Steven Verhey grew up on a farm near Royal City, WA (perhaps you've heard of Verhey's Peaches?) where everyone in the family still helps out. After a year at WSU, he graduated from Reed College in Portland, OR. 

He got involved in the then-new sustainable agriculture movement during graduate school at Oregon State University, where he received a Ph.D in plant biochemistry and molecular biology. His interest in biodiesel goes back several years, and grew out of teaching about energy as a biology professor at Central Washington University. 

In June of 2006 he left CWU to work on the Central Washington Biodiesel Project. He is also co-principal with Dr. Lynne Carpenter-Boggs in the consulting company Thermophilus Associates LLC.

Phil Mattocks is a graduate of MIT and holds a Ph.D in Zoology from the University of Washington. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of BH&M Oil Company in El Dorado, AR, since 2001, and is current or past member of Boards of Directors of a variety of local and state-wide environmental and public health organizations. 

He has served as secretary or treasurer of non-profit and for-profit organizations and is currently chair of the Science Department at Heritage University.

Denise Horton graduated summa cum laude from Oregon State University with a degree in Crop and Soil Science. She has worked as a consultant in the seed industry for 15 years.

Karen Mattocks graduated from Evergreen State University, having also attended Oregon State University.  In 2001 Karen retired from her private psychology practice of 33 years, during which time she established and co-facilitated two residential treatment facilities in the Seattle-King County area.