Ben White

Vice President of
Operations

Ben White has over 21 years of exploration, development, acquisition, and evaluation experience in the upstream oil and gas industry after receiving a BS in Petroleum Engineering from Montana Technological University in 2001. Throughout his career, Ben has led teams throughout most onshore basins along with drilling and production engineering offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. He started his career working as a drilling, completions, production, and reservoir engineer with Anadarko Petroleum in conventional, horizontal, waterflood, and EOR projects. He was the Site Manager leading Land, Regulatory, EH&S, and Operations teams for JM Huber for coalbed methane development in the Powder River Basin until successful divestiture of the assets. He led the Uinta Basin Operations Team and then the Rockies Facilities Team (upstream and midstream) for QEP Resources. Ben has operational and capital management experience in private equity-funded companies with Cornerstone Petroleum and Four Corners Petroleum along with private consulting.

James Athans

Vice President –
Southern U.S.

James Athans IV has over 33 years of experience in drilling, completion, remedial and stimulation methodologies across the globe. Having begun his career in the Permian Basin, he then ventured into international operations in North Africa, Russia and the Middle East where he managed operations for various product lines in these locations, including liner hanger systems, completion systems and service tools. In addition to managing operations both in the US and Internationally, James has also managed and performed sales across all the US basins. He was responsible for blending operations and sales to develop independent basin and client strategies for start-up operations and create independent and sustainable district businesses. In 2003 James was at the forefront of horizontal multi-stage completion technologies, which was in its infancy, and has subsequently published numerous papers on the subject over the last 15 years. This experience has enabled James to evaluate client needs and requirements to propose effective and efficient operations to complete these tasks.

John Griffin

Vice President – Western U.S. & International Markets

John Griffin has more than 14 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, including offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and land operations. Prior to joining Biosqueeze Inc., John was responsible for business development at Stage Completions where he was directly involved in operations, engineering, manufacturing, and research and development of new completion technologies. John has also held sales and technical specialist roles at Sanjel Corporation. His team pioneered extended reach and low-viscosity wellbore intervention best practices, which are widely adopted today. He began his career with Schlumberger as a field engineer and location supervisor. He is an industry expert in downhole completions and live wellbore interventions, a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and has authored several technical papers and publications.

Kent J. Smith

Vice President – Government Affairs

Kent J. Smith is a seasoned business development leader with a background in biomaterial development, industrial microbiology, and defense contracting. Prior to joining BioSqueeze in 2025, Kent established a biotechnology-focused business lane for ARCTOS Technology Solutions, building partnerships with deep-tech startups for development of novel biomaterials for defense applications. Kent also previously (2016-2023) served as Technical Lead and Director of Government Programs at Biomason, Inc., securing and managing a ~$16M portfolio of government contracts with DARPA, ARPA-E, AFRL, and USACE, pioneering novel biomineralization-based construction approaches.

Mark Ranalli

President & CEO

Mark Ranalli is an experienced executive and entrepreneur with a successful track record of building businesses from the ground up. He’s founded five successful companies in a variety of industries, from publishing to telecommunications, leading teams of more than 700 employees. In addition, Mark has mentored hundreds of emerging entrepreneurs through higher education as Dean at the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship at Montana State University and the School of Engineering at Tufts University. Mark has been a frequent guest on Fox Business News, and has spoken at numerous industry events and forums.

Randy Hiebert

Founder and Vice
President of R&D

Randy Hiebert is a chemical process engineer with over 4 decades of experience in the aerospace, petroleum, and environmental remediation industries. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Montana and is certified with the National Council of Examiner for engineering and surveying. Hiebert has managed numerous biotechnology and process engineering projects for customers in the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, and private clients. Hiebert co-founded BioSqueeze Inc. and was integral in commercializing its novel biomineralization technology. He continues to push the limits of biomineralization technology with ongoing research on refracturing, engineered permeability reduction, and soil stabilization.

Ryan Wilson

Vice President – Eastern U.S.

