Background
Jeff Broin grew up near Kenyon, Minnesota. His first experience with ethanol production came in 1983 when his father, Lowell Broin, built a small distillery on his family’s farm to boost the family’s income.
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Jeff Broin
Edit ProfileEducation
University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Career
He currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
In 1987, they purchased a 1 million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant out of foreclosure in Scotland, South Dakota. Shortly after graduating from the University of Wisconsin–River Falls with a degree in agricultural business, Broin became general manager of the Scotland plant at age 22. He lived there during renovation to save money. In 2007, Jeff Broin became sole owner and changed the company’s name to POET. Today, POET has 27 ethanol plants producing 1.7 billion gallons of ethanol annually.
Jeff Broin serves on several boards of directors and committees including Growth Energy and the ACORE Leadership council.
Broin has led POET in efforts to be one of the first in the world to commercialize cellulosic ethanol (ethanol made from material besides grain or sugar). POET, as part of a joint venture with the Netherlands-based DSM, constructed Project LIBERTY near Emmetsburg, Iowa.
The plant will produce 25 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol per year. A grand opening was held on September 3, 2014.
The company has operated a pilot cellulosic ethanol plant since 2008 at the site of their first grain ethanol plant in Scotland, South Dakota.
