Management Team
Elizabeth MullerChief Executive Officer
Richard MullerChief Technology Officer
Rod BaltzerChief Operating Officer
Bill EdwardsChief Strategy Officer & Joint Managing Director, EMEA
Sophie McCallumChief of Staff
Elizabeth Muller
Chief Executive Officer
- MacArthur Genius Award
- Breakthrough Prize
Richard Muller
Chief Technology Officer
Professor Emeritus of Physics at University of California, Berkeley. Founded two Nobel Prize-winning projects in experimental physics (the discovery of dark energy and the structure of the Big Bang). Inventor and first to demonstrate Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS). Founded Berkeley Earth, which analyzes land temperature data. JASON advisor to the US government on national security for 34 years. Recipient of the MacArthur Prize (“the genius award”), Breakthrough Prize, Texas Instruments Prize, Waterman Award of US National Science Foundation, and many others. Author of over 15 Deep Isolation patent applications (three awarded so far), over 100 refereed journal articles, and 10 books including “Energy for Future Presidents.” Noted for his ability to combine disparate disciplines in a way that leads to innovative breakthroughs.
Rod Baltzer
Chief Operating Officer
Former President and CEO of Waste Control Specialists LLC, a leading provider of services for low-level radioactive waste, mixed low-level radioactive waste, and hazardous waste. At WCS he was responsible for all aspects of the business including the NRC license application for the consolidated interim storage of used nuclear fuel. Baltzer is an expert in the low-level radioactive waste industry, generators, and national storage and disposal capabilities. Baltzer successfully facilitated the 2018 sale of WCS to J.F. Lehman & Company.
Bill Edwards
Chief Strategy Officer & Joint Managing Director, EMEA
A high-level expert in international strategy development and delivery for governments and businesses. Edwards has a track record in over 40 countries and has worked for major corporations including Microsoft, Intel, Dell and HP, as well as with global organizations including the World Bank and UN. A former senior UK civil servant, he co-led digital transformation in the Blair government from 2000 to 2004.
Sophie McCallum
Chief of Staff
Sustainability enthusiast experienced in launching companies from the ground up. An executive passionate about startups, McCallum’s expertise lies in growing and scaling companies, fostering collaboration, and implementing systems and work methods to increase company efficiencies. She has worked in the banking, healthcare and technology industries including BNP Paribas.
Core Team
Technical & Engineering
Ethan BatesDirector of Systems Engineering
Stefan FinsterleHydrogeologist
Kye MoffatSr. Analyst
Mark FreiSenior Technical Advisor
John MathiesonSenior Technical Advisor
John MidgleyTechnical Advisor
Ethan Bates
Director of Systems Engineering
A nuclear and systems engineer, Ethan uniquely dedicated his undergraduate and graduate years at MIT to advancing deep borehole disposal technology. His Ph.D. thesis was the first to integrate thermal, geologic, safety, and economic models to optimize deep borehole disposal and introduced improvements in plug design, canister materials, and emplacement methods. His contributions to the field earned him awards from the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2011 and the American Nuclear Society (ANS) in 2013. After graduation, he spent 6 years as a reactor and systems engineer with successful startups (TerraPower and Oklo) licensing advanced nuclear reactors and establishing himself as an expert on sodium fast reactor design, safety, and product development.
Stefan Finsterle
Hydrogeologist
Founder of Finsterle GeoConsulting, he is the main developer of the key iTOUGH2 simulation-optimization framework and is the co-developer of the TOUGH suite of nonisothermal multiphase flow and transport codes used by the U.S. government and others to analyze underground flow. Finsterle has worked with nuclear waste agencies and private industry in the United States, Europe (Nagra, Switzerland; SKB, Sweden; Posiva, Finland; RWM, UK), Asia (KORAD, Korea; CNNC, China), and the United Nations (IAEA).
Kye Moffat
Sr. Analyst
A geologist and recent graduate of Middlebury College, Moffat has experience in a wide range of geologic environments having spent significant amounts of time in Australia, Costa Rica, Vermont and Northern California. As a senior at Middlebury he delivered a year-long senior thesis on the magma storage depths in Lassen Volcanic National Park using high-temperature geochemistry. He also takes interest in geophysics and other forms of geochemistry. He has experience with electron probe micro-analyzers (EPMA), x-ray fluorescence (XRF) and scanning electron microscopes (SEM).
