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Connect to the people and ideas with the power to take us from chaos to transformation at Cleantech Forum San Francisco. Coming to a screen near you on 19-21 January.
This year, our theme, From Chaos to Transformation: Tackling the Climate Crisis Together will inspire you to find your next partner and uncover the innovations and ideas transforming our shared future.
By introducing you to rising star companies in the 2021 Global Cleantech 100 and beyond, as well as providing you with updates on key innovation trends and topics to pay attention to in 2021+, Cleantech Forum San Francisco is committed to helping you get re-set in January for 2021+, with a refreshed mindset and new ideas, leads, and contacts.
We hope you and your team will join us for the January 2021 Cleantech Forum season.
The Advantages of Attending Cleantech Forum San Francisco – for all Participants
- Open Networking + AI-Powered connectivity – dedicated randomized networking sessions as well as suggested matches based on your interests and ambitions, meet new people, technologies, companies and investors that are right for you.
- Updates on key investment trends and themes – get re-set for 2021+ by listening to thought leaders and expert panels, and participating in informal and interactive discussion sessions.
- Meet some of the 2021 Global Cleantech 100 companies and other rising stars – hear approx. 25 companies present live, and discover more beyond in the Exhibit area.
- Team Access – our approach to registration is designed to have you easily add and involve more team members, to maximize return on your investment, and to reduce screen time per individual.
Team Packages – and Special/Limited Offerings for Entrepreneurs and Investors/Corporates
- Facilitated Introductions and Meetings – being part of our Actively Managed Meetings Program will maximize your opportunities of finding future partners as we will pre-schedule a series of speed meetings between companies and investor/ corporates and make additional introductions and beyond.
- Peer-to-Peer Roundtables for Investors and Corporates – gain insights, new connections and dealflow from an exclusive, invite-only session for co-investors and other experts in your area.
Please note that there are only a limited number of these special team packages and you will need to have registered by 15 December to be part of the special meetings program. To find out more, visit our dedicated pages for Entrepreneurs and for Investor/Corporates. (See top menu bar)
Enjoy Personalized Support
- Dedicated help – all attendees are assigned a Cleantech Group team member who will answer your questions and help you make the most of the event.
- A pre-event webinar introducing the platform – by investing a little time ahead of the event, you can navigate the platform, and understand how to make the most from the event.
Gain Insight From A Fast-Paced Agenda
- Access to half-day research-led programs – our agenda challenges you with the latest trends, analysis and innovations transforming sustainability.
- Downloadable slide decks and Access to Recordings – you won’t miss any of the information delivered during our sessions.
- A detailed Cleantech Group takeaway – finish the event on a high note Cleantech Group’s slides on the key innovation and investment trends highlighted during the event
A wide range of sessions means you can choose the topics and formats that interest you most. Pursue your area or expertise or widen your horizons. Our agenda will draw from the six sectors in our industrial coverage.
Who Attends
The Forum connects the latest generation of start-ups with investors and corporates looking for new partners.
Meet the people who attended our 2020 Forum.
We’ll let our community tell you what makes Cleantech Forum San Francisco invaluable.
“One of the best conferences I have ever been to”
– Gregorio Oberti, Managing Director, PwC“Startups, entrepreneurs, investors, corporates – all the most influential leaders and innovators of the global cleantech industry gather at Cleantech Forum San Francisco to attend meaningful discussions and identify new trends, emerging innovations and their deployment. It really is a MUST in the cleantech industry.”
– Andrée-Lise Méthot, Founder & Managing Director, Cycle Capital Management“It was an absolute blast! Loved my first Cleantech Forum. What amazing people you gather. Feeling inspired and motivated.”
– Claire O’Connor, Senior Advisor, International Affairs, US Department of Energy“Thank you for a great forum! I was humbled by the smart and experienced people I met, it was great rubbing shoulders with such intelligent people. And I’m following up with several of them!”
– Kathy Giori, Vice President, Arduino
Contact
If you have any questions about Cleantech Forum Europe, please feel free to contact us at forumsf@cleantech.com.
Entrepreneurs
Welcome to Cleantech Forum San Francisco, coming to a screen near you on 19-21 January.
From our 40+ Cleantech Forums worldwide since 2003, we know that the greatest benefit for entrepreneurial companies is access to our network of investors and corporations. For that reason, we are offering innovation companies a special package.
Please note that there are only a limited number of these special team packages and you will need to have registered by 15 December to be part of all aspects of the special meetings program.
Team Packages – Special/Limited Offerings created for Entrepreneurs
- Facilitated introductions and meetings – being part of our Actively Managed Meetings Program will maximize your opportunities of finding future partners as Cleantech Group will pre-schedule a series of speed meetings with investor/corporates and make additional introductions beyond.
- Booth on the platform – a dedicated page where you can share information about your business and connect to everyone that visits you.
- Feature in the Forum Company Guide that will be shared with investor and corporates (from which they will ask us to make some targeted introductions).
- Marketing representative – include a marketing/sales representative (at no additional cost) as support for your exhibitor booth.
More Advantages for Entrepreneurs to Attending Cleantech Forum San Francisco
- Open networking + AI-powered connectivity – dedicated randomized networking sessions as well as suggested matches based on your interests and ambitions, meet new investors and partners that are right for you.
- Team access – our approach to registration is designed to have you easily add and involve more team members, to maximize return on your investment, and to reduce screen time per individual.
- Considered to be featured in the agenda – all entrepreneurs that register are considered for sessions, increase your chances of being featured in the agenda by signing up today.
Enjoy Personalized Support
- Dedicated help – you will be assigned a Cleantech Group team member who will answer your questions and help you make the most of the event.
- A pre-event webinar introducing the platform – by investing a little time ahead of the event, you can navigate the platform, and understand how to make the most from the event.
Find your new potential investors and partners
Meet a large group of investors and corporates at Cleantech Forum San Francisco to discuss future opportunities. These are just a few of the ones you could meet – for example at the dedicated speed meetings session with innovation/tech companies (Tuesday, 19 January).
View the full list of last year’s Cleantech Forum San Francisco investor and corporate participants.
Register Today
Sign up for either our standard tickets or the entrepreneur team package with the added benefits.
All entrepreneurs that sign up are considered for sessions, increase your chances of being featured in the agenda by signing up today.
LIMITED AVAILABILITY: To be part of all aspects of Cleantech Group’s actively managed meetings program you need to be registered by 15 December. The meetings program only applies to the team package.
We’ll let your peers tell you what makes our Cleantech Forums invaluable.
“Cleantech Forum Europe is a conference where you exchange in an interactive way on the latest topics with all different kinds of stakeholders relevant to our ecological and environmental future. It is a unique opportunity you can only get there.”
