Paul S. Zorner, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer
Paul S. Zorner, Ph.D., joined Hawai‘i BioEnergy in 2008 as its President and Chief Executive Officer.
Paul most recently was the Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director of Principle Energy Limited, a venture oriented to establish sugarcane conversion to ethanol and power in Mozambique. Prior to joining PEL, Paul held scientific development, operations and senior administrative positions with both start-up and Fortune 500 companies that include BASF, The Dow Chemical Company, Mycogen Corporation, Diversa Corporation, CellFor, and Telanetix.
Paul also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Kuehnle AgroSystems, a Hawaiian company specializing in the research and development of algae as a source of renewable fuels; on the Board of Principle Energy Limited (Mozambique); on the Board of Godavari Sugar Company (India), and on the Board of Directors for The KISS Institute for Practical Robotics, which aims to attract students to science through robotics. Paul also is involved with working groups of Environmental Entrepreneurs and the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Paul is an Adjunct Professor of Horticulture and a member of the graduate faculty at North Carolina State University.
Paul received his undergraduate degree from Lewis and Clark College in Ecology and Secondary Education and his Ph.D. in Botany and Plant Pathology from Colorado State University, where he worked on the development of cropping systems for dry-land agriculture.
He is an inventor with over 30 issued US patents. He has been presented with several awards that include: 2006 Queensland Champion for service to the State of Queensland Australia (the first American citizen to be so honored), the 2001 San Diego Science Alliance Partner of the Year, and as a Fellow of the Weed Science Society of America.
Paul and his wife, Nancy, live in Honolulu and have four grown children.
Joel Matsunaga
Chief Operating Officer & Executive Vice President
Joel K. Matsunaga joined Hawai‘i BioEnergy in July 2008 as Executive Vice President.
Mr. Matsunaga comes to Hawai‘i BioEnergy from Hawaiian Telcom, where he began his career in 1979 when the company was then known as GTE Hawaiian Telephone Company. During his 28 years with the company, Mr. Matsunaga held various positions within Hawaiian Telcom’s marketing, revenues and earnings, network operations and regulatory organizations, and most recently served as vice president of external affairs.
A graduate of the University of Hawai‘i, Mr. Matsunaga holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in business administration and is also a certified public accountant.
Mr. Matsunaga is very active in the community and has served on or is currently serving on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i, the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise Honolulu, Goodwill Industries Hawai‘i, the Hawai‘i Council on Economic Education, and University of Hawai‘i Rainbow Baseball Grand Slam Club. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Hawai‘i Society of Certified Public Accountants, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, Hawai‘i Telecommunications Association and the Japan America Society of Hawai‘i. He has also served on the State of Hawai‘i Wireless Enhanced 911 Board and the State of Hawai`i Broadband Task Force.
He and his wife, Gwen, have four children and reside in Kaneohe.