Richard L. Altman CAAFI Executive Director

A 42 year aviation veteran, Rich spent 39 years with Pratt & Whitney initially as a propulsion engineer then in Advanced Technology Business Development. He is a founding member of the US Transportation Research Board Committee on Aviation effects on the Environment and a member of the PARTNER Center of Excellence Advisory Board.

Nate Brown FAA, Head Advisor for Strategy & Implementation

Nate is Head Advisor of CAAFI and provides management and strategy assistance to the Executive Director.  As a Policy Analyst with the FAA’s Office of Environment and Energy he also supports strategies and research to address aviation environmental impacts, energy needs and climate change impacts. He has previously worked on international climate change initiatives at the U.S. Department of State.

Dr. Kristin C. Lewis Volpe Center/RITA, Head Research and Technical Advisor

Kristin serves as the Head Research and Technical Advisor for CAAFI, providing technical and environmental coordination for the Executive Director. Kristin is an Environmental Biologist with the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center. In addition to her work with CAAFI, Kristin participates in research on aviation impacts in the National Parks and the development of noise and emissions models for aviation.

Mark Rumizen FAA, Certification Lead

Mark is the Aviation Fuels Specialist in the FAA’s Aircraft Certification Division and has been employed by the FAA since 1991. Prior to the FAA, Mark was employed by GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in various engineering and marketing roles.

Dr. James Hileman FAA, Environment Team Co-Lead

Dr. Jim Hileman is the Chief Scientific and Technical Advisor for Environment for the Federal Aviation Administration. Prior to this, he was the Associate Director of the Partnership for AiR Transportation Noise and Emissions Reduction (PARTNER). Within the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT, his research focused on modeling the impacts of alternative jet fuels and innovative aircraft concepts on energy efficiency, noise, air quality and global climate change. He received his B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University. He was awarded the 2010 FAA Excellence in Aviation Research award for his team’s work on alternative fuels and he was also the FAA Centers of Excellence Faculty of the Year Award recipient in 2010.

Nancy Young ATA, Environment Co-Lead

Ms. Young is the vice president, Environmental Affairs of the Air Transport Association of America (ATA). She directs ATA environmental programs, which includes climate change, the environmental aspects of fuel management, noise, emissions, land use, sustainability, waste management and other issues of significance to aviation. She has served for several years on key working groups of the International Civil Aviation Organization's environment committee and, when in private law practice, as co-chair of Beveridge & Diamond's climate change practice group.

Dr. Bruno Miller Metron Aviation, Business & Economics Co-Lead

Dr. Bruno Miller is Principal, Energy and Environment for Metron Aviation. He is Principal Investigator in a number of projects for the National Academy of Science’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) evaluating technical, environmental, and economic aspects of conventional and alternative aviation fuels. He has also led various FAA and NASA projects focused on quantitative estimates of the ability of U.S. air transport to meet environmental targets. Mr. Miller was formerly a strategic sourcing manager in the fuel department at Delta Air Lines.

Bob Sturtz United Airlines

Bob has been with United Airlines for the past 35 years, and has spent much of his career implementing an aviation fuel procurement strategy he developed. Bob developed multiple joint airline owned and operated aviation fuel distribution facilities and serves as Chairman of most of these organizations. He has served as Chair and Vice Chair of the IATA Fuels Forum, and currently serves as Vice-Chair of the ATA Energy Council. Bob has been responsible for the purchase and distribution of 2.8 billion gallons/year of fuel. He has been working closely with the ATA, CAAFI, and the DLA Energy to promote the development of alternative fuels for the aviation industry. Bob is Chairman of Fueling California, a non-profit organization in California that promotes rational energy policy and the development of alternative transportation fuels for California.

Dr. Michael Lakeman Boeing, R&D Tri-Lead

Michael is Regional Director of Biofuels Strategy at Boeing Commercial Airplanes where he is responsible for helping to enable regional commercialization projects for sustainable aviation fuels, and performs due diligence on emerging biofuel feedstock technologies. Michael has over a decade of experience in plant and algae science and over four years of first-hand experience in the biofuel industry. He received his Ph.D from University of Washington.

Dr. Stephen Kramer Pratt & Whitney, R&D Tri-Lead

Dr. Stephen Kramer is the manager of Advanced Technology Group for the Combustors, Augmentors, and Nozzles at Pratt & Whitney. Dr. Kramer has over 14 years experience at Pratt and, prior to that, 9 years as a consultant in the field of combustion and fuels. He has over 10 patents and has won several P&W leadership awards. He received his BS, MS, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Brigham Young University.

Michael Jay Epstein GE Aviation, R&D Tri-Lead

Mike's early and mid career at GE Aviation focused on combustion and heat transfer, the latter as Manager, Military Heat Transfer. Mike transitioned to a systems engineering role in 2005 and was responsible for technology insertion and transition for military products. As the focus of the aviation industry has recently shifted back to alternative fuels, Mike has assumed leadership in this area for GE Aviation, leading initiatives on both the commercial and military side of the business. Mike completed a BS in Chemical Engineering from Northwestern University and an MS from Penn State.