-Sandra Trittin, Co-Founder and Head of Business Development & Marketing, tiko Energy Solutions
“I was able to meet with several very interesting people, with good prospects of future business!”
-Antoine Hubert, CEO, Ynsect
“A fantastically curated and attended event. One of the best places for Cleantech start-ups to spend time with venture capital and strategic investors.” -Jo-Jo Hubbard, Electron
Contact Us
If you have any questions about Cleantech Forum San Francisco and your options as an entrepreneur, please feel free to contact us at forumsf@cleantech.com.
Investors/Corporates
Welcome to Cleantech Forum San Francisco, coming to a screen near you on 19-21 January.
From our 40+ Cleantech Forums worldwide since 2003, we know one of the greatest benefits we offer is access to our network of innovation companies, investors and corporations. For that reason, we are offering investors and corporates a special package.
Please note that there are only a limited number of these special team packages and you will need to have registered by 15 December to be part of all aspects of the special meetings program.
Team Packages – and Special/Limited Offerings for Investors/Corporates
- Facilitated introductions and meetings – being part of our Actively Managed Meetings Program will maximize your opportunities of finding future partners as we will pre-schedule a series of speed meetings between companies and investor/ corporates and make additional introductions and beyond.
- Peer-to-Peer roundtables for Investors and Corporates – gain insights, new connections and dealflow from an exclusive, invite-only session for co-investors and other experts in your area.
- Booth on the platform – a dedicated page where you can share information about your interest areas, and connect to everyone that visits you.
- Marketing representative – include a marketing/sales representative (at no additional cost) as support for your exhibitor booth.
More Advantages for Investors/Corporates Attending Cleantech Forum San Francisco
- Open networking + AI-powered connectivity – dedicated randomized networking sessions as well as suggested matches based on your interests and ambitions, meet new people, technologies, companies and investors that are right for you.
- Updates on key investment trends and themes – get re-set for 2021+ by listening to thought leaders and expert panels, and participating in informal and interactive discussion sessions.
- Meet some of the 2021 Global Cleantech 100 companies and other rising stars – hear approx. 25 companies present live, and discover more beyond in the Exhibit area.
- Team access – our approach to registration is designed to have you easily add and involve more team members, to maximize return on your investment, and to reduce screen time per individual.
Connect with Innovators and other Investors/Corporates
Our personalized service to connect you with innovators and peers. You’ll be able to review the companies at the Forum and ask for some targeted introductions. And if registered by December 15, you’ll also be part of two invite-only sessions – investors/corporates roundtables (Wednesday January 20), and a speed meetings program with innovation/tech companies (Tuesday January 19)
Enjoy Personalized Support
- Dedicated help – all attendees are assigned a Cleantech Group team member who will answer your questions and help you make the most of the event.
- A pre-event webinar introducing the platform – by investing a little time ahead of the event, you can navigate the platform, and understand how to make the most from the event.
Register Today
LIMITED AVAILABILITY: To be part of all aspects of Cleantech Group’s actively managed meetings program you need to be registered by 15 December. The meetings program only applies to the team package.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about Cleantech Forum San Francisco and your options as an investor/corporate, please feel free to contact us at forumsf@cleantech.com.
Agenda
From Chaos to Transformation: Tackling the Climate Crisis Together
Our theme, From Chaos to Transformation: Tackling the Climate Crisis Together will inspire you to find your next partner and uncover the innovations and ideas transforming our shared future.
Each time-block on the agenda will provide variety for different team-members to take advantage of, consisting of sessions landscaping an innovation topic/trend, company presentations, small group discussions, and randomized networking. Visit regularly for updates. The agenda is subject to updates every week through December.
All timings are in PT (Pacific Time).
Featured speakers
January 19, 2021
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Plenary SessionFrom Chaos to Transformation: Tackling the Climate Crisis Together
During the opening session, Cleantech Group will help you get re-set for a better year, providing its typical tour of our innovation ecosystem, highlighting the key innovation topics and investment trends, as well as some of the key players, to pay attention to in the year(s) ahead. Within this context, our keynote guest, Dr Fatih Birol, will provide his perspectives on the path to net zero from here and what he is hearing and feeling in the corridors of corporate and political power. Can Covid yet prove to be a blessing in disguise in fighting the climate crisis? And what are his hopes for and from us, the innovation community, in these critical years ahead of 2030?
Richard Youngman
CEO, Cleantech GroupFatih Birol
Executive Director, IEARodrigo Prudencio
Climate Pledge Fund, Worldwide Corporate Development, AmazonTaku Matsumoto
Energy Business Manager, Acario Innovation/Tokyo Gas -
Networking SessionRandomized Networking
In these time-blocks, you will find yourselves in a series of short zoom breakouts with 3-4 people at a time, to recreate that feeling of meeting people at the in person coffee bar, between sessions
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Landscape SessionParallel SessionSemiconductors: Enabling a power consumption revolution
New forms of semiconductors are radically changing the economics in some of the world’s most demanding industries. How far might addressing previously unsolved power consumption challenges enable change and disruption? And in which key industries? And when? This session will explore.
Co-hosted by Cycle Capital
Andrée-Lise Méthot
Founder and Managing Partner, Cycle Capital ManagementJim Witham
CEO, GaN SystemsRick Sander
CEO & Founder, Rhombus Energy SolutionsFares Mubarak
CEO, SPARK Microsystems -
Showcase SessionParallel SessionInnovation Showcase: The Power of Data
During our innovation showcases, a handful of exciting companies will present themselves, with some Q&A from investors. In this showcase, we will hear from a group of companies leveraging the power of data to create impactful and transformative businesses across a range of commercial and industrial applications.
Anthony DeOrsey
Research Manager, Cleantech GroupDavid Arsenault
CEO & Co-Founder, EffencoDonnel Baird
CEO & Founder, BlocPowerMatanya Horowitz
Founder & CEO, AMP RoboticsDeepinder Singh
Founder & CEO, 75FRich Sorkin
CEO & Co-Founder, Jupiter IntelligenceJohn Fox
President & CEO, merQbizAlicia Lenis
Vice President, Chrysalix Venture CapitalGeoff Catherwood
Partner, ICE Venture Fund, BDC -
Landscape SessionParallel Session2020: The Year of the SPAC in Cleantech
The special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) in US cleantech has taken off in 2020 – with 15 announcements to date, three listings completed (the latest being Quantumscape, the first battery manufacturer to go public for 10 years); more SPACS are still being formed and priced. This session will examine all facets of this trend from different angles – its pros, its cons and the realities of actually doing such a transaction.
