American Biogas Council elects 2026 board leadership

The American Biogas Council (ABC) has elected five new officers to its executive committee.

The six will join Bernard Sheff, partner with Burns and McDonnell who will continue to serve as board chair, and Patrick Serfass, who will continue as executive director.

The Washington-based association says the new leadership “reflects the depth of expertise across an expanding U.S. biogas industry that is converting waste into domestic energy and nutrient-rich fertilizer.”

ABC says the industry has 2,600 biogas systems operating nationwide with significant untapped potential across agriculture, wastewater, landfill and food waste sectors to produce renewable natural gas (RNG) and electricity. The association projects that the industry will continue to grow in response to increasing demand for low-carbon, domestically produced energy.

“The U.S. biogas industry is strongest when we have great leaders who step up to guide the ABC, so it can truly speak with the voice of the entire industry,” Serfass says. “This is the beginning of a great new chapter to expand domestic energy production via biogas systems and deliver scalable, ready-to-deploy solutions.”

Skye Austin, RNG sales director with Buffalo, New York-based Stark Tech, and Brad Pleima, president of Des Moines, Iowa-based EcoEngineers, were elected vice chairs. Austin brings more than a decade of experience across natural gas and renewable natural gas markets. Pleima has provided advisory services to more than 300 renewable energy production facilities and supported the development and construction of over $4 billion in anaerobic digestion and RNG projects nationwide.

Craig Frear, director of research and technology with Lynden, Washington-based Regneis, was elected secretary and Thomas Murray, senior executive for energy transition at Vermont Gas Systems (VGS).

Frear brings expertise in digester performance optimization, nutrient recovery and manure-to-energy systems. Murray helped launch the South Burlington, Vermont-based utility’s voluntary RNG purchase program in 2018.

Finally, Lizzy Reinholt, president of peaks and renewables with Centennial, Colorado-based Summit Utilities Inc., was elected as an additional executive committee member. She leads development, operations and strategy for Summit Utilities’ renewable gas development company.