Ryan Wilson has over 13 years of experience in well remediation, cementing, and production enhancement technologies, with a focus on solving complex well integrity challenges. He has spent his career serving as a trusted advisor to operators in the Appalachian Basin. He has designed and executed hundreds of cementing and remediation projects, supported the rollout of advanced technologies, and led cross-functional teams delivering safe, reliable, and efficient operations. Known for his collaborative approach, Ryan has guided teams of engineers, sales professionals, and field crews to consistently achieve technical and operational excellence.

Sheena Halaburda

Vice President – BioSqueeze Canada Inc.

Sheena Halaburda has over 10 years of experience in various plays across the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. Her background includes roles in abandonments, workovers and production operations with a major oil and gas producer at both a field and corporate level. She brings technical expertise in well abandonments, notably in wells with surface casing vent flow and gas migration issues. Sheena is a Professional Engineer with the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta (APEGA) and holds a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering from Montana Technological University.

Kirsten Suddath

Partner Next Frontier
Capital

Kirsten joined Next Frontier Capital as a General Partner in 2021. Before joining NFC, Kirsten served as a Senior Associate with Blackhorn Ventures, based in Denver, CO. Prior to joining Blackhorn, she was an Entrepreneur in Residence with the Techstars Boulder Accelerator where she helped source and select companies for the accelerator program. Kirsten still serves as a Mentor for the Techstars Boulder program. In 2016, she helped launch Flytedesk, a Techstars advertising technology startup as Head of Finance and Operations. Kirsten has been involved with numerous Boulder-based startups across CleanTech, telecom, transportation/distribution, and software technology companies. She has a double BA in mathematics and philosophy, and an MBA focused in entrepreneurial finance from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She’s also a former competitive big mountain skier having competed on the Freeskiing World Tour Qualifier and in the Colorado Freeride Championships. Besides startups and skiing, Kirsten is passionate about spending time outdoors with her husband Ben and daughter, as well as a big USWNT soccer fan and classically trained pianist.

Mark Ranalli

President & CEO

Mark Ranalli is an experienced executive and entrepreneur with a successful track record of building businesses from the ground up. He’s founded five successful companies in a variety of industries, from publishing to telecommunications, leading teams of more than 700 employees. In addition, Mark has mentored hundreds of emerging entrepreneurs through higher education as Dean at the Jake Jabs College of Business and Entrepreneurship at Montana State University and the School of Engineering at Tufts University. Mark has been a frequent guest on Fox Business News, and has spoken at numerous industry events and forums.

Randy Hiebert

Co-founder and Vice
President of R&D

Randy Hiebert is a chemical process engineer with over 4 decades of experience in the aerospace, petroleum, and environmental remediation industries. He is a registered professional engineer in the state of Montana and is certified with the National Council of Examiner for engineering and surveying. Hiebert has managed numerous biotechnology and process engineering projects for customers in the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Agriculture, and private clients. Hiebert co-founded BioSqueeze Inc. and was integral in commercializing its novel biomineralization technology. He continues to push the limits of biomineralization technology with ongoing research on refracturing, engineered permeability reduction, and soil stabilization.

Stuart Bodden

President and Chief
Executive Officer of Ranger
Energy Services

Stuart Bodden is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Ranger Energy Services, a leading oil field services company, and has over 20 years of experience in various executive roles in the oil and gas industry. Prior to joining Ranger Energy Services, Mr. Bodden was President and Chief Executive Officer at Express Energy Services in Houston, after previously serving as President Director for Pacific Oil and Gas in Singapore. Mr. Bodden was a Partner at McKinsey & Company in the Houston and Singapore offices, leading projects in the oilfield services and upstream oil and gas sectors during his 10+ year tenure. Mr. Bodden received his Bachelor of Science degree from Brown University and his Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas, Austin.

Subodh Gupta

Partner VALO Ventures

Subodh has worked as an advisor, investor and operator within both startups and large multinational organizations. He most recently served as Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Strategic Investments at Flex Ltd (a $26B hardware manufacturer). While at Flex, he helped reposition the Company’s strategy around IoT and manage its portfolio of strategic investments. Prior to joining Flex, Subodh served as the Director of Investments and as a Portfolio Executive at Revolate where he invested in consumer and consumer technology companies. Subodh began his career as an analyst at Evercore Partners. Subodh received a Bachelor’s (magna cum laude) and a Master’s in Economics from New York University.