William Collins has served as our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer since July 2010, and also served as our Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer from December 2006 to October 2009. From October 2009 to July 2010, Mr. Collins served as our Chief Technology Officer and Chairman. Mr. Collins received a B.S. degree from the University of Minnesota and attended Babson College for two years where he focused on Entrepreneurial Studies.
Michael Senzaki has served as our Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer since March 2011, and has also served as a director since April 2011. Prior to joining our company, from April 2010 to March 2011, Mr. Senzaki was the Managing Partner-Asia Pacific of Albeck Financial Services, a financial consulting firm specializing in U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting for smaller public companies. Mr. Senzaki was the Managing Partner of MJS Consulting Group, a financial consulting firm specializing in SEC reporting, U.S. GAAP compliance and Sarbanes-Oxley Act preparation. Mr. Senzaki began his career in public accounting with Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young. Mr. Senzaki received a B.S. degree from the University of Redlands.
Craig Mittelstaedt has joined Trellis Earth as Executive Vice President of Operations and General Manager. Prior to joining the Company, he served as General Manager for Elite Plastics, a division of GM Nameplate, from 2001 to 2011. He previously served as General Manager of SPM/Dynacast, a division of Dynacast U.K., in Hillsboro, Oregon and as Vice President and General Manager PPI Inc., a diversified plastics and contract manufacturing company based in Seattle. He has studied business and engineering at Warwick Business School, U.K., the University of Washington, and Mount Hood Community College.
Yang Hu PhD has joined Trellis Earth as Vice President of Research & Development. Dr. Hu holds a doctorate in Agricultural and Biological Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, a Master's degree from the Department of Chemistry, Université Joseph Fourier-Grenoble, and a Master's Degree in Process Engineering of Agricultural Products from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing, China. He holds a Bachelor's Degree in Food Science & Engineering with a minor in Industry and Business Administration from Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China. He is widely published in peer-review journals and has multiple bioplastics patents in China and the U.S.
Clayton Oswald is Trellis Earth Vice President of Sales and Distribution. He has over twenty years of sales and marketing management experience with a proven ability to effectively analyze markets, develop strategies and target the highest return on investment. His previous experience has been primarily in telecommunications where he had progressively advanced positions as Director of Marketing, Vice President Sales, Vice President Service, Vice President Marketing and Vice President Sales & Marketing. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from California State University at Hayward.
Bob Crosby is our Vice President of Sales. After graduation from the University of Southern California with a degree in Business Administration and a major in Accounting, Mr. Crosby worked for 6 years with Deloitte Touche in Los Angeles. He was certified with his CPA certificate in California. He then held the position of Corporate Controller for Morris Management Company, a privately held private equity management firm. In 1990, he moved to Portland, Oregon to take the position of VP Finance for WPL Associates, a Portland based real estate syndication firm. He has more recently held sales position with Integra Telecom, NECBNS, BlueStar Resort Communications and ITupside.
Lee Weeks has joined the company to oversee its retail product marketing efforts. Mr. Weeks has a career that spans over 40 years of selling products into supermarkets, mass merchandisers and the distribution channels that serve them. He estimates in his career he has sold over $200 million dollars worth of packaged products into retailers, representing companies such as Sterling Plastics, Sterilite Corporation, North American Philips, Kellogg Brushes, Fasco Fans, and many more. At Trellis Earth he will focus on retail merchandising, channel development, and sales into the grocery store vertical market.