2011 Panelists

Girish Nadkarni, Managing Director
ABB Technology Ventures

Girish Nadkarni started his career as an attorney on Wall Street focusing on international banking and M&A. His business career spans Prudential where he was responsible for creating the Pru-Shelf  financing facility which currently has 600 customers with a portfolio value of $47 Billion, GE Capital and GE where he worked for Jack Welch on strategy and business development, and United Healthcare as Chief Operations Officer. He has also had a stint as an entrepreneur when he founded and ran vSimplify, VC funded startup. Girish has been at ABB since 2003, during which time he has been responsible for ABB’s global cost migration program and ran the global automotive  business for the Robotics Division. In October 2009 Girish started ABB Technology Ventures, ABB’s corporate venture fund. Girish earned his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Bombay where he was a gold medalist, his masters of law degree from the University of Virginia which he attended as a DuPont Fellow, and an MBA from Harvard where he was designated a Baker Scholar.

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.

Dr. Bernhard Mohr, Investment Manager
BASF Venture Capital GmbH

Bernhard Mohr has worked for BASF Venture Capital as Senior Investment Manager since 2006. He has held senior positions in the BASF Group since 1996 and brings to BASF Venture Capital an international expertise in marketing, finance, corporate development and research & development. Bernhard studied chemistry at the Universities of Stuttgart, Germany and Cincinnati, USA and earned a doctorate from the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. Prior to joining BASF he held postdoctoral appointments in Japan, France and USA.

BASF Venture Capital GmbH was established in 2001 as a subsidiary of BASF Future Business GmbH with the aim of exploring new growth potentials based on investment in startup companies and funds. BASF Venture Capital GmbH’s financial commitment per company is in the range of one to five million euros, with active support provided for young start-ups. BASF Venture Capital GmbH selects businesses for investment whose success factors include innovative chemistry-based solutions and which are of strategic interest for BASF. More information about BASF Venture Capital GmbH is available at www.basf-vc.de.

John Steedman, Director Venturing
BP Alternative Energy

John is currently Director Venturing for BP Alternative Energy (BP AE) leading a team based in London with responsibility for market scanning to investment in disruptive early stage technology companies. Sectors of high strategic interest are renewables, energy storage, energy efficiency and bio-based products. The team provides deep insight and builds future strategic options for the business through an open innovation model that improves access to emerging technology. BP Ventures was founded in 2007 and now has $130m under management across a portfolio of both direct and fund investments.

John’s career has been entirely with BP, mostly in the former chemicals division and covering many dimensions – technical to commercial, strategy to operational, and both business and function management. This has involved frequent contact with suppliers, customers, licensees and colleagues across the supply chain from raw materials, to converters to finished products.

John holds a BSc in Environmental Chemistry, a PhD in Organic Chemistry both from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from the Open University.

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).

Adam Workman, Partner
Carbon Trust Investment Partners

Adam Workman is Investment Partner at CT Investment Partners LLP, the fund manager of the Northwest Fund for Energy and Environmental and advisor to Carbon Trust Investments.  CT Investment Partners is one of the leading investors in UK clean energy businesses. We invest on strictly commercial terms and have co-invested in 25 businesses to date. These companies between them have raised a total investment of £250 million.

He has over ten years experience in the energy and venture capital sector. His investments include Acal Energy, CamSemi, Marine Current Turbines and Intamac. He co-authored the Carbon Trust’s report into investment trends the European Clean Energy Sector with the Cleantech Group and Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Until recently Adam sat on the European advisory panel for the Cleantech Group.  He formerly worked with 3i and Shell Exploration. He has an MA in Natural Sciences and a Postgraduate diploma in Computer Science from Cambridge University.

Saul Reichman, Principal
The Challenge Fund

Dr. Saul Reichman is Principal 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 two 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, 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.

David Cheng, Director, Research & Advisory
Cleantech Group

David focuses on the smart grid, energy efficiency in the built environment, and carbon abatement strategies. He brings to his role a strong understanding of how to identify, finance, and grow innovative and entrepreneurial companies. Prior to the Cleantech Group, David was an associate at Ridgewood Capital, an early to expansion stage venture capital firm focused on information and clean technology, where he was responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, financial analysis, and portfolio management. While at Ridgewood, David focused most of his efforts covering the solar, automotive, and smart grid sectors.

