Origin Materials Adds Key New Technical Hires to Further Strengthen Global Technology Leadership in
Carbon Negative Materials
Highly skilled veterans bring extensive expertise and experience in industrial chemical engineering,
petrochemicals, solids processing, refining and renewable energy
WEST SACRAMENTO Calif. (April 7, 2021) Origin Materials, Inc.
(Origin Materials), the worlds leading carbon negative materials company, today announced the addition of Mr. Jim Wells, Dr. Ben Freireich, and Dr. Madhu Anand to the companys technical team.
Origin Materials new technical hires will play a key role in leveraging the companys patented, breakthrough carbon negative platform technology to
develop and scale new innovations. Origin Materials believes its technology will help revolutionize the production of a wide range of end products, including clothing, textiles, plastics, packaging, car parts, tires, carpeting, toys and more with a
~1 trillion addressable market.
I am very pleased to welcome these highly skilled veterans to Origin Materials to further bolster our global
technology leadership and capabilities in carbon negative materials, said John Bissell, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Origin Materials. Jim, Ben and Madhu bring
deep chemical, energy and solids processing experience to Origin Materials and their technical expertise will play a pivotal role in driving our innovation pipeline to deliver carbon negative solutions to our global customer base across a wide range
of product end markets.
Jim Wells joins Origin Materials as a Technical Director with 39 years of experience in the chemical industry. During his 39-year career at The Dow Chemical Company, Mr. Wells was responsible for developing, designing, building, and starting up industrial chemical plants, leading project teams and developing unique technologies.
In January 2018, Mr. Wells retired from Dow as Associate Director of Technology for the Dow AgroScience division. He is a recognized subject matter expert in project management, engineering and manufacturing work processes, reactive chemicals
and layer of protection analysis, and solids processing, handling and packaging. Mr. Wells served in the United States Army and graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Chemical Engineering.
Ben Freireich joins Origin Materials as a Technical Fellow with more than a decade of experience in the chemical and process industries. Dr. Freireich
comes to Origin Materials as a leading industry expert in both product and process research and development for solid materials. Prior to Origin Materials, Dr. Freireich served as the Technical Director of Particulate Solid
Research, Inc. (PSRI) where he led applied process research efforts for a consortium of over thirty multinational corporations. He was previously a Research Scientist in Core R&D at The Dow Chemical Company, where he served
as subject matter expert responsible for product and process development over a wide range of businesses, products, and technologies. Dr. Freireich is a specialist in particle technology with expertise in particle design, powder
flowability, mixing, fluidization, size enlargement, attrition, and other areas of solids engineering, and has authored chapters of Perrys Chemical Engineering Handbook. He obtained his PhD in Mechanical