2012 Panelists

Laura Nereng, Program Manager, Customer Inspired Innovation – Clean Tech
3M

Laura Nereng leads a Clean Tech Growth Initiative at 3M.  The Clean Tech Department is an R&D group in 3M’s Industrial & Transportation business and focuses on non-incremental growth opportunities which have the potential to provide high impact for society and provide high growth for 3M.  Duties are to scout, qualify, facilitate, and execute R&D programs and investments that will position 3M to participate in Clean Tech.  Clean Tech scope includes Energy (opportunities which address Energy Generation, Storage, or Efficiency), Water (Desalination or Treatment/Purification), Air Purification, and Renewable Materials.

Laura holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University.  Her 24 years of experience at 3M include assignments in engineering, product development, manufacturing, marketing, sales, strategic planning and business development.

Andre Loesekrug-Pietri, Founder & Managing Partner
A Capital

André Loesekrug-Pietri, 38, founded A Capital, the first Private Equity group focused on Chinese outbound investments, and has fifteen years of private equity, automotive and aerospace industry experience. The most recent transaction by A Capital was China’s largest private conglomerate Fosun strategic investment into Club Méditerranée.

Previously André cofounded CEL Partners in 2007 which is a European growth capital fund dedicated to China focused on Cleantech and healthcare. Until 2005, he managed Burelle Participations (PE fund in France) and developed Jaccar Capital Fund (PE fund for Vietnam and China). Until 1999, André was executive assistant to the CEO of Aerospatiale-Airbus.

Holding both German and French nationalities, he is a graduate of HEC School of Management, International MBA Program of the Michigan Business School (Ann Arbor, USA) and attended Sup’Aéro aerospace engineering school (Toulouse, France).

Former board member of ET Solar Group (solar company in Jiangsu Province), and investor in Prudent Energy (power storage company based in Beijing and Vancouver, which received the Global Cleantech 100 award in October 2010), he is visiting Professor in Finance at Renmin University (Beijing), was appointed French Counselor of Trade by the French Government, and Chairman of the Private Equity and Strategic M&A Working Group of the European Chamber of Commerce in China. In this role, he has launched together with Bain & Company the annual Surveys on the ‘Social and Economic Impact of Private Equity in China’. He writes in Chinese and English-speaking publications on cleantech and outbound investment and is regularly invited to speak at conferences on these topics. In his leisure time, André is a private pilot.

In 2011, the World Economic Forum honored André Loesekrug-Pietri as a Young Global Leader (YGL).

Grant Allen, Vice President

ABB Technology Ventures

Grant Allen is Vice President of ABB Technology Ventures (ATV).

Previously, Allen was a Vice President with Core Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based venture capital firm with $350 million under management. There, he focused on investments in analytics, cleantech, infrastructure, wireless communications and mobile applications. In addition to working closely with Infinite Power Solutions, a thin-film lithium ion battery company, and representing Core on the Boards of Directors of Mobo Systems and Univa, Allen was on the Steering Committee for the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association’s (MAVA) Capital Connection and on the board of MobileMonday DC.

Prior to Core Capital, he was a Product Manager at Microsoft Corporation in the Mobile & Embedded Devices division. Other experience includes working for Liberty Associated Partners, the investment arm of the Berkman family, where was actively involved with Jingle Networks; strategy consulting at Dean & Company; and various start-ups, including an IT consulting firm, A-k Presence, he co-founded as an engineering undergraduate at Duke.

Allen holds a BSE in civil and environmental engineering with honors from Duke University and an MBA from The Wharton School where he was on the board of the Wharton Alumni Association and a Citi Foundation Leadership Fellow.

Cedric Latessa, Investment Manager
Aster Capital

Prior to joining Aster Capital in 2010, Cédric has been active in Venture Capital for the past 10 years. He first held long term internships in early stage VC funds like Mangrove (Luxembourg), Mileno Capital (Spain) and FCJE (France). He also worked for a year at the EIF, Europe’s leading fund of funds.

Cédric started his career at BIP (Luxembourg) where he was responsible for investing in early and later stage technology funds and made 8 co-investments with them as well as 2 direct investments. He subsequently joined DFJ Esprit (UK) as an Investment Manager where he led the fundraising efforts and deal flow sourcing activities in Cleantech and tech related companies in Europe. He also co-founded or has been closely involved with three Cleantech companies.

Cédric has 3 master degrees including 2 from Sciences Po Paris in Finance and European politics and is fluent in Spanish and English.

Cédric is responsible for managing the investment in OST.

Rob Day, Partner

Black Coral Capital

Rob Day is a Partner with Black Coral Capital, based in Boston. He has been a cleantech private equity investor since 2004, and acts or has served as a Director, Observer and advisory board member to multiple companies in the energy tech and related sectors, currently including Digital Lumens, Next Step Living, and Powerit Solutions.

Rob serves as the Chairman of the Cleantech Open – Northeast Region. Rob was previously a co-founder of the Renewable Energy Business Network, a non-profit organization which was acquired in 2009 by the Clean Economy Network. Since 2005 he has also authored the website Cleantech Investing, which currently appears on GreentechMedia.com.

Formerly a consultant with Bain & Company, Rob has worked with companies and evaluated private equity transactions in the energy/ utilities, telecom, IT, medical/pharmaceutical, and retail industries. Earlier in his career, Rob was a member of the World Resources Institute’s Sustainable Enterprise Program, where he co-authored the report The Next Bottom Line: Making Sustainable Development Tangible.

Rob received his MBA at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern University), and his BA at Swarthmore College.

Akira Kirton, Principal

BP Ventures

Akira Kirton is Ventures Principal – Europe, Middle East and India for BP Ventures.  BP Ventures makes strategic investments in companies with distinctive technology that aligns with BP core businesses.

His previous professional experience includes a variety of technology and business development roles across refining, chemicals, marketing, and alternative energy in BP, including supporting the spin-out of a company in India, and a three year secondment to the UK Energy Technologies Institute.

Akira is a recipient of the IChemE Award for Innovation and Fellow of the Marshall Memorial Foundation.

Akira sits on the board on a number of companies in the BP Ventures Portfolio, with a particular focus on the carbon utilisation arena and in developing focused options aligned to BP’s gas value chain development.

Akira holds a MChem Eng from Imperial College London and a BSc in Law from the University of London International Programme.

Paul Decraemer, Head Cleantech Investment Practice
Capricorn Venture Partners

Paul joined Capricorn Venture Partners NV in October 2006 after a period of assistance leading to the first closing of Capricorn Cleantech Fund NV. He is an expert in venture, expansion and project equity capital in the sustainable technologies industry. He currently is and has been serving on the Board of Directors of various European quoted and private companies active in the fields of solar thermal, photovoltaics, biodegradable packaging, environmental advisory services, waste-to-energy, waste recycling, wind farm development, smart metering and membrane based separation.

Paul acquired cleantech investment experience as Managing Director at Sustainable Energy Ventures and as Senior Investment Manager of Flemish Environmental Holding Company (VMH).

He holds a Master’s degree in Bioscience Engineering (UniversityofGhent) and a post-graduate degree in Financial Management (VlerickManagementSchool).

Jamie Vollbracht, Head of New Ventures, Innovation
Carbon Trust

Jamie has worked at the Carbon Trust since 2009 where he drives new initiatives to deliver clean technology through innovation.  His corporate work includes leading a $5m partnership with General Electric in the area of infrastructure applications and a relationship with an oil and gas major across a range of clean technology innovation areas.  He also designed and launched the Entrepreneurs Fast Track, a UK government funded service to incubate start-ups.  Jamie has been working in clean technology for seven years; previously he worked for two VC-backed solar companies on international business development, strategy and innovation. Jamie has an engineering degree from Cambridge University and is a chartered engineer.