Previously, David was a Senior Associate with IDG Ventures in Vietnam where he covered digital media opportunities in the Southeast Asia region. He has also worked as an investment banking analyst at Banc of America Securities in the Equity Capital Markets group in San Francisco. While at Banc of America Securities, David transacted on multiple IPO, secondary, and convertible offerings for leading technology companies. Earlier in his career, David was an analyst for Sempra Energy Solutions in the Natural Gas Portfolio Management group in San Diego.

David is currently an engaged member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (e2) and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). He is also active in the San Francisco chapter of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) as a mentor and advisory council board member.

David received a BS in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

Josh Gould, Director, Research & Advisory
Cleantech Group

As Senior Manager of the Cleantech Group’s Advisory practice, Josh leads client-driven research projects for the firm’s growing list of corporate, investor, and government clients. Josh has a range of expertise related to corporate innovation and growth, energy storage, wind and solar energy, and the smart grid.

Prior to the Cleantech Group, Josh founded Gould Energy Storage – a firm advising utilities and investors on energy storage, wind energy, and other cleantech issues. The firm helped client Southern California Edison write the winning proposal to the Department of Energy for what was – at the time – the world’s largest lithium-ion grid storage battery at a wind farm in Tehachapi, CA.

Previously, Josh worked at early stage venture capital firm Innosight Ventures, founded by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen, disruptive innovation theorist and author of “Innovator’s Solution.” Earlier in his career, Josh was a strategy consultant with Deloitte Consulting, advising the firm’s utility and technology clients.

Josh has a B.A. in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Claremont McKenna College where he graduated magna cum laude, and an M.B.A from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

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.

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.

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.

Cees van Dongen, Director, Strategic Planning, Environment & Water
Coca-Cola Company

Cees van Dongen joined the Coca-Cola Company in October 2001 as Director Environment, Health & Safety for the Europe, Eurasia and Middle East SBU. Based in Brussels, he currently serves as Director of Strategic Planning Environment & Water for the European Union Group and leads Coke’s initiatives in the area of PET collection and bottle-to-bottle recycling. His other strategic focus area is occupational health and safety. Cees is a member of Coke’s global Environment, Health & Safety Council that advices the Excom’s of Coca-Cola and its main franchise bottlers in strategic EOHS matters.

Cees earned a Chemistry and Biology M. SC degree in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry from Utrecht (NL) and Cologne (D) Universities in 1981 and started his career as a research chemist.

Cees has been active in the field of Environment and Occupational Health & Safety since 1985, holding various, increasingly senior operational and corporate positions at Schmallbach Lubeca and Crown Cork & Seal respectively.

Wayne Keast, CEO New Energy and Environment Investments
Consensus Business Group

Wayne Keast is the Managing Partner of the Evolution One Fund and an executive director of Inspired Evolution Investment Managers (the Manager). He is also the Chief Executive of Consensus Environment, the $500m New Energy and Environmental infrastructure private equity investment arm of the London based Consensus Business Group. Wayne is also a founding Partner & Investment Director of the $250m Abu Dhabi Masdar Cleantech Fund.

Wayne is a Non-Executive Director of several Cleantech investee companies. Current and past NED positions including, Econergy International plc (a listed Americas based clean energy developer, carbon broker & consultancy), Renewable Energy Holdings plc (a listed European clean energy developer), Duratherm Inc (a Texas based hydrocarbon recycling and metal recovery business), HaloSource, Inc (a Seattle based water purification business), Dynamotive Energy Systems Inc (a listed Canadian / US bio oil & biomass), Bowman Power (UK based turbo electric technology) and Green Gas Int’l (Global Coal mine methane & Landfill Gas developer).

