Sheeraz Haji, CEO

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.

Greg Neichin, Executive Vice President 

Greg is the Head of Cleantech Group’s Research & Advisory business, as well as serving as the company’s lead of Smart Grid.  Greg has personally authored a variety of publications including the U.S. DOE’s 2010 Smart Grid Vendor Ecosystem Review.  Greg brings to his smart grid research an extensive background in software and data communications having helped build two successful venture-backed software-as-a-service companies (GetActive Software and PlaceVine), as well as managing Strategy & Business Development for Redback Networks.  Greg has a B.A. in Economics and Government from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

Troy Ault, Research Analyst

Troy supports the senior research staff in company and broader industry-focused research across multiple cleantech segments including energy efficiency, water, smart grid, energy storage, and transportation.

Prior to joining the Cleantech Group, Troy worked with a local Bay Area water conservation software startup providing financial and market research. He also brings experience in energy efficiency, having worked with non-profits in both his home state of Vermont and in Washington, D.C. helping administer residential energy efficiency push-programs. Troy originally joined the Cleantech Group as a research intern helping in energy storage research, and quickly demonstrated competency in the company’s broader portfolio of focus segments.

Troy earned a B.S. in business administration with a concentration in finance at the University of Vermont. He has leveraged his training in business and finance toward a personal and professional interest in the way modern societies consume energy and natural resources. When he’s not on the clock, he’s probably still reading and researching something energy-related.

Kerry Cebul, Associate, Research & Advisory

Kerry provides principal support for research and advisory engagements with global enterprises, investors, and public institutions. Kerry has a diverse consulting background ranging from supporting the development and implementation of energy and climate change strategies in the public sector to creating private sector cleantech product launch strategies.

Prior to joining the Cleantech Group, Kerry spent 4 years as a consultant with ICF International developing and scaling national sustainability and energy programs for public sector Federal, State, and local organizations including the Department of Energy, National Park Service, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Kerry has a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Middlebury College.

Hans Chen, Research Analyst

Hans’ main responsibilities include tracking global cleantech investments, managing the inputting of the investments into the Market Insight Database, and writing weekly roundups of cleantech investment activity for subscribers. With his intense attention to details, Hans ensures that our data is accurate, complete and up-to-date.

Prior to joining the Cleantech Group, Hans worked as an Analyst for Tsing Capital, one of the most prominent cleantech venture capital firms in China. Hans’ fluency in Chinese and professional experience in China are valuable assets to the research team, as China is emerging as one of the most important players in cleantech.

Hans owns a B.S. Degree in Environmental Sciences from University of California, Berkeley, and a Master’s Degree in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Vince Knowles, Research Analyst

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 1st Class Honours and the J.A. Scott Prize for academic excellence in Natural Sciences.

Stephen Marcus, Research Analyst

From monitoring trends in dealflow in Europe, Asia and the Middle East to writing in-depth reports, Stephen serves as our key European and Asian analyst.  Stephen is also an emerging voice on key areas of concern in Cleantech the Cleantech space, such as limited resources and climate change.Stephen joined the Cleantech Group as an intern, and quickly demonstrated his knack for top-knotch analysis.  He now works as a full-time analyst.

Stephen holds a B.Sc. in Economics from University College London. Stephen went on to continue with his Masters studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Whitney Bennett Michael, Senior Director, Marketing

As Senior Director of Marketing, Whitney heads up all efforts to grow the global Cleantech Group brand including building awareness of the i3 market intelligence platform and driving attendance and sponsorship at industry-leading Cleantech Forums. Whitney manages a wide variety of projects including marketing campaigns, branding, public relations, social media, and event marketing.

Prior to Cleantech Group, Whitney was Director of Marketing and Audience Development for TechWeb, driving all marketing efforts for Web 2.0 Summit, Web 2.0 Expo and Enterprise 2.0 Conference. Additionally, she was responsible for the entire TechWeb Live Events Group’s email marketing, marketing analytics, and audience database growth strategy.  Whitney began her career in marketing research, from research design to data analysis, to help organizations understand branding, awareness and satisfaction amongst customers and prospects.

Whitney has a B.A. in Economics & Management from Beloit College in Wisconsin and an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.

Arti Patel, Analyst, Research and Advisory

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.

Sara Strope, Vice President, Events

As Vice President of Events at Cleantech Group, Sara is responsible for creating and executing the prestigious Cleantech Forums and Cleantech Focus event across the globe. Sara works closely with a wide range of industry leaders to make sure that each event promotes thought leadership and convenes the leading innovators and executives.  Prior  to leading the Cleantech Group events, Sara served as head of Cleantech Group’s client services team.

Sara has over ten years of client relations management expertise.  She has helped a wide-range of companies successfully launch new products, programs, websites and events.  She honed her client relationship skills in senior roles at Boston Interactive, Ogilvy Public Relations and Convio.

Sara started her career as a microenterprise, healthcare, and housing lobbyist in Washington, DC. She holds a M.S.W. with a focus on Social and Economic Development and a B.A. from Washington University in St. Louis.