Co-hosted by Marathon Capital
Richard Youngman
CEO, Cleantech GroupJeremy Hux
Senior Managing Director, Marathon CapitalThomas Healy
CEO & Founder, HyliionCassie Bowe
Principal, Energy Impact Partners -
Showcase SessionParallel SessionInnovation Showcase: New Materials with New Possibilities
During our innovation showcases, a handful of exciting companies will present themselves, with some Q&A from investors. In this showcase, we will hear from a group of companies offering new materials with new possibilities
Nisa Mirza
Associate, Data and Ecosystems, Cleantech GroupCharles Dimmler
Co-Founder & CEO, CheckerspotAlbert Mihranyan
CEO & Founder, Nvigorea ABKedar Murthy
Chief Commercial Officer, Boston Materials IncLaura Nereng
Corporate Strategy & Business Development, 3MChris Erickson
General Partner, Pangaea Ventures -
Workshop SessionParallel SessionThe 2020s: The decade of the clean energy molecule
Energy experts around the world have come to the conclusion that a clean molecule is likely needed in order to decarbonize the hard to abate sectors such as heavy duty transportation, high energy density industry applications, and etc. This session will showcase selective technologies highlighting a range of alternative energy molecules, and their potential in the area of new renewable gas pathways, carbon capture, utilization, and storage, small scale H2 production, and zero emission transportation. These technologies have the potential to decarbonize our gas supply, provide clean, reliable, and affordable energy to our customers, and enable deep penetration of renewable energy.
Co-hosted by SoCalGas
Matt Gregori
Technology Development Manager, SoCalGasIan Hayton
Group Lead, Materials & Chemicals, Cleantech GroupRaghubir Gupta
Co-Founder & President, SusteonAlex Tavasoli
CEO, SolistraPete Johnson
Partner, Azimuth Capital/Co-Founder & Board Director, Monolith Materials -
Workshop SessionParallel SessionTransactive Energy - A driver of energy transition?
The role of transactive energy in the US and Canada’s energy transition plans shall shape the world in terms of how jurisdictions, prosumers and consumers think about the energy system. In this workshop, come get a snapshot of various jurisdictions (US, Canada, EU/UK, Australia and Japan). Workshop-style, we will look at the similarities and differences in objectives, approach and end goals.
Co-hosted by Opus One Solutions
Hari Suthan
Chief of Strategic Growth, Opus One Solutions -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionMeet Diageo's new Sustainability Program and its Innovation Challenges for Innovators
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
John Cant
Sustainability Lead - Diageo Sustainable Solutions, Diageo -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionAutomation and Robotics in Ag & Food: The trend, the opportunities, and the challenges
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
Chris Sworder
Lead Analyst, Agriculture and Food, Cleantech Group -
MeetingsTime Blocks for one2one Meetings – Or Downtime
We suggest this time remains blocked in your calendars to allow for 1-to-1 meetings (self-arranged or arranged for you by Cleantech Group’s actively-managed meetings program for sponsors, for investor/corporates and for innovation companies (on the team package).
-
MeetingsSpeed one2one Company/Investor Meetings (Invite Only)
For those on the special team packages (for entrepreneurs and for investors/corporates) and signed up in time (before December 15), we will use this time to deliver a series of pre-scheduled, speed meetings between companies and investor/corporates.
January 20, 2021
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Plenary SessionFrom Chaos to Transformation: International Policy Perspectives
We will open the second day, a little later (to allow for anyone wanting to watch live the Inauguration of the new US President). With that context, Cleantech Group will provide a digest of some of the highlights of recent policy announcements around the world, and we will hear from Ottawa some perspectives on Canada’s actions to fight climate change and rebuild a more resilient and sustainable economy including through the strengthened climate plan, the newly announced Hydrogen Strategy and the SMR Action Plan.
Richard Youngman
CEO, Cleantech GroupSeamus O’Regan
Minister of Natural Resources, Government of Canada -
Plenary Session2021 Global Cleantech 100: The North American Company of the Year and The Graduate of the Year
In the second part of our opening session of the day, we will hear from the 2021 winners of these two awards from our annual Global Cleantech 100 special awards series. In December we released the 2021 list. That was our 12th such list since 2009, when a company by the name of Tesla – you may have heard of it – was on the inaugural list, graduating via an IPO a few months later. The rest, as they say, is history.
Co-hosted by Chubb
Richard Youngman
CEO, Cleantech GroupMaria Guercio
Climate Tech Industry Practice Leader North America, Chubb InsurancePat Kennedy
CEO & Founder, OSIsoftSteve Oldham
CEO, Captura -
Networking SessionRandomized Networking
In these time-blocks, you will find yourselves in a series of short zoom breakouts with 3-4 people at a time, to recreate that feeling of meeting people at the in person coffee bar, between sessions.
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Landscape SessionParallel SessionElectrifying Commercial Fleets – Unique Challenges and Solutions
Longer range and higher payload requirements are just some of the major challenges to electrify commercial vehicle fleets. Unlike smaller passenger vehicles, electric commercial vehicles are riskier to finance, have more complex operations and need to be able to transport heavy loads, often long distances. In this session we’ll discuss promising solutions to help solve the unique barriers to electrification in this sector.
Co-hosted by Ideanomics
Cassidy Shell
Lead Analyst, Transportation & Logistics, Cleantech GroupTony Brasil
Branch Chief, California Air Resources BoardAlfred Poor
CEO, IdeanomicsMichael Roeth
Executive Director, North American Council for Freight EfficiencySteve Heckeroth
CEO, SolectracCraig Irwin
Managing Director / Senior Research Analyst, ROTH Capital Partners -
Showcase SessionParallel SessionInnovation Showcase: 50 to Watch
During our innovation showcases, a handful of exciting companies will present themselves, with some Q&A from investors. In this showcase, we will hear from a group of companies from our annual 50 to Watch list.
Jules Besnainou
Director, Cleantech for EuropeAashay Arora
Co-Founder, EnKoatGrant Canary
CEO, DroneSeedNatasha Franck
Founder & CEO, EonAlexandra Harbour
Associate, Prelude VenturesZebedee McLaurin
Director of Sustainability, GoodrFrancisco Morocz
Co-Founder & CEO Helia TechnologiesPat Sapinsley
Managing Director of Cleantech Initiatives, Urban Future Lab/ NYC ACRE, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering -
Workshop SessionParallel SessionBetting on Hydrogen - but how much is hype?
Many times over the last half century, the world has promoted the merits of hydrogen as a future fuel but each time the efforts were in vain. In 2020, with a global push to decarbonize transportation and power generation, hydrogen has been garnering unprecedented levels of attention. While emerging hydrogen technology developments and innovations are showing great promise, is this decade’s hype around hydrogen valid?
Join us for an exciting discussion on the opportunities and challenges surrounding hydrogen and whether this technology will be enough to get us to a low-carbon, high-growth economy!