Wayne led an investment team that has invested and committed more than $700m into Cleantech and Environmental infrastructure investments around the world. He is on the strategic committee and advisory board for Aloe Environment Fund II (the €100m European, India & China focused technology and infrastructure fund) and the advisory board of Chrysalix Energy II LP (the $70m early stage North American Cleantech fund). Past advisory board positions include, Expansion Capital Cleantech Fund II (the $100m US based expansion stage fund) and Environmental Technology Fund (UK based £100m Cleantech fund).

Prior to joining Consensus in 2005, Wayne spent several years in corporate finance, strategy consulting, venture capital and private equity positions. He was VP Corporate Finance at Edengene Finance from 2003-2005 and Chief Financial Officer at ePartners, eVentures and Softbank UK Ventures (the $1.2 billion global private equity and business incubation group) from 2000 – 2003. From 1994-1999 Wayne was Group Financial Director & Head of Corporate Development for a large South African conglomerate of 22 diverse operating and investment companies (including retail, manufacture, construction, trade finance) Wayne holds a Bachelor’s and Honour’s degree in Accounting Science, Commerce & Finance [BCompt (Hons) CTA] from the University of South Africa and is a qualified Chartered Accountant [CA (SA)].

Olivier Dupont, Chairman of the Board
Demeter Partners

Olivier Dupont has twenty-four years of senior management experience in Private Equity. Since 2005, he is the founder and chairman of the Executive 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 has offices in Paris, Madrid and Berlin. Demeter Partners is currently raising a third fund, a seed fund called “IDEA”.

Prior to DEMETER Partners, Mr Dupont was Managing Director of Fonds de Promotion pour le capital-risque” (CDC Entreprises) from 2001 to 2005, the Head of Private Equity at Société Générale from 1997 to 2000, the Director of Financial Engineering and Investment at Crédit du Nord from 1995 to 1997, CEO of BTP Capital, a Fund dedicated to Environment from 1991 to 1995 and the 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 Économiques ( Paris I Sorbonne 1974). Mr Dupont is the Chairman of the Compliance Committee of the AFIC (French Private Equity association). He is the author of « les PME et le marché de l’environnement » (1995) and « Ajustement de prix et capital-investissement » (2002) and he is Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur.

Mary Kay James
DuPont Ventures

Mary Kay James has a managing director role responsible for all aspects of sourcing, analyzing and executing strategic equity investments for DuPont’s solar and energy storage businesses. In addition she is the Venture liaison for DuPont’s Electronics & Communications business unit where she provides open innovation technology options generating new business opportunities for the company. Her recent areas of investment include cleantech, and advanced materials for electronics, authentication and packaging applications.

Prior to joining DuPont Ventures in 2003 she held various managerial positions within the DuPont Fluoropolymers business including Global Business Manager for ETFE and PFA Teflon® Resins, and Sales and Marketing Manager for the DuPont Teflon®, Tedlar® and Tefzel® Industrial Films and Coatings business.  Her experience in these roles spanned several sectors including aerospace, automotive, communications, construction, electronics, food, medical and pharmaceutical industries.

Mary Kay holds a graduate degree in International Business from theUniversityofLondonand a Masters of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The Ohio State University with emphasis in biofuel combustion.  Her Bachelor of Science is also in Mechanical Engineering fromOhioStatewhere she was elected to Pi Tau Sigma, International Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, and graduated magna cum laude.

Alex McIntosh, CEO
Ecomundi Ventures

Alex formed Ecomundi Ventures to accelerate our transition to a more sustainable society via two focus areas: Innovative funding models for clean technology particularly in the water sector, and development of a new sustainability framework.

Prior to Ecomundi Ventures, Alex created and led sustainability and corporate citizenship programs at Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) through a time of intense environmental and social scrutiny.  Under his leadership, NWNA initiated cutting-edge footprint and value-chain analyses of its business, and developed unconventional collaborations with a wide spectrum of NGO and partner organizations to tackle complex social issues such as water sustainability & innovation, recycling, and climate change.

Prior to Nestlé, Alex helped lead two historic conservation efforts generating $75MM in private funding at a field office of The Nature Conservancy, co-developed an ecotourism model for an African nation, created a business plan for a US national park, and published a field guide to birds.  He was an early “green home design” pioneer, and now lives in San Francisco with his family.

