Our Team
Our Cleaner Planet is a collection of engineers, industry, and business leaders brought together by our passion for the ocean, our drive to solve problems, and our desire for a cleaner planet. We are a team devoted to developing and implementing innovative solutions to address the world's environmental crises and help restore our planet for future generations.
Pat Marshall
President
Pat Marshall founded Our Cleaner Planet in 2018. Pat is an accomplished aerospace engineer and executive with many years of research and development experience in the aerospace sector. Ironically, the idea for Our Cleaner Planet and the innovative approach to removing and harvesting plastic from the oceans came during his commute through the desert.
Even though Our Cleaner Planet was formed in 2018, Pat has been developing the patent-pending design and proprietary technology for the last eight years in his spare time.
Along the way he has built up a small team of engineers, aerospace professionals, and like-minded industry veterans all with a passion for the environment and a love for solving problems.
This team has decades of experience bringing complex ideas, products, and projects to market and they are busy finalizing the design, testing the prototypes, and implementing the development schedule
Our Board Members
Steven Avila
Vice-President
Most recently, Steve served as General Counsel to Bigelow Space Operations’ (BSO) where he was responsible for overseeing and managing BSO’s legal, regulatory and compliance matters affecting the company in the nascent commercial space sector of private space habit solutions.
Before joining BSO, Steve served as the primary legal advisor for Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company ’s operations and customer service enterprise. As Senior Legal Counsel and Corporate Secretary, he was responsible for all legal affairs, including Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulatory matters for the aerospace production company tasked to build the world’s first fleet of commercial spaceships in support of Virgin Galactic – Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism company.
Adam King
Director
Adam King has advised Branson, Bigelow, and now the director of Our Cleaner Planet. He currently leads a multi-discipline team of business executives, aerospace professionals, defense specialists, and real estate developers at Longship International. Adam is an international business and government relations executive with years of experience advising on some of the most demanding and complex foreign operations in the business world. Standing at the forefront of business development and regulatory lobbying in the emerging technology sector.
As Export Compliance Officer at Virgin, he led compliance operations across Virgin Galactic, its manufacturing affiliate The Spaceship Company, and the satellite launch provider Virgin Orbit Achieved the Departments of State approval of a UAE spaceport for Virgin Galactic. At Kongsberg, Mr. King specialized in building multi-discipline, international teams focused on foreign business capture for maritime, oil and gas, military and defense customers, with $200M a year in product exports to customers in the Middle East and Africa, Latin America, and South East Asia.
David Laughlin
Secretary
Dave is a leader in aerospace with a wide range of experience encompassing Test and Evaluation, Flight Safety, Program Management, Production and Business Development.
Dave led the Advanced Development Programs (Skunk Works) Flight Test organization that conducts test and evaluation on both classified and unclassified manned and unmanned air vehicles, including flying test beds; encompassing technologies ranging from hybrid airships to hypersonic aircraft. Implemented Skunk Works policies and procedures to ensure the organization meets with customer and the company expectations and requirements. Standardized UAV pilot qualification and currency requirements. Manage staffing and development of assigned team members. Mentored individuals within the organization to achieve organizational and professional goals. Manage the organization’s budgets and schedules.
Richard Boyer
Treasurer
Richard Boyer is a Certified Public Accountant with over forty seven years of experience in international taxation, management advisory services, banking and various financial services. Mr. Boyer specializes in real estate development, gas and oil accounting, foreign tax planning and compliance, accounting and compliance for non-profit organizations, and general business organization and development. Mr. Boyer is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants and is a director in various civic and humanitarian non-profit organizations. Mr. Boyer is the Managing Member of the Gensley Group Limited LLC, a consultancy group located in Southern California.
Pat is currently assembling the leadership team for the organization. We will continue to update this page as new executives join the team.