Saul Reichman, Vice President
The Challenge Fund

Dr. Saul Reichman is Vice President at The Challenge Fund and a member of the fund’s investment committee. Challenge is an Israeli-based venture capital firm, specializing in all stages of development that is in existence during the last 15 years. In addition to Challenge’s investments, Challenge is engaged in assisting multinational corporations in accessing innovation in Israel and beyond. During the past three years at Challenge, Saul provides strategic consulting, screening and scouting services to The Coca Cola Company with respect to their external technology acquisition efforts in Israel and in Central-Eastern Europe.

Prior to assuming his role at Challenge, Saul was Scientist-in-Residence at Precede Technologies, an early-stage Cleantech oriented venture arm of Pitango VC and Evergreen Venture Partners. His investment interests included energy storage, biofuels, water, green chemistry and sustainable agriculture.

In addition Saul has successfully licensed technologies from the Israeli academia: A.I.T. – a small wind turbine start-up (CEO & Founder, Technion) and Lunaros – an online liquid monitoring start-up (Co-founder, Weizmann Institute of Science).

Saul’s holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Tel-Aviv University with emphasis in Applied Electrochemistry, an MBA specializing in strategy & entrepreneurship, a BSc in Chemistry (graduated magna cum laude), and a BA in French Culture studies (graduated summa cum laude).

Saul is a frequent and engaging speaker and writer regarding Israel’s Cleantech ecosystem and environmental entrepreneurship. He is a mentor at Tel-Aviv University’s International MBA program and Tel-Aviv Yaffo Academic College, partnering with students on Hi-tech related internships.

Dr. Wal van Lierop
President & CEO, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital

Wal is Co-Founder, President & CEO of Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, the world’s most active cleantech venture capital firm in 2010.  Prior to the last ten years he’s spent with Chrysalix, he was VP of Strategic Planning for Westcoast Energy, heading new energy technology investments, and was an international management consultant to energy-related blue-chip companies with McKinsey & Company. Wal also has an extensive teaching background both in Europe and North America teaching venture capital and entrepreneurial finance at some of the top universities. He is the founder of several new-venture and cleantech organizations, is a member of the Cleantech Group’s Advisory Board, has written and edited several books and scientific articles, and travels the globe speaking at industry conferences. Wal holds a PhD in Economics from the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam.

Sheeraz Haji, CEO
Cleantech Group

As CEO of Cleantech Group, Sheeraz Haji is one of the world’s most influential cleantech thought-leaders and trusted advisors to global companies and executives. Prior to joining the company, Sheeraz served for eight years as co-founder and CEO of GetActive, a venture-backed software-as-a-service, customer relationship management company. He led GetActive’s merger with Convio, then as Convio’s president built a company with 1,200 clients and 300 employees.

Sheeraz has also worked as a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company; entrepreneur-in-residence (EIR) for El Dorado Ventures; operations executive for GMO, a global management investment firm; and product manager for Digital Impact (acquired by Acxiom). Sheeraz launched his career as an environmental engineer with Environ International. He has Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in environmental engineering from Brown University and Stanford University respectively. Sheeraz also holds dual U.S. and French citizenship.

Vince Knowles, Analyst
Cleantech Group

Based in our London office, Vince is the lead analyst on the Global Cleantech 100, managing our discovery of the most promising new cleantech companies as they emerge. As the primary analyst focused on Europe and Asia he is also responsible for ensuring our research coverage is strong in these areas. On the advisory side, Vince conducts bespoke research across the cleantech space for our clients.

Previous to joining the Cleantech Group, Vince worked on a number of sustainable agriculture projects and in education, teaching Science in a secondary school.

Vince studied Experimental Psychology and Philosophy at Oxford University, graduating with 1^st Class Honours and the J.A. Scott Prize for academic excellence in Natural Sciences.

Greg Neichin, Vice President, Research & Advisory
Cleantech Group

Greg leads the Cleantech Group’s Research & Advisory business where he assists global enterprises, investors, and public institutions in evaluating cleantech companies and assessing the development of cleantech markets.  Greg is responsible for Cleantech Group’s full suite of market intelligence products and oversees an experienced team of Analysts covering a range of cleantech sectors.  In addition, he leads the firm’s Advisory activities, where he regularly provides guidance to some of the world’s largest energy companies, technology and services vendors, and government agencies.  Greg has personally authored a variety of publications including the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2010 Smart Grid Vendor Ecosystem Review.

Greg has a range of expertise helping organizations successfully adapt to innovation and has worked in a variety of consulting, operating, and entrepreneurial roles.  Greg began his professional career as a Consultant with Mercer Management Consulting and subsequently advised a global client base on technology trends and commercialization for SRI Consulting Business Intelligence. Greg spent four years on the management team of GetActive (merged with Convio), a developer of CRM software for advocacy and charitable organizations, where he led a variety of sales, marketing, and partnership efforts as Vice President, Business Development and worked in strategy and business development for Redback Networks – a leading telecommunications equipment vendor acquired by Ericsson. In addition, he co-founded PlaceVine, a leading web-based information service.

Greg has a B.A. in Economics and Government from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he was a recipient of the Price Fellowship for studies in Entrepreneurial Management.

Arti Patel, Associate
Cleantech Group

Arti is currently part of the Research & Advisory team at the Cleantech Group, where she leads research coverage of technology and investment trends within Water & Wastewater.  In addition to authoring sector-related insight reports, she also leads custom advisory projects for clients interested in the adoption of or investment in water technologies, and has been asked to speak at events.

Arti previously served as a management consultant focused on developing executable business strategies for financial services companies.  Prior to that, she spent time working with cleantech start-up companies in San Francisco and Costa Rica to advise them on and implement various business development initiatives.  She originally launched her career at Bank of America, where she was responsible for originating and underwriting debt financing solutions for large corporate clients in the Gaming & Leisure industry group.  She has a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Richard Youngman, Managing Director, Europe & Asia
Cleantech Group

Richard Youngman is responsible for driving the growth of the Cleantech Group’s activities outside North America, especially in Europe and Israel, and Asia. He is based in Cleantech Group’s office in London.

Richard has more than five years experience researching cleantech innovation, venture capital markets, and start-ups across Europe and Globally. He is a regular keynote speaker at major cleantech events and is the driving force behind the annual Global Cleantech 100, a list of the World’s most promising private cleantech companies. He authors periodic reports, such as The Rise of the Corporation in Cleantech.

Most recently, he was Vice President of Research & Operations at Library House, where he ran the Library House Research team, which discovered and collected the information about high-growth companies that underpinned that company’s data, analytical, and event services. Before Library House, Richard ran his own advisory firm conducting research and consulting on the measurement and evaluation of intangible assets and intellectual capital for organizations such as the European Commission. This followed nine years building a broad-based finance and research background with leading financial institutions such as ABN AMRO, Barclays Capital and BZW in the City of London. His work was centered on the debt markets and revolved around financing M&A deals and advising clients on achieving alignment between their financial and strategic plans. Richard has an MA from Cambridge University, and an MBA from Theseus International Management Institute, Sophia Antipolis, France.

Peter Kennedy, Managing Director
CLSA Capital Partners

Peter Kennedy joined CLSA from Fulcrum Fund, a venture fund focusing on sustainable resources and companies looking to effect improvements in healthcare services for under-served populations, based in San Francisco. Prior to Fulcrum, Mr. Kennedy was a highly ranked senior research analyst at Morgan Stanley for eight years in New York and London, most recently as Executive Director and head of the telecom and media research team where he led 11 IPOs. Mr. Kennedy has significant private market transaction experience, closing over 10 early stage investments at Fulcrum and several later stage telecom infrastructure transactions throughout Asia and Europe while at NYNEX. Mr. Kennedy holds and MBA and BA from the Hagan School of Business, Iona College.

Olivier Dupont, Chairman of the Board
Demeter Partners

Olivier Dupont has twenty-five years of senior management experience in Private Equity. Since 2005, he is the Founder and Chairman of the Management Board of Demeter Partners.

