Paul Beasant
CEO of Nova Graphene™
Paul has worked in renewable energy for the past 6 years and is a founder, and director with the i-Valley Intelligent Community Association out of Acadia University while serving on the Board of the Atlantic Chamber of Commerce for four-years.
He is also on the Advisory Board of the National Graphene Association (U.S.), is a Principal with Nova Graphene 3D, The Ironbound Surf Company, Nova Agra Inc., and Synergistic Energy Systems.
Paul has a strong background as an entrepreneur and has worked as a business development executive and consultant for several years.
Paul has extensive international experience, having traveled to nearly 50-countries, and has lived and worked on 4 continents.
Paul has built strong relationships with technology providers for the past 4-years and will focus on business development and sales.
Michael R. Wyse MBA, M.Ed
Chief Operating Officer
Michael brings 30 plus years of experience in international business development, small business lending, international franchise management, strategic planning, public/private partnerships, entrepreneurship, and economic development. Michael also served as CEO of Canada’s largest and longest serving economic development agency supporting business owned by persons of African descent.
Michael’s demonstrated success working with private sector organizations, NGOs, government departments and the Office of the Premier provide him with an in-depth understanding of how political and bureaucratic engines intertwine to create business development policy, strategy, and funding frameworks.
With a master’s degree in education, Michael’s enthusiasm for international development led him to earn an MBA with a double major in Corporate Social Responsibility and human resource training and development.
He has demonstrated success working with international development agencies, serving clients from over 45-countries to design and launch regional and national entrepreneurship, business, and economic development initiatives.
His accomplishments include being the lead entrepreneurship specialist in the design of Ghana’s national post-secondary entrepreneurship curriculum, the development of a community engagement strategy for a gold mining concession in Suriname; co-developing a national youth-at-risk strategy for The Bahamas and leading International Operations for 18 business development centers in Canada, Sweden, and South Africa. As well, Michael was a co-developer of an award-winning youth ‘Transition from Prison’ program delivered in five-prisons in Portugal.
Inspired by his loving wife of 24 years, who is also a successful entrepreneur, Michael enjoys modeling and implementing outcomes-based innovations that nurture a continuous improvement work-place culture. He is also keen on leading solution-finding processes that advance efficiency, transparency, and forward-thinking corporate trajectories.
Robert Salah
Principle
An MBA grad and professional managing engineer, Robert has 40- years of experience in the private and public sectors.
Robert directed the procurement function of the Province of Nova Scotia, where he oversaw an annual budget of $600 million and a staff of 60 people and was responsible for all goods, services, and contracts.
He was also responsible for some of the most creative and rewarding initiatives in which the Province became involved and was previously involved in several successful private initiatives.
John Gelwics
Chief Visionary Officer
John has over 15 years of experience developing pyrolysis technology and co-products. He has extensive experience in raising capital, negotiating strategic partnerships and implementation of integrated technologies. Under his leadership, Genesis was awarded CIG grant from USDA. His 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry, including a decade in Sony Pictures Studios, gives him unique capabilities and relationships for marketing and sales for Nova Graphene.
Tom Woods
Business Development Executive - Marketing
Tom’s vision is to empower investors and economic development teams with at-hand disruptive technologies, renewable energy and advanced materials like CarbonEra Graphene products that contribute competitive advantages which will reshape the global economy; an economy where people, planet and profits are valued equally.
Tom’s vast business experience ranges from Executive Vice President of Sales and e+Education, business and non-profit CEO, commercial diver, and fishermen.
He is a Naval Air War Veteran and a professional Leadership coach working with individuals and corporations.
As a conservationist and business executive, Tom has been acknowledged for his professional marketing skills responsible for millions of dollars of sales revenue generation and has applied his experience in fund-raising to assist non-profit organizations such as “Heal the Bay” and “World Music Radio.”
He is presently the founding President of “Reef Guardians Hawaii”, a non-profit organization which is dedicated to education and research that will help halt the destruction of coral reefs in Hawaii and other locations around the world.
Jean Kim
Business Development Executive- East Asia
Jean has 15 years of international experience in business development, marketing and localization. Fluent in both English and her native language of Korean, she has successfully launched and localized global brands such as Dyson, iRobot, OXO from U.S. and Europe in Korea. Her experiences and network across Asia, N. America and Europe will assist Nova Graphene’s business expansion. She holds M.A. degree in Filmic Writing from California State University Northridge and B.A. degree in Cinema-TV from University of Southern California.
