“At Mars, we work really hard. I think everyone is willing to put in the hard work because we all embody those same shared values and have absolute respect for each other. To me that’s success. ”
This issue features Aaron Fitzgerald and Kristian Gubsch, Co-Founders of Mars Materials .
Aaron Fitzgerald is a carbon removal entrepreneur. He uses his experience as a three-time founder, Prime Coalition Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) and former Carbon180 EIR–along with other experiences ranging from politics to product management–to chip away at his ambitious gigaton-scale carbon removal goals. Outside of his efforts to combat climate change, you can find Aaron practicing martial arts, exploring Lake Tahoe or advising women, minority and LGBTIQ+ self-starters.
Kristian Gubsch is an Ernest F. Hollings Scholar, Barry Goldwater Scholar, and Marshall Scholar. He has a BS in chemical engineering from Washington State University and MSc in Energy and Environmental Engineering from the University of Sheffield. He became interested in CO2 utilization following a summer research experience in 2018 where he designed experiments to optimize the yield of formic acid from a reaction that utilized captured CO2. While attending university, he also completed four other research projects all related to climate change. Outside of his passion for getting carbon out of the air, you can find Kristian training for a half Ironman, traveling, reading a wide variety of books, and spending as much time as he can outdoors.

How did you get started in the CCU space?
AF: I think a lot of it really has to do with my upbringing. I’m from Western Pennsylvania, where steel mills were shutting down and people were suffering economically because of it. And I remember thinking, “We need manufacturing back. I would love to bring my town back to normal by bringing back manufacturing jobs.” As I’ve gotten older and learned more about manufacturing and materials, I realized there’s greater opportunity in new materials. And carbon fiber called to me as a solution.
Also, as a child, I moved around a lot; I had a very fragmented grade school education. We changed schools so frequently, my sisters and I had to teach ourselves most of the time. We had to learn on the fly and solve our own problems, rather than be held back by them. Those skills are really important to someone who undertakes an entrepreneurial journey.
I went to Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. On my first spring break, I went on a service trip to help rebuild people’s homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. And, it was during that time that I began to really understand the magnitude of the climate crisis.
Until that point, I hadn’t witnessed firsthand what it meant. I knew about the destruction to New Orleans and how it impacted black people especially. Having grown up poor and sometimes homeless, sustainability to me meant, “having what you have, and never over consuming, because you don’t have the ability or resources to do that.”

When I went on this rebuild trip, sustainability became more than that to me. The people who were impacted the most were folks who didn’t have much. That really left a mark on me. And, I decided to do what I could to be a better steward of the environment.