Alex earned his B.A. with academic honors at Duke University, and a master’s degree in environmental management from Yale University.

Alex is a frequent and engaging speaker on water, sustainability, clean technology, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and stakeholder engagement topics.

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.

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.

Whitney Rockley, Partner
Emerald Technology Ventures

Based in our Toronto office, Whitney Rockley is a Partner with Emerald Technology Ventures and is focused on industrial technology investments within the clean technology sector. Whitney currently serves as the Chair of Arxx Corporation, Director of TerraLUX Inc. and Senscient Inc.. Whitney has sixteen years of investment, operating, environment and strategic planning experience in the energy and water sector. Prior to joining Emerald, Whitney was a partner at Nomura New Energy & Clean Technology Ventures in London and the Director of Venture Capital at EPCOR, a large energy and water company. In addition to completing many of Canada’s first carbon trades, Whitney’s successes were recognized in 2007 when she was named as one of the top 10 women in Cleantech.

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 theUniversityofCambridgeand 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.

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.

Jeffrey Fulgham, Chief Sustainability Officer
GE Power & Water

Jeff Fulgham was appointed Chief Sustainability Officer and Ecomagination Leader in April of 2010. He is responsible for leading the division’s sustainability initiative. As chief sustainability officer and ecomagination leader, he will provide leadership for the company’s ecomagination program, water reuse and reduction initiatives, and the Water for Humanity program. Prior to his April appointment Jeff was the Chief Marketing Officer of GE Water & Process Technologies. In that role, he was responsible for global strategic marketing initiatives on existing and emerging markets, and leading the business intelligence, regional segmentation, and commercial training functions. Before becoming CMO of the Water & Process Technologies division, Jeff was the General Manager of Global Marketing. A 27-year veteran in the water industry, Jeff began his career in 1981 in industrial water treatment chemical sales at Nalco. In 1989, he joined Betz Laboratories, Inc. as a field salesman in the Power Division and was promoted to Corporate Sales Manager for Power Generation in 1994. From 1998 to 2002, he held positions of increasing responsibility within the commercial and corporate sales organizations until the company was acquired by GE Water & Process Technologies. From the date of acquisition, Jeff held a variety of senior leadership roles in the global marketing function. Jeff has been a key speaker at numerous industry events, including UN International Water Conference, Goldman Sachs Global Water Conference, US-India Business Council for Green India, NASA Environmental & Energy Conference, and Executive Energy Forum. During his career, he has published numerous technical papers on power and water topics. Jeff holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Ohio State University. He resides in Doylestown, Pennsylvania with his family.

Colin Le Duc, Partner
Generation Investment Management LLP

Colin is Senior Portfolio Manager for Generation’s Climate Solutions Fund, a $683mn public and private equity fund investing in companies that are part of the solution to the climate crisis.

Prior to co-founding Generation in 2004, Colin was a Director at Sustainable Asset Management (“SAM”) where he worked on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and SAM’s sustainable investment funds. He has also worked for Arthur D. Little and Total. Colin holds a BSc in International Management and Modern languages from University of Bath, UK and has completed the Corporate Finance Programme at London Business School. Colin is on the Boards of RecycleBank, Infinate Power Solutions, Business for Social Responsibility and Forest Trends. He speaks fluent French and has lived in 9 countries around the world.

Nicholas Atkins, Partner
Georgieff Capital

Nicholas Atkins has 17 years of private equity and corporate finance experience.  He has led a number of private equity transactions both as a principal, with 3i and others, and as an advisor.  He has also advised on a range of M&A and corporate finance transactions across various industry groups, including the technology sector whilst at SG Cowen.  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 Management GmbH and Trustee of Kirill Georgieff Stiftung

Jon Lauckner, Corporate Strategy and Business Development
GM

Jon Lauckner was named GM Vice President and President, General Motors Ventures, LLC, effective July 1, 2010.

