Team – Hertha Metals

OUR TEAM

The team behind the metal.

Hertha Metals’ leadership combines expertise in metallurgy, process engineering, operations, finance and people, drawn from leading industrial and energy companies and early-stage ventures.

HEAT 01

Dr. Laureen Meroueh

Founder & CEO

Dr. Laureen Meroueh is the Founder and CEO of Hertha Metals, an American iron and steel producer that makes high-purity iron and steel from ore in a single step, at lower cost than the blast furnace route. She is also the inventor of Hertha’s proprietary pyrometallurgical process, which underpins the company’s breakthrough approach.

Laureen Meroueh

Founder and CEO

Before founding Hertha Metals, Dr. Meroueh was the CEO of Alchemr, a Hydrogen startup, where she led the development and commercialization of anion exchange membrane water electrolysis. She is widely recognized for her leadership and technical innovation, having received honors such as Forbes 30 Under 30, MIT Energy Initiative Fellow sponsored by ExxonMobil, Breakthrough Energy Innovator Fellow, and World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer. Her work at Hertha Metals is also featured in Bill Gates’ Netflix series “What’s Next?”.

Dr. Meroueh holds a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a graduate minor in Entrepreneurship and Business, and a dual bachelor’s in Civil and Mechanical Engineering. She is the Co-founder of MIT’s Graduate Engineering Leadership program, a program currently sponsored by former Apple executives.

Read the Inc. feature

HEAT 02

The people at the furnace.

Hertha Metals’ leadership team brings together deep expertise across metallurgy, process engineering, operations, finance, and human capital management. The team includes professionals with backgrounds from major industrial, materials, and energy companies, as well as entrepreneurial experience in scaling early-stage ventures.

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Laureen Meroueh

Founder and CEO

Laureen Meroueh

Founder and CEO

Mike Bailey

Chief of Government Relations

Mike Bailey

Chief of Government Relations

Mike Bailey brings decades of leadership and innovation across scientific and engineering-driven industries. An accomplished executive, he has held pivotal roles in aerospace, medical technologies, and advanced manufacturing. At Hertha Metals, Mike drives strategic initiatives that support the company’s mission to rebuild America’s capacity to make iron and steel with cutting-edge technologies like HERS™ and Flex-HERS™, advancing industrial resilience and resource efficiency.

Prior to Hertha Metals, Mike served as CEO of Trajan Scientific and Medical, leading a 400-person global corporation specializing in scientific instruments and medical devices. He also held the role of Director of New Shepard at Blue Origin, overseeing the build, integration, safety, and reliability of the reusable, human-rated New Shepard rocket. Earlier in his career, Mike served as President and Founder of Upchurch Medical, part of the IDEX Corporation, where he drove significant innovation and commercialization growth through products that improved the quality of life.

With eight patents and extensive experience in board and advisory roles, Mike is known for his ability to build high-performing teams and deliver transformative results. A Mechanical Engineering graduate, he combines technical expertise with strategic vision to drive Hertha Metals’ pioneering work in reshaping the steel industry.

Thea Soule

VP of Business Development

Thea Soule

P of Business Development

Thea Soule leads commercialization operations at Hertha Metals, where she drives strategic partnerships, sales, and market expansion initiatives to support the company’s mission to rebuild America’s capacity to make iron and steel. She brings deep expertise in scaling industrial businesses from startup to global enterprises, combining commercial excellence and commodity hedging acumen with entrepreneurial agility to mitigate market risks and optimize revenue generation.

Prior to joining Hertha Metals, Thea served as President of Lithium-Ion Recycling at Ecobat, the world’s largest battery recycler, where she scaled the business unit across multiple continents. As Chief Commercial Officer, she negotiated long-term off-take agreements, implemented margin-focused pricing strategies and commodity hedging practices, and led significant growth in the battery distribution business through strategic acquisitions. Earlier in her career, she led commercial operations at major agricultural companies including Biosev (Louis Dreyfus Company) and Adecoagro, orchestrating successful turnarounds and serving in board advisory roles across the metals and agricultural spaces.

Thea holds an Executive MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Neuroscience from Lafayette College.

Brent Lanyon

VP of Finance

Brent Lanyon

VP of Finance

Brent Lanyon is an accomplished finance executive with over 25 years of experience structuring, financing, and managing large-scale energy and infrastructure projects across the renewable and industrial sectors. Prior to joining Hertha Metals, Brent served as Senior Vice President of Finance at ReMo Energy, where he led all financial functions for a green hydrogen startup, developed project finance models for distributed ammonia plants, and secured federal and USDA-backed funding opportunities.

Before that, Brent spent time as Vice President of Structured Finance at Brightmark, where he closed over $200 million in complex renewable energy financings, including municipal green bonds and sale-leaseback transactions for pioneering waste-to-energy and renewable natural gas projects. Earlier in his career, he served as Director of Finance at LS Power Development, supporting the development and financing of more than 500 MW of solar projects nationwide, and as a finance leader at Calpine Corporation, where he contributed to over $2 billion in project and portfolio financings.

Brent earned his Bachelor of Science in Finance from San José State University. He is known for his deep expertise in project finance, structured transactions, and renewable infrastructure development, as well as his ability to align innovative financing strategies with long-term operational and sustainability goals.

