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

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

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