Meet the winner of the 2025 David Perlman Award

Congratulations to our 2025 David Perlman Awardee! Initiated in 2015, the David Perlman Award recognizes individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the area of Industrial Fermentation, Process Development and/or Manufacturing.

The David Perlman Award Lecture will be given on Sunday, November 9 at the RAFT® 16 meeting. Steve’s talk will begin at 5:00pm.

Steve Lewis
POET, LLC

About Steve Lewis

An accomplished technology innovator and leader at POET LLC, the world’s largest fuel ethanol company which also produces nutrient-dense value added animal feeds, renewable diesel feedstock, asphalt rejuvenator, and other bioproducts. Total of 44 years of experience in the field of industrial biotechnology working in multiple business and technical functions including R&D, Quality Assurance, Production, Marketing, Sales, Technical Service, and Operations. An out-of-the-box thinker who creatively integrates disparate concepts and new ideas in biology and engineering with transformative commercial benefits. During his POET tenure, the business has grown by 30-fold while building a diversified value-added product portfolio in a new biorefinery model. Other key skills include leading high-performance cross-functional teams; building learning organizations based on advocacy and inquiry; operational excellence; data visualization; and intellectual property protection through patenting. Inducted into The National Academy of Engineering, Section 2, October 2023. Many years of continuing service to my profession and the community in various capacities.