Demeter Partners, an AMF-accredited independent asset management company, manages funds investing capital in SMEs in the eco-industries sector (water, waste, polluted sites) and the eco-energies sector (renewable energies, energy efficiency, eco-buildings). The first FCPR Demeter fund manages assets of €105 million invested entirely in 22 companies. The FCPR Demeter 2 fund is managing € 203 million. Demeter Partners is currently raising a third fund, a seed fund called “Demeter 3 Amorçage”. Demeter Partners has offices in Paris, Madrid and Berlin.

Prior to DEMETER Partners, Mr Dupont was Managing Director of Fonds de Promotion pour le Capital-Risque (CDC Entreprises) from 2001 to 2005, Head of Private Equity at Société Générale from 1997 to 2000, Director of Financial Engineering and Investment at Crédit du Nord from 1995 to 1997, CEO of BTP Capital, a Fund dedicated to the environment from 1991 to 1995, and CEO of SNVB Participations (Groupe CIC) (1987-1990). Olivier Dupont‘s industry experience includes being an Export manager at SOFRETU and SCHNEIDER Group (1974-1987). Ingénieur civil des Ponts et Chaussées (Paris 1973), DES Sciences Economiques (Paris I Sorbonne 1974).

Former Chairman of the AFIC Compliance Committee and the AFIC training committee, and former member of the EVCA‘s Investor Relation Committee, as well as Conseiller du Commerce Extérieur, Olivier Dupont is also the author of «Les PME et le marché de l‘environnement» (1995) and «Ajustement de prix et capital investissement» (2002).

He was honored with the title of Chevalier de la légion d’honneur in 2011.

Dr. Thomas D. Perry IV (Tod), Vice President of Technology Scouting (Interim)

E.ON AG

Dr. Thomas D. Perry IV (Tod) is Vice President of Technology Scouting (Interim) at E.ON AG where he manages the strategic co-investment program, which invests in promising companies and helps create value by deploying their technologies and services across the E.ON group.  Previously, he worked at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado and served on the faculty at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  He joined NREL from Harvard Business School where he was researching science-based businesses and technology commercialization, with a particular emphasis on clean and sustainable technologies.  He received his masters and doctorate from Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and his bachelors degree from Earlham College. He was also involved in the formation of two Boston-area start-up companies.

Srini Somayajula, Director, Technology Alliances
Ecolab

Srini has been with Ecolab since 2000, starting his career in the New Business Development arm of  Research & Development, working on water filtration technologies and reactive polymers for sequestering VoC’s from air streams. In 2006, Srini joined Ecolab’s Technology Lookout function and currently serves as a Director. He is responsible for identifying growth platforms for Ecolab businesses. His expertise in negotiating and structuring technology based partnerships with start ups, entrepreneurs’ and Global Fortune 500 companies, has resulted in a variety of  global partnerships that drive innovation.

Srini is active in the Licensing Executive Society and was the Chair of its Minnesota Chapter from 2008-2009. A Chemical Engineer by educational training, he holds a PhD from the University of Minnesota.

Alex McIntosh, Founder & General Partner
Ecomundi Ventures

Alex’s primary area of expertise and focus is water.

He has had the privilege over the past fourteen years of helping create and lead two transformative water initiatives: the first in the nonprofit sector (Nature Conservancy); the second in the corporate sector (Nestle Waters). In each initiative, his aim was to make successful something never attempted before, by applying vision, funding, innovative partnerships, strategic management and hard work.

His interest today is in tackling the toughest water challenges of the 21st century–scarcity, access to sanitation and clean water among the very poor, contamination, and sustainable supply–by finding and catalyzing the world’s outstanding entrepreneurs and their innovative business models.

Antoine Aslanides, Innovation Director
EDF

Antoine Aslanides is the Innovation Director for EDF International North America. He’s been initiating and managing several transfers of innovations from start-up companies to the EDF Group. Antoine joined EDF in 1999 beginning his career in France, occupying different managing positions in the R&D Division. He launched several European projects on cleantechs for the energy sector. He then moved to Germany, acting as Deputy Director of the European Institute for Energy Research. EIFER promotes public-private partnerships to develop sustainable approaches towards energy. His fields of experience mainly concern clean energy technologies and smart grids.

He earned a Master Degree of Science and a PhD in Solid State Physics from Paris University, as well as an Engineering Degree in Mechanics.

Gina Domanig, Managing Partner

Emerald Technology Ventures

Based in our Zurich office, Gina Domanig is the Managing Partner of Emerald Technology Ventures, a globally recognized investor in the areas of energy, water and materials, having invested in nearly fifty companies to date. In 2000 she founded Emerald as the first independent cleantech venture capital fund in Europe. Gina currently serves on the boards of Pelamis, SDC Materials, Synapsense and TaKaDu. Previously, she also represented Emerald as a director at Agraquest (acquired by Bayer in 2012) and inge watertechnologies (acquired by BASF in 2011).

Gina has over 25 years of international business experience including banking, M&A, strategic development, and venture capital. Prior to starting Emerald, she was senior vice president at Sulzer, a Swiss multinational, responsible for strategic planning and M&A. During her ten year tenure, she built up a team which completed 45 transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, IPOs and JVs in industrial technology sectors. Gina holds MBA degrees from Thunderbird in Arizona and ESADE in Barcelona and is fluent in English, German and Spanish.

Sumit Sarkar, Director, NRG Ventures
Energy Technology Ventures

Sumit is a member of the NRG Ventures Investments team, part of the Energy Technology Ventures JV between NRG Energy, ConocoPhillips and GE Capital. Energy Technology Ventures invests in the following sectors:

• Clean energy or “green” technology including renewable power & fuels, carbon sequestration and management, waste processing and management, waste to energy technology and water infrastructure technology
• Energy efficiency technologies including smart grid, energy storage, lighting, waste heat, transport, distributed generation, advanced materials, and other commercial and industrial energy efficiency applications
• Enhanced traditional technology in sub-sectors such as oil & gas, coal and nuclear energy

Prior to this role, Sumit spent three years engaged in new nuclear development, as part of NRG Energy’s nuclear joint venture with Toshiba Corporation (Nuclear Innovation North America LLC).  Additionally, Sumit’s past experience includes three years of Investment Banking at Citi Global Markets, where he worked on multiple mergers & acquisitions, capital markets debt and equity offerings and corporate advisory assignments in the power & utility, oil & gas, financial institutions, media & communications as well as broader industrial sectors, covering early stage ventures to established public /private companies.  Early on in his career, Sumit spent six years working as a mechanical engineer for Schlumberger Oilfield Services, serving the upstream oil & gas exploration and production service sector.
Sumit graduated from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (India) with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering.   He also holds an MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from PennState University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Wally Hunter, Managing Director
EnerTech Capital

Wally has been investing in energy and clean energy companies and projects for 11 years. Wally runs EnerTech’s Canadian operations from Toronto. His specific areas of interest and responsibility include opportunities in alternative fuels and storage, power quality and conversion, power electronics, advanced materials, motor controls, automation and sensors.

Prior to EnerTech, Wally was with Royal Bank of Canada (“RBC”), where he was a Managing Director of the bank’s private equity fund and responsible for the Energy Technology and Advanced Technology Fund. Prior to that he was in RBC’s investment banking division.

In addition, Wally produced and hosted the weekly financial television show “Money Week” which featured over 200 guest interviews from Canadian and U.S. money managers over a 14 year period.

Wally currently sits on the boards of Filterboxx and Enbala Power Networks and managed our investment in Catch the Wind. He is currently the Energy Technology Chair for the Banff Venture Forum.

Sylvia Chan, Managing Partner
Entropy Ventures

Dr Sylvia Chan is Managing Director and co-founder of Entropy Ventures which has a specialist US$75m private equity fund focused solely on Asian clean energy.  Prior to co-founding Entropy Ventures, Sylvia had been following clean energy for 5 years, having also spent 10 years in the energy infrastructure area, 8 in strategy consulting at McKinsey & Co and KPMG as well as her own firm and 2 in investment banking as Head of Utilities at Macquarie.

At Macquarie, Sylvia advised US, European and Asian funds managers on how to invest in the renewable energy sector, assessed business plans in the space, and also provided input into the setting up ofMacquarie’s carbon ventures.

