Team

TIM ZENK

Tim Zenk has spent much of his distinguished career shaping public policy and business. He has helped regional, national and global leaders become better executives and educated public on key issues impacting the nation and globe.  

His more than 20 years of rich experience has taken him to the front lines of Washington D.C., from the halls of Congress and the White House to the back roads of the Middle East, India and China.  

Most recently, for ag-biotech company Phytelligence, he worked to establish a World Bank program to revitalize a 100-year-old fruit industry in Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir India.  The program will bring modern sustainable, locally-grown apples, pears and cherries to improve availability of nutritious locally grown foods in India.  India is the 4th largest producer of apples in the world and 100% of its crop is used domestically.

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At Sapphire Energy, he was a senior executive of the Gates-funded executive team in development of renewable crude oil from algae.  He worked closely with the USDA and USDOE to secure $100 million+ in federal funding to build a demonstration Green Crude farm in New Mexico. He also led the team of engineers and scientists along with airplane manufacturers and refiners to demonstrate the use of Green Crude jet fuel.  The fuels were successfully tested on commercial aircraft, ships and cars.  

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He was instrumental in gaining support for a $30/tonne tax credit for his industry for the beneficial recycling of CO2 to produce transportation fuels from algae. They were awarded an Eco-Partnership by the National Develop Reform Commission (PRC) and U.S State Department and a partnership with Chinese oil giant Sinopec.  Additionally, his work resulted in Congressional approval of $35 million annual appropriation to fund the USDOE’s continued investigation and support to commercialize algae to fuels.

Tim was a member of California’s advisory committee on implementation of AB32 (cap and trade) and the low carbon fuels standard.  He has served on the boards of the Advanced Biofuels Association, Algae Biomass Organization, and BIO--Algae.  

Earlier in his tech career at Xypoint , he was instrumental in the FCC requirement for wireless carriers to provide E911 services to customers.  His advocacy resulted in the FCC mandating wireless carriers provide E911, back ended by Xypoint.  His work resulted in states providing carriers cost recovery of the E911 services by legislating taxes in 38 states around the US, now ubiquitous.

Tim has served serve in various roles in both federal and state governments. He was deputy press secretary, campaign chairman and deputy chief of staff, for Washington state’s 19th Governor, Booth Gardner, and, later, campaign chairman for Attorney General Christine Gregoire, successfully electing her as Washington state governor.

Tim’s experience in Washington D.C. is extensive including district chief of staff, defense appropriations, intelligence and interior appropriations representative for Rep. Norm Dicks. He worked for President Clinton and Vice President Gore as a White House advance staff.

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