SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Cement decarbonization pioneer Fortera named Kas Farsad its Chief Strategy Officer (CSO), a key corporate and business development executive for the company. As Chief Strategy Officer, Farsad will continue to lead a multidisciplinary team focused on forging commercial partnerships with cement and building industry leaders, overseeing Fortera’s policy and legislative efforts, as well as maximizing Fortera’s carbon impact strategy.

“In our acceleration to commercial-scale low carbon cement production, Kas has been instrumental in aligning industry pain points with science-based solutions,” said Ryan Gilliam, co-founder and CEO of Fortera, a materials technology company headquartered in Silicon Valley. “To drive adoption of a new technology, we had to be just as creative on the business side as we were with research and development. Kas blends his science and business acumen with a relentless focus on commercializing a scalable technology founded on strong business fundamentals.”

Farsad was the lead inventor of Fortera’s novel cement chemistry over a decade ago while working as a technical contributor. Since then, Farsad has built a career around innovating within the commercial and industrial sector, bridging the gap between new technologies and go-to-market strategies.

“Fortera is not just a new cement, we are a carbon mineralization company that is teaming up with the cement industry to solve for CO2,” said Kas Farsad, CSO of Fortera. “By adapting our technology with the tried and true capabilities of the industry we are working in, we are able to partner with the industry to maximize our CO2 impact together. For me it’s about building bridges with practical, market-ready solutions, while tunneling through barriers with mutually incentivized collaboration.”

Farsad has an extensive technical background with almost 50 patents globally, and over 20 patents before the age of 25. He is a serial inventor and entrepreneur operating across multiple industrial verticals including cement, desalination, distillation, energy storage, and nutrition. Farsad has spent just as much time on the business side with 100+ negotiated transactions, closed over $200M in debt instruments, and has built multiple companies from the ground up.

Farsad has a B.S.E in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Michigan Ann Arbor, a M.S. in Materials Science from San Jose State University, an MBA from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, and an executive education from Stanford and Yale.