Sylvia’s experience also leverages on her 8 years of consulting, during which she helped companies in various stages of their corporate development: advising on acquisitions, assisting CEOs and Boards with their business plans, and helping re-construct strategies and organisations to enhance or improve profitability.  Through her client work, Sylvia has long-standing relationships with many players in the energy and renewable energy space.  She speaks widely on trends in the energy sector including renewable energy.

Sylvia has a PhD from the University of Cambridge and two books to her credit.

Adam de Sola Pool, CEO
Environmental Investment Partners

Adam de Sola Pool is CEO of Environmental Investment Partners III (EIP), a venture capital firm specializing in all stages of development, including start-up, early venture, expansion, pre-IPO’s and development capital.

Founded in 1997 in the U.S. and Poland, the EIP funds (I, II, and III) have sought to focus their investment on environmental and renewable energy companies in Central and Eastern Europe with a special emphasis placed on Poland. EIP prefers to invest between €0.1 – 3 million per company, and hold that investment from 2-7 years. In the course of EIP’s history since 1997 it has founded or developed over 20 companies of which 3 have been in wind, 3 in solar, 3 in water or waste water, 2 in biogas, 2 in solid waste, 1 in district heating, 1 in environmental construction,  and 1 ESCO.

Among the well known company names that EIP has invested in are: Praterm, PolAqua, CWP, Organica and Tallina Vesi.

Before becoming CEO of EIP, Adam worked for Salomon Brothers in mergers & acquisitions, the Industrial Bank of Japan, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the National Investment Fund Fortuna (Poland).

Adam is a graduate of MIT (MBA 1988), the University of Chicago (B.A. 1981) and Phillips Academy at Andover (1976).

Henrik Olsen, Partner
Environmental Technologies Fund

Henrik is the Managing Partner at ETF. In addition to managing the firm day-to-day, he focuses on new investments and represents ETF on the Boards of a number of its portfolio companies.

Prior to founding ETF, Henrik spent 13 years at GE. Most recently he was a Managing Director of GE Equity, General Electric’s private equity business, where he successfully invested in high growth businesses across Europe since 1996. Previously, he worked for a number of different industrial businesses within GE, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions as well as post-merger integration and operational management.

Henrik is a Swedish national and has an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics, which included a scholarship exchange with the New York University Stern School of business. He is Chairman of the European Advisory Board of the Cleantech Venture Group.

Dr. Bernhard Mohr, Managing Director, Corporate Venturing
Evonik Industries AG

Bernhard is heading Evonik’s Corporate Venturing activities that have been started in January 2012.  Prior to joining Evonik, Bernhard was a member of the BASF Venture Capital team. He has held senior positions in the BASF Group since 1996 and has an international expertise in marketing, finance, corporate development and research and development.

Evonik, the creative industrial group from Germany, is one of the world leaders in specialty chemicals and Evonik Corporate Venturing plans to invest up to €100m in Europe, the US and Asia over the medium term in highly promising start-ups and leading specialist venture capital funds.

Iyad Omari, Partner
Frog Capital

Iyad Omari began his career in product marketing at Advanced Micro Devices before moving into equity research at Quartz Capital Partners. In 1999, he joined Kennet Venture Partners investing in growing technology businesses before moving into venture development for two semiconductor start-ups. Iyad joined Frog Capital in 2006 to focus on the cleantech sector, and has a particular interest in advanced industrial processes, materials recovery and recycling, water and waste water treatment, energy efficiency and next-generation energy transmission/distribution. Iyad is involved with SiC Processing AG, agri.capital GmbH, Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc, Solar Century Ltd and Oxsensis Ltd. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the London Business School.

Andrew Lackner, Vice President
GE Venture Capital

Andrew Lackner is a member of the venture capital group at GE Energy Financial Services, investing in emerging energy and water-related technology companies. With over $19 billion in assets, GE Energy Financial Services invests more than $5 billion annually in two of the world’s most capital-intensive industries, energy and water. As a member of the venture capital team, Mr. Lackner evaluates prospective equity investments in companies developing game-changing technologies and services throughout the energy and water value chain, from natural resources to clean technology. The venture capital team is one of the most active investors in the energy technology markets, with presence in San Francisco, Munich, Boston and Stamford, CT.

Prior to joining GE Energy Financial Services, Mr. Lackner was an associate at Columbia Capital, a venture capital firm in Washington, DC, specializing in the communications, media, and information technology industries. He also served as an associate consultant at Fletcher Spaght, a strategy consulting and venture capital firm in Boston, a product manager for MicroStrategy, a business intelligence software company in Washington, DC, and as a process engineer for MacLean-Fogg.

Mr. Lackner received an A.B. in Engineering Sciences in 1997, a B.E. in Mechanical Engineering in 1998, and an M.E.M. in 1999 from Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College.

Colin Le Duc, Partner
Generation Investment Management LLP

Colin is a Partner and co-founder of Generation Investment Management. Generation is focused on long term sustainable investing and manages $7bn on behalf of clients globally. The firm is based in London with offices in New York and Sydney.

Colin works on Generation’s Climate Solutions Fund, a $700mn public and private equity fund investing in companies that are part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Colin has also worked for SAM Sustainable Asset Management, Arthur D. Little and Total. He currently serves on the Boards of Infinate Power Solutions, Recyclebank, TerraLUX, GreenBytes, Business for Social Responsibility and Forest Trends. He is also an Board Observer at Nest.

He lives in London with his young family.

Nicholas Atkins, Partner
Georgieff Capital

Nicholas Atkins has over 20 years of corporate finance and private equity experience.  He has advised on a range of M&A and corporate finance transactions across various industry groups, including the technology sector, and now heads up Georgieff Capital’s clean technology advisory practice.  He has also successfully led a number of private equity transactions both as an advisor and principal.  Mr. Atkins has an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.  He has dual British and US citizenship.

Mr. Atkins is External Partner of Intelligent Venture Capital, Board Observer at Tiger Optics LLC and a member of the European Advisory Board of the Cleantech Group LLC.

Sherwin Prior, Corporate Strategy and Business Development
GM Ventures

Sherwin Prior was named Managing Director, General Motors Ventures LLC effective September 1, 2010.

Prior to this appointment, he worked on the micro-cap to mid-cap growth platform for NorthPointe Capital, LLC in Troy, Michigan. Sherwin also worked for Morgan Stanley Investment Management in New York as a Senior Associate where he was responsible for investments in the industrials and consumer discretionary sectors of the economy.

His previous experience also includes General Motors Retail Holdings, where he was a Financial Acquisitions Analyst responsible for the valuation of dealerships; JP Morgan Chase, where he was a Commercial Credit Analyst in the Asset-Based Lending Group; and Stout Risius Ross Valuation Consultants in Farmington Hills, where he was responsible for appraising middle-market companies and real estate.

Sherwin is a veteran of the U.S. Army. He received a bachelor of business administration degree in finance from Eastern Michigan University and a master of business administration from the University of Michigan.

