​Richard Hammen, Ph.D., Founder and Chairman of the Board

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Richard Hammen is originally from Missoula, Montana. He graduated from Stanford University, and attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin where he studied under one of the leaders in modern organic synthesis. He did postdoctoral research at UCLA, and worked at the Molecular Biology Institute at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute where he witnessed the growth and development of the bio-tech industry. After directing the chemistry laboratory at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, he joined a bio-tech company out of Pasadena, California with roots at CalTech. A pioneer in Solid Phase Extraction technology, Dr. Hammen developed innovative new technologies in recombinant protein production and purification.  

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John Hammen, President, Director

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In addition to being President and Board Member of IntelliMet, John Hammen is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Metals U.S. John was born in 1978 in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. He moved with his family to Montana in 1986, and worked on early generations of SPE technology for grade school and high school science fair projects, for which he won a number of recognitions, including winner of the National Science and Humanities Symposium in 1997. He attended college at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts where he majored in Chemistry, participated in NCAA Cross Country and Track, and earned his B.A. with Honors in 2001. During his time in college, he continued to advise ChelaTech, a forerunner of IntelliMet.
 

From 2001-2002 worked full time on the early grants that led to the development of the Spiderweb Matrix that is the foundation of IntelliMet’s current SPE technology. During his graduate work at Stanford University under Prof. Barry Trost from 2002-2009, John studied the use of various metals, including rare earth elements, in developing asymmetric catalysts for organic synthesis, and continued to be a part time advisor to ChelaTech. He joined IntelliMet full time in 2009 in the position of Chief Operations Officer. During his time as COO for IntelliMet, and in earlier work, John has managed over 30 hydrometallurgical development projects spanning rare earths, precious metals, and base metals. He has been a major contributor in the development of the core Spiderweb material technology, as well as designed hundreds of particular chelating materials used in IntelliMet’s separation processes. In addition to his work at IntelliMet, he continues to have a collaboration with the Trost Group as a Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, employing metal catalysts
immobilized on the Spiderweb material for organic reactions.

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​Chris Hammen, Vice President of Process Development, Director

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Chris Hammen holds a B.Sc. in Materials Science Engineering from Stanford University. He began working with Solid Phase Extraction technology in 1998 with a science fair project that examined the rapid capture and measurement of copper in rivers and stream-beds around Montana. One of his high school projects led to his selection by the U.S. National Science Foundation as a science exchange delegate to South Korea. Chris joined IntelliMet full-time in 2011, having worked intermittently with SPE technology in applications ranging from metal purification to structural composite materials and membranes for fuel cells. Between his college graduation and working for IntelliMet, Chris spent three years in Ontario, Canada leading two Catholic missionary teams engaged in urban youth evangelization. Chris is also the Chief Operations Officer and a Director at Metals U.S. 

 

Robert L. Delaney, Director

Robert L. Delaney and his brother, Donald L. Delaney have been involved in mining and timber products businesses for over fifty years and has owned controlling positions in a number of mineral and rock claims in Montana and Idaho. The Delaney Brothers have over 45 years’ experience in running a mill that processed graphite ore and tungsten, and later operated a gold mine and mill, in addition to holding significant copper claims. They are also familiar with opportunities for micro-mining and processing mine tailings, including potential sites with rare earth elements as well as precious metals. In addition to their mining expertise, the Delaneys owned and operated five timber mills in the Northwest, USA. They also acquired and developed the second largest wholesale lumber company in the United States. The Delaneys were past Directors of the Timbers Products Manufacturing Association. The Delaney family was initially involved in the startup of the Southgate Mall development in Missoula, Montana. Robert served on the development board of small forest products manufacturers spearheaded by Dr. Ben Huey of the Bureau of Land Management to work to facilitate issues related to the industry. He also was the Director of a Multi-state SBIC. The Delaneys were involved in a Joint Venture with Georgia Pacific (GP) in the development of timber lands in the Western U.S. Robert continues to be active in the mining industry and continues to pursue opportunities in the spirit that he and his brother Donald (recently deceased) did. 

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