First Ammonia Team

CEO Joel Moser speaks on ammonia’s use as a maritime fuel at the Columbia Center for Global Energy Policy.

International Team Led by a Seasoned Infrastructure Expert

First Ammonia CEO Joel Moser brings over 40 years of experience in infrastructure investment and project finance. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a founding and executive committee board member at their Center for Global Energy Policy.

First Ammonia’s founding team in New York, 2024.

The First Ammonia founding team brings diverse experience including:

  • EPC management and project execution for international chemical and renewable energy projects
  • Industrial air pollution regulation for the federal government of Germany
  • Ammonia plant development in the United States
  • Energy price forecasting based on supply and demand scenarios in the U.S. Gulf Coast
  • Drafting of the ICEF Low-Carbon Ammonia Roadmap for the Japanese government
  • Research on innovative electrolyzers at the Columbia Center for Global Energy Policy
  • Structured investments into low-carbon chemical plants across the United States

Team

Joel Moser

Chief Executive Officer

Kevin Barnes

Global Head of Construction & Technology

Joanna Basilio

Director and Commercial Officer

Betsy Dahl

Chief Corporate Officer

Ann-Kathrin Merz

Industry and Strategy Lead

Fariaz Rabbani

Operations Manager 

Lee Raymond

Global Head of Project Development

Chris Rogers

Associate Director of Finance

Ralf Schaaf

Chief Technology Officer

Shay Soltani

General Counsel

Bob Yingling

Chief Financial Officer

Advisory Board

Leon de Graaf

Robert Eckels

Sofie Ja'afar

Hunter Johnston

Caroline Mbabazi

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Joel Moser

Chief Executive Officer

Joel H. Moser is the Chief Executive Officer of First Ammonia, a Climate Tech company that is a leader in the production of green ammonia (ammonia produced from water and renewable power) which is critical to achieving a carbon emissions free future as a carbon-free transportation fuel, a solution to the intermittency challenge of renewable power and as a pathway to the decarbonization of agriculture. He is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs where he teaches infrastructure finance and development. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a founding and executive committee member of the Advisory Board of the Columbia University Global Energy Policy Center.

Moser has served as an infrastructure expert for the Global Future Council of the World Economic Forum, as a member of the Expert Committee for the World Bank Group’s 2018 Procuring Infrastructure Public-Private Partnerships Report and as a member of the Expert Committee for the World Bank Group’s Benchmarking Infrastructure 2020 study. He served on the Council on Foreign Relations’ study group on transatlantic relations and as a member of the Brookings Institution Governance Studies’ working group on inbound US foreign direct investment by sovereign wealth funds. He is currently serving as a peer reviewer for a NASA study of the use of ammonia as a carbon-free fuel for commercial air travel.

Moser’s career has spanned multiple aspects of the energy industry and infrastructure development. Prior to the formation of First Ammonia, Moser led Aquamarine Investment Partners, an investor and developer focused on the energy transition and decarbonization. Prior to his work at Aquamarine, Moser practiced law at global law firms, recognized as a leading individual lawyer in Projects by Chambers and served as a Senior Partner and practice leader in international energy and infrastructure. Moser was lead issues advisor for H. Carl McCall’s 1993 election as New York Comptroller and then served as counsel and advisor to the transition team. Following the tragedies of 9/11, he was appointed as pro bono infrastructure counsel to the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, the umbrella agency charged with rebuilding at the Ground Zero site. He served as lead counsel to the NY Mets in the development and award-winning financing of the team’s new stadium.

Moser is a contributor to the public discussion of energy and infrastructure investment issues. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, Columbia FDI Perspectives, Brookings Institution Governance Studies, World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda, and Columbia Political Review, among others. He has served as a columnist for Forbes on investment in energy and infrastructure and is a frequent speaker on the topic of energy transition investment and development.

Moser has served as a trustee of many institutions including Bank Street College, Children’s Museum of the East End, Citizens Budget Commission, Red Cross of Greater New York, NYSCI (New York Hall of Science), and Alliance for Downtown New York. Moser served for over a decade as a member of the Advisory Council of the New York State and Local Retirement System.

A native New Yorker and father of four, Moser resides in New York City and Los Angeles with his wife, Dr. Wednesday Martin, an author and cultural anthropologist.

Kevin Barnes

Global Head of Construction & Technology

Kevin Barnes has more than 10 years experience in projects ranging from waste to energy to 2nd Generation Bioethanol, eMethanol, Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO), pyrolysis, biogas and more. Barnes headed the process engineering department for two specialty lube refineries in Germany, and has technology, permitting, operations, and project development and execution experience establishing new products in existing refineries in Asia and the US, to building new brown field plants in Germany and Asia, handling internal and external technologies and patents. Barnes worked for Ørsted’s Green Waste Solution team, with roles of Project Director for the Malaysian Renescience waste recycling technology pipeline and the upgrade of the first commercial scale Renescience plant in the UK and heading the EPC department within Green Waste Solutions. He was most recently part of New Power Partners’ green transition effort where he directed the development of green transition projects including project development and maturation, managing technical due diligence processes for renewable and advanced fuel projects on behalf of large institutional investors. Barnes holds a BS in Environmental Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Hamburg.

