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Meet the Executive Director

John Caupert

Background: Agriculture economics and policy, and former farm kid from southern Illinois

Career In Ag: 34 years

Previous Work: Corporate contractor with Anheuser Busch; National Corn Growers Association.

NCERC Start Date: October 2006 history lend credibility to what the NCERC team says. Policymakers are looking for that. For example, the U.S. EPA frequently draws upon expertise from NCERC on the issue of corn kernel fiber to cellulosic ethanol.

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Caupert points to Congress, for example, as another area where it could play a lobbying role. “Every election cycle there are fewer people from rural America who get elected. We have to constantly work to build and expand our base of support. I think you look no further than the U.S. Congress. We have to educate, motivate and inform those policy makers.”

It’s safe to say Caupert and crew are doing their part. Every year they meet with or host prominent farm groups, members of Congress or other interested parties that have well-known (or sometimes less known) positions on ethanol in the U.S. A recent rundown of meetings shows just how many people of varying backgrounds come into contact with the man with all that ethanol passion. They recently talked with Farm Credit of Illinois, SIUE staff senate, the St. Louis Agribusiness Club, delegates of the Midwest Biomanufacturing Summit, and a host of others.

Impact On Production

NCERC is not a national lab or affiliated with a federal agency. The tech that has come through the center runs the gamut, from A to Z, according to Caupert. Roughly 80 percent of the work done there is through client contracts.

“We might get two guys from San Diego working out of their garage,” he says. “And on the other end of the spectrum, we’ll work with multinational companies and big names in the fuel ethanol industry.”

The center never takes a position on any kind of product or technology. They don’t endorse either. “There is no perceived bias by anyone on a project or technology,” he says. “We will not compromise the scientific integrity of anything.”

Another thing NCERC doesn’t have to worry about is its reach into the ethanol industry. In 2015, Caupert commissioned a study to see what NCERC’s scope and impact in the industry truly was. The study (which Caupert plans to update soon) showed that of the 209 ethanol plants operating at the time, every plant was using at least one product or technology that had passed through the doors of the Southern Illinois center.

The reach of the center and its greatest impact is also about more than tech. It’s the people. Today there are more than 400 industry professionals that have received some form of hands-on, applied training from NCERC.

“Every single one of those 400 people is employed in the fuel ethanol industry,” Caupert says.

Some are in quality control. Some are sales managers. There is a big variety. For Caupert, it means he has a sales and recruiting team of 400-strong.

What Caupert envisions being most worth celebrating when his tenure at NCERC is over, he says, is the people.

“If I were to put together an alumni catalog it would be extensive,” he says. At times, that can be an issue. He is used to losing coworkers to outside ethanol companies. Everyone wants people from NCERC.

All those people, including Caupert, will continue to play a major role in the ethanol industry. They’ve had a great 20-years, but Caupert believes the success of NCERC is just getting started.

“When it comes to a low carbon future, I truly believe that ethanol and ethanol from corn is not only part of that solution,” he says, “I feel it is the solution.”

He believes NCERC and the greater industry has just scratched the surface and its capabilities.

“We don’t know the next innovation that is going to come about,” he says, “but it will come.” And based on its first 20 years, chances are NCERC will play a role in not just the next one or two industry breakthroughs, but countless innovations on the way.

Author: Luke Geiver Contact: editor@bbiinternational.com