Board of Advisors

Bud Whitmeyer, Business and Financial Advisor
Bud has over thirty years experience working in technology companies, including over twenty years experience in company management either as an employee or board member. He has an in-depth understanding of technology company operations and growth characteristics. Bud was most recently President and CEO of NuTech Solutions, Inc., a Charlotte, NC based software company that was sold to Netezza Corporation in May 2008. He also has twelve years experience as a technology investor including six years experience as a full-time General Partner with Research Triangle Ventures, a seed/early stage venture capital fund based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Prior to working with RTV, Bud worked with numerous early stage companies where he held interim positions of CEO and CTO of his portfolio companies in order to help the companies meet targeted milestones. He is an experienced board member, having been a member of the board of directors of seven companies and had board observation responsibilities at four others. Bud earned a B.S. in Applied Mathematics from North Carolina State University.

James J. Spivey, Ph.D., Louisiana State University, Professor, Chemical Engineering
Jerry Spivey has over 30 years of experience in heterogeneous catalysis.  Most recently, Dr. Spivey is the James Shrivers Professor of Chemical Engineering at LSU where his research focus is on clean energy, catalysis of syngas reactions, and hydrocarbon conversion.  Prior to joining LSU, Dr. Spivey held positions at North Carolina State University and Research Triangle Institute where he directed research on development of catalytic processes. Dr. Spivey earned his Ph.D. from LSU while working full time at Ethyl Corporation.  Dr. Spivey has written over 70 articles, edited over 20 books, and holds 4 patents.  Currently, he is Editor of Catalysis book series (Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, UK) and Associate Editor, Catalysis Today (Elsevier, Amsterdam), and was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Jerry Johnson, Waste Industries, USA, Vice President – Capital Projects
Mr. Johnson has over 31 years experience in the recycling and solid waste industry.  He operated recycling operations in a four state area in the late 70’s through 1990 for Reynolds Aluminum Recycling.  His responsibilities included marketing, operations and design and construction of operational facilities in the four state area. Jerry joined Waste Industries in the spring of 1991 to start up the Company Recycling Division and has held numerous positions including Recycling Division Manager, Field Support Services Manager, Vice President of the Landfill Division and currently of VP of Capital Projects. Mr. Johnson left Waste Industries in 1995 for four years to operate the Atlantic Waste Landfill in Waverly, Virginia and Transfer Station operations and hauling in New York for Brambles of Australia.  The Landfill is the largest in the eastern US with Truck and Rail on site accepting 10,000 plus tons per day of waste from the northeast.   Mr. Johnson rejoined Waste Industries in 2000 to manage Landfill Operations.  Mr. Johnson attended Wake Technical College in Raleigh, North Carolina.  

Bob Reuss, Business and Financial Advisor
Bob has a long history in business deal making and finance. He was the financial officer for International Dairy Queen and Standard Fabrics during successful IPO’s and has assisted in structuring and financing numerous acquisitions and startups as a principal, an investor, and an intermediary. He served as Senior VP for M&A at Maven Securities in Minneapolis, a NASDAQ member firm ; as VP for M&A at Northstar Industries and as President of Lingate Financial Group, a Twin Cities based middle market investment banking firm. A resident of Raleigh since 1998, Bob has worked with a number of Triangle based firms including North American Video, Endacea, SmartOnLine, Ivis, The Bob Barker Company, Domicile Home, Arius Pharmaceuticals (now merged with BDSI), Howard Perry and Walston, Kudos Information, Maverick BioFuels and ROGO as CFO or financial advisor to the CEO. Bob is active in The National Association of Corporate Directors, The Association for Corporate Growth, The Investor Development Committee of CED and is on the Board of Advisors of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. Bob is a graduate of Purdue University with a Bachelors degree in Electrical Engineering and the Krannert School of Business at Purdue with a Master of Science in Industrial Management. He attended the Advanced Management Program at Wharton. He was a CPA in Minnesota for many years and served as Chairman of the Members in Industry for the Minnesota Society of CPA’s.