Our Story
Though Blue Carbon Materials is a new company, the idea behind it has been years in the making.
When our founder moved to Puerto Rico in 2022, he quickly fell in love with the island's natural beauty, vibrant culture, and rich coastal ecosystems. What he didn't love was the overwhelming presence of rotting sargassum, a growing environmental problem that fouled the beaches, disrupted marine ecosystems, and filled the air with an unpleasant odor while he fished along the island's eastern coast and throughout his neighborhood during the summer months.
Inspired by this increasingly urgent challenge, he leveraged his background in sustainable materials processing to found Blue Carbon Materials. Drawing on his experience developing environmentally focused processing technologies, he set out to transform an ecological nuisance into valuable, sustainable products that create both environmental and economic impact.
While addressing the sargassum crisis, Blue Carbon Materials is also committed to strengthening local communities by creating jobs, improving agricultural productivity, developing sustainable building materials, and helping restore these vital coastal ecosystems to their natural beauty.
Our Mission
To create sustainable solutions that transform environmental challenges into economic opportunities for coastal communities, while generating clean energy and restoring ecosystems.
Our Vision
A world where coastal waste becomes a valued resource, driving renewable energy, regenerative agriculture, and thriving ecosystems—all while empowering local communities to lead their own transformation.
Our Values
Science-Driven
Every solution is grounded in peer-reviewed research and rigorous environmental data.
Community-Centered
We partner with and empower coastal communities to lead their own sustainability journey.
Climate Committed
Our work directly contributes to carbon sequestration, emission reduction, and ecosystem restoration.
Transparent
We openly share our impact metrics, challenges, and successes with all stakeholders.
Scalable
Every model we develop is designed to replicate across regions and adapt to local contexts.
Innovative
We continuously explore new technologies and partnerships to maximize impact and efficiency.
Our Team
Experts dedicated to ocean and climate solutions
Mark Mathis
Founder & CEO
Mark Mathis is the Founder & CEO of Blue Carbon Materials, where he leads strategic vision, operational execution, and commercialization efforts. With a long history in entrepreneurship and industrial operations, Mark has designed, built, and operated multiple multi-million-dollar materials processing facilities throughout the Rocky Mountain region. His experience in manufacturing, systems development, and operations management led him to the sargassum issue impacting Puerto Rico and the broader Caribbean.
Luke Mathis
Founding Executive & Strategy Director
Luke Mathis is the Co-Founder of Blue Carbon Materials and a recent graduate of the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. Since BCM's early development stages, Luke has worked closely with leadership on financial planning, operational organization, and growth strategy. His primary focus includes supporting financing initiatives, scalable business development, and investor-facing materials, while also overseeing BCM's social media presence and public brand positioning.
Julianne Collazo
Director of Communications
A board member of the largest airport development project in the Caribbean, Julianne Collazo is a multilingual entrepreneur and business leader fluent in English, Spanish, and Italian, with over two decades of experience turning connections into results across Latin America and the Caribbean. As founder and president of Commercial Banking Group and Midwest Holdings Investment for 19 years, Julianne built deep expertise in financial management, institutional negotiations, and strategic partnerships.
Rosalind Humphreys Pérez
Permit Compliance Lead
Rosalind Humphreys Pérez serves as Permit Compliance Lead, ensuring all permitting requirements are met and maintained across coastal environmental operations. She brings decades of experience in program management and operations, including startup environments where she built and managed systems from the ground up. She oversees adherence to permit conditions throughout project execution, proactively identifying risk and ensuring operations remain within regulatory limits.
John "Cade" Johnson
Chemist
John "Cade" Johnson holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech (1983) with a certificate in biochemistry. He worked in the field of environmental engineering consulting until retirement — which was official some years ago, but seems to be a difficult profession to quit. During his years of gainful employment, he focused on industrial environmental issues — wastewater treatment, air emission controls and permitting, hazardous and toxic waste management, and contaminated site remediation. He managed projects with expenditures in the millions of dollars and directed engineering teams of dozens. He served as a corporate vice president and managed a consulting office of 40 employees. In recent years, he has shifted focus to climate change mitigation efforts. His interests are in carbon dioxide removal, climate justice, and sustainability improvements. He has gained extensive experience training youth in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).