Leadership

John Bissell co-founded Origin Materials in November 2008 and has served as its Chief Executive Officer and a member of its board of directors since inception. Mr. Bissell was trained as a chemical engineer at UC Davis, and has extensive experience in R&D, engineering, and business development in the chemical industry. He’s been recognized by the US EPA, Forbes, and the University of California for his professional and technical contributions. Finally, he raised over half a billion USD in capital, and took Origin Materials public in 2021.

Matt Plavan has served as our Chief Financial Officer since November 2023, and since December 2024, Mr. Plavan has also served as Origin’s Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Plavan brings 30 years of successful leadership and board governance experience in public and privately held companies within the ag-tech, medical device, cell therapy, and healthcare industries, and is recognized for an ability to identify and capitalize on new market opportunities and follow-through execution of enterprise-wide growth initiatives. Most recently, from May 2022 to October 2023, Mr. Plavan served as Chief Executive Officer of IngredientWerks, Inc., having led the company's founding spin-out from Agrivida, Inc. and initial seed financing to launch a leading molecular farming company specializing in the development of plant-based animal protein ingredients for the alternative protein and food ingredient markets. Prior to launching IngredientWerks, Mr. Plavan joined Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (“Arcadia”) as Chief Financial Officer in September 2016 and served as President and Chief Executive Officer from September 2018 to December 2021, successfully leading Arcadia through the transition from an agricultural biotechnology trailblazer to a dynamic revenue generating consumer food products company targeting on-trend wellness and wheat-based ingredient categories with disruptive nutrition density. Prior to joining Arcadia, Mr. Plavan spent a decade with Cesca Therapeutics, Inc. (formerly known as ThermoGenesis Corp), his latest role serving as Chief Executive Officer and board member, successfully leading a transformational pivot from a medical device manufacturer to a high-value stem cell therapy company. As a Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Plavan also led the finances of two high-tech private equity backed companies, StrionAir Inc. and Reason, Inc., positioning each for successful exits. Previously, Mr. Plavan spent a half dozen years with McKesson Corporation, the oldest and largest healthcare company in the U.S., his latest role serving as Vice President of Finance for the health care information services division, iMcKesson. Mr. Plavan began his career with a six-year tenure at Ernst & Young, LLC. Mr. Plavan is an inactive certified public accountant and earned a bachelor’s degree in business economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ms. Haley, age 53, is an experienced financial professional with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnology industry and extensive expertise in budgeting, accounting, corporate financial planning and analysis, and internal controls. Prior to her appointment as Interim Chief Financial Officer, Ms. Haley served as the Company’s Senior Vice President of Accounting and Finance since January 2023. Prior to joining the Company, Ms. Haley held several financial leadership roles at Arcadia Biosciences Inc., an agricultural biotechnology company, including Chief Financial Officer from September 2019 to January 2023, Controller from November 2014 to August 2019, Director of Accounting from 2010 to 2014, and Accounting Manager from 2005 to 2010. Ms. Haley received a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Arizona.

Ryan Smith co-founded Origin Materials in 2008 and has served as Chief Technology Officer since inception. Mr. Smith has deep expertise in intellectual property protection, chemical and materials technology strategy, business development, and new product development within the chemical industry. Mr. Smith received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Davis.

Mako Masuno has over 9 years of experience with Origin Materials and over 20 years of experience in the chemistry industry. Dr. Masuno has strong expertise in natural product biosynthesis and biomimetic synthesis, pathway development and optimization, and structure/property relationships which Dr. Masuno developed during his time as a professor in the chemistry department at Sacramento and Westmont colleges in California. Dr. Masuno was a significant contributor to the development of Origin Materials’ furanic platform process and scale-up to para-xylene production. Dr. Masuno currently has 14 publications, 4 pending patents, and 5 provisionally filed patent applications. Dr. Masuno is responsible for the overall research and development of Origin Materials’ technology. Dr. Masuno has a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from UC Davis, and a B.S. in Chemistry from Westmont College.

David Ballow has over 20 years of experience in the chemical processing industry. He is a Chemical Engineer originally from the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area and is a graduate of Louisiana Tech University. He has experience leading teams on capital projects of many sizes and stages of development including international and domestic projects. Prior to joining Origin, he was a Process Technology Manager at Burns & McDonnell where he focused on developing successful capital projects from concept to front end design often evaluating many options to develop an optimized project scope.

Joshua Lee has served as our General Counsel and Secretary since June 2021. Mr. Lee joined Origin Operating as its Corporate Counsel in February 2018 and served as its General Counsel from December 2020 to June 2021. Mr. Lee has also served as Secretary of Origin Operating since February 12, 2020 and as Origin’s Secretary since June 2021. Prior to joining Origin Operating, Mr. Lee was an attorney at Miller Barondess, LLP from 2016 to 2018, and at Irell & Manella LLP from 2009 to 2016. Mr. Lee received a B.A. in Economics and German from the University of Southern California, an M.A. in Economics from the University of Southern California, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

Ben Freireich has more than a decade of experience in the chemical and process industries. Dr. Freireich is a leading industry expert in both product and process research and development for solid materials. Prior to Origin Materials, Dr. Freireich served as the Technical Director of Particulate Solid Research, Inc. (PSRI) where he led applied process research efforts for a consortium of over thirty multinational corporations. He was previously a Research Scientist in Core R&D at The Dow Chemical Company, where he served as subject matter expert responsible for product and process development over a wide range of businesses, products, and technologies. Dr. Freireich is a specialist in particle technology with expertise in particle design, powder flowability, mixing, fluidization, size enlargement, attrition, and other areas of solids engineering, and has authored sections of Perry’s Chemical Engineering Handbook. He obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University studying manufacturing processes involving solid materials. Dr. Freireich also holds a Master of Science in Engineering from Purdue and graduated from the Milwaukee School of Engineering with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.