Prior to this appointment, he held the positions of Vice President of General Motors Global Product Planning since August 2009 and Vice President of Global Program Management since May 2005.  He is a member of the GM Senior Leadership Group and had a key role in developing the Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle.

Jon joined General Motors in 1979 and held a number of positions in product engineering and product development during his career, including international assignments in South America and Europe from 1992-2005.

Lauckner received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1979.  He earned a master of science degree in management from Stanford Business School in 1990 through the Sloan Fellowship program and attended the GM-Harvard Senior Executive Program in 2001.

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.

Diego Diaz Pilas, Technical Co-ordinator
Iberdrola

Diego Díaz works in Iberdrola´s Innovation Department as Technical Coordinator of Iberdrola´s venture capital program Perseo, aimed at investing in early stage clean energy companies.

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 Odersun (thin-film solar cells), Akol Energies (independent solar energy producer), or Nenuphar (vertical axis wind turbine manufacturer). 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.

Nikunj Jinsi, Head & Chief Investment Officer, Climate Business Group – Clean Technology Investments
International Finance Corporation (IFC)

Stephen Eichelaub, Managing Director, Emerging Platform Technologies and Cleantech Sector
Idinvest Partners

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.

Glen Schwaber, Partner
Israel Cleantech Ventures

Glen Schwaber is a partner at Israel Cleantech Ventures, the premier venture capital fund dedicated to investing in Israel’s emerging clean technology companies. Glen is a veteran venture capitalist, bringing with him 15 years of experience in Israeli technology finance. His investment interests are in crossover IT, solar, and power electronics and storage. In addition, he spends significant time focusing on the wind industry and lighting/energy 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. Glen led and co-led 15 investments on behalf of JVP, focusing on semiconductor, power electronics, and communications component companies. 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.

Joe Zhou, Managing Partner
Keytone Ventures

Joe is one of the most experienced VCs in China.  Joe began his venture capital career in late 1999 with Softbank China Venture Capital as Head of Beijing Office.  He was a Partner at SAIF (Softbank Asia Infrastructure Fund) from 2001 to 2006.  He was a Founding Managing Partner at KPCB China when Kleiner Perkins raised its China fund in early 2007.  In early 2008 he founded Keytone Ventures.  He was named Top Ten Venture Capitalists by CVCF in 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2007.  He was named VC of the Year in 2005 by TopCapital.

Joe focuses on identifying market opportunities in TMT, clean-tech and consumer service sectors.  He works closely with the management teams of Redbaby, Borqs, Zhongte and Analogix.  Previously, he was significantly involved with many well-known investments such as Shanda (“SNDA”), Acorn (“ATV”), ATA (“ATAI”), Global Education (“GEDU”), Alchip and Unionpay Merchant.  He currently serves as an independent director for Acorn (“ATV”).

Joe returned to China from the US in 1995 as Vice President of UTStarcom China.  He was responsible for managing investments for UTStarcom and its major shareholder Softbank.  Prior to that, he spent six years in New Jersey working at AT&T Bell Labs and at a Bell Lab spin-off, Lepton Inc.  From 1982 to 1987, he spent five years teaching at Beijing University of Technology.

Joe holds a MSEE from New Jersey Institute of Technology and a BSEE from Beijing University of Technology.

Assaf Barnea, CEO
Kinrot Ventures

Mr. Assaf Barnea is the CEO of Kinrot Ventures. Previously, Mr. Barnea managed the Business Development activity at Mekorot, Israel’s national water company, where he oversaw the establishment of WaTech – the Entrepreneurship & Partnership Center for Water Technologies, a program which supports new innovative water technologies solutions that are relevant to Mekorot’s daily operations. Prior to Mekorot, he served for four years as a Director of Business Development at Comverse Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: CMVT), a global telecom provider. Mr. Barnea is also a Founder and a BOD member of Cardiosense, a medical device start-up company. He is a certified lawyer, holds both law and business degrees from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzelia and a political science and psychology degree from Tel-Aviv University. In his previous career, Mr. Barnea played college basketball at Seton Hall University and professional basketball at Israel’s top division and was a member of the Israeli national basketball team.

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.