Paul Empey
Advisory Board Member
Paul has experience in building plants and managing international business, including Ocean Nutrition and Hercules SLR. He is currently President & CEO of Precision Biologics. A mature and experienced leader, Paul’s major strengths include operational leadership, change management, strong business acumen, effective communication skills, relationship development, and strong interpersonal skills. Paul is certified in DiSC, 360 Evaluations, Leadership Development, Disciplines of Business Execution and Certified Professional Coach. He has years of cross-functional Senior and Executive Management roles with a track record of working in organizations going through high growth and change, always focusing on Employee Engagement and Leadership Development as a management tool. He has developed successful programs that directly contribute to the growth and profitability of organizations, always focusing on fiscal responsibility. Paul played influential roles negotiating with foreign companies and governments to establish supply chain opportunities. He is comfortable in the boardroom, as well as on the plant floor, and has the ability to bridge the gap in employee engagement and trust with senior management that challenge today’s organizations.
Frank Taney
In-house Legal Counsel
Frank has been practicing law for 25 years and obtained his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1995 and his B.A. in Economics from Drew University in 1992.
Frank is an experienced trial lawyer and commercial litigator, having taken close to 50 matters to verdict, decision or award before juries, judges and arbitrators in various state and federal courts as well as in private arbitrations. Frank has particular expertise in intellectual property, antitrust, commercial contract and business tort disputes, including but not limited to the representation of clients in multi-district class actions and civil and criminal government and regulatory prosecutions and investigatory proceedings.
Frank is also an experienced technology law transactional lawyer and counselor, having served as outside and/or in-house general counsel for close to 100 different companies engaged in commercializing a diverse range of technology including smart drones, renewable energy, content management systems, virtual world technology, and e-commerce technology, among many others."
Sandra Jiang
Senior Business Development Manager
Before she joined Nova Graphene in 2021, Sandra Jiang had over 15 years’ working experience as a Canadian Trade Commissioner based at the Consulate General of Canada in Shanghai, providing advisory services to help Canadian companies to explore business opportunities and find new business partners in China, with specialty in Digital Media and ICT Technologies. Before she became a Trade Commissioner, she used to be in the investment banking business with a focus on big-ticket asset financing. She obtained her M.A. of Economics at Simon Fraser Univ. and M.A. of International Finance at Shanghai Univ. of Finance & Economics.
Thanh Thanh Trinh
Regional Technical Sales Manager
Thanh Thanh Trinh worked in Adidas Group for 13 years where she was senior developer. She has strong experience in managing and leading the development process, making improvements, and solving the problems of mass production. She also successfully led several special customized projects focused on costing negotiation, quality assurance and service excellence for the consumer. Her role with Forward Gear ltd involved leading to provide technical input into product design and leading product development from research to trial production, actual production, and export sales. In addition, she was responsible for developing sales presentations, proposals, and other materials for the corporate head office to illustrate benefits from the use of new materials and the viability of new products.
Thanh frequently consults with suppliers to resolve problems and to provide ongoing support. As part of her account management role, she developed, implemented, and reported on production plans and budgets to achieve export sales goals.
For 6 years, she managed accounts, supervised other account managers, and grew sales relationships with domestic and international corporate clients.Thanh is now excited to be part of the NG team to assist in its business development, growth, and expansion efforts!
Dr. Samer Kahwaji
Senior Researcher & Advisor
Dr. Samer Kahwaji holds a PhD in Physics from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. He has 20 years of experience in research in materials, with focus on the development and characterization of advanced materials and the study of the relationship between their structure and properties. Samerresearched a wide range of materials including thin-films and novel magnetic materials and nanomaterials for the semiconductor industry, phase change materials for thermal buffering and thermal energy storage systems, and active pharmaceutical ingredients for drug development. Samer authored and co-authored 22 peer-reviewed publications that made significant contributions to the areas of ferromagnetic semiconductors and materials for thermal energy storage. He collaborated with multidisciplinary teams on many academic research projects, and projects for industrial partners ranging from local startups to large multinational organizations including the International Energy Agency, Emerson, and Intel Corporation. His collaboration on fundamental research on graphite and diamond helped to determine exceptionally accurate values of the thermodynamic functions of these two carbon allotropes. The results of this research, published in a leading international journal, led to a textbook-altering discovery and answered a fundamental question concerning a basic property of carbon.
Nguyen The quang
Business Development Officer/Associate Researcher
Quang is an accomplished professional with an extensive career in the oil and gas sector, primarily with PetroVietnam Gas Corporation (PV Gas). He began as a petrochemical engineer, contributing to project development and technical oversight. His expertise quickly grew to encompass commercial aspects, including procurement, contract negotiation, and supplier management. Notably, Quang represented PV Gas in Indonesia, expanding the company's reach and exploring gas market opportunities. Rising through the ranks, Quang assumed leadership roles in gas transmission subsidiaries as a commercial manager, overseeing critical gas sales and purchase contracts, building customer relationships, and driving business development. His responsibilities included market analysis, cash flow reporting, and strategic decision-making support. His career culminated in a senior commercial officer position at Vietsovpetro Joint Venture, where he provided expert counsel on oil and gas contracts, resolved disputes, and showcased his negotiation skills with international partners. Quang is known for his competence, enthusiasm, proactive approach, and creative problem-solving. His expertise in contract management, negotiations, and international law make him a valuable asset to our team.
