Aura Cuellar

President - LanzaTech
From environmental engineer to executive business leader, Aura Cuellar is determined to carve a path to profitable carbon solutions. As LanzaTech’s President, Aura is responsible for all revenue-generating business lines through scaling technology and bringing to life LanzaTech’s mission to recycle carbon with biology. She has extensive experience in capital project development, manufacturing and global business strategy along with managing key investor relationships. Her time living and working in Europe, Africa, Asia and North and South America has shaped her inclusive world view and deep appreciation for regional approaches to address climate change and deliver growth.

Prior to joining LanzaTech, Aura served as Vice President of Energy Transition for Shell in the United States. In her 25-year tenure at Shell, she advanced across various global senior executive roles including Head of Projects and Turnarounds in The Netherlands where she oversaw an annual capital projects portfolio of $500 million. Aura’s leadership was forged in manufacturing assets, including P&L responsibility and strategic commercial partnership development for sustainable revenue pipelines. Aura is passionate about cultural transformation with a focus on innovation and social equity. She excels in building integrated, robust teams in which individuals are empowered to deliver impactful commercial results.

Aura also serves as Honorary Consul to the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Houston, a role in which she contributes to addressing the shared challenges of climate adaptation and resilience, health and vitality, sustainable mobility and the energy transition. Originally from Colombia, Aura holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental and civil engineering from Seattle University, an MBA from Western Washington University, an Executive General  Management degree from INSEAD and completed Harvard’s Women on Boards Program. Aura currently lives in Houston with her husband and two young boys. In addition to enjoying reading, traveling and long-distance running, Aura is committed to supporting young Latinas and women in the energy industry and beyond.