Co-hosted by Evok Innovations
Erin Madro
Sr. Engineer, Environmental Innovation, Cenovus EnergyTrevor Best
CEO, Syzygy PlasmonicsChris Reid
CEO, Ekona PowerSara Hastings-Simon
Senior Research Associate, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines -
Showcase SessionParallel SessionInnovation Showcase: Visions of, and ingredients for, a hyper-efficient and low carbon electricity future
During our innovation showcases, a handful of exciting companies will present themselves, with some Q&A from investors. In this showcase, we will hear from a group of companies enabling and working towards a transformed power sector.
Anthony DeOrsey
Research Manager, Cleantech GroupRyan Morris
CEO, Turntide TechnologiesMichael Walsh
Chief Commercial Officer, Smart WiresMarcel Smit
CEO, EnergyworxScott Pinizzotto
Senior Investment Director, ENGIE New VenturesGrace Chan
Venture Principal, bp VenturesDave King
CEO, Denvr Dataworks Corp -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionVC Clinic: The latest trends - term sheets and more
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations
Co-hosted by Wilson Sonsini
Brady Berg
Member, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati -
Workshop SessionParallel SessionThe Climate Elephant in the Room: Industrial Heat
Global industrial GHG emissions represent about 24% of all GHG emissions – more than all emissions from transport, and almost as much as from electricity. Heat is industry’s biggest contributor to emissions. But its decoupling from fossil fuels remains largely unclear. This fireside discussion will explore if nuclear is poised to play an important role for industrial heat, exploring its role in process heat, high temperature electrolysis and other applications.
Co-hosted by Terrestrial Energy & Nuclear Energy Institute
Ashley Finan
Director, National Reactor Innovation CenterShannon Bragg-Sitton
Manager of Systems Integration, Idaho National LaboratoryDavid Keith
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionFinancing options for hardware-as-a-service cleantech business models
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
Jonathan Rhone
CEO, Axine Water Technologies -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionExpanding the ESG Portfolio: Developing new trading instruments and platforms to enable companies to directly mitigate climate impact
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
Joe Madden
CEO, Xpansiv -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionBig Tech and Carbon Removal Offsets
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
Robert Niven
Chair & CEO, CarbonCure TechnologiesJonathan Goldberg
CEO, Carbon DirectStacy Kauk
Director - Sustainability Fund, ShopifyRyan Orbauch
Climate, Stripe -
MeetingsTime Blocks for one2one Meetings – Or Downtime
We suggest this time remains blocked in your calendars to allow for 1-to-1 meetings (self-arranged or arranged for you by Cleantech Group’s actively-managed meetings program for sponsors, for investor/corporates and for innovation companies (on the team package).
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MeetingsInvestor/Corporate Roundtables (Invite Only)
For those on the special investors/corporates team packages and signed up in time (before December 15), we will use this time to create a series of hosted roundtable discussions, to provide a dedicated time and space for investors and corporates to connect and interact around a series of topical “roundtable-style” discussions.
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MeetingsSpeed one2one Company/Investor Meetings (Invite Only)
For those on the special team packages (for entrepreneurs and for investors/corporates) and signed up in time (before December 15), we will use this time to deliver a series of pre-scheduled, speed meetings between companies and investor/corporates.
January 21, 2021
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Plenary SessionRe-Imagining an Energy Major
Lost amid the chaos, 2020 was a standout year for stronger and larger numbers of corporate announcements and commitments to fight climate change. The European energy majors were amongst them. We open the final day with the opportunity to hear direct from BP’s Chief of Staff on its new strategy, its stated net zero ambitions, and what the journey ahead through the energy transition journey might look like.
Richard Youngman
CEO, Cleantech GroupLucy Chatburn
Consultant Manager, Cleantech GroupDominic Emery
Chief of Staff, BP -
Networking SessionRandomized Networking
In these time-blocks, you will find yourselves in a series of short zoom breakouts with 3-4 people at a time, to recreate that feeling of meeting people at the in person coffee bar, between sessions
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Landscape SessionParallel SessionClimate-related risk exposure – The innovators helping investors better understand their portfolio
Financial services are the most at risk from climate change, yet few understand their climate-related risk exposure in a useful way. Oncoming regulations in the UK, EU and New Zealand will make climate-related financial risk exposure mandatory for all financial services firms. This session will seek to answer what this mean for the investor community? How might innovators and technology streamline this process? And what opportunities to investors seek to gain?
Holly Stower
Group Lead, Resources & Environment, Cleantech GroupTim Mohin
Executive Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer, PersefoniNate Aden
Senior Fellow at World Resources Institute & Project manager for SBTi FinanceTherese Feng
Vice President of Research, The Climate ServiceEugene Montoya
Climate Strategy & Impact Specialist , Sustainable Finance Center of Excellence, Wells Fargo -
Showcase SessionParallel SessionInnovation Showcase: Visions of, and ingredients for, an electric-dominant mobility future
During our innovation showcases, a handful of exciting companies will present themselves, with some Q&A from investors. In this showcase, we will hear from a group of companies enabling and working towards a transformed transportation sector.
Cassidy Shell
Lead Analyst, Transportation & Logistics, Cleantech GroupDoug Campbell
CEO, Solid PowerDan Corns
CEO & President, MagnovateArcady Sosinov
CEO & Founder, FreeWire TechnologiesKostyantyn Khomutov
Co-Founder & CEO, GbatteriesJahangir Bhatti
Director, Cleantech Practice, BDCMaria Buitron
Investor, PIVA -
Landscape SessionParallel SessionGearing up for grid flexibility
As governments look to green national grids, markets are opening for participants looking to capture value from electricity system volatility caused by increasing renewable energy penetration. The US is a key example, where load flexibility could create $15 billion in additional revenue on a yearly basis. As US regulators look to level the playing field for DERs, we explore how innovators are taping this emerging market opportunity.
Louis Brasington
Lead Analyst, Energy & Power, Cleantech GroupThomas Folker
CEO, LeapTyler Lancaster
Principal, Energize VenturesMatthew Plante
Co-Founder & President, VoltusCisco DeVries
CEO, OhmConnectLidija Sekaric
National Market Director for Distributed Energy Systems, Siemens -
Showcase SessionParallel SessionInnovation Showcase: Enablers of deeper decarbonization
During our innovation showcases, a handful of exciting companies will present themselves, with some Q&A from investors. In this showcase, we will hear from a group of companies with solutions that have the potential to enable globally-significant reductions in our emissions
Anthony DeOrsey
Research Manager, Cleantech GroupLori Guetre
VP, Business Development, Carbon EngineeringBrett Henkel
Co-Founder & VP, Strategic Accounts & Government Affairs, SvanteSteve Meller
CEO, CH4 GlobalJulia Reichelstein
Investor, PIVA CapitalRhea Hamilton
Managing Director, Beyond Net ZeroJoe Zhou
CEO, Quidnet Energy -
Workshop SessionParallel SessionCommercial and Industrial Wastewater - The Innovators Helping to Plan and Manage Water Scarcity
In a water-scarce world with ever-changing pollutants and increasingly stringent regulations, traditional water treatment systems are not fit for purpose. Cleantech wastewater treatment technologies are becoming smarter, cheaper, and more efficient while the commercial and industrial market is becoming more open to innovation. This session will explore how innovators are forging a route-to-market, how the industry is breaking down barriers, and lessons we can learn from the Canadian innovation ecosystem.
