Our Team

Ocean Exchange Team

Alexander Koukoulas

Director, AFRY Management Consulting

Dr. Alexander A. Koukoulas is an independent management consultant to the chemical sciences and engineering, pulp and paper, and bioenergy industries.

He advises and consults with a broad range of companies including Confluent Energy, Flambeau River Biofuels, and Chevron Technology Ventures. He is an expert consultant for the Departments of Energy and Agriculture, the European Commission’s Energy Directorate, and the National Engineering & Science Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, and served on the advisory board of NSERC’s Innovative Green Wood Fibre Products Network. Recently, he founded the Consortium of Advanced BioEnergy Solutions (CAWES), a broad-based collaboration with the USDA Forest Service and the US Endowment for Forestry and Communities, to find alternative uses for low-cost woody biomass and promote forest health. Prior to this, he held senior management positions at International Paper and Albany International, and was President and CEO of the Herty Advanced Materials Center.

Dr. Koukoulas received his B.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in chemistry from McGill University, and holds executive certificates from the MIT Sloan School of Business. He has published extensively and is a holder of 14 U.S. patents. Dr. Koukoulas is a member of the American Chemical Association, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, the MIT Enterprise Forum, the Pulp and Paper Technical Association of Canada (PAPTAC) and Sigma Xi. He is a long-time member of TAPPI and is former Chairman of its International Research Management Committee. He has taught at McGill University and is an adjunct professor at North Carolina State University.

Dr. Koukoulas and his wife, Lynn, reside in Savannah, GA. They have been married for 29 years and have two children. They are avid outdoorsmen and enjoy hiking, skiing and savoring full-bodied cabs.

Contact Us

Ocean Exchange invites you to learn more about Awards Program, our ecosystem and success of our award winners and participants. Together, we can chart a powerful course to help ensure the future of our oceans and the Blue Economy.

“Ocean Exchange has a platform to enable people with information that they need to know about the ocean and then to showcase new technologies that are on the forefront of really helping the ocean and the planet.”

“The quality of the content and the people who are involved with Ocean Exchange is all high end.”

“Besides funding, Ocean Exchange provides access to a wide area network of incredibly talented people in organizations that really do just want to help people.”

“Ocean Exchange is really about helping the little guys grow and in so doing, helping the big guys be better ocean citizens.”

“Ocean Exchange seems to be much more focused on bringing to light under-capitalized, wonderful new technology ideas. And it’s all about two-way access to this new technology and to the people who can help with the experience to grow that technology.”

“Ocean Exchange is a force multiplier to enable sustainable innovation.”

“Ocean Exchange is a global, novel innovation forum that has a greater ability to attract a broader range of impactful stakeholders than any other event that’s out there.”

“Unquestionably, one of Ocean Exchange’s primary strengths is how it brings together people from different paths. That makes its event a delegator experience as well as experience for an innovator or awards nominee.”

“Ocean Exchange is entirely different from any of the other organizations that I’m involved in. It is about sustainable innovation. I think it’s also very different in the extremely broad range of stakeholders that it involves.”

“There’s nothing better than going to an event or engaging with people so you walk away and say, ‘Wow!’”