Krish Krishnamurthy, Energy Innovation Council Manager, Innovation Manager
Linde

Expertise: Energy generation processes, carbon capture and storage, separation process development, industrial gases production and applications

Education:

Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Clarkson University, Potsdam, New York

B.Tech. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras, India.  Registered P.E. (professional engineer) in the State of New Jersey

Rick Fratus, Senior Vice President
Macquarie Funds Group

Rick Fratus is a Senior Vice President based in Macquarie’s Carlsbad office. He is focused on the firm’s Clean Tech investment activities. Prior to joining Macquarie in 2005, Mr. Fratus was a Senior Associate at Pacific Corporate Group LLC (“PCG”), working with large public pension plans in constructing their private equity portfolios and selecting private equity managers. His areas of focus include energy, clean technology, venture capital, secondary transactions, and special situations. Prior to PCG, he worked at the Austin Clean Energy Incubator where he evaluated start up opportunities and provided management consulting support to portfolio companies. Mr. Fratus also served on active duty for nine years as a Special Operations Officer in the US Navy. Mr. Fratus received his MBA from the University of Texas, Austin, a Diploma in Strategic Studies from the US Naval War College and his Bachelor of Science degree from the US Naval Academy with Merit.

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.

Rodrigo Prudencio, Partner
Nth Power

Rodrigo Prudencio is a Partner with Nth Power and is involved in all aspects of the firm’s operations including investments, investor relations, and portfolio management. Rodrigo sits on the board of Synapsense and Topanga Technologies and is an observer of the boards of Terrapass and Hara.

Earlier in his career, Rodrigo worked for the Department of State where he focused on a variety of global environmental negotiations, including preparations for the Kyoto round of the Climate Change Convention. Rodrigo was also Director of the international trade program at the National Wildlife Federation where he led NWF’s environmental advocacy to reform the rules of international trade.

Rodrigo received his MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley where he served as president of his class and concentrated on energy markets including outside research at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. His bachelor’s degree in international relations was earned from Middlebury College in Vermont.

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.

Dhiraj Malkani, Principal
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.

Crispin Leick, Executive Director
RWE Innogy GmbH

Crispin has established and is leading the Corporate Venture Capital Unit of RWE Innogy since February 2008. RWE Innogy Venture Capital invests in innovative young European companies in the emerging renewable technologies market. Providing professional support, technological expertise and a strong network, RWE Innogy Venture Capital is leveraging the strengths of the RWE group, one of the European Top 5 utilities. The current portfolio with a total investment of over 50mEUR comprises 8 companies from 7 different European countries and 5 different renewable technology areas.

Crispin has over 12 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 Quietrevolution.

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

Rhea Hamilton, Senior Investment Manager
SAM Private Equity

Ms. Hamilton is an Investment Director at SAM Private Equity (formerly part of Robeco Private Equity) and sits on the Board of a number of clean tech co-investments and investee funds. Previously, Ms. Hamilton worked for Royal Dutch Shell, where in her last role, she was a Director and member of the management team of Shell Hydrogen, responsible for fund and direct investments. Prior to this, she was employed at Shell Canada Ltd., were she worked in exploration and production deal-oriented deal teams. She holds a Geophysical Engineering degree (honours) from University of BC, Canada, a MBA from IESE in Spain, and a diploma from the Institute of Directors (IoD) in the UK. Ms. Hamilton has published several articles as part of her scientific work in Antarctica.

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.

Arlin Wasserman, Vice President of Sustainability and CSR
Sodexo

Arlin Wasserman is Vice President of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Sodexo, where he works to develop and implement strategies that promote Sodexo’s leadership in and priorities for Sustainability and CSR. He drives associated initiatives in North America, focusing especially on food-related, environmental and community development programs. He also serves as the company-wide coordinator for positioning and outreach related to employee quality of life, workforce diversity, ethics, core values and sustainability programs, in conjunction with Sodexo¹s management team members.