Co-hosted by Foresight Cleantech Innovation Center
Holly Stower
Group Lead, Resources & Environment, Cleantech GroupSteven Kloos
Partner, Burnt Island VenturesJeanette Jackson
CEO, Foresight Cleantech Accelerator CentreKim Sturgess
Executive-in-Residence, Foresight and CEO, WaterSMART SolutionsSnehal Desai
SVP, Chief Growth & Innovation Officer, XylemRobert Menegotto
President & CEO, MANTECH -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionFusion Energy: The path to becoming a climate hero, 2030-50
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
Bob Mumgaard
CEO, Commonwealth Fusion Systems -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionCreating a Local Critical Battery Materials Supply Chain
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
Ajay Kochhar
Co-Founder, President & CEO, Li-Cycle -
Discussion SessionParallel SessionThe Coming EV Wave: Opportunities and challenges for utilities
These informal discussion sessions are designed to give you the chance to dive into a subject more informally and interactively. Numbers will be limited for such sessions, so that participants can come off mute and take an active role in the conversations.
Yoachim Haynes
Vice President of Strategy, Europe, Energy Impact PartnersApoorv Bhargava
CEO & Co-Founder, WeaveGridYakov Berenshteyn
Manager, Strategy & Revenue Ops, WeaveGrid -
Plenary SessionFrom Chaos to Transformation: Post Inauguration Policy Perspectives
We end our virtual Forum, a day after the Inauguration of the new US President (and potentially some day 1 announcements), by taking a look at the implications for our innovation community on federal and state policies, and how the US might respond to the twin realities of a Covid-ravaged economy and an intensifying climate crisis.
Howard Learner
President & Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy CenterDavid Hochschild
Chair, California Energy CommissionAbigail Ross-Hopper
President and CEO, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) -
MeetingsTime Blocks for One2One Meetings
We suggest this time remains blocked in your calendars to allow for 1-to-1 meetings (self-arranged or arranged for you by Cleantech Group’s actively-managed meetings program for sponsors, for investor/corporates and for innovation companies (on the team package).
Platform
Cleantech Forum San Francisco Goes Virtual
It’s clear to us a live event in January 2021 would be unsafe because of the continuing pandemic. But the challenge of the climate crisis is too important to set aside. Investors, corporates, financiers and innovators need to stay connected and build networks that enable change and the solutions we’re all committed to.
Have a sneak peek below of our platform, to learn how to make the most of your virtual event experience.
Speakers
Nate Aden
Senior Fellow at World Resources Institute & Project manager for SBTi FinanceNate Aden
Aashay Arora
Co-Founder, EnKoatAashay Arora
David Arsenault
CEO & Co-Founder, Effenco Speaker bioDavid Arsenault
David Arsenault is the CEO and co-founder of Effenco, a company pioneering the electrification and connectivity of heavy-duty vocational vehicles. David and two of his classmates founded Effenco in 2006; shortly after David obtained his Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS). Using a unique and patented ultracapacitor-based technology, Effenco has developed a system that stops the engine of a vehicle during idle and electrifies its auxiliary equipment and hydraulics. The technology reduces greenhouse gas emissions while limiting fuel consumption and operational costs, as well as noise levels. Today, Effenco has a sales & distribution network in twelve countries. Prior to starting his own company, David worked for the jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Witney.
Donnel Baird
CEO & Founder, BlocPower Speaker bioDonnel Baird
Donnel Baird is the founder of BlocPower, a clean tech startup based in New York City. BlocPower develops portfolios of clean energy retrofit opportunities in underserved communities, and connects those opportunities to investors seeking social, environmental, and financial returns. BlocPower creates jobs for qualified local low-income workers, energy savings for community institutions, reduces carbon emissions, and provides returns to investors. BlocPower is backed by Kapor Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the American Family Institute for social and environmental impact, and Salesforce. Baird is a graduate of Duke University and Columbia Business School, where he was a recipient of the Board of Overseers Fellowship and a recipient of investment from the Lang Fund for Entrepreneurial Initiatives. He spent four years as a political and community organizer, and more than two years managing a national initiative to leverage American Reinvestment and Recovery Act energy efficiency investments in underserved communities. Baird lives in his native borough of Brooklyn with his wife and son.
Yakov Berenshteyn
Manager, Strategy & Revenue Ops, WeaveGridYakov Berenshteyn
Brady Berg
Member, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich RosatiBrady Berg
Trevor Best
CEO, Syzygy Plasmonics Speaker bioTrevor Best
Trevor Best is the CEO and Co-Founder of Syzygy Plasmonics. Syzygy is pioneering a new type of chemical reactor designed to produce industrial chemicals at lower cost and with fewer carbon emissions. Their novel technology is driven by light rather than combustion, enabling a substantially more efficient process. Critically, Syzygy’s technology supports energy security and expansion through resource efficiency. Recent publications show Syzygy’s core components can be made without using rare earth materials, adding to the company’s value as a sustainable technology provider.
Before starting Syzygy, Trevor worked for the oilfield services company Baker Hughes. There he held a variety of management positions and gained expertise in technology development, project and personnel management, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance. He is originally from Midland Texas and is a graduate of Texas Tech University.
Apoorv Bhargava
CEO & Co-Founder, WeaveGridApoorv Bhargava
Jahangir Bhatti
Director, Cleantech Practice, BDCJahangir Bhatti
Fatih Birol
Executive Director, IEA Speaker bioFatih Birol
Dr Fatih Birol has served as Executive Director of the International Energy Agency since September 2015. He was re-elected in January 2018 for a second four-year term, which will begin in September 2019. Under his leadership, the IEA has undertaken its first comprehensive modernisation programme since its creation in 1974. This effort focuses on three pillars: opening the doors of the IEA to include major emerging countries, such as Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico and South Africa who have joined the IEA Family, thus increasing its share of global energy demand from 38% to almost 75%; broadening the IEA’s security mandate to natural gas and electricity as well as oil; and making the IEA the global hub for clean energy technologies and energy efficiency.