Joanna Basilio

Director and Commercial Officer
Joanna Basilio joined Aquamarine Investment Partners in 2019 to manage internal operations and worked across teams to implement various internal systems for project management before pivoting to a commercial role. Basilio liaised with transactional teams and outside advisors to negotiate favorable terms for successful financing and led efforts to source and apply for global grant and federal loan programs. Prior to that, Basilio had over a decade of experience in training and operations at Inditex, the world’s largest retailer. There, she managed a tri-state region for three Inditex brands, supervised the deployment of RFID technology across US locations, oversaw about 100 direct reports, and managed teams for fifteen branch openings. She holds a BA double major in History and Political Science from CUNY-Hunter College.

Betsy Dahl

Chief Corporate Officer
Elizabeth Dahl worked at Aquamarine Investment Partners from 2014 to 2021 with First Ammonia CEO Joel Moser. She worked on developing large scale chemical and energy projects including a $5bn clean methanol facility in the U.S. Gulf Coast. At Aquamarine, she led and established all corporate infrastructure including fund management, banking, and compliance upon Aquamarine’s seed investment of $250 million. She managed Aquamarine’s transactional team through diligence of various energy and infrastructure investments including a $167 million social infrastructure project with contingent approval of a federal loan program and managed execution of Aquamarine’s maiden investment in the U.S. Dahl is a member of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy Women in Energy Program and holds a BA in Economics and Business from New York University.

Ann-Kathrin Merz

Industry and Strategy Lead
Ann-Kathrin Merz brings a deep understanding on the future of the hydrogen economy from research experience at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and on the ICEF Low-Carbon Ammonia Roadmap for the Japanese government. She also worked on climate policy and hydrogen at the European Parliament and the Boston Consulting Group. Merz studied energy politics while completing her BS in International Politics at Georgetown University. She further studied the political, technical, and financial dimensions of the energy transition through a Master’s in Public Administration from Columbia University.

Fariaz Rabbani

Operations Manager
Fariaz Rabbani joined First Ammonia in 2022. He coordinates and anticipates company needs to effectively support the growth of the global team. His previous background and experience are in sales and client-facing roles, which is crucial to managing external relationships to maximize efficiency of the team. He is passionate about the company’s mission and is also a trained actor. He has a BS in Psychology with a concentration in counseling, from CUNY Queens College.

Lee Raymond

Global Head of Project Development

Lee Raymond has over 20 years of project management experience. He has spent the last 15 years planning and managing project development of methanol and ammonia facilities, including identifying sites, defining project scope, risk assessment and mitigation plans, and coordinating with authorities for various environmental studies and other permitting requirements. From 2013 to 2020, Raymond led project development on a Topsoe joint venture in the US. Raymond holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Biomedical Sciences from Anglia Ruskin University.

Chris Rogers

Associate Director of Finance
Chris Rogers has over a decade of research & analytics experience in the areas of neuro-/behavioral economics, capital markets, commodities, corporate investment banking and institutional portfolio management. He has worked in and led teams at leading financial companies such as Fisher Investments, BNY Mellon and BNP Paribas. Chris graduated from the University of Oregon with Honors in Economics and as a Centurion Award recipient – the highest academic recognition at the university.

Ralf Schaaf

Chief Technology Officer
Ralf Schaaf has 40 years of experience in engineering, permitting and developing chemical projects around the world. He started his career with the German Federal Environmental Protection Agency in Air Pollution Control and Industrial Safety, developing legal standards, as well as evaluating and assessing environmental technologies. He was the Head of the Environmental Technology Department at Kinetics Technology International and became Managing Director for Mannesmann KTI GmbH (acquired by Technip), a company specializing in gas-fired boilers and furnaces for the hydrocarbon processing and chemical industry.

Shay Soltani

General Counsel

Shay Soltani has over a decade of experience providing transactional, regulatory and compliance advice to companies in various stages of their life cycle. Prior to joining First Ammonia, Soltani was Senior Counsel in the private investments division of Two Sigma, where she counseled private equity and venture funds in an expansive legal and compliance role that encapsulated negotiating investment documents, integrating portfolio companies, and coordinating Two Sigma’s response to local, federal and international regulatory bodies. Prior to Two Sigma, she spent seven years working in the Corporate & Finance group at Arnold & Porter LLP, where she represented private equity and strategic clients in a wide breadth of transactions, including strategic investments, joint ventures, and M&A. While at Arnold & Porter, Soltani served on the recruiting committee and was elected by her fellow associates to represent them on the firm’s management committee. Soltani holds a BA in History and Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia and a JD from Fordham University School of Law.

