Abdullah Ali founded ARC Southern with a vision to convert waste into energy and combine his wealth of technical knowledge, field experience, and technological application to help ease any detrimental environmental impact.
After graduating from college, Ali worked as a chemical engineer with the Al-Kawther Industries/DuPont Permasep Group, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In his first job assignment, he worked as process/commissioning engineer for the first and largest seawater desalination RO plant with a capacity of 4.2 million gallon per day at Ras Tanajib, Safania Oil Field for Saudi Aramco. Quickly after, he advanced to project manager for a 12.5 million gallon per day RO plant for the city of Unaizah, Qassim, Saudi government.
During Mr. Ali’s tenure at Alkawther, he oversaw more than 35 reverse osmosis plants with responsibilities including supervision in process design and leading team of 600 staff members to undertake field installation, start-up, commissioning and reliability tests of two large Seawater Reverse Osmosis at Duba and Haql cities for the government of Saudi Arabia (SWCC).
Mr. Ali has 25 years experience in entrepreneurial project financing and management, founding and operating several companies with a total $80 million dollars in sales. For the past 14 years, he managed a family automotive niche parts distribution company and replicated the business model beyond Houston.
Ali has an M.B.A from Jones School of Business, Rice University. In addition, Mr. Ali has his M. Sc. in Chemical Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Madison and B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Riyadh University (King Saud University). Ali has a patent pending for energy efficient gasification of high moisture biomass with Dr. Bary Wilson.
Venky R Venkataraman – Executive Vice President
Venky R Venkataraman is one of the partners at ARC Southern Energy. Venky’s passion to make a significant impact on environment, and leave the environment better for the generations to come, led to his commitment and investment in the company.
Venky has more than 20 years of rich and varied experience related to the energy industry including the following:
Using analytical approach to solving business problems; identifying economic opportunities, making it a part of strategic implementation plan, and implementing solutions that increased profitability with minimal capital investments.
Managing a large technical team, that dealt with operational challenges on a day to day basis and worked on large capital projects, for one of the largest refineries in US.
Served on the user’s board for an eminent process consulting company including that of a chairman, where the role was to enhance the product from the user’s perspective, as well as conduct user’s group meet. Conducted workshop, webinars, and presented several technical papers at various conferences.
Team leader and advisor for a leading chemical process consulting company that always delivered projects on time, and exceeded the promised benefits.
Venky’s passion is for ARC Southern Energy to become a leading provider of clean energy while reducing GHG emissions and to be the leader in carbon solutions consulting. Venky’s brings his strengths of analytical methodology, strong financial knowledge, and innovative strategic approach to make his vision to fruition.
Venky earned his Master of Business Administration degree from Rice University, Houston, Texas, where he was the Jones Scholar. Venky got his Master’s degree from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio and his Bachelor’s degree from Government College of Technology, Coimbatore, India, both related to Electrical engineering.
Dr. Bary Wilson - VP Research & Technology
Dr. Bary Wilson is Chief Scientist at Arc Southern Energy. Dr. Wilson holds a B.Sc. in physics from the University of Washington, a Ph.D. from St. Bartholomew’s Medical School of the University of London, and served as a post doc in chemistry at MIT. He brings to Arc Southern his extensive experience as a researcher, inventor and manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and in several domestic and foreign technology companies.
As an inventor, Dr. Wilson holds more than a dozen patents including technology for automated determination of wear rates in rotating machinery components, several sensors and sensor systems for nondestructive testing, automated analytical instrumentation, bioprocesses for liquid fuel from coal, pulsed power devices and plasma arc conversion of coal fly ash to cement additives.
Dr. Wilson is an author on more than 100 scientific publications and is a coauthor and editor of several technical books. He has extensive experience in international technology transfer having managed research projects in more than a dozen countries, including the design and/or start-up of major laboratory or hospital facilities in Saudi Arabia, Taiwan and the United Arab Emirates.
He has served on the Board of Directors of Ener1 Corporation and the Bioelectromagnetics Society, as well as on the editorial boards of several scientific journals. He is the founder or cofounder of three technology companies, and has served as a senior executive (CEO, COO or General Manager) for companies both in US and overseas. Dr. Wilson served as tank crew chief and commander in the US Marine Corps., holds a commercial pilot’s license with multi-engine and instrument ratings and is an avid ocean sailor.
Mike Macha - VP Client Relations
Michael (Mike) has spent the last 27 years in the Wholesale Distribution Industry. As President of the company, Mike oversaw the company’s growth from one location to five branches with sales growing from $6m to $25m within 5 years. Mike’s outstanding business and leadership skills will be used constructing Arc Southern’s presence in the pursuit of customers in the US and global marketplace.
Mike brings a cultivated understanding and appreciation of teamwork to Arc Southern Energy. After graduating from Rice University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business and Economics. Mike went on to play Professional Baseball for six years with the Atlanta Braves, Toronto Blue Jays and the Detroit Tigers.
Mike has served on numerous community service boards and has served at the state level on Industry Boards.
Shamsa Ali - VP Business Management
Shamsa has worked with Gulfcorp Technologies for the past 18 years as the company's business manager. She earned a degree in Mathematics from Prairie View A&M University in 1992. Shamsa since taken many continuing education courses at the University of Houston, including those in business organization, financial literacy and management leadership. Shamsa's exceptional track record in business organization and financial acumen will be of strategic importance as Arc Southern expands in the future. When not working in the office, Shamsa can be found tutoring at the Houston Multi-Ethnic Community Center and as an adjunct professor at Devry Universities.
ARC SOUTHERN announces Plasma Gasification License Agreement with ADAPTIVE ARC
ARC Southern Energy LLC Requests $10 Million in Department of Energy grants to Fund Field Demonstration of Gas and Solid Waste Plasma Gasifier for the CHP Production of Electricity and Cement Additives.
