QUAISE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive Officer
- Co - Founder
Carlos Araque is the co-founder and CEO of Quaise Energy. He leads a team that intends to unlock the heat beneath our feet, a feat that could ultimately power the world with clean energy. To make that energy - supercritical geothermal power - available to all, Carlos is leveraging his considerable experience solving difficult technical challenges in the oil industry for Schlumberger and as technical director for The Engine, MIT's groundbreaking fund and platform to commercialize world-changing technologies. Carlos believes that supercritical geothermal power has the potential to replace fossil fuels as the world's dominant energy source.
Carlos Araque spent fifteen years working at one of the world's foremost providers of drilling services to the oil and gas industry. Seeing the negative impacts of that industry firsthand made him want to do something to help make things better. Quaise's deep drilling technology is the result of a decade of research conducted by Paul Woskov at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Operations
Dr. Geoffrey Garrison is vice president of operations for Quaise Energy. He leads the team responsible for executing the development of geothermal heat and power assets. He works closely with the commercial team to identify, plan, build, operate, and monitor the company's first pilots in the Western United States. Geoffrey previously served as the Vice President of Research and Development at AltaRock Energy. He has over 30 years of experience in industrial development, academic research, technical consulting, and management across multiple sectors.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Geothermal Resource Development
Dr. Trenton Cladouhos is vice president of geothermal resource development for Quaise Energy. He leads the team developing and testing technologies to create the world's first superhot rock Engineered Geothermal System (EGS). He also leads efforts to characterize the subsurface at sites where geothermal energy can replace fossil fuels. Trenton spent 35 years in applied geosciences, with the last 15 years in the geothermal industry. He has worked on geothermal projects worldwide, including EGS, geothermal exploration, drilling, and well field operations.
Job Titles:
- Vice President, Research
- Vice President of Research and Development
Franck Monmont is vice president of research and development at Quaise Energy. He leads the team that is developing large-scale computer models to predict and understand what happens deep underground during the Quaise drilling process. The work essentially simulates the physics involved when millimeter waves interact with and vaporize rock. The results are used to not only design Quaise equipment but also to solve potential problems during operations. For 20 years, Franck was a research scientist for Schlumberger, where he solved problems for the oil industry. His projects included designs for a downhole acoustic telemetry tool, a reservoir simulator for the in-situ combustion process, a 3D printed electrical submersible pump (ESP), and a series of drilling event detection workflows deployed worldwide.
Job Titles:
- Vice President of Engineering
Henry Phan is vice president of engineering for Quaise Energy. He leads the team that is developing an industrial application of the novel drilling technology Quaise is based on. That technology has been successfully demonstrated in the laboratory. Henry and his team aim to scale the system for use in the field. That includes building a much larger - and more robust - system that is easy to maintain. Henry's entire career has prepared him for this mission. Over 25 years he has brought several important products to life, from initial designs to full commer cial iza tion, including the Manara system at Schlumberger.
Kevin Bonebrake is Chief Financial Officer for Quaise Energy. He leads a team that is developing and executing on all aspects of Quaise's strategy as well as funding and commercializing its innovative millimeter wave drilling technology for power-dense, deep geothermal energy applications. Kevin started his professional career as a mechanical engineer researching industrial laser applications, then spent nearly twenty years advising energy companies on all aspects of strategy and financing as a senior investment banker at Morgan Stanley and Lazard. He believes that super-hot geothermal can provide the energy that will be needed to power the world's rapidly growing economy through the end of this century and beyond.
Job Titles:
- Project Manager
- Co - Founder, ARPA‑E Project Manager
Matt Houde is the project manager for the $5M grant that Quaise received from the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA‑E) to develop a new drilling technology that could allow the world to access the supercritical geothermal heat that is miles beneath our feet. In addition to his financial and administrative duties related to the grant, he schedules key tests to meet project milestones. The work involves coordinating with Paul Woskov of MIT, the inventor of the technology Quaise is based on, and scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, which will physically host Quaise experiments. The Quaise team is also collaborating with AltaRock Energy and Impact Technologies.