Prior to his nomination as Executive Director, Dr Birol spent over 20 years at the IEA, rising through the ranks to the position of Chief Economist responsible for the flagship World Energy Outlook publication. He is also the founder and chair of the IEA Energy Business Council, one of the world’s most active industry advisory groups in energy. Dr Birol has been named by Forbes Magazine among the most influential people on the world’s energy scene and was recognised by the Financial Times in 2017 as Energy Personality of the Year. He chairs the World Economic Forum’s (Davos) Energy Advisory Board and serves on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on ‘Sustainable Energy for All’. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Japanese Emperor’s Order of the Rising Sun, the Order of the Polar Star from the King of Sweden and the highest Presidential decorations from Austria, Germany and Italy.
Before the IEA, Dr Birol worked at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna. He earned a BSc degree in power engineering from the Technical University of Istanbul and received a MSc and PhD in energy economics from the Technical University of Vienna. Dr Birol was awarded a Doctorate of Science honoris causa from Imperial College London in 2013. He was also made an honorary life member of Galatasaray Football Club in 2013.
Cassie Bowe
Principal, Energy Impact Partners Speaker bioCassie Bowe
Cassie is a Principal at Energy Impact Partners, a $650m fund investing in energy startups, where she is responsible for EIP’s west coast presence. Prior to joining EIP, she worked for 5 years at SunPower, one of the largest global solar companies, in policy and strategy. She has also gained operating experience at energy storage, micro-grid and energy asset management startups in business development and finance roles. Cassie holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, a BA in Economics from Harvard University, and was selected for Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy (2018).
Shannon Bragg-Sitton
Manager of Systems Integration, Idaho National Laboratory Speaker bioShannon Bragg-Sitton
Dr. Bragg-Sitton is the Manager of the Systems Integration Department in the Nuclear Systems Design & Analysis Division at Idaho National Laboratory. Dr. Bragg-Sitton leads the 2017 DOE Big Idea Nuclear Energy Reimagined that seeks to overcome the technical, economic, and institutional barriers that inhibit wider use of nuclear energy in coordinated energy systems, both centralized and distributed (viz., poly-generation and hybrid energy systems). Shannon also serves in various leadership positions within Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE) programs related to advanced nuclear fuel and advanced nuclear systems development. Since 2014, Shannon has served as the Deputy National Technical Director for the Advanced Fuels Campaign (AFC) in the DOE Fuel Cycle Technologies Program. AFC focuses on the development of enhanced accident tolerant fuels for light water reactors, advanced reactor fuels, and capability development to support fuel fabrication, testing and characterization. Shannon is also the Lead for Nuclear-Renewable Hybrid Energy Systems (N-R HES) under the DOE-NE Crosscutting Technologies Program. N-R HES designs seek to coordinate the use of multiple clean energy generation sources – namely nuclear and renewables – to meet both thermal and electrical energy needs. These systems would be designed to optimize energy use for the combined electricity, industrial manufacturing, and the transportation sectors. Prior to joining INL, Shannon was an Assistant Professor in the Nuclear Engineering Department at Texas A&M University (2007 – 2010) and was a Technical Staff Member at Los Alamos National Laboratory (2004 – 2007), during which time she was on assignment at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. In each of these capacities, her primary research area was in space nuclear power and propulsion systems. Her education includes a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering from Texas A&M University; a Master of Science in Medical Physics from the University of Texas at Houston; and a Masters and Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Tony Brasil
Branch Chief, California Air Resources Board Speaker bioTony Brasil
Mr. Brasil has 27 years of professional experience with the State of California and 22 of those years have been with the California Air Resources Board. For more than a decade, he has led a team of scientists and engineers in developing and implementing regulations to reduce emission from trucks, buses, and off-road equipment. Currently, his team is implementing existing regulations to clean up existing diesel trucks and buses and is also developing new regulations to accelerate commercialization of zero emission trucks and buses into the future. Mr. Brasil has an undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Davis and is a registered Mechanical Engineer in the State of California.
Louis Brasington
Lead Analyst, Energy & Power, Cleantech GroupLouis Brasington
Maria Buitron
Investor, PIVAMaria Buitron
Doug Campbell
CEO, Solid PowerDoug Campbell
Grant Canary
CEO, DroneSeedGrant Canary
John Cant
Sustainability Lead - Diageo Sustainable Solutions, DiageoJohn Cant
Geoff Catherwood
Partner, ICE Venture Fund, BDCGeoff Catherwood
Grace Chan
Venture Principal, bp Ventures Speaker bioGrace Chan
Grace Chan is a venture principal for New Markets at bp ventures. Grace focuses on venturing discovery and deal delivery in support of clean tech market entry offers in China, elsewhere in Asia Pacific, and India as well as technology-led ventures in service of one or more of bp’s ‘transition growth engines’ – bioenergy, convenience, EV charging, renewables and hydrogen.
Grace has 14 years of experience with bp with the last two years as an Investment Associate in bp Ventures’ commercial team. She supported and led transactions for a number of portfolio companies in China, the US, and the UK. Grace is passionate about finding and scaling new technologies to accelerate bp’s transition to a net zero company, and to help the world get to net zero.
Lucy Chatburn
Consultant Manager, Cleantech GroupLucy Chatburn
Dan Corns
CEO & President, MagnovateDan Corns
Anthony DeOrsey
Research Manager, Cleantech Group Speaker bioAnthony DeOrsey
Anthony manages Cleantech Group’s research team, delivering critical insights on new cleantech innovation and opportunities for engagement to Cleantech Group’s clients in the industrial, investment, and policy communities. He is based in the U.S.
Anthony joined Cleantech Group in late 2019 after over 8 years of work in US-China cross-border expansion consulting and start-up venture funding roles, including 5 years living in Shanghai.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from University of Rhode Island, a Masters in Sustainability from the Harvard Extension School, and he an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.
Snehal Desai
SVP, Chief Growth & Innovation Officer, Xylem Speaker bioSnehal Desai
As Chief Growth and Innovation Officer, Snehal leads the company’s enterprise approach to improving customer experience and outcomes while driving profitable growth. He is focused on innovation and digital transformation that create sustainable benefits for customers and communities. He also leads the evolution of the Innovation, Technology, Product and Digital functions for the combined company of Xylem and Evoqua.
He received bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. He is also on the board of directors of the US Water Alliance. He will be based at Evoqua’s world headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Cisco DeVries
CEO, OhmConnect Speaker bioCisco DeVries
Cisco DeVries is the CEO of OhmConnect. He has more than two decades of experience bringing policy and business groups together to inspire change and build successful companies. He created one of the most successful clean energy finance products, Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) which was named one of Scientific American Magazine’s Top 20 “World-Changing” ideas.
DeVries also served as CEO of Renew Financial, where he raised more than $2 billion in private capital and financed energy efficiency projects in nearly 100,000 homes, resulting in a reduction of one million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions. In 1996, he was appointed to Bill Clinton’s administration. He served as an aide to the US Secretary of Energy and held roles at the White House and the Department of Transportation.
He has a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master’s degree from the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the Chairman of the Board of National non-profit organization, PACE Nation.