Eric Wang, Partner
GRC Sino Green

An experienced fund manager in China, Taiwan and Silicon Valley with strong track record and over 16 years of experience in private equity and venture investment, investment banking, equity research and technology marketing

• Partner, Grand River Capital, a Greater China based PE and VC fund (2009 – present)
• Managing Director, WK Technology Fund, one of the largest Taiwanese PE and VC funds with US$500mn under management; during his 7 year tenure (2002 – 2009), he led his team making investments in the high-tech sectors in Silicon Valley in the U.S., Taiwan and China; and in particular, while based in Silicon Valley (2004 – 2008), he was responsible for WK Technology Fund’s U.S. operations and had successfully cultivated start-up companies from early stage and brought them to IPO or acquisition by public companies including Aruba Networks (ARUN) and Brion Technologies (now ASML)
• Prior to joining WK in 2002, Dr. Wang was the Global Head of Semiconductor Research at ABN AMRO Bank; and during that time, he and his team were highly ranked by institutional investor surveys including Reuters, Institutional Investors, Asia Money and Asset
• Earlier in 1994-1997, while a Ph.D. student at Stanford University, he worked as a yield management engineer for KLA-Tencor (KLAC) and was responsible for providing services to semiconductor giants such as Intel, TI, Samsung and TSMC
• Ph.D. and M.S. in Engineering-Economic Systems and Operations from Stanford University, M.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Hawaii at Manoa, and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan

Thorbjorn Machholm, Business Development Director
Grundfos New Business

Thorbjørn Machholm works with new business creation, corporate venture activity, investments, company start up and strategy work in the Grundfos group. He is business manager on new business initiatives and serves at internal and external boards of directors. He also works with political lobbyism in the EU system. Thorbjorn has an extensive international experience with cross-functional/ cross-cultural management, sales development, strategic planning and business controlling responsibilities. He is a Stanford Graduate School of Business alumni, holds a M.Sc. (DEA) in Management of Technology and Innovation from Dauphine Université Paris, and a M.Sc. in Business Administration and Strategy (1992) from CBS.

Magnus Goodlad, Partner
Hermes GPE

Magnus is responsible for all relationships with managers specialising in environmental innovation and for coordinating the analysis, due diligence and monitoring of all funds and co-investments in this sector. He previously worked at Top Technology Ventures/IP Group, latterly as Chief Operating Officer, specialising in early stage UK technology venture capital and intellectual property commercialisation. Magnus commenced his career with Slaughter and May as a solicitor focused on corporate finance law. He holds a BA in Jurisprudence from the University of Oxford.

Diego Diaz, Head of Disruptive Innovation at Iberdrola
Iberdrola

Diego works as Head of Disruptive Innovation at Iberdrola.  He is responsible for the technical management of Iberdrola´s venture capital program Perseo, aimed at investing in early stage clean energy companies.  Diego joined Iberdrola in 2008 and since then he has contributed to the launch and management of the company´s venture program, engaging its activity with the corporate innovation strategy.

After graduating, he developed his career in several roles related to engineering, technology development, innovation and entrepreneurship both in the Telco (Telefonica R&D and Eircom) and Energy sectors.

He holds an M.Sc in Engineering from the Polytechnical University of Madrid and an executive degree in Venture Capital from the Walter A. Haas School of Business in the University of California at Berkeley.

Peter Williams, CTO, Big Green Innovations
IBM

Dr. Peter Williams is the Chief Technology Officer for IBM’s Big Green Innovations incubator, whose role is to create environmentally focused businesses for IBM. He is responsible for assembling, maintaining and developing the portfolio of businesses included, and technologies used. His particular focus areas have been PV technologies; developing green house gas reduction solutions and services; and most intensively, water management solutions, covering entire water resources (for example entire rivers or aquifers), utility infrastructures, and enterprise water management. Dr Williams holds the title of IBM Distinguished Engineer. By background, he is a management consultant with well over 20 years experience of bringing technology and business issues together to develop novel solutions and business models.

Nicolas Chaudron, Partner
Idinvest Partners

Nicolas Chaudron joined Idinvest Partners, formerly AGF Private Equity and an affiliate of Allianz, in 2001. Since 2006 he has been focusing on the cleantech sector and he led Idinvest Partners’ investments in several companies including Nenuphar (vertical axis wind turbine manufacturer; France), Prudent Energy (redox flow batteries; China), or Seatower (gravity-based foundations for offshore wind; Norway). He is a member of the European Advisory Board of the Cleantech Group and a founder of the Club Cleantech AFIC (French Private Equity Association), a platform to foster the entire cleantech ecosystem in France. Prior to that, Nicolas Chaudron worked mainly in the sectors of information technology and semiconductors, and he led Idinvest Partners’ investments in Soamai (sold to ASG), Alchimer, Median Technologies (IPO), and Telemarket (sold to Système U). Between 2001 and 2005, he was also a board member of several start-ups, including Siriatech and Vizelia, two start-ups pioneering cleantech in France.

Before joining Idinvest Partners, Nicolas Chaudron started his career in venture capital at Europatweb, the Internet investment company founded by Bernard Arnault. In addition to his involvement in the operational launch of Europatweb, he participated in various investments and led the one in Webhelp (LBO exit in 2007).

Nicolas Chaudron is an alumnus of the Ecole normale supérieure (Paris, France) and of the Peking University (Beijing, China). He holds an MSc in mathematics from the University of Paris IV, an MBA from the Collège des Ingénieurs, and an MBA from the Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania), where he was a Palmer Scholar.

Crispin Leick, Managing Director
Innogy Venture Capital GmbH

Crispin is leading Innogy Venture Capital GmbH (IVC) since its
foundation in September 2010. Crispin has established the
Corporate Venture Capital activities of RWE Innogy in February
2008. He has over 14 years of managing experience in the energy
business with a focus on portfolio management, structured
transactions and business development in power, gas and renewables markets.

Crispin managed a multi-billion gas contract portfolio in RWE and has led the UK
market entry of the windturbine maker REpower Systems in 2003. Previously, Crispin
worked at Enron and Wingas, being part of the first liberalisation wave in the
European energy markets.

Crispin has held various advisory board positions for RWE and REpower Systems
and currently serves on the board of Topell Energy, Voith Hydro Oceant Current
Technologies and Quiet Revolution.

Crispin holds a Master degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of
Karlsruhe and an MBA from the GSB Chicago.

Innogy Venture Capital is a fund management company specialized on renewable
technologies. The company focuses on investments in European startup companies
that provide solutions for CO2-neutral, renewable energy generation and storage.
With a final closing size of more than 115 mEUR the currently managed “Innogy
Renewables Technology Fund I” is a leading early stage investor in this segment in
Europe. The fund’s sponsors are RWE Innogy and Conetwork Erneuerbare Energien.
RWE Innogy pools within the German utility RWE the expertise for construction and
operation of renewable energy generation assets. Conetwork Erneuerbare Energien,
an investment company of Lampe Bank Group, is also focusing on renewable energy
generation.

Stephen Eichenlaub, Managing Director, Emerging Platform Technologies and Cleantech Sector
Intel Capital

Steve joined Intel Capital in 1998, and is a voting member of the Emerging Platform Technologies, Cleantech, and Digital Health investment committees.  Steve leads a worldwide team of investment managers driving equity and technology licensing relationships with early- and mid-stage companies to expand, align and accelerate the frontiers of technology in the context of driving positive financial returns for Intel.  Prior to Intel, Steve worked at leading software companies Adobe Systems and Mentor Graphics, and at start-ups Silicon Compiler Systems and GammaMetrics, across a variety of roles spanning venture investing, M&A, business development, strategic and product marketing, sales, and investor relations.  He holds a BS from UC Berkeley, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Nikunj Jinsi, Global Head Clean Technology Investments
International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Nikunj Jinsi joined IFC in 2003 and heads IFC’s clean technology investment team globally, as part of its Climate Business Group. He combines over 20 years of experience in various industry sectors, having worked and lived in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the US. Nikunj blends operational, entrepreneurial, investment banking and over 17 years of emerging market private equity experiences with unique global perspective on several industries. At IFC, Nikunj has led over 25 growth equity investments, several of which have had successful exits, for which IFC acted as a (co-)lead, involving other leading private equity and strategic players, and has taken on board positions on several of IFC’s portfolio companies. Nikunj is also involved with IFC’s LP investment program for venture funds in Asia, Brazil and Russia. He sits on the Advisory Board of a leading (US$500mm) China venture fund.

Prior to joining IFC in Washington DC, Nikunj spent nine years living and working in Asia. He was the Managing Director and Head of the Singapore office for one of Asia’s leading venture funds where he managed the team making investments in South East Asia and India and was also responsible for managing several Asian LP relations. Earlier Nikunj spent 4 years in the Asian investment banking industry providing M&A and corporate finance services to clients throughout the region. In addition, he was the co-owner of South East Asia’s largest independent marketing communications agency, with offices in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, which was successfully sold to Omnicom (NYSE:OMC). Nikunj started his career working for KPN Telecom in The Netherlands.

