A leader in the development and commercialization of cellulosic ethanol as well as highperformance specialty enzyme products, Verenium was formed in June 2007 through the merger of Diversa Corporation and Celunol Corp. Mr. Riva joined Celunol, a privately-held developer of cellulosic ethanol process technology, as Chief Executive Officer in 2006.
Prior to joining Celunol, from 2003 to 2005 Mr. Riva served as Executive Director of AMEC plc, a major global construction and engineering company based in the U.K. In this capacity he had profit and loss responsibility for the company’s operations in the United States and Britain, and was also responsible for AMEC’s global oil and gas business strategy. He closed nonperforming businesses and acquired several companies to enhance AMEC’s capabilities.
From 1995 to 2003, Mr. Riva served as Chief Executive Officer of InterGen, a Boston-based joint venture between Shell and Bechtel. He guided InterGen’s growth from a development company concept to a successful, global operating business. Under his leadership, InterGen developed more than 17,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, along with gas storage and pipelines, on six continents. During this period, the company raised more than $9 billion of non-recourse project financing to construct power and other large energy infrastructure projects. Mr. Riva also developed trading and risk management platforms for gas and power in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Mr. Riva began his career in 1982 with Oceaneering International, a major offshore services contractor to the oil & gas industry. He joined J. Makowski Company in 1985, rising to the position of President and Chief Operating Officer in 1992. He was project manager for the pathbreaking Ocean State Power project, which is widely recognized as the nation’s first independent power project (IPP).
Mr. Riva earned a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1976, an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford in 1979, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1982. He resides on the North Shore of Boston, Massachusetts.