Charles Dimmler
Co-Founder & CEO, Checkerspot Speaker bioCharles Dimmler
Charles Dimmler is the co-founder and CEO of Checkerspot. His career has focused on building and leading teams at emerging growth companies in the life sciences and biotechnology sector. He has deep expertise in general management and leading strategic transactions, with over $1 billion of completed transactions ranging from public and private financings to joint ventures, licensing, and M&A.
From 2008 to 2016, he served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Solazyme, Inc. where he led financings and a range of other strategic transactions, including two venture capital rounds, the initial public offering, two public convertible debt issuances, and project financing for the construction of a commercial scale manufacturing facility in Brazil. In addition to his corporate development responsibilities, he served as Acting General Manager of Solazyme’s personal care business in 2009.
Prior to Solazyme, Charles was the General Manager of Geron BioMed, Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Geron Corporation, where he led a team focused on developing R&D and preclinical cell therapy candidates. Charles began his career as an investment banker at Peter J. Solomon Company. From 2008 to 2016, Charles remained active in his community as an Operations Leader with the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit, the mountain search, and rescue team of the San Mateo County Sheriff. Charles earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BA from Columbia University.
Chris Erickson
General Partner, Pangaea Ventures Speaker bioChris Erickson
Chris is the founding general partner of Pangaea Ventures and has helped entrepreneurs change the world for over 25 years. Chris is based in Phoenix. He sits on the boards of several portfolio companies and, until 2001, Chris was a partner with Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, specializing in environmental and corporate law. Chris has been on the board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association and several non-profits.
Chris has a Juris Doctorate from the University of Toronto and a B.Comm from the University of Calgary. Chris is an avid runner and skier and an average golfer.
Therese Feng
Vice President of Research, The Climate Service Speaker bioTherese Feng
Therese Feng brings twenty years of experience in finance and prior research in environmental economics and policy to her work with The Climate Service. Prior to this appointment, she was Senior Vice President of Global Strategic Risk Management at Jefferies where she led firm stress-testing and country risk assessment for fixed income. Before this Dr. Feng provided methodological support on credit risk modeling at Morgan Stanley. Dr. Feng previously held a post-doctoral appointment at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government researching Chinese energy policy and innovation. Dr. Feng holds a Ph.D., MFS., and BS from Yale University.
Ashley Finan
Director, National Reactor Innovation Center Speaker bioAshley Finan
Ashley Finan is the. Director of the National Reactor Innovation Center. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing initiatives to provide resources to reactor innovators to test, demonstrate, and conduct performance assessments to accelerate the deployment of advanced nuclear technology concepts.
Dr. Finan most recently served as Executive Director for the Nuclear Innovation Alliance, where she was responsible for managing the organization’s strategy, operations, policy and technical development, stakeholder outreach, and fundraising. She provided expert guidance to policymakers, academic teams, industry stakeholders, and NGOs. Dr. Finan previously served as a Director of Nuclear Innovation at Clean Air Task Force.
Dr. Finan earned her Ph.D. in Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her doctoral work focused on energy innovation investment and policy optimization, both in nuclear and renewable energy technologies. She has played a key role in studies of the use of advanced nuclear energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in several applications, including hydrogen production, coal to liquids processes, and oil production methods. She has worked as a strategy and engineering consultant, primarily on nuclear energy applications. She has also contributed to analyses of the techno-economic potential of energy efficiency improvements in the residential and commercial sectors and several related topics.
Dr. Finan holds an SB degree in Physics as well as SB and SM degrees in Nuclear Science and Engineering from MIT.
Thomas Folker
CEO, LeapThomas Folker
John Fox
President & CEO, merQbiz Speaker bioJohn Fox
John is the CEO/President of merQbiz, a services and solutions provider for buyers and sellers in the recycling and recovered paper industries. Prior to merQbiz, John was President of Voith Paper North America, a market leader in supplying value-added systems, products and services for the papermaking industry through regionally distributed locations providing manufacturing, engineering and customer service. He has extensive international experience from the UK, Germany and North America from his time with Voith including Sales, Operations and Procurement. John holds an MBA from the University of Bradford (England) and a BSc in Paper Engineering from the University of Manchester.
Natasha Franck
Founder & CEO, EonNatasha Franck
Jonathan Goldberg
CEO, Carbon DirectJonathan Goldberg
Matt Gregori
Technology Development Manager, SoCalGas Speaker bioMatt Gregori
Matt Gregori serves as a Technology Development Manager for Customer Applications in the SoCalGas Research, Development, and Demonstration (RD&D) group. His team seeks out new natural gas and hydrogen technologies that are ready for deployment at the pilot or demonstration scale. His portfolio includes technologies in transportation, power generation, and residential, commercial, and industrial thermal applications.
During his career in the clean energy field, Matt has built and operated various types of clean energy projects, from biodiesel production facilities to food waste anaerobic digesters.
Matt earned a B.S. in Chemistry at The California Institute of Technology and an MBA at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA.
Maria Guercio
Climate Tech Industry Practice Leader North America, Chubb InsuranceMaria Guercio
Lori Guetre
VP, Business Development, Carbon Engineering Speaker bioLori Guetre
Lori Guetre is a VP, Business Development at Carbon Engineering where she has spent the last three years working on commercializing Direct Air Capture, an exciting new technology that will be one of the keys to solving global climate change. Lori previously spent 26 years in engineering, project management, corporate finance, strategy, and business development in the aerospace sector. Lori holds a Bachelor in Computer Engineering and a Master’s in Electrical Engineering.
Raghubir Gupta
Co-Founder & President, SusteonRaghubir Gupta
Rhea Hamilton
Managing Director, Beyond Net Zero Speaker bioRhea Hamilton
As Managing Director Ventures of OGCI Climate Investments, Rhea Hamilton is responsible for economically viable investments in innovative companies and technologies. Previously, Rhea was a Managing Director for a European family office heading direct investments in clean technology and renewable energy. Prior to this, she was an Investment Director at RobecoSAM Private Equity. Rhea started her career with Royal Dutch Shell, where she held various positions including CFO of Shell Hydrogen. Rhea holds a Geological Engineering degree from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA from IESE in Barcelona, Spain.
Sara Hastings-Simon
Senior Research Associate, Payne Institute for Public Policy, Colorado School of Mines Speaker bioSara Hastings-Simon
Dr. Sara Hastings-Simon is a Senior Researcher at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines and a Research Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the University of Calgary. She is a macro energy system researcher and an expert in energy, innovation, and climate policy; her research is focused on understanding how energy and industrial transitions happen within different sectors of the economy, and how policy responses can improve outcomes.
