John Busbee, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder
John co-founded Xerion in 2010. Prior to Xerion, John spent 25 years with the United States Air Force, much of the time at the US Air Force Research Laboratory. Dr. Busbee was the Nanotechnology Portfolio Manager, responsible for a team of 125 scientists and a $100M portfolio of programs. In this role, he collaborated closely with a number of key companies in the defense industry, including Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman, and Raytheon. He also led the Air Force’s Manufacturing Research Program for manufacturing integration and technology. John was the founding chair of the Nanotechnology Working Group for the Technical Cooperation Program between the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Dr. Busbee holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an MS in Electrical Engineering from Wright State University, and a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Texas A&M.
Martin Rucidlo
Chief Operating Officer
Martin joined Xerion in 2017. He has a diverse management and marketing background with a mix of Fortune 500 companies and technology start-ups over his 40-year career. Martin has extensive experience moving technology companies from inception through commercialization to exit. Prior to Xerion, Martin was President of Workhorse Group Inc., a manufacturer of electric delivery vehicles and utility vans. Earlier in his career, Martin held various executive roles at Alcoa, Pocketscript, Mobile Voice Control, Quest Diagnostics, and WS Packaging. He was previously on the Board of Directors of Lordstown Motors, a manufacturer of light-duty electric trucks. Martin holds a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Penn State University.
Jim Thompson
Chief Financial Officer
Jim is an accomplished global leader with extensive fundraising, corporate finance and M&A experience, and has thrived in diverse organizations spanning from established Fortune 500 companies to his involvement in pioneering ClimateTech startups. Prior to joining Xerion, Jim held leadership positions at Ford Motor Company, Visteon, and Johnson Controls, including an ex-pat assignment as Finance Leader for Johnson Controls’ South American operations based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, where he led a comprehensive restructuring of the business resulting in a substantial EBITDA improvement. More recently, Jim has gained extensive experience in the startup sector as the initial CFO for both Our Next Energy and Relyion Energy, where he has focused on fundraising, helping raise over $500 million of venture capital and grants, as well as driving strategies to launch these companies on a path to profitable growth. Jim holds an MBA in Corporate Finance from the University of Michigan.
Tim O’Meara
VP, Manufacturing Systems & Business Development
Tim joined Xerion in 2019 as Executive Director, Manufacturing Systems. He brings 40+ years’ experience providing complex manufacturing systems for aerospace & defense, medical, semiconductor, communications, and industrial markets. Prior to joining Xerion, Tim served as President of GEMCITY Engineering and Manufacturing, overseeing the operations of GEMCITY’s locations in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Thailand. At GEMCITY, he successfully positioned and navigated the company through three sales to private equity investors. He was a Chairman of the Dayton Regional Manufacturers Association and was appointed for a term to the U.S. Manufacturing Council by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.
Larry Spickard
VP, Manufacturing
Larry received his BS in Chemical Engineering and Executive MBA from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. He has 40+ years of experience in specialty chemical and mining businesses with over 10 years in the battery supply chain. Larry has held operations and P&L leadership roles supporting battery customers with Livent/Arcadium (lithium chemicals), Asahi/Polypore/Celgard (battery separators), and Columbian Chemicals/Birla Group (carbons). Larry also has experience in sales, product management, quality management, and EHS management at Monsanto (chemicals) and Imerys (mining). Most recently, Larry led operations at the largest lithium chemical manufacturing site in North America at Arcadium’s Bessemer City, NC plant, including responsibility for the molten salt electrolysis process making high-purity lithium metal and the commercial lithium hydroxide manufacturing facility. Larry volunteers with the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD supporting high school candidates applying to the Academy from the Dayton, Ohio area.
Heng Yang, Ph.D.
Director of R&D
Dr. Heng Yang has 16 years’ experience in battery R&D. He started his battery career by developing low-cost metal hydride materials for metal hydride-nickel batteries. He then studied battery systems including lithium-ion, lithium metal, lithium-air, and all-solid-state batteries. In recent years, Heng has led the R&D efforts at Xerion to develop the DirectPlate molten salt technology into a large-scale, low-cost, and circular manufacturing method for next generation battery materials. He earned his Ph.D. at SUNY Binghamton under Stanley Whittingham, the Nobel laureate for lithium-ion batteries, and did his postdoc at Cal-Tech.
Rick Robinson, Ph.D.
Director of Product Development
Dr. Rick Robinson received his BS in Chemistry from Syracuse University and his Ph.D. in Materials Chemistry from Binghamton University under the direction of Professor CJ Zhong. He has 10 years’ experience in materials chemistry research and development. Throughout his career, he has developed novel alloys for use in printable electronics, sensors, catalysis, and clean energy applications. He has focused on bench-to-market commercialization of the technologies developed in academic R&D laboratories. In recent years, Rick has led Analytical Chemistry and Product Development efforts at Xerion to scale up its core technologies, including leading technical efforts for Xerion’s critical mineral extraction.
Raja Parvez
Executive Chairman
Raja joined Xerion as Executive Chairman in 2017. He has more than 35 years of management, engineering, manufacturing, and commercialization experience at public and private advanced technology corporations in the United States, Europe, Asia, Mexico, and Israel. He has held advisory roles in private equity and venture capital firms, including CM Acquisitions, Energy Foundry, and KB Partners. Raja was President and CEO of Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN), which he transformed from a distressed venture-backed startup into a profitable public company with $300M enterprise value in 18 months, leading to a market capitalization of over $675M within a few years. The company was named by Crain’s Chicago Business as a “FAST FIFTY”. Prior to joining Rubicon, he was Chief Operating Officer of CyOptics, Inc., which was acquired by Broadcom (NASDAQ: AVGO) for $400M, and President of Optigain, Inc., a subsidiary of Furukawa Electric (NIKKEI: TYO). Raja began his career at Bell Laboratories (Lucent Technologies) in a variety of technical roles, including Distinguished Member of Technical Staff (DMTS) and Consulting Member of Technical Staff (CMTS). He was regional finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award and recipient of the Outstanding CEO of the Year Award from Cross Atlantic Capital Partners. Raja is an industry advisory board member of NanoGraf Corporation. He holds an M.S. in Industrial Engineering and M.S. in Management Science from New York University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Peshawar.