Dr. John H. Shinn holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley and has spent his career dedicated to improving the world's energy systems from and environmental and social perspective. Dr. Shinn served 35 years guiding Chevron and the oil industry developing new environmentally-improved process technology and on effective approaches to improve the environmental and social value of their operations. He formed his own private advisory group (SynPatEco LLC) advising clients that include the World Bank, US Department of Energy, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and others on the environmentally- and socially-effective use of fossil fuels and biofuels and has been involved in a number of green venture capital startups seeking to create businesses that profit both the owners and the world.

Dr. Shinn has served on numerous advisory boards and similar roles to engineering, environmental and social institutes at MIT, Caltech, Stanford, Sandia, Kyushu University, Penn State and others. He served on the Governing Board of Engineers Without Borders USA for 10 years during its key formative development period. He has headed the Industry Advisory Board for USDOE's Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative since its formation in 2010.