Daniel Beharry, Chief Executive Officer.
Mr. Beharry received his undergraduate degree from Yale College and his law degree from the University of Southern California. After 17 years in private legal practice, Mr. Beharry joined the legal and management staff of Caradon Inc. (now Novar, Inc.), the North American corporate headquarters of Caradon plc, a $3 billion per year British building materials conglomerate, where he gained his operations experience. Mr. Beharry played a critical role in the creation and development of Mera.
Laurence Sombardier, Vice President and General Manger, Hawaii R&D and Production Facility.
Laurence Sombardier has served as VP/General Manager since October 2002, having been a member of the Mera staff since October 1997. She was instrumental in expanding the initial pilot scale plant into a production facility, in particular with respect to the set up of the process control system that enables Mera to take advantage of the patented Mera Growth Module. Mrs. Sombardier has also led all Information Technology related efforts for Mera since 1997. She received a MS in Physical Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Miguel Olaizola, Director, R&D.
Miguel Olaizola received a Ph.D in 1993 in Biological Oceanography, from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He has acted as physiologist and research manager for Mera Pharmaceuticals since 1996 after conducting postdoctoral work at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and at the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in Italy. Dr Olaizola has devoted much of his career to carotenoid biosynthesis in microalgae at laboratory and commercial scales and has written numerous scientific publications on the subject. With over 18 years of experience conducting and managing research on microalgae, Dr Olaizola is one of the leaders in his field. He is also Principal Investigator on Mera’s $2.4 million grant from the US Department of Energy to study the utilization of CO2 in commercial scale microalgal cultures for carbon sequestration.
Jeff Primes, President, Mera Nutraceuticals.
Mr. Primes’ principal responsibility is for the sales and marketing of Mera’s nutraceutical products. He received his B.A. from U.C.L.A. and his J.D. from the University of San Diego. Mr. Primes has over 20 years of business management experience at the executive level and has devoted most of his career to the sales and marketing of consumer goods including nutritional supplement and OTC drugs. He has directed the growth of two separate companies from $1 million in sales to over $10 million. Mr. Primes is also a member of the California State Bar.