Alec Glenn

VP of Operations

Alec Glenn

VP of Operations

Alec Glenn is responsible for operations at Hertha Metals, supporting the company’s transition from pilot-scale production to full commercial output as Hertha scales its next-generation steelmaking technology.

Alec brings over 25 years of steel industry experience, most recently as Vice President of Reliability at JSW Steel USA, where he led plant reliability strategy and pushed the adoption of new technology across operations. Before that, he spent 16 years at AM/NS Calvert in senior operations and engineering leadership roles, overseeing major capital projects and plant-wide performance improvement. His background also includes engineering and automation at Nucor Steel, and he served our country in the United States Navy.

Alec is people-focused. He believes the team is a company’s number one asset, and he leads by building trust, developing talent, and creating a culture where the team wins together.

Alec holds an MBA from Louisiana State University Shreveport and a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering Technologies from Thomas Edison State University. He is based in Houston.

Salvador Ceballos

Director of Plant Engineering

Salvador Ceballos

Director of Plant Engineering

Salvador Ceballos is a seasoned Chemical Engineer with extensive experience in process design, project engineering, and project management. For over 30 years, Salvador has successfully led teams on Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) projects, consistently delivering within budget and on schedule. As the Director of Plant Engineering at Hertha Metals, Salvador leads the design, buildout, and commissioning of the steel plants that deploy Hertha’s advanced ironmaking technology.

Salvador has worked for top engineering and construction companies throughout his career including Fluor, Bechtel, Foster Wheeler, and Jacobs/Worley. He has contributed to multibillion-dollar projects across North America, South America, Europe, and the Middle East.

Salvador holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Additionally, he earned an MBA from the University of California, Irvine.

Yanna Jones

Director of Human Resources

Yanna Jones

Director of Human Resources

Yanna Jones leads talent and culture at Hertha Metals, where she is focused on building a mission-driven team and scaling people operations to support the company’s next phase of growth. She brings a strong foundation in recruiting and HR leadership across the finance and healthcare sectors, with a sharp instinct for identifying great people and creating environments where they thrive.

Prior to joining Hertha, Yanna founded and led Create The Date, an event planning company known for delivering highly imaginative and personalized experiences. Under her leadership, the team brought together designers, chefs, photographers, and artists to produce work that was both creatively ambitious and deeply meaningful to clients.

Yanna holds a degree in Business with a minor in Psychology. Her background as a founder shapes her people-first leadership style rooted in empathy, culture-building, and the belief that teams do their best work when aligned around purpose, values, and speed. At Hertha, she is helping shape a workplace where innovation, collaboration, and rapid execution go hand in hand.

Eder Trejo

Head of Engineering

Eder Trejo

Head of Engineering

Eder Trejo leads engineering at Hertha Metals, where he is responsible for advancing the company’s technology from pilot to commercial scale. He brings over a decade of steel industry experience, with particular depth in furnace design, thermal systems, and large-scale industrial integration.

Before joining Hertha, Eder held senior technical roles at Ternium Mexico and Nucor Steel Brandenburg. At Ternium, he oversaw major infrastructure and process upgrades across Direct Reduced Iron and Electric Arc Furnace operations. At Nucor, he helped bring a state-of-the-art mill into operation, with a focus on optimizing electric arc furnace performance.

Eder holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering, an MSc in Energy Efficiency, and a PhD in modeling and simulation of electric arc furnaces, all earned in Mexico. He is focused on delivering practical, scalable solutions that push the boundaries of what’s possible in modern iron and steelmaking.

Dan Ryan

Operations Manager

Dan Ryan

Operations Manager

Dan Ryan brings more than 30 years of experience in steel operations, with a career grounded in safety, precision, and execution. At Hertha Metals, he leads plant operations as the company transitions from pilot production to full-scale commercial output.

He has played a key role in launching two advanced Compact Strip Production (CSP) facilities. At Acme Steel, Dan contributed to the commissioning of the industry’s first CSP plant with a seven-stand rolling mill. He later joined Steel Dynamics to help build a next-generation CSP facility incorporating a thick slab caster, dual roughing mills, and a six-stand finishing mill. Before joining Hertha, he served as Hot Mill Manager at ArcelorMittal Riverdale, where he drove major process improvements, strengthened safety culture, and elevated product quality.

Dan’s leadership combines deep technical understanding with a steady, team-first approach. His ability to build strong operating systems and mentor high-performing teams continues to shape Hertha’s foundation for long-term operational excellence.

HEAT 03

Proven in Texas. Scaling for the nation.

Operational

Houston, Texas

Now · Shipping

Pilot facility, 1 t/day

~360 t/yr

~1 t/day, running continuously. Qualification samples and trial heats today.

2027 · Targeted

Hertha Chalyx, Houston, TX

10,000 t/yr

Commercial volumes of high-purity iron, plus demonstration-scale steel. Offtake for 2027 is open now.

2030 · Targeted

Commercial mill

500,000 t/yr

Mill-scale supply of iron and steel.

HEAT 04

Backed by.

Let's build together.

Samples, offtake, partnerships or press.

In the Press