Nikunj obtained an MBA degree from Stanford University (USA), attended as a Fulbright Scholar and an M Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering, from Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands.

Glen Schwaber, Partner
Israel Cleantech Ventures

Glen Schwaber is a founding partner of Israel Cleantech Ventures (ICV), the premier venture capital fund dedicated to investing in Israel’s emerging clean technology companies. Glen is a veteran venture capitalist, bringing with him 17 years experience in Israeli technology finance. His investment interests are focused on power electronics, lighting, energy storage, solar and industrial efficiency.

Prior to joining ICV, Glen was a partner at Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), one of Israel’s largest and most successful venture capital funds. He also helped establish JVP Studio, a seed stage incubator investment vehicle, which is today home to exceptional seed stage companies focusing on software and media.

Glen holds a Masters in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a B.A. from Harvard College.

Joe McGee, Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning and Development
Jabil Inc.

Joseph A. McGee was named Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning & Development in January 2010 reporting to the CEO. Prior to this role, Joe was Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning & Development from Jun 2008 and Senior Vice President, Global Business Units from September 2004.

Joe joined Jabil in 1993 as a Business Unit Manager in Scotland and has held several positions, including Director of Business Development, Malaysia, General Manager, California, and Vice President Global Business Units.

Prior to joining Jabil, Joe held positions with Sun Microsystems, Philips, University of Glasgow and the University of Strathclyde.

Joe earned a Ph.D. in Thermodynamics and Fluid Mechanics and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, and hold an MBA from the University of Glasgow.

Joe is married with three kids, one daughter (17) and two boys (16 & 14), and his interests include golf, flying, diving and mountain biking.

Andrew DeGuire, Vice President Strategic Planning & Acquisitions
Johnson Controls

Andrew DeGuire is the Vice President of Strategy & Acquisitions, Building Efficiency, a US$15 billion division of Johnson Controls Inc. Andrew joined the company as the Director of Pricing Strategy in January 2002 and assumed his current responsibilities in October 2005.

Andrew and his team are responsible for leading the creation of the strategic plan for the Building Efficiency business and the resulting action plan. Andrew also manages the acquisition, integration and divestment process, as well as the internal consulting team. Andrew and his team have executed over $4 billion in transactions in sectors ranging from equipment to software to services to distribution. Andrew co-leads all technology partnership efforts for the Building Efficiency unit.

Prior to Johnson Controls Inc., Andrew was a strategy consultant for Monitor Company based in Boston, MA. He has also held a number of leadership positions at the Beloit Corporation as well as a start-up technology consulting firm.

Andrew holds a B.A. in Economics from Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI and a M.A. in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He has also studied at the London School of Economics and Copenhagen Business School.

Eric Tao, Partner
Keytone Ventures

Eric Tao is a Partner at Keytone Ventures, a China-focused venture fund that manages over US$400 million in capital. Eric focuses on identifying market opportunities in high technology and cleantech sectors and works closely with the management teams of ZhongTe logistics, IZP, Borqs, Tongfang Energy, Babeeta, and Lattice Power, among others.

Prior to Keytone Ventures, Eric worked at KPCB China, covering wireless and cleantech investments. Eric started his venture capital career as an investment manager with Qualcomm Ventures in San Diego, California. In this role he covered venture investments globally, including applications/software/content, handset & wireless supply chain, and infrastructure and enabling technologies.

Before VC, Eric was significantly involved in two startups. He was a co-founder of an E-commerce comparison shopping portal, responsible for fundraising and operations; he also founded a clean energy startup in the US where he was responsible for fundraising and business development in China.

John Denniston, Partner
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

John Denniston is a Partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.  At KPCB, John has worked with a wide variety of portfolio companies, with a primary emphasis on the Greentech industry.  John was a member of the KPCB Partner team that many years ago conceptualized and launched KPCB’s Greentech investment initiative.  Since then, KPCB has been an active investor in the Greentech field, having invested in start-up and growth companies across a wide variety of sectors.

He is actively involved in Greentech public policy issues, having testified before several Congressional committees.  John serves on the Board of Advisors of the National Renewable Energy Labs.  He is a frequent speaker at Greentech industry conferences.

Prior to joining KPCB, John was a Managing Director and Head of Technology Investment Banking, Western U.S. at Salomon Smith Barney.  He also served on the Investment Committees for both Salomon’s venture capital direct investment fund and CitiGroup’s venture capital fund-of-funds.  Before that, he was a Partner at the law firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison, where he was the Head of the firm’s Venture Capital Practice Group, co-head of its Information Technology Practice Group, and served on the Investment Committee for its venture capital fund.

Kurt Faulhaber, Senior Vice President
Macquarie Funds Group

Kurt Faulhaber is a Vice President at Macquarie. Mr. Faulhaber has deep Clean Tech domain experience, and focuses on Macquarie Funds Management’s Clean Tech investment activities in North America. Prior to joining Macquarie, Mr. Faulhaber was Associate Director at the Clean Energy Incubator, the first of its kind in the US, initiated in 2001 by the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. At the Incubator, Mr. Faulhaber focused on identifying viable Clean Tech ventures and technologies, assisting companies to receive venture capital and private equity funding, providing strategic advice and consultation, and supporting these companies in their launch and growth. In addition, Mr. Faulhaber has had numerous consulting engagements, including an appointment by the Los Alamos National Laboratory to perform financial valuations of Clean Technology equity deals. Mr. Faulhaber began his career in energy efficiency side of the semiconductor industry with Teradyne, Inc. where he led multi-million dollar product developments of Automatic Test Equipment. Mr. Faulhaber received his MBA from the University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Ravi Viswanathan, Partner
New Enterprise Associates

Ravi joined NEA in February 2004 as a Principal, became a Partner in December 2004 and was named General Partner in 2009. He focuses on information technology investments with special emphasis in energy and growth equity investments. Ravi is on the board of Availink, Deeya Energy, ISGN Technologies, Jentro Technologies, Liquidia, Solar Junction, Suniva and ViXS and works closely with GlobalLogic, OANDA, and NEA’s energy portfolio companies. Prior investments include Tele Atlas. Prior to joining NEA, Ravi worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he was co-head of the technology practice in their private equity group and led direct, fund, and secondary investments in the areas of information technology and life sciences. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Ravi worked for McKinsey & Company and advised clients in the software, communications, and pharmaceutical sectors on strategy, acquisitions and new business building. Previously, Ravi worked for Raychem Corporation in the Corporate Technology Division where he focused on research and product development in semiconductors, liquid crystals, and other materials systems. Ravi received a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara where he focused his research on materials science applications in molecular electronics, biomaterials, and nanotechnology. Prior to graduate school, Ravi received a BS in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

Himraj Dang, Director of Environmental Investments
Olympus Capital

Mr. Himraj Dang is a Director with the environment fund promoted by Olympus Capital, Asia Environmental Partners. Mr. Dang has more than 15 years of international and Indian experience working in project and structured finance, infrastructure development,  renewable energy, environmental issues, and private equity. Mr. Dang graduated from Dartmouth College and has an MBA from INSEAD.

Steve Meller, Chief Innovation Catalyst
Procter and Gamble

Dr. Meller is originally from Adelaide, South Australia. He received his B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons.), and PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Adelaide.  After travelling the world for a year, he spent 6 years at the University of Iowa, on the research faculty in Pharmacology.  Since moving to P&G almost 16 years ago, he has held various R&D roles in Health Care where he was ultimately responsible for the Health Care Technology and Clinical organizations.  For the last 6 years, he has been in a corporate role where he is now on the leading edge for the global open innovation programs at P&G (Connect + Develop^SM; C+D^SM).  In that role, he has been responsible for leading the global technology innovators and entrepreneurs “community of experts,” the North American and Latin America open innovation hubs, the Global Bioscience C+D hub and several key business and technology platforms across the company.  He now serves as Chief Innovation Catalyst and his role has accountability to the CTO and company Treasurer. He regularly speaks on C+D^SM around the globe. P&G has been recognized externally for its C+D^SM by being listed as one of the top 10 most innovative companies in the world for the last 5 years. Also during that time, Dr. Meller has been a key driver on the technology strategy approaches for P&G’s Sustainability and Industrial Biotechnology programs and its impact on global consumers.  He regularly speaks on Industrial Biotechnology around the globe and its role in driving sustainability.

