consultant.
In 1975, after three years with Morgan Grenfell, Mr. Michie became their Head of the Leasing and Special Finance Department. He moved into international project finance in 1977. In 1978 he was seconded to Woodside Petroleum Limited, an Australian company, to raise US$1.75 billion for the development of the North West Shelf gas reserves and Liquid Natural Gas project. In 1983 he became head of the Project Finance department. In 1986 he joined Morgan Grenfell (Australia) Limited, becoming Joint Managing Director in 1987. On return to London in 1988 as a Director of Morgan Grenfell & Co. Limited, he was responsible for leasing, corporate lending and loan syndication.
Following the acquisition of Morgan Grenfell by Deutsche Bank and the subsequent amalgamation of Morgan Grenfell’s banking book with that of Deutsche Bank in the UK, Mr. Michie joined Morgan Grenfell Asset Management in 1997 as a Director to provide investment advice to institutional clients and with responsibility for building business in the charity sector.
Clients have included the Commonwealth Development Corporation and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The latter assignment was as a non-executive director on the Board of a Russian company with extensive interests in the transport of oil products within the Russian Federation and internationally. Since 2001 he has been chairman of a publicly quoted Venture Capital Trust with £25 million under management, investing in small unquoted and quoted companies.
He and his wife, Susan, reside in London and have three daughters: Annabel, who works in investor relations; Philippa is a solicitor; and Catherine is in her final year at University. Mr. Michie enjoys golf (Royal Wimbledon Golf Club,) skiing, hill-walking, music, and visiting the family’s second home in the French Alps. He currently serves as Governor and Honorary Treasurer of Coram Family, a children's charity based in London (founded in 1739), and has been Chairman of Aberdeen Growth Opportunities VCT plc since its inception in 2001.
Dr. Leslie (Les) Keith Gornall
Dr. Gornall has almost 35 years of practical experience in virtually every aspect of environmental biology, including aerobic and anaerobic sewage works and waste treatment plants, sludge handling, biogas production, and much more. From theory to Doctorate level, he has worked in all scales and aspects of project operations, incorporating everything from plant design, to consent and legal issues. A Registered Environmental Biologist and Chartered Biologist, he attained his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Ulster. A native of Lancashire, England, Dr. Gornall currently resides in Northern Ireland.
Since 1993, Dr.Gornall has served as Director of Practically Green Environmental Services Ltd., and Director of Brookson Engineering 2070 Ltd. He has handled a wide variety of projects, from a 4,000 cubic meter anaerobic digester treating the waste of 3,800 dairy cows in Indiana, USA, to a large sludge treatment center for Ford-UK, to a biogas plant in Portugal. Projects have taken him to many sites around the globe, including all parts of the United Kingdom (Scotland, Wales, England, Ireland--both North and South) Belgium, Denmark, Holland, Finland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Czech Republic, Israel, India, Botswana, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and over a dozen locations in the USA. Dr. Gornall served as a consultant to the British Royal Crown Estates, handling a commission for anaerobic digestion and farm waste management to Windsor Castle, Berkshire.
Prior to 1993, Dr. Gornall spent four years as founder and co-trainer of Green Land Systems Ltd. Coleraine, designing over 70 waste management projects. In 1987, Dr. Gornall was Founder Director of Green Land Limited (Natural Resource Development) Draperstown, which completed the commissioning of the Bethlehem Abbey Slurry Processing system. This project became the basis of Dr. Gornall’s Doctoral Research Project.
Before 1987, Dr. Gornall was a design engineer in the aerospace industry, during which time he developed the fastest 50 horsepower motor then in existence. He also spent four years in quality control in the medical device manufacturing industry (anaesthetics and urology), during which time he wrote British Standards on anesthesia.
Dr. Gornall has often been singled out for his contributions to the environmental industry, winning numerous awards throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and into the new millennium. A partial list of these awards contains the Pollution Abatement Technology Award from CBI, Department of the Environment and Royal Society of Arts; the European Year of the Environment “Clean Technology Award” in Brussels; and the Department of Trade and Industry “Smart Award” and “Smart 2 Award” in consecutive years for his work in composting.
A current member of the Institute of Biology, Dr. Gornall has was also a 20 year member of the Institute of Quality Assurance, a 10 year member of the Society of General Microbiology, and a past member of the Institute of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers. Dr. Gornall and various collaborators have published a long list of papers in a variety professional journals, as well as presented them at professional symposiums. He has lectured at several Universities, and has undertaken several European Community Funded Projects. Dr. Gornall both contributed to the raising of funds from the appropriate EU body and then successfully completed the projects. An ongoing spokesman for the environmental industry, he has participated in a number of film and video broadcast efforts, including five major films made from 1987-1999.
An active member of the Baha’i Community since 1971, Dr. Gornall has served as Consultant to the Baha’i International Community’s Office of the Environment at the United Nations in New York City, was a founding member of the Baha’i International Environment Forum, and was editor of the Communiqué, the Northern Ireland Baha'i Magazine.
Dr. Gornall and his wife Mahin have three children, ages 22, 20, and 15. His hobbies and interests consist of classical music, singing, sailing, amateur astronomy, amateur radio, swimming, fitness walking several miles a week, passive and active solar power, building anaerobic digesters, planting forests, and walking in remote areas of the world.
According to Dr. Gornall, in addition to his native English language, he “speaks (or spoke!) smatterings of French, German, and Setswana, but now I generally smile, speak loudly and wave my arms about to good effect.”
/// Go to Christopher Seebach Bio Page \\\
/// Back to Top : : : Proceed to Community Page : : : Back to China Policy Page \\\
|
