Ben Kinnaman, CEO and founder of Greensea IQ, an ocean robotics company, was our guest speaker on May 16. He shared with us his life story to date, which includes the meaningful support he received from a Rotary Club in his town when as a young man he and his mom wondered how he could ever afford to pay for college. A scholarship from that group helped him get on a path to finding a way to make it work.
Today Ben, a serial entrepreneur, heads a leading ocean technology company based in Richmond with a mission to make the world better. They have created software and hardware that has revolutionized the detection and removal of sea mines, dangerous explosive devices that have been deployed in the many thousands in waters around the globe, often harming innocents. Their innovation has also tackled the problem of vessel biofouling, when organic matter builds up on the hulls of ships creating greater drag as they move through the water rendering them less efficient. Ships that deploy their hull cleaning robots have reduced fossil fuel usage by 15%. The company estimates that this year the technology will have prevented 150 metric tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere.
It's inspiring to learn of the groundbreaking work being done here within our own community that has such a positive global impact.
Link to the Rotary YouTube video with Ben Kinnaman: https://youtu.be/pMdfLNxZxzw