Alder Fuels board terminates Sherbacow as CEO of SAF company he founded

Bryan Sherbacow was terminated from his position as CEO of Alder Fuels, a sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) company he founded in 2021, by the board of directors, the company announced Feb. 6.

In January, Alder Fuels announced that Tim Obitts was appointed by the board as acting CEO and Sherbacow’s final day leading the company was Dec. 27, but it provided no reason for Sherbacow’s unceremonious departure from his leadership position at the company.

On Feb. 6, however, Alder Fuels revealed that, “As a result of enhanced management processes, the company uncovered that the now-former CEO, Bryan Sherbacow, engaged in questionable financial transactions that benefited him personally. Upon discovery, the board immediately commenced a comprehensive review of the transactions and terminated Mr. Sherbacow for cause.”

Before founding Alder Fuels, Sherbacow was chief commercial officer at World Energy.

Sherbacow resigned from his position at World Energy in late summer 2021 as Alder Fuels was getting its start.

On Sept. 9, 2021, when news that his recently founded company Alder Fuels had received investments from United Airlines and Honeywell, Sherbacow told Biobased Diesel Daily, “I officially resigned [from World Energy] last week,” adding that he would still be a senior advisor to World energy CEO Gene Gebolys.

On the prospects of his new company, Sherbacow said, “I am very excited to be tackling the biggest issue regarding scalability—feedstock.”

In 2010, Sherbacow founded AltAir Fuels, the first SAF production company in North America, where he served as president and chief operating officer.

The facility, located in Paramount, California, was acquired by World Energy in 2018.

Alder Fuels was founded to convert biomass such as forest and crop waste into biobased crude oil that can be used to produce SAF.

After terminating Sherbacow, the company said it has “redeveloped its strategy to ensure the entirety of its resources are directed towards achieving the singular goal of advancing commercial deployment of [Alder Greencrude] technology.”

In addition, the board stated it has “reorganized the company’s personnel, operations and partnerships so that they are better coordinated and aligned to meet this goal.”

Biobased Diesel Daily reached out to Sherbacow for comment on his termination from Alder Fuels but he did not respond.