If Madison-based Virent‘s biofuels are going to fill the tanks of cars and airplanes, it will be up to Stacey Orlandi to drive the company there.

Orlandi, 45, took over as chief executive of Virent, 3571 Anderson St., in April, succeeding Lee Edwards, a former CEO of BP Solar, who retired after leading Virent for the past eight years.

“It’s an exciting time to join a company that’s got a long history, and to take it to the next step of commercializing the technology,” Orlandi said.