FutureMetrics is the leading consultancy in the wood pellet sector

FutureMetrics provides information, market analysis, operations guidance, and strategic advice to many of the world’s leading companies in the wood pellet sector.

Intelligent Analysis, Operations Guidance, and
Strategic Leadership for the Pellet Sector

About Us

Download a more detailed summary of FutureMetrics including a listing of recent clients.

William Strauss, MBA, PhD

President and Founder

William Strauss is the President and founder of FutureMetrics, LLC www.FutureMetrics.com . Bill is globally recognized as a leading expert in the wood pellet sector. Bill continues to be a thought leader in the sector and has published numerous papers on a variety of subjects relevant to the wood pellet sector. He is also a co-founder and a Director of Maine Energy Systems www.MaineEnergySystems.com , the largest manufacturer of European style automatic pellet fueled central heating systems in North America. Bill has been named as one of the most influential leaders in the biomass sector in 2016 and again in 2017 by Argus Media, and is the 2012 recipient of the International Excellence in Bioenergy award. He has more than forty years of strategic and policy planning, project management, data analysis, operations, and modeling experience in the renewable energy sector including 10 years operating large waste-to-energy plants in the 1980s. He has an MBA (specializing in finance) and a PhD (economics, earth systems science).

Dr. Strauss has a book on our economic system. Get it HERE.

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John Swaan

Operations and Project Development Expert

John, often called “the grandfather of North American wood pellets,” is widely recognized as one of the leading experts in the wood pellet sector. John’s experience, wisdom, and history in pellet manufacturing is legendary. In 1994, John founded Pacific BioEnergy Corporation located in Prince George, British Columbia, where he successfully established one of Canada’s leading wood pellet exporters. In 1996, John was instrumental in establishing the Wood Pellet Association of Canada and served as its executive director from 2005-2009. He manufactured and shipped the first ever transatlantic shipment of pellets from North America (to Sweden) in 1997. John brings a broad range of wisdom and skills key to the sector from forest management, to pellet manufacturing, to logistics optimization, to negotiating shipping contracts. John is the recipient of the 2014 Founders Award at the International Biomass Conference. John was honored with the “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 2023 Argus Biomass conference in London.

Laurenz Schmidt, MBA

Chief Technologist

Laurenz was the Chief of Global Operations and the Chief Technology Officer for Fairchild Semiconductor before his planned retirement in 2008. Laurenz has broad and deep knowledge in the renewable energy sector and provides our team with business sensitive and rigorous material and energy balance analytical skills that complement his chemical engineering background. Laurenz has extensive global contacts in the renewable energy sector. Laurenz holds a Diploma Degree Dipl.-Ing (FH) from the Technische Universität Mannheim in Chemical Engineering and an MBA in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix.

Hannah Campbell

Logistics Specialist

Hannah brings the skills and experience for providing project-specific detailed analysis of logistics strategies and costs. Hannah adds to our ability for providing due diligence studies for existing and proposed industrial wood pellet projects, feasibility analyses for project developers, and CIF costing analysis for pellet buyers and intermediaries. She is a 2012 graduate of the US Air Force Academy. After gradation she served in the Air Force as a Logistics Readiness Officer on several teams focused on maintenance support, logistics readiness, and mission support. While serving, she received several commendations for superior and highly effective work. While she was the Officer in Charge of Compliance for the 48th Logistics Readiness Squadron in the UK, the team she led was awarded “Superior Performer Team” in the Unit Effectiveness Inspection in 2014. Her Bachelor of Science degree from the Air Force Academy was built around an engineering core curriculum. Her major was in political science and foreign studies with a focus on Asia. Hannah has a minor in Chinese language.

Yoshinobo Kusano, Bachelor of Law (LLB)

Asian Policy Advisor

Mr. Yoshinobu “Yoshi” Kusano is an advisor to FutureMetrics about the Asian wood pellet markets with a focus on South Korea and Japan. Yoshi has extensive experience in the wood pellet sector. He is currently the Executive Advisor and the head of the Fuel Procurement Group for Biomass Energy at Renova, a Japanese developer and operator of renewable power projects. Prior to Renova, Yoshi spent several decades with Sumitomo Corporation leading their woodchip and wood pellet group. He was named one of the most influential leaders in the biomass Industry by Argus Media in 2016. He received a Bachelor of Laws (international law and legal study) from Waseda University.