Dr. BJ Johnson is CEO and co-founder of ClearFlame Engine Technologies, a growing startup dedicated to developing clean engine technology for heavy-duty truck, off-highway, and industrial applications.

Together with co-founder Dr. Julie Blumreiter, BJ founded ClearFlame to develop solutions that increase the performance of and reduce emissions from internal combustion engines using decarbonized fuel, such as ethanol. BJ was lead inventor on a patent filed by Stanford University for this work, which forms the center of ClearFlame’s intellectual property.

BJ’s passion and leadership for this work have secured investors and strategic partners, including multiple industry manufacturers, agencies like the Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, and world-class accelerators like StartX, I-Corps, Ameren Accelerator, and WERCBench Labs.

In 2021, BJ was named to the Grist 50—an annual list of emerging leaders from across the US working on fresh, real-world solutions to our world’s biggest challenges. BJ earned his BS, MS, and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from Stanford University.