Mark Frei
Senior Technical Advisor
John Mathieson
Senior Technical Advisor
After 44 years in the nuclear industry, John retired in 2020 as the Head of International Relations for the UK’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Here he led the NDA’s collaborations with counterpart organizations in other countries, including the US and Canada. 17 years of his career was spent in geological disposal which included helping establish waste management organizations in several Central and Eastern European countries. John spent the first 14 years of his career as a Health Physicist. He now has his own consultancy and works extensively with the International Atomic Energy Agency on decommissioning, waste management, and infrastructure readiness.
John Midgley
Technical Advisor
John is a professional geoscientist, engineer and environmentalist, with more than 30 years experience of investigating the subsurface using remote sensing and boreholes. He has applied his skills primarily in field operations for oil and gas exploration with side projects in gas storage and borehole salt mining. He has over a decade of applied carbon storage research focused on on-site characterization, monitoring and verification, and the management of research projects. This led to several years as technical manager for the British Geological Survey as borehole sciences and engineering specialist before returning to consultancy and research on specialized drilling projects. His current research is focused on borehole sequestration of certain nuclear materials and Risk Management of borehole designs for carbon storage and drilling into volcanoes.
Global Affairs & Partnerships
Betsy MadruVP of Global Affairs and Policy
Jim HamiltonDirector of Partnerships
Samuel BrintonDirector of Global Political Strategy
Mary Louise WagnerSenior Advisor for Nuclear Policy and Strategy
Betsy Madru
VP of Global Affairs and Policy
An experienced leader on waste disposal issues, Madru was the VP of Government and Regulatory Affairs for Waste Control Specialists LLC, executing the company’s strategy in the regulatory and legislative environments of Texas and Washington, D.C. She previously served as Legislative Director for Texas State Senator Kel Seliger and in the office of Commissioner Larry Soward at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Jim Hamilton
Director of Partnerships
A principal at Stakeholder Capital Consulting, he assists companies across the energy spectrum manage stakeholder-driven regulatory and political risks associated with siting, permitting and operating energy infrastructure and decommissioning projects. Hamilton has over 25 years of experience in the public, private and NGO sectors throughout North, Central and South America. He has advised Entergy and Yankee Atomic Electric Company on their decommissioning programs, was the lead author of the Yankee Rowe Site Closure Project Plan, and has advised the U.S. Department of Energy on its spent fuel management program.
Samuel Brinton
Director of Global Political Strategy
Nuclear engineer who specializes in nuclear waste management policy formation, “wicked problem” communication projects, and technical information translation. Brinton has written successful legislation as well as managed high-level political relationships. Brinton has testified before the United Nations and is regularly cited in the press with a viral op-ed in the New York Times.
Mary Louise Wagner
Senior Advisor for Nuclear Policy and Strategy
With over 30 years of experience working on public policy issues in Washington, DC, Wagner been at the forefront of legislative strategy and leadership in the nuclear waste arena in both Congress and the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. She served as Democratic Staff Director for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources until her retirement from federal service in February 2019.
Sales & Marketing
Zann AeckVP of Marketing and Communications
Chris ParkerManaging Director, EMEA
Kari HulacSocial Media and Communications Manager
Jessica ChowTechnical Marketing Analyst
Zann Aeck
VP of Marketing and Communications
Silicon Valley marketing professional who specializes in marketing strategy, brand development, and in creating digital experiences across multiple media channels. Aeck’s expertise centers on the data-driven analysis of online behavior to improve the performance of a company’s digital presence. She has led and successfully improved digital strategy and brand experiences for leading high-tech companies such as NetApp and Fujitsu. She also owns and runs a successful pet supply and grooming business near Santa Cruz, California.
Chris Parker
Managing Director, EMEA
Formerly a senior civil servant reporting directly to the British Prime Minister on the digital transformation of the UK’s economy and public services, Parker has sixteen years of experience delivering consultancy and change management at the board level. His experience working for government leaders and blue-chip companies across 40 countries is focused on the development of transformational services and on nurturing public-private partnerships to drive market innovation.
