Our People
Michael S. Long, Ph.D.
Founder
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Dr. Long is the founder of Renaissance Fiber, and he innovated our core Ecologically Invisible degumming operations. He has an extensive background in natural water and air chemistry, with a Masters in Marine Science from UNCW and a PhD from UVA in Environmental Science. His vision for using hemp manufacturing to reduce our carbon footprint and become a force for nature is what inspires Renaissance Fiber. His career interest in decarbonization technologies and methodologies feed Renaissance Fiber's innovation engine. Dr. Long currently works at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
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Daniel Yohannes, Ph.D., MBA
Chief Executive Officer
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Dr. Yohannes is a co-founder and CEO of Renaissance Fiber. Prior to Renaissance Fiber, Dr. Yohannes had spent over 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry at senior level positions in multiple companies, including most recently at Ophidion Inc., as Executive Director of Operations. His specialization in intellectual property & startup businesses supports the proprietary cleantech business of Renaissance Fiber.
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Andrew Hume Ph.D.
Chief Sustainability Officer
Andrew Hume is an environmental sustainability professional with over a decade of experience guiding governments, international organizations, and private companies. Andrew focuses on identifying innovative solutions for the sustainable use of natural resources informed by interdisciplinary science and design to ensure a lasting impact, both in the USA and developing country contexts. His PhD is in Environment & Resources from Stanford University.
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Bruce Maxwell
Chief Financial Officer
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Bruce is a Fractional CFO specializing in startups. He has helped more than 135 companies to get organized and funded, mainly in Silicon Valley, but as far afield as London, Tokyo and Hong Kong. He has deep expertise in venture finance and has raised over $83 million in startup funding. He is a specialist at building financial simulations for startups in order to optimize their go-to-market strategy and minimize the amount of capital that has to be raised. Bruce holds a BA from Swarthmore College and an MBA from Stanford University.
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John Riddle
EVP Sales and Marketing ​
John Riddle was most recently a Senior VP of Sales at Frontier Spinning Mills, and held that role as it was acquired by Gildan Branded Apparel. Before he helped build Frontier Yarns into an internationally recognized yarn producer, John supported yarn sakes at Unifi, Thomaston Mills, and UKI Supreme Elastic yarns. He also has experience in the startup textiles world, having founded, managed, and sold Recover Brands, a sustainable textiles brand. John is on the Board of the Southern Textiles Association and a member of the National Council of Textile Organizations, as well as the American Apparel Producers Network.
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Billy Cooper
VP Fiber Operations ​
Billy came out of retirement as quickly as he entered it in order to take part in the Renaissance Fiber journey. He has been a Plant Manager at multiple yarn manufacturing companies, including Gildan, Frontier Spinning, Clover-tex, Beal Manufacturing, Ameritex Yarn, Parkdale Mills, and others. Billy has also been a Director of Yarn Manufacturing at Magnolia Manufacturing. His career reflects extensive experience in fiber and yarn operations.