He also is the founder and principal of Changing Tastes, a consultancy that provides business planning, brand management, product development and marketing insights to Fortune 100 and start-up food companies and trade associations as well as foundations, faith-based and nonprofit organizations working to issues of public health, food, environment and community development. He previously served as an advisor on community food and economic development issues to the United States Department of Agriculture, state agencies in the Midwest, and several of the nation’s largest private foundations. Arlin also has spoken before the European Union Parliament on industry and consumer trends in the U.S. food system and world trade negotiations.

In 2003, he was appointed to the State of Michigan’s Cardiovascular Health and Active Living by Design task forces, both working to improve public health through better public policy around land use and community design. In 1996, he served on that state’s Pollution Prevention Strategy and Implementation Committee.

Arlin is a past recipient of a national Food and Society Policy Fellowship through which he explored new agricultural business models that create value through evoking a “taste of place.” His presentations and articles on the connection between location, flavor and economic development have reached public health professionals, agricultural interests, culinary professionals, policy makers and the popular press

Prior to receiving the Food and Society Policy fellowship, Mr. Wasserman served as the Policy Director for the Michigan Land Use Institute, where he directed programs on land use, transportation, agriculture, and sustainable economic development. In recent years, his involvement has ranged from developing alternative transportation plans for several northern Michigan communities to work with state lawmakers on a variety of smart growth and public lands management initiatives. Before joining the staff of the Institute, he also was its founding president.

Before joining the Michigan Land Use Institute, Mr. Wasserman was a risk management specialist for Environmental Solutions in Traverse City. He has been on the staff of several local governments in Michigan including as Solid Waste Manager for Grand Traverse County, Director of Environmental Services for Ypsilanti Township, and Chief Administrator for the City of Ann Arbor’s recycling program, when that city launched the nation’s first weekly curbside recycling program.

Arlin holds a Master of Science in Natural Resources and a Master of Public Health, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economics, all from the University of Michigan.

Arlin grew up in the Philadelphia produce industry and now resides in Maryland. He also has very good knife skills for an amateur, gained while working his way through college as a cook in a Chinese restaurant.

Thorsten Reuter, Growth Ventures & Innovation
Sony

Vicky Sharpe
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 $2.9B 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.

Ignacio Martinez, Principal
Syngenta Venture Capital

Ignacio is a Principal at Syngenta Ventures, the venture capital arm of leading global agribusiness Syngenta. Previously, he was the CFO of Progenika Group, an international corporation focused on personalized medicine and diagnostics. During his tenure at Progenika, Ignacio lead the finance and operations functions and contributed to raise funds from venture capital, pension funds and other institutional investors. Prior to that, he spent several years in venture capital investing in early stage companies in Biotech and IT first at Najeti Ventures, an early stage international fund, and then at Seed Capital. Ignacio started his career as a financial controller at Eyher, an industrial firm, where he focused on operations, financial planning and controlling.

Ignacio holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from Deusto University (Spain) and an International MBA from IE Business School (Spain/Germany)

Dr. Avinash Patkar, Chief Sustainability Officer
Tata Power

Dr. Avinash Patkar obtained his B. Chem. Eng. in 1973 from the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) of Mumbai University. After working for Humphreys and Glasgow Consultants for 2 years, he went to the University of Cincinnati in USA in 1975 and obtained his M.S. and Ph.D. (both in Chemical Engineering) there. He is also a certified Professional Engineer (P. E.) in the State of Ohio. Dr. Patkar has worked in the field of air pollution control and energy efficiency in the US for 30 years.From 2002 to 2007, as the Lead Process Engineer for Powerspan Corp., he designed a demonstration plant for an ammonia based SO2/NOx removal system and a pilot plant for a CO2 Capture system. Dr. Patkar came back to India in June 2007 to head the Corporate Environmental and Safety Group of The TATA Power Company Ltd. (TATA Power). He became the Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO) in March 2008. Dr. Patkar is also the Convener for Sustainability Council (SC) within TATA Power that has developed the Corporate Sustainability Strategy. In addition, he is actively involved in reviewing new technologies in clean coal, CO2 capture and ocean, solar, wind power systems. His focus is on clean technologies for small, distributed power systems for rural electrification.

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.

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.