Chivas Lam, Venture Partner
Qiming Venture Partners

Chivas has been a Venture Partner with Qiming Ventures since 2009 focusing in investing in early stage, high potential, high growth technology companies in Cleantech and Industrial sectors.

Chivas specializes in cross border investments bringing innovative technology companies into China for commercialization and growth. He founded the China operation for LanzaTech and currently serves as board observer for PowerGenix.

Prior to joining Qiming, Chivas had over 25 years of senior executive experiences with Morgan Crucible, GEC Alstom and Hong Kong Electric. While he was the President Asia Pacific for Morgan Carbon, Chivas successfully reengineered multiple business units with integration, spin offs, management buy outs and transferred group technologies into the region.

Chivas holds a first class honor Electrical Engineering Bachelor degree from the University of Hong Kong and a Master Engineering degree from the Sydney University.

Inigo Palacio, Director
Repsol Energy Ventures

Iñigo is Deputy Director of Repsol New Energy Ventures, Repsol’s corporate venture capital aimed at investing in early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies in high technology industries, such as biotechnology, renewable energies, power storage and electric mobility.

He is currently serving on the Board of Directors of various European companies active in the fields of biotechnology (NEOL Biosolutions), floating offshore wind platforms (WindPlus), charging infrastructures for electric vehicle (IBIL), e-car sharing (IBILEK) and he is also a Board Observer at AlgaEnergy.

Iñigo has more than 15 years at Repsol occupying different managing positions mainly in the LPG Division where he was Chairman of the World LPGas Association, WLPGA (2009-2010.) During the last two years, Iñigo has leaded the launch and management of Repsol´s venture program, engaging its activity with the corporate innovation strategy.

Iñigo holds a BSc in Industrial Engineering from the Oviedo University, a PDD from IESE Business School and a PIM from Austral University. His fields of experience mainly concern project management, business development and deal closing.

Dhiraj Malkani, Partner
Rockport Capital Partners

Dhiraj began his career at Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies as a Senior Product Engineer developing next-Generation optical components for Telecommunications. He received several U.S. patents for his inventions in MEMS technology before transitioning from pure engineering to evaluating early-stage photonics and life-science companies for Boston University’s Photonics Center business incubator program. Prior to joining RockPort he was a summer associate in Deutsche Bank’s Technology Investment Banking division. At Rockport, Dhiraj is an active member of the screening and diligence teams and has worked on multiple transactions in solar energy, transportation, advanced materials, energy storage, smart grid, water and wind technologies. Dhiraj is a graduate of the University of Mumbai with a BS in Mechanical Engineering. He earned an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Rakesh Kapoor, Director of NOVA External Venturing

Saint Gobain

Rakesh Kapoor has been Director of Saint-Gobain’s Northboro and Worcester R&D Center since September 2004 and of External Venturing since Jan 2011.

Rakesh joined Saint-Gobain in 1994 as Research Manager for the Norton Construction Products Division of Saint-Gobain Abrasives in Worcester, Massachusetts. He became Operations/Plant Manager of the Saint-Gobain Abrasives manufacturing facility in Gainesville, Georgia in 1997. Two years later, Rakesh was named Director of the company’s Northboro Research & Development Center. In 2002, he took on the additional responsibility of R&D Director of Bonded Abrasives. Throughout, 2010, Rakesh also served as R&D Director for Saint-Gobain Abrasives worldwide. In Jan 2011, he was appointed Director for the External Venturing Organization (NOVA) which is responsible for interfacing with startups and serves all of Saint-Gobain. Rakesh divides his time between Paris and Northboro, MA.

Rakesh has a Master of Science in metallurgy and a Doctor of Science in Metallurgy, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He also has a Bachelor’s degree in Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay. A holder of five U.S. patents, he is a member of the American Ceramic Society and the American Welding Society. He serves as a member of the Industry Advisory Board at Penn State Materials Technology Lab and at the MIT Materials Processing Center.

Keimpe Keuning, Senior Investment Manager
SAM Private Equity

Mr. Keuning is Senior Investment Manager with Robeco SAM Clean Tech Private Equity and is based in Zurich. He is the primary contact person for a number of clean tech fund investments and sits on the board of a number of clean tech co-investments.

Prior to this, he joined Robeco in 2006 as Manager Corporate Development responsible for strategy and acquisitions, where he played an essential role in the realization of three joint ventures and two acquisitions, including SAM. Previously, he worked at Fortis Bank as Associate Director where he advised a broad range of clients on numerous M&A and ECM transactions. These included the listing of Tele Atlas on Euronext Amsterdam and the sale of the Dutch state publisher, Sdu, to ABN AMRO Capital and Allianz Capital Partners. He began his working career at Ernst & Young as a tax advisor.

Mr. Keuning received his law degree in corporate tax law from the University of Leiden. He also studied U.S and International tax law at the University of Florida, and participated in executive education at the Amsterdam Institute of Finance and INSEAD.

Ji-Yeong Kang, Managing Director
Samho Green Investment VC

Ji-Yeong Kang is leading specialized investment strategist for Korean Cleantech companies  to extend their competitiveness into global market. As a managing director of SGI he is also responsible for communication with LPs and SGI. SGI is the first and only venture capital firm in Korea focused on the clean growth sector, including renewable energy, green and agricultural technologies. Before joining SGI for almost 20 years he managed IT venture funds at KB Investment which is a VC arm of Kook Min Bank, the largest bank in Korea. He managed the funds successfully with highest records of venture funds initiated by Korean National Pension Service who is the best and largest LP in Korea. He also received Korean government minister’s award for VC achievement in Korea.  He worked as a member of the planning advisory group of Korean Venture Capital Association. He is developing IT technology based investment opportunities in Cleantech industry as Korean IT industry grows full scale and is changing to more efficient and clean technology.  He has a BE from Seoul National University and an MBA from Yonsei University.

Mike Goguen, Partner
Sequoia Capital

Michael works with energy, internet and technology companies. Prior to joining Sequoia Capital in 1996, Michael spent 10 years in various engineering, research, and product management roles at DEC, SynOptics and Centillion, and was a director of Engineering at Bay Networks (NT). Michael was also a Technical Chairman of the ATM Forum. Michael has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and an MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Michael Majors, Investment Partner
Siemens Venture Capital

Mike Majors is an Investment Partner based in Boston, MA. He focuses on investments in the industrial space, including industrial automation, drive technologies, building technologies, lighting and mobility.

Before joining Siemens Venture Capital, Mike was the CFO at Indeed.com, a search engine for jobs, and a Venture Partner at StarVest Partners, a New York City based venture capital firm focusing on SaaS investments. Prior to that, Mike was the CFO at Visible World, a provider of targeted television advertising solutions backed by Comcast, Time Warner, and WPP.

While a Vice President at BEV Capital, a consumer, digital media, and software focused venture capital fund, Mike led investments in and worked with companies including Retail Solutions (acquired by VeriSign), MaxPreps (acquired by CBS), and ProfitLogic (acquired by Oracle). Earlier in his career, Mike was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group.

Mike received a PhD in control systems from Cambridge University and a BSE in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton University.

Joshua Raffaelli, Partner
Silver Lake Kraftwerk

Josh is currently a Partner at Silver Lake Kraftwerk, and a Kauffman Fellow. Prior to joining Silver Lake Kraftwerk, Josh was a Principal at Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), where he focused on investments in energy and clean technology. Prior to DFJ, Josh was an Analyst at Och-Ziff Capital Management (OZ) in London, and prior to OZ, Josh was an Analyst at JPMorgan’s Technology Investment Banking group in San Francisco. Mr. Raffaelli earned an MBA from Stanford Business School, and an AB in government from Harvard University.