Bob Yingling

Chief Financial Officer
Robert “Bob” Yingling is the Chief Financial Officer of First Ammonia. In his role, he oversees the accounting, tax, compliance reporting, and risk management functions of the Finance Department. Yingling started his career as the Audit and Business Advisory Manager at Arthur Andersen, a global public accounting firm where he led audits of publicly traded and private companies in industries including retail and distribution, manufacturing and utilities. Since leaving Arthur Andersen, he has been CFO of public and private companies where he led and prepared firms for initial public offerings, as well as M&A of companies. Yingling has also raised corporate debt, managed project finance, led investor relations, and has implemented and created financial organizational systems for companies at critical inflection points. He also served as a director and audit committee and special committee chairman for publicly traded companies. In these roles, he worked with legal, financial and accounting advisors on strategic initiatives and regulatory reporting matters. Yingling has an MBA degree from Columbia Business School and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Lehigh University. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the New York State Society of CFAs. Yingling is a Trustee and Treasurer of the Harding Land Trust, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the farmland, woodlands and natural areas of Harding Township, New Jersey.

Leon de Graaf

Board Member
Leon De Graaf heads the Energy and Climate practice since November 2020 at #SustainablePublicAffairs, a Brussels-based public affairs agency that helps sustainable frontrunners to advocate for more ambitious EU environment and climate policy to make sure their practices become the market norm. In that capacity, he focuses on heavy industry and power decarbonization, most recently on the EU’s 2040 climate target, the reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and Carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM), critical raw materials act (CRMA), net zero industry act (NZIA), and many EU policies related to boosting the market for renewable hydrogen and ammonia. Before joining #SustainablePublicAffairs, Leon worked at the association BusinessEurope for 5 years, where he was responsible for getting the entire European industry behind the ambition of climate neutrality in early 2019. He was also the main coordinator on circular economy and led BusinessEurope’s annual delegations to the international climate negotiations (COP22-25).

Robert Eckels

Board Member

Robert Eckels has the professional and legal experience of bringing large projects to completion on budget and on schedule. He is a practicing attorney and counsel to the national law firm of Husch Blackwell, LLP. Having served on the boards of publicly traded and private companies as well as governmental agencies, Robert Eckels is well-versed in corporate governance, stakeholder, and shareholder issues. Robert’s professional career is built on a foundation of public service, He served six terms in the Texas state legislature before being elected County Judge of Harris County (Houston) and served on advisory committees to President George W. Bush and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As county judge, Robert Eckels earned a reputation as a national leader in issues of transportation, public finance/public private partnerships (P3), crisis management, disaster preparation, response and recovery, homeland security, and the environment.

Sofie Ja'afar

Board Member

Sofie Ja’afar is the Chief Financial Officer of the BellAziz Group. She oversees and manages portfolio investments across energy, infrastructure, and telecoms. From 2014-2022, she held the same role at Aquamarine Investment Partners as anchor investor focused on US energy transition investments managed by CEO Joel Moser. Prior to joining BellAziz, Ms. Jaafar oversaw various business finance operations at Brunei Shell Petroleum related to drilling, wire-line services and offshore production operation including capital deployment, project implementation and management and oversight on audit and controls. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from the University of Huddersfield.

Hunter Johnston

Board Member

Hunter Johnston has a leading practice focused on renewable energy and decarbonization policy as well as carbon capture and sequestration policy. Hunter’s legal experience over a 35-year career includes representation of clients on matters involving legislative, regulatory, and transactional practice areas with a particular focus in public policy and project finance regarding energy, tax, and decarbonization practice areas. His deep experience working with Congress, the Department of Energy, the Department of Treasury, and other agencies provides expertise to guide his clients through a wide range of regulatory and legislative matters. Hunter also retains substantive experience representing clients in his native state of Louisiana, and he has a broad knowledge of Gulf Coast business and politics. He is focused on opportunities for the transition to a blue and green economy through policies to support decarbonization.

Caroline Mbabazi

Board Member
Caroline Mbabazi, a co-founder and managing partner at Dictum, a pan-African consultancy, specializes in advising governments, multinationals, and private sector institutions across Africa on economic development, effective communication, growth strategies, and investment decisions. Trained as a lawyer and communications expert, she has extensive experience having worked in over 20 countries. Caroline has led teams in developing national brand and communication strategies, crafting growth and market entry plans for private businesses, and contributing to impactful social sector initiatives. She actively oversees projects at the intersection of government, private entities, and social initiatives. As an advisor to various startup endeavors and a board member of several groups, she keenly focuses on the convergence of media design, technology, expanding democratic freedoms, and entrepreneurialism. Currently serving as the partnerships lead and country representative for the Attorney General Alliance and Pfizer’s Africa justice program, Caroline also plays a role in the NBA’s Africa league (BAL), delivering player trainings and community engagement programs. Additionally, she serves on the board of the Nile Project and acts as an advisor to the Leo Africa Institute. A University of Oxford Said Business School Fellow with a law degree from Makerere University, Caroline has designed and published brand and communications handbooks. Her passion for Africa’s prosperity drives her belief in the vital role of managing the continent’s image and relationships for its transformation.