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Section 02

Team

Owner-Partners

Joel White

Founder, Emergence

Joel White is a carpenter by trade with over 10 years of experience in the forestry industry, having completed hundreds of thinning projects in the Butte County area. He previously ran a construction company with 60+ employees in Australia.

Licenses and Certifications

  • Licensed Timber Operator (LTO), CalFire
  • Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

Business Operations

  • 833 Joe Tree (timber operations)
  • The Cali Dozer Co LLC (trucking)
  • Butte Valley Supply Inc / Real Good Soil (soil production), President

Location

Butte Valley, CA

Contact

joel@emergence.us

(530) 360-1484

www.linkedin.com/in/joel-white1

Brad Ledford

Head of Technology, Emergence

Brad Ledford brings deep technical expertise from both enterprise and agency environments. He previously served as Principal Technical Program Manager at Amazon Ads, where he coordinated 50+ engineers on a weekly basis. He is also CEO and Owner of Foundri Studio LLC, a full-service design and development agency.

Technical Expertise

  • Javascript/Typescript
  • Java
  • React
  • Node.js
  • GraphQL
  • AWS
  • Google Cloud

Location

Chico, CA

Contact

Jason Ugie

Founding Owner-Partner, Emergence

Jason Ugie runs Spinning Solutions, a product and design-thinking consultancy, and is regarded as a leader in the design-thinking and technology product space. He is a senior product leader with 15+ years building and scaling product organizations across complex, regulated environments — from commercial e-commerce to federal healthcare modernization.

Background

  • eSimplicity (2024–present): Group Product Manager / Portfolio Product Leader on a $200M Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) contract serving 25,000 healthcare providers; leads 6 of 13 product teams (12 direct reports) within a ~150-contributor portfolio.
  • Truss (2021–2023): Senior Product Manager and Lead, Federal Digital Modernization.
  • A1M Solutions (2020–2021): Director of Product, CMS-aligned modernization.
  • Build with Ferguson (2017–2020): Senior Director of Product Management across a $3B digital portfolio; stood up 7 product teams.
  • The RealReal (2015–2017): Senior Product Manager.
  • Earlier: Founder, Shuttercode; VP & Senior Product Manager, Online Channels, Tri Counties Bank; Senior Internet Applications Developer, Fenwick & West LLP.

Capabilities

  • PM coaching and career development
  • Standing up product teams; hiring and onboarding
  • Outcome-based roadmapping and operating-model design
  • Cross-functional leadership in multi-stakeholder environments
  • AI-assisted product workflows
  • Federal and regulated modernization

Contact

jason@emergence.us

(530) 828-0060

linkedin.com/in/jasonugie

John Thompson

Chief Operating Officer, Emergence

John Thompson brings two decades of hands-on composting industry experience spanning facility operations, feedstock logistics, biological process management, and crew leadership.

Core Capabilities

  • Compost operations and throughput
  • Windrow program design
  • Feedstock logistics and material handling
  • Biological process and soil science (microbial dynamics, vermicomposting, C:N ratio)
  • Workforce development and operational culture
  • Equipment maintenance and safety

Adjacent Domains

  • Soil biology
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Regenerative agriculture

Location

Chico, CA

Contact

Email: john@emergence.us

(530) 815-1856

Jeff Brockhouser

Owner-Partner, Emergence

Jeff Brockhouser operates Technical Steel Construction Inc., a division of his steel manufacturing company that specializes in custom material handling equipment fabrication (design-build). He is a key partner for custom fabrication of material handling infrastructure for pyrolysis facilities.

Business Operations

  • Technical Steel Construction Inc. (custom material handling equipment fabrication)

Contact

Email: jeffb@tek-steel.com

(530) 410-5555

Gary Warner

Owner-Partner, Warner Enterprises Inc

Gary Warner operates Warner Enterprises Inc, a logging and biomass company. He serves as co-project manager with Joel White on ATBF proposals.

Completed Contracts

  • Castle Crags State Park ($3M, fuel reduction and hazard tree mitigation, California Park Service, 2022-2025)
  • Paradise CAT 4 Hazard Tree Removal ($6.1M, 8,000+ hazard trees from Camp Fire, Town of Paradise)
  • Mendocino Biochar Project ($4M, 570 acres MNF, harvesting fire-killed trees, Tehama County RCD, 2025-2026) References available for all projects.

Contact

Email: restorationmanagement1@gmail.com

(530) 941-4655

Consulting Partners

Wendy Johnston / VESTRA Resources Inc.

Vice President, Environmental Engineering and GIS

Wendy Johnston is Vice President at VESTRA Resources, Inc., a regional environmental compliance and geospatial services firm headquartered in Redding, CA. Founded in 1988, VESTRA was one of the first U.S. firms dedicated to GIS solutions. The firm offers a multidisciplinary team of GIS/IT professionals, engineers, and scientists specializing in environmental engineering, needs assessments, system design, and database/application development. VESTRA is an Esri partner.

