Executive Management Team
Mark Deininger (age 58) – President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Deininger is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company. A graduate of the University of Georgia Law School (admitted to the Georgia Bar in 1976) and with a degree in Economics from Davidson College (in 1973), Mark Deininger has 30 years of experience serving as both attorney and business consultant. Mr. Deininger assisted early stage technology companies by combining material science expertise with economic and transactional analysis, as well as strategic planning for new and expanding ventures, with emphasis on the legal packaging of new technologies for licensing, tech transfer and capital formation. Over the last 15 years, Mr. Deininger expanded his basic understanding of material science and became co-inventor of the Company’s applications in regard to treating die cast tools, refractory ceramics, catalysis and electrolytes, and is co-inventor of more than half of the Company’s patented and patent pending technology. He has served as project manager of several technology incubators at ORNL since 2002, and was invited to sit in and help formulate policy in 2005 for the High Temperature Materials Lab (HTML) division of ORNL.
Arthur A. Horning (age 59) – Sr. Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary
Mr. Horning was named General Counsel and Secretary of the Company in January 2007, Vice President of the Company in October 2007, and Senior Vice President in February 2009. Before joining the Company, Mr. Horning served in various capacities from 1998 to 2006 with Trizec Properties, Inc., a publicly traded Chicago-based, Real Estate Investment Trust and from 2002-2003 was Trizec’s Acting General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Before and after that appointment he served as Trizec’s Assistant Regional Counsel in its Detroit and Atlanta offices. Prior to his employment with Trizec, Mr. Horning was Assistant General Counsel with Little Caesar Enterprises in Detroit, Michigan (1996-1998) and Senior Corporate Counsel with Perry Drug Stores, Inc. (1984-1996). In these capacities, Mr. Horning performed many duties involving a wide-range of general corporate, securities law, real estate, insurance and risk management, and human resource issues. Mr. Horning holds a BA degree from Central Michigan University, an MA degree from Michigan State University, and a JD degree from Wayne State University. He resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
D. Morgan Spears II (age 28) – Vice President, Research and Development, and Assistant Secretary
Mr. Spears was first employed with the Company in 2004 as an assistant to Mr. Deininger. During the past five years he has served in a number of capacities with the Company, including Production/Laboratory Assistant, Research Associate, and Special Projects Manager and as head of C3’s R&D section. Mr. Spears has worked closely with C-3’s chief scientist in developing tests and testing protocols between C-3 and Oak Ridge National Laboratory and, most recently, has worked closely in the development of C-3’s Oil Refining and Petrochemical Division. Mr. Spears played a critical role in developing the Company’s technology for petrochemical applications, forming a team to enable this technology’s commercial application, and executing this commercial application in the field. The wide array of experience that Mr. Spears gained during his tenure with the Company make him uniquely qualified to carry out these types of critical tasks. As key member of management, in December 2008, Mr. Spears was appointed Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company and until April 2009 managed the day-to-day operations of the Company’s administrative, production and research and development functions. In April, Mr. Spears focused his activities on behalf of the company in the research and development and petrochemical industries and resumed a position as a Vice President. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Spears studied political science, Russian language, and chemistry at the University of Georgia from which he received a BS (Political Science; Russian language) degree in 2004. Mr. Spears resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
Clayton Wood (age 29) – Vice President, Business Development and Capital Formation and Assistant General Counsel
Mr. Wood was appointed Assistant General Counsel of the Company, when he joined the Company on April 2008. In that capacity, he has been actively involved in the research, development and pursuit of new business opportunities and has been a key factor in the raising of equity capital for both the Company and its subsidiary, Coker Coaters, LLC. In recognition of his abilities, in February 2009, Mr. Wood was elected Vice President, Business Development and Capital Formation. Before joining the Company, Mr. Wood served as an attorney with the American Center for Law and Justice in Nashville, Tennessee (2003 until 2008) where he did civil litigating in Federal District Court and appellate work in the United State Court of Appeals for the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th and 11th Circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court. From 2004 until 2008, Mr. Wood also worked for Regency Productions, Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee as legal counsel and production manager, negotiating contracts with studios and broadcasters for the filming and distribution of the syndicated program, “The Logan Show”. In 2000 Mr. Wood was awarded a BA (English literature) from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and in 2003 was awarded a JD degree from Washington and Lee University School of Law. From 1998 to 2000 and again in 2005, Mr. Wood was a summer associate with the European Center for Law and Justice in Strasburg, France. He resides in Alpharetta, Georgia.
James H. Ray, C.P.A. (age 57) – Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Ray was named Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer in October 2007. Prior to that time he was the Company’s Controller and Assistant Treasurer, beginning his employment in 2006. Before joining the Company, Mr. Ray formed and operated Ray & Associates, P.C., an accounting practice, from 1999 to 2006. Prior to that, Mr. Ray was a partner/shareholder from 1992 to 1999 with Mitchell, Honeycutt & Ray, CPAs, an Atlanta, Georgia CPA firm. Ray also holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Indiana University. Mr. Ray is a Certified Public Accountant and a holder of the Personal Financial Specialist designation from the American Institute of CPAs and the Certified Financial Planner® designation from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, Inc.
Arvid Pasto (age 64) – Director, C3|Oak Ridge
Dr. Pasto, named Director, C3 Oak Ridge in 2007, retired from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in February 2007 as Director of its High Temperature Materials Laboratory (HTML) and Manager of its EERE and Technology Programs, Metals and Ceramics Division. In the latter capacity he directed the operations of the High Temperature Materials Laboratory, a national “user facility”, as well as managing the non-nuclear applied technology programs of the Division. Dr. Pasto had held the HTML Director’s position since 1994, and the program manager’s position since early 2001. Prior to this, Dr. Pasto was Leader, Ceramic Processing Group from 1992 to 1993, and from 1991 to 1992, a Technical Staff Member of the Ceramic Processing Group. Dr. Pasto has been instrumental in the formation of the C3 strategic alliance with ORNL, which began taking shape under his advice and consent in 2002, culminating in the formation of C3 Oak Ridge. He has been a member of the American Ceramic Society for over forty years, and is a Fellow of that organization. Dr. Pasto, a graduate of Alfred University, resides in Knoxville, Tennessee.
Dr. Mikhail Pozvonkov (age 62) – Chief Scientist
Dr. Pozvonkov studied chemistry, mechanics, and cryogenics at the Moscow University of Chemical Engineering where he graduated in 1971. Subsequently, he worked at the Kurchatov Institute for Atomic Energy in the Solid State Physics Department. The Kurchatov Institute is a world renowned national laboratory in Russia comparable to Oak Ridge National Laboratories. Mr. Pozvonkov worked at the Kurchatov Institute for 22 years performing R&D in various fields such as low temperature physics, superconducting materials, high magnetic field systems, and heat transfer in super fluid helium. He was twice recognized in 1979 and 1981 as Scientist of the Year by the Kurchatov Institute. He was also awarded a bronze medal at the Soviet Union Scientific Show for his work on the world’s first “Superconducting Plasma Fusion Reactor.” In 1993, Dr. Pozvonkov immigrated to the United States where he worked in R&D for the Minnesota Valley Engineering Company and then the testing department for Siemens Energy and Automation. Dr. Pozvonkov met C3’s founder Mark Deininger in 1994, and the two have been working together ever since. His varied scientific background makes him invaluable in creating, developing, and understanding the various potential applications for C3’s technologies. He is also the company’s liaison to the principal inventor in Russia. Dr. Pozvonkov has been the leader of C3’s IP development since 1996 (starting with C3’s predecessor, RATA). He resides in Cumming, Georgia.
