Our Team

Andre Zeitoun is the Founder and CEO of Ionic Mineral Technologies, a U.S.-based innovation leader in advanced, next generation battery materials. Andre is highly regarded for his leadership in the commercialization of halloysite clay nanotubes. Andre has dedicated over a decade of his career to this unique mineral and established himself as a pioneer in the commercialization of Halloysite for specialty applications. A seasoned leader formerly working on Wall St. and as an executive of a public company, Andre is well positioned to grow his company and accelerate the path to an electrified future.

Dr. Shane Porzio is Chief Operating Officer of Ionic Mineral Technologies, leveraging 30+ years of leadership in operations, R&D, commercial strategy and execution, and executive management. He previously served as CEO of Profile Products LLC, Global SVP at Vantage Specialty Chemicals, and spent over two decades at BASF in senior executive roles, including leading the global Kaolin Minerals business. Shane is an authentic, inspirational and seasoned leader, tenacious in the face of adversity, but adaptive, bold and entrepreneurial.

He holds a Ph.D. in Polymer Science (University of Akron), an MBA (Wake Forest University), and a B.A. in Chemistry and Anthropology (Beloit College). He is fluent in five languages and brings a deep commitment to innovation, customer and operational excellence, and the triple bottom line. 

Betty Lankry brings extensive international experience in events, marketing, media, and business development to Ionic Mineral Technologies. For decades, Betty has led events and supported media productions across Europe, North America (primarily NYC, Miami and LA), as well as South America. Betty co-founded Prisma Artists, a global booking agency, and has worked for brands including MTV, Royal Elastics, Prospect Park production company. Betty studied the Business of Entertainment at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

Rajan Patel serves as Head of Engineering, leading process and product development at Ionic MT, directing the scale-up of the company’s vertically integrated critical minerals platform. He oversees the commercialization of rare earth extraction, high-purity alumina, nano-silicon, and advanced battery materials. Previously, as a core member of Group14 Technologies and a researcher for Fortune 500 partners at PNNL, Patel scaled silicon-carbon manufacturing from gram-scale R&D to commercial production. He led the development of multiple product variations and established robust manufacturing blueprints. A Ph.D. chemical engineer with technology acquired by Forge Nano, 25+ peer-reviewed articles and over 19 patents, he is currently operationalizing the nation's unique fully domestic, mine-to-market supply chain.

Maxwell Drexler is an experienced metallurgist and mining industry professional with a strong background in extractive metallurgy, mineral processing, and geology. He has worked across multiple commodities—including copper, uranium, vanadium, gold, and construction aggregates—and most recently served as a Shift Metallurgist at Rio Tinto Kennecott, where he focused on smelter operations, process modeling, and plant optimization. Max holds a B.S. in Geology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an M.S. in Extractive Metallurgy from the University of Arizona. As Ionic MT’s new Senior Process Engineer, he will lead front-of-plant process development and optimization to support the safe, scalable, and high-quality production of advanced materials.

Preston Colledge is the Director of Mining Operations at Ionic Mineral Technologies. Preston holds an extensive background in excavation, geology, and scaling-up mining operations. Previously, Preston was a Researcher at Utah Valley State University where he developed various research proposals including one for using magnetic anomalies in Earth’s total magnetic field to locate placer gold deposits. Preston received his Bachelor of Science degree in Geology and Earth Science from Utah Valley University.