Services

  • GIS solutions and spatial analysis
  • Environmental engineering and compliance
  • Mine site compliance and permitting
  • Needs assessments and system design
  • Database and application development

Contact

Lauren McSwain / Rolls Anderson & Rolls Civil Engineers

Civil Engineering and Land Surveying

Lauren McSwain is a Civil Engineer at Rolls Anderson & Rolls Civil Engineers (since September 2020). She holds a BS from CSU Chico and a Civil Engineering degree from CSU Northridge. The firm has been in operation for 54 years, providing civil engineering and land surveying services to government agencies, private corporations, and developers throughout Northern California.

Services

  • Site planning
  • Infrastructure design
  • Detailed land surveys

Emergence Project Notes

  • Connected to the G2Z project (additional feedstock opportunity)

Contact

Kevin Sevier / Gallaway Enterprises

Environmental Consulting

Kevin Sevier is the owner of Gallaway Enterprises, an environmental consulting firm continuously serving Northern California since 1998, with approximately $7M in annual revenue. Founded by Jody Gallaway, the team brings 70+ years of combined experience.

Services

  • CEQA/NEPA compliance
  • Permit facilitation
  • Fisheries, wildlife, and botanical surveys
  • Caltrans documentation
  • Transportation planning
  • Agency negotiations
  • Project management
  • Environmental compliance monitoring

Certifications

  • Certified WBE, DBE, UDBE (#31237), and SBE

Contact

Kirk Oden / TKO Project Solutions

Manufacturing Engineer and Biochar Plant Designer

Kirk Oden is a manufacturing engineer (BS, Cal Poly Pomona) and biochar plant designer at TKO Project Solutions. He is a key technical partner for Emergence covering material handling, chipping, pelletizing, and plant layout.

Background

Kirk's career spans TKO General Engineering, Mendocino Forest Products, and Louisiana-Pacific Corp. He spent over five years at Biomass Engineering and Equipment (BE&E), where he designed and sold material handling systems to sawmills, pellet mills, and biochar plants. He subsequently joined SPG (formerly SPG Dry Kilns) to provide turnkey plant design, and now operates through TKO Project Solutions.

Services

  • Project development
  • Business development
  • Process engineering
  • Turnkey biochar facility design

Emergence Project Notes

  • Has produced preliminary biochar facility cost estimates in the $70-75M range for an 8,000-unit project
  • Advocates BET kilns for simplicity and reliability

Contact

(336) 504-8564

Dr. Gregory Pang / ELEMENT Data Science

Data Strategy Partner

Dr. Gregory Pang is the Founder and Principal Consultant of ELEMENT, serving as the data strategy partner for Emergence. He holds a PhD in Nuclear Chemistry from the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at Michigan State University. His career includes work as a nuclear physicist at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, followed by data science roles at KoBold Metals and Hydros Agritech. His expertise spans supervised/unsupervised learning methods, statistical analysis, and programming in Python and C++.

Current Projects

  • Working on a Lidar and satellite data project to estimate dead standing timber in California
  • Proposed as project manager for the CalFire grant application
  • Involved in Komatsu partnership carbon neutralization strategy

Contact

Jason Garner / Clear Process Engineering LLC

Thermodynamic and Process Engineering Consultant

Jason Garner, PE, is the Founder and President of Clear Process Engineering LLC. He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in multiple states including California, holding a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Louisiana Tech University. He has worked in light and heavy industry process engineering since 2003. His team specializes in biomass, boiler, combustion, and energy systems design with a focus on industrial energy efficiency. His background includes Thermal Systems Engineering (industrial/utility-grade heat energy systems).

Expertise

  • Pyrolysis system evaluation
  • Kiln technology assessment
  • Rotary kiln design
  • Thermal desorption unit repurposing
  • Biomass and combustion systems design

Current Work with Emergence

Evaluating technologies including Veronovo, CRBN Inc, and BET units. Connected to Mark Zavia's pyrolysis research lab at University of Louisiana Lafayette.

Contact

Andy Johnson / Summit Structural Design

Steel Engineering Design Consultant

Andy Johnson is a steel engineering design consultant at Summit Structural Design, a Chico-based structural engineering firm providing design services for commercial, residential, agricultural, and specialty projects. Summit supports new commercial construction, tenant improvements, custom homes, remodels, additions, agricultural foundations, solar structures, signage, awnings, and retaining walls.

Services

  • Structural steel design for industrial and commercial applications
  • Complete structural design across wood, steel, light gauge steel, masonry, concrete, structural insulated panels, and shipping containers
  • Buildable structural solutions for projects throughout Northern California

Contact

Bisho Firth Landscape Architect Inc.

Landscape Architecture

Bisho Firth Landscape Architect, Inc. is a landscape architecture firm based in Chico, CA, led by principal Jason Bisho. The firm serves Northern California with services that blend function, aesthetics, and environmental stewardship across commercial, public works, and residential projects, with a specialization in drought-tolerant landscape design.

Notable Work

  • Holds a professional services agreement with the City of Chico for landscape architectural consulting
  • Has worked with the City of Chico on standard landscape details

Contact

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