Kari Hulac
Social Media and Communications Manager
After a 20-year career as a daily print and online news editor and reporter in the San Francisco Bay Area, she became a leader in digital marketing, specializing in social media, blogging and web content for the renewable energy industry, where she grew community engagement and managed the reputation of a global solar energy manufacturer.
Jessica Chow
Technical Marketing Analyst
Business & Stakeholder Engagement
Filippa BrundishHead of Delivery
Charline DhalluinFinance
Dee EvansExecutive Assistant
Mary WoollenStakeholder Engagement Specialist
Filippa Brundish
Head of Delivery
Filippa has worked extensively with governments around the world, focusing on program management, business case development and benefits management. An experienced Prince2 accredited project manager, her experience includes working in Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Australia.
Charline Dhalluin
Finance
With ten years of experience in the accounting, consolidation and audit fields, Dhalluin specializes in finance in both industrial enterprises and small business startups. She previously worked with a CPA firm in San Francisco specializing in accounting and tax returns for startups and small businesses. Before that, Dhalluin worked in finance for a major European-based trucking company and with a large audit firm specializing in small to mid-size industrial companies.
Dee Evans
Executive Assistant
With over 15 years of experience in professional office executive assistant positions and a track record of strong performance in high-volume, high-pressure environments, Dee skillfully manages administrative duties and client relations for the CEO and Business Services Department. Before joining Deep Isolation in 2019, Dee worked as an Executive Assistant in Finance and Banking, where she supported a team of research analysts as well as the Head of Investment Banking.
Mary Woollen
Stakeholder Engagement Specialist
With an extensive background in stakeholder engagement for nuclear and nuclear waste issues, she was the Government and Community Liaison for the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future and worked to develop a consent-based approach to siting nuclear waste facilities. Woollen has been a consultant for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, DOE’s Integrated Waste Management Program, and has served as an external engagement policy advisor to the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Other Experts and Consultants
Rob Utter, Technical Advisor
CEO of New Ventures Energy Consulting. Retired after a 31-year career with Schlumberger focused on drilling and well construction globally. Specific focus on horizontal well drilling and new technology development and applications, business development, and strategic M&A activity for Schlumberger. International posting including Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. Facilitated and led the acquisition and integration of several Schlumberger mergers. Post-retirement activities include three board of director positions, two technology and strategic business advisor positions, and ongoing engagements with several technology developers.
John Grimsich, Technical Consultant
A technical staff member at UC Berkeley’s Environmental Planetary Science Labs, Grimsich oversees and maintains EPS labs, specialized equipment, and machine shops. He has expertise in geology and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), with experience in isotopic systems relevant to deep geologic repositories.
John Apps, Geochemist
After eight years of research into copper recovery from mine waste, Apps joined the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he developed a geochemistry research program for the Basalt Waste Isolation Project at the Hanford Reservation. He was a Department Head and Staff Senior Scientist of LBL’s Earth Sciences Division and conducted research programs addressing environmental and mission-oriented issues relating to nuclear and hazardous waste disposal and containment, including the Yucca Mountain Project.
Mike McBride, Legal Counsel
His practice is focused on litigation, arbitration, mediation, and negotiations involving transportation, energy, and environmental issues, as well as nuclear regulatory matters. McBride’s clients have included electric utilities, the American Petroleum Institute, and Edison Electric Institute.
Jonathon Angell, Business Development
Silicon Valley business advisor with over 20 years’ experience, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He has executed company strategies leading to increased market share, brand dominance, return on investment, and high valuations for equity holders. Angell has worked with companies such as Hitachi, Toyota, General Motors, Phillips, Merrill Lynch, and Ubisoft.
Jamie Rector, Senior Geoengineer
Founded and successfully sold three borehole geophysics companies to NYSE-listed companies. Also founded Berkeley GeoImaging, which developed and currently manages oil and gas assets in the Midcontinent, Rockies, and Gulf of Mexico. Rector been a Senior Consultant to BP, Chevron, and Unocal on borehole seismic technology and is the founder of the oil and gas PE fund (Berkeley GeoImaging). He has raised over $80 million to drill boreholes for oil and gas throughout the United States.