Under the supervision of a seasoned Board of Advisors, Axios's team combines business acumen with technical savvy to provide its clients with collaborative, innovative and result-driven project development and consulting services.

David Duquette, Jr.

Managing Partner

David is a corporate and technology attorney and businessman with long experience in the emerging growth tech company sector.  He was co-founder of Sceata Technology Group in Princeton, NJ. He is among other things a veteran corporate lawyer and project manager, and has extensive experience working with and negotiating deals on behalf of domestic and international companies in mergers and acquisitions and securities and venture capital transactions. Additionally, he has consulted to several asset management and hedge fund groups regarding structure, operations and processes.

David received his B.A. magna cum laude from Princeton University, a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law, and has studied at Columbia Business School.

Stephen Franck

Director of Special Projects

Stephen is a former executive of the energy and chemicals business with vast international experience in strategy, joint ventures and business development.

In his last corporate job, he was an Executive VP for EniChem, in Milan, Italy, the chemicals subsidiary of the public Italian energy company, ENI. He reported to the CEO of the company. Further management experience was obtained with Conoco-Phillips, both in the US and in Belgium with the Europe-Africa Division.

Since retirement, Stephen has concentrated on bioenergy in ethanol, biodiesel, and, biomass energy. He has advised some leading companies around the world on a consulting basis, initiated and created ventures, and has collaborated in finding financing for these projects. Owing to his lifelong experience in marketing, he also participated in select trading operations.

Stephen holds an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris and the Sorbonne in Paris, France; an M.S. in Organic Chemistry from Eotvos Lorand University, in Budapest, Hungary. He also holds an MBA in Marketing and International Business from CUNY (Bernard M. Baruch College), in New York, and the Wharton School, in Philadelphia.

John Hoegl

VP, Chemical Markets

John has over 35 years of marketing, business management and commercial development experience with a number of specialty chemicals, including lubes, alcohols, glycols and fatty acid esters, both domestically and internationally. This expertise led him to form Ivanhoe Industries, a chemicals trading and distribution company, in 1983, which he then successfully sold in 2005. Notably, he worked closely with the International Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce regarding import/export issues relating to specialty chemicals.

Prior to founding Ivanhoe, John held various sales, distribution and management roles with GAF, Shell Chemical and Oxirane; there, he gained a solid technical understanding of the production technologies of numerous oleochemical and petrochemical products.

John holds a BS degree in Chemistry from Bucknell University.

Nate Lowery

Project Manager

Nate is a mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate from Princeton University (summa cum laude), whose biodiesel industrial research with Sebastien led to the founding of Axios Energy. For this research, he and Sebastien jointly won the Johanssen Dike Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and the Calvin-Dodd McCracken Award, given to the most innovative independent research in the School Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Nate is a member of the National Academic Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa, the National Engineering Society, Tau Beta Pi and the Scientific Research Society, Sigma Xi. He is also the 2006 recipient of the highest academic award in Mechanical & Aerospace at Princeton, the Sau-Hai Harvey Lam Award.

Sebastien Douville

Project Engineer

Sebastien received his B.S.E in mechanical and aerospace engineering and materials science magna cum laude from Princeton University. He is a co-founder of Axios Energy. He shared the Dike and McCracken academic awards with Nate at Princeton.

Sebastien is a member of the National Engineering Society, Tau Beta Pi and the Scientific Research Society, Sigma Xi. He is the recipient of the Joseph Clifton Elgin Prize, awarded to the student who most furthered the mission of the School of Engineering during his/her academic career.

Sebastien is among other things the President of the Alumni Council of Engineers Without Borders-Princeton, a group that aims to better the standards of living of communities around the world through the implementation of sustainable technologies. A founder of the group, he has led projects in Ethiopia and Peru as part of this organization over the past two years.

Board of Advisors

Dr. Fred Allen, Managing Partner, RADii Consulting

Fred holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University in Geological Sciences. He has years of industry experience, particularly in technology assessment and commercialization. He has over 30 publications and presentations and 10 patent filings.

Dr. Craig Arnold, Professor, Princeton University

Craig holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Physics from Harvard University, and a B.S. in Physics and Math from Haverford College. His reseach focuses on, among many other things, microfluidics, flexible battery systems, and laser processing.

Jon Plimpton, Founder & Managing Partner, International Business Management, Inc. (IBMI)

Jon is responsible for the strategic direction of IBMI’s clients’ business. He participates actively in international operations, coordinating services and overseeing implementation. Raised in Lebanon, Argentina and Colombia, Jon holds a B.A. from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.