Dr. Vicky Sharpe, President and CEO
Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC)

Vicky Sharpe is President and CEO of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), a Government of Canada initiative whose mission is to help develop and commercialize clean technologies that will strengthen economic and environmental performance in Canada.

As founding CEO, Dr. Sharpe has increased the funding pool from $100M to over $1B and mobilized private sector capital resulting in more than $3.6B of investments for projects and commercialization activities.   With over 25 years of experience in the energy industry, Dr. Sharpe has successfully integrated sustainable development into business practices.

As part of her leadership in building a cleantech infrastructure, Dr. Sharpe is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Alberta Enterprise Corporation and the Steering Committee of the UNEP SEF Alliance. Dr. Sharpe is helping to shape the Canadian cleantech landscape through the provision of strategic advice including her role on the Ontario Premier’s Climate Change Advisory Panel. She is also a Director for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Carbon Management Canada Inc. (CMC), and the Biowaste to Energy for Canada integrated initiative Corp. (BECii).

Dr. Sharpe has served on numerous committees, in particular as an international advisor on sustainability issues; has represented the Canadian energy sector at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Business Forum; and has chaired both the National Advisory Board on Energy, Science and Technology, and the Board of Directors of Clean Air Canada Inc.

For her work in advancing sustainability and clean capitalism, Dr. Sharpe was recognised as one of the Clean 16, a top spot on Canada’s 2012 Clean 50 (www.clean50.ca).

Dr. Sharpe holds a B.Sc. Honours in Applied Biology from Bath University, UK, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology and Chemistry, as applied to water pollution control, from Trent University, UK.

Ignacio Martinez, Managing Director
Syngenta Venture Capital

Ignacio has significant experience in venture capital investing globally in Life Sciences, Agribusiness and Cleantech. At Syngenta Ventures he is responsible for investing in and managing a portfolio of companies that can provide strategic value and financial returns for Syngenta. He currently serves on boards of several of the fund’s portfolio companies in Europe. Prior to Syngenta Ventures, Ignacio was the CFO of Progenika, an international group of companies in the Life Sciences industry. Located first in Europe and then in the US, Ignacio led the finance and operations functions, raised venture capital, created spin-offs and successfully participated in the international expansion of the group. Prior to Progenika, he spent several years working in venture capital investing in Life Sciences and IT first in Najeti Ventures and then at Seed Capital. He holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from Deusto University and completed an International MBA at IE Business School in Spain and Germany.

Astorre Modena, Partner
Terra Venture Partners

Astorre Modena is the Founder and General Partner of Terra Venture Partners, leading early-stage Cleantech VC in Israel. Before founding Terra, Astorre was a Principal at Israel Seed Partners, a leading seed-stage venture capital in Israel with more than $260 million under management. Until recently, Astorre was an active key investor in the establishment of Cellint, a new cellular startup that is growing rapidly. Prior to Israel Seed, Astorre was with McKinsey & Co., based in Paris, where he consulted to leading Italian, French and Israeli manufacturing and financial corporations.

Astorre holds a B.Sc. in Physics and Outstanding Students Program (“Amirim”) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a Ph.D. in Plasma Physics from Imperial College in London.

Antoine Verny, Investment Manager
Total Energy Ventures

Antoine Verny joined Total in 2005, as a senior lawyer in the mergers, acquisitions and finance department, working on complex oil & gas transactions (M&A, project financing, restructurings). He also advised on the creation of the corporate venturing activity of Total, initiated in 2008, before joining the initiative in 2009 as investment manager. Antoine notably leads the team’s efforts on industrial energy efficiency and sustainable mobility space. He sits on the Board of EnerVault, an innovative US energy storage company, and on the investment committee of EcoMobilité Ventures, a French investment partnership among large industrial corporations, active in the sustainable mobility space. Before working for Total, Antoine had developed 9 years of experience as a commercial banker and business lawyer, specializing on cross-border transactions, first in a commercial bank (Credit Lyonnais Americas), then with international law firms (Cleary Gottlieb, Sullivan & Cromwell), working in New York and Paris. Antoine holds an MBA from ESSEC business school, a Master and a Post Graduate degree in business law and tax from Paris II Assas University of Law, and an LL.M. degree from Columbia Law School ; he is a former member of the Paris Bar and a current member of New York Bar ; he still teaches mergers & acquisitions at the Paris II Assas University of Law.

Don Ye, Founder & Managing Partner
Tsing Capital

Mr. Ye is the Managing Partner of Tsing Capital, the first cleantech capital management firm in China with a serial of China Environment Funds under management. Don Ye founded the firm in 2001, as well as CEF 2002, CEF 2004 and CEF III which have become the first and most prominent cleantech funds in China.

Mr. Ye has over 20 years of professional experience in venture capital, startups and investment consulting in both Silicon Valley and China. His cross border management experience in USD and RMB denominated funds has given him exceptional insights into investment in China, making him one of the very few venture capitalists with domain expertise in fund management home and abroad.

In China, Mr. Ye was selected as one of 25 “Promoters of Chinese Business Internalization” (Global Entrepreneur), 2009 Top 50 Venture Capitalist (Forbes), 2009 China’s Most Powerful People (BusinessWeek), 2009 Stars of China (BusinessWeek China), 2008 “Forbes China People 100” and the 2008 “Green Investment – VC/PE Person of the Year”, 2005 “Pioneer Award” by Cleantech Venture Forum, 2004 “China Environment People” nominee, as well as 2003 “Top Ten Best Venture Capitalists” in China, 2003 “China New Economy People 100” and 2002 “the Most Active Venture Capitalist”

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing, China.

Bjarne Henning Jensen, Partner
Vaekstfonden

Bjarne Henning Jensen is the Investment Director at Vaekstfonden, responsible for analysis and investments within cleantech. Prior to Vaekstfonden, Jensen held the position as Vice President of Technology/R&D at Anhydro Holding A/S,. Before that, he served among other important posts as Executive Director for Elsam A/S, as Managing Director and CEO for Elsam Engineering A/S, as Director of Industry and Energy Division for Cowi A/S. Jensen is M.Sc. (Chem. Eng.), B.Com., holds a PhD from The Technical Univ. of Denmark and is member of The Danish Academy of Technical Sciences.

Stephan Dolezalek, Managing Director and Group Leader, CleanTech
VantagePoint Capital Partners

Mr. Dolezalek has spent over 25 years in Silicon Valley working exclusively with technology-driven companies. He joined VantagePoint in 1999 where he served as head or co-head of the Firm’s Software and Life Sciences Groups. Mr. Dolezalek crafted VantagePoint’s CleanTech platform in 2002, and has actively headed the CleanTech Group since its inception, guiding it to become one of the preeminent practices in the world.  He has been instrumental in building the Firm’s Corporate Strategic Partner program and has served on the boards of numerous portfolio companies. Mr. Dolezalek has extensive experience in helping start-up companies through scale-up and project-deployment phases. Prior to joining VantagePoint, he was a senior partner with Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison acting as Managing Partner of that Firm’s Palo Alto Office, Head of the Business and Technology Group and Chairman of the Life Sciences Group. He has acted as co-chairman of the CleanTech Venture Network’s Advisory Board, is a member of the NVCA CleanTech Advisory Council and an active member of the American Council on Renewable Energy.  Mr. Dolezalek is a frequent speaker on the topic of our new-energy economy and has shared his insights at dozens of events, most recently the ARPA-E Innovation Summit, the CleanTech Forum and the Renewable Energy Technology Conference and Exhibition. He is a graduate of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia (BCP) and the University of Virginia School of Law (JD).

William Wescott, Vice President of Innovation, Americas
Veolia Environnement

Bill is VP, Innovation, Americas for Veolia Environnement. Prior to assuming his role at Veolia, Bill was the Managing Director of Cleantech Group’s Advisory Services, which assist clients in public and private sectors accelerate their implementation of cleantech solutions.