Sara is co-founder and co-host of Energy vs Climate a live, interactive webinar and podcast that explores the trade-offs and hard truths of the energy transition in Alberta, Canada, and beyond. She is an expert member of the panel for Clean Growth with the Canadian Climate Choices Institute and a member of the board of directors of Emissions Reduction Alberta.
She was previously the Director of Clean Economy at the Pembina Institute where she founded Business Renewable Centre Canada. Prior to her work at Pembina she was the practice manager for Clean Technologies at McKinsey & Company, where she worked as a management consultant on topics of cleantech, energy, and sustainability. Earlier in her career she worked as an experimental physicist on realisations of rare earth ion-based quantum memories and holds a PhD in physics from the University of Geneva.
Yoachim Haynes
Vice President of Strategy, Europe, Energy Impact Partners Speaker bioYoachim Haynes
Yoachim Haynes is the Vice President of Strategy for EIP’s European Fund where he leads research, innovation, commercialization as well as LP engagement. He works closely with EIP’s global portfolio.
Yoachim has 10 years of experience working with startups, corporations and governments in the energy and climate space. He led the corporate innovation programs at Cleantech Group as a consulting manager where he developed the strategy for, launched, and operated multiple corporate venturing programs, including multi-stakeholder pilot project processes and CVCs. He also delivered clean technology market assessments, market entry strategy and other climate impact projects for governments and corporations. His clients in North America, Europe, and Asia operated across a diverse set of industries including heavy industry (e.g., steel, oil and gas, cement), power generation, real estate, agriculture, mobility and FMCG.
He has a Bachelor of Science in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University (Cum Laude, C.P. Davis Scholar, Tau Beta Pi). He now lives in London but has spent most of his life in Trinidad and Tobago where he grew up.
Thomas Healy
CEO & Founder, Hyliion Speaker bioThomas Healy
Thomas Healy is the founder and CEO at Hyliion, a technology start-up that is disrupting the trucking industry with electric propulsion. After starting four years ago in Healy’s dorm room at Carnegie Mellon University, Hyliion now has over 50 employees and is based in Austin, TX. Thomas’s passion for revolutionizing the trucking industry came from his upbringing in motorsports; he competed at a national level racing formula cars, sports cars, and go-karts. He has founded two prior start-ups and has been featured as a technical author in the New York Times. Thomas was a Forbes 30 under 30 awardee in 2017.
Steve Heckeroth
CEO, Solectrac Speaker bioSteve Heckeroth
Steve Heckeroth dedicated his life to creating working alternatives to burning fossil fuels on the first Earth Day in 1970. With a Bachelor of Architecture from Arizona State University he pioneered the design of passive solar homes and renewable energy products in the ‘70s and ‘80s. In 1990 encouraged by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Zero emission mandate, he turned his attention to transportation and started building electric vehicles of all kinds and founded MendoMotive and Electrac in ‘92. He used Porsche Spyder replica kits to build electric sports cars with a range of over 100 miles. Understanding that battery weight was a big problem for electric cars, he switched his attention to tractors that benefit from added battery weight to increase traction. He made several tractors for individuals and then received a commission to build an experimental electric tractor for Ford/New Holland in ‘95. In 1996 Heckeroth was commissioned by a Japanese company (EFRIG) to build an electric tractor that could be used to explode land mines left behind after wars. Three scratch built prototypes were created with many new innovations like steer by wire, zero radius steering, remote control operation, the use of wheel motors, on board inverter/chargers for mobile AC power, solar charging shade canopies, motors mounted on implements to replace PTOs and improve safety and efficiency, and the first ever use of linear actuators on a full function electric tractor.
Between 2000 and 2007 Heckeroth worked as the Director of Building Integrated Photovoltaics for the largest thin-film solar manufacturer in the world designing PV roofing products and producing 6 patents for the company. After a hostile take-over and closure of the company by Chevron he went back to designing and building electric tractors. In 2010 he received a utility patent on exchanging battery packs in electric tractors to extend run time. In 2012 Heckeroth founded Solectrac LLC to take small farm electric tractors into commercial production. In 2013 Solectrac received a $500,000 grant from the Indian US Science and Technology Fund (IUSSTF) to develop four all electric row crop tractor prototypes. In 2016 Solectrac received a $250,000 National Science Foundation (NSF) Phase 1 grant to develop components for commercial production. Solectrac was in the running for a $1.5 M Phase 2 NSF grant when the new administration cut funding for the program. Heckeroth continued self-funding Solectrac and in 2017 made a prototype electric tractor for a large Indian tractor manufacturer. In 2018 an agreement was made to purchase mechanical components from the Indian company to build the 40 HP eUtility electric tractor. In 2019 the Indian manufacturer produced a 25 HP compact electric tractor (CET) and made Solectrac exclusive distributer in California and Canada. In 2020 Solectrac started development of a 70 hp vineyard/orchard tractor and continued development of the eFarmer row crop electric tractor while filing for several more utility patents.
On May 28, 2019 Solectrac incorporated as a California Benefit Corp under the leadership of Steve Heckeroth, Founder and CEO. Solectrac is supported by a team with diverse experience in engineering, agriculture, business, marketing and sales. In early 2020, Solectrac launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to support increased manufacturing of electric tractors. Solectrac is the recipient of the World Alliance’s Solar Impulse Efficient Solutions label. The Solar Impulse Foundation is selecting the most efficient and profitable solutions that are economically viable while being environmentally sustainable.
Brett Henkel
Co-Founder & VP, Strategic Accounts & Government Affairs, Svante Speaker bioBrett Henkel
Brett Henkel’s unabashed optimism tempered by his mechanical engineering background and gas separation experience combine to bring a rare perspective to his position on Svante’s executive team.
As co-founder, he was instrumental in creating the process and the hardware used to prove the technology’s effectiveness as well as mobilizing external support throughout the path to becoming a successful innovation. These experiences strengthened his knowledge of business development and program management priorities.
Prior to launching Svante, Mr. Henkel was the program manager for QuestAir Technologies’ compact hydrogen production system with its partner, ExxonMobil.
Brett received his Bachelor of Science in Physics, with distinction, and a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Victoria.
David Hochschild
Chair, California Energy Commission Speaker bioDavid Hochschild
David Hochschild was appointed chair of the California Energy Commission by Governor Gavin Newsom in February 2019. He fills the environmental position on the five-member Commission where four of the five members are required by law to have professional training in specific areas – engineering or physical science, environmental protection, economics, and law.
Chair Hochschild’s career has spanned public service, environmental advocacy, and the private sector. He first got involved in the solar energy field in 2001 in San Francisco as a special assistant to Mayor Willie Brown where Chair Hochschild launched a citywide $100 million initiative to put solar panels on public buildings. He also cofounded the Vote Solar Initiative, a 60,000-member advocacy organization promoting solar policies at the local, state, and federal levels. He was executive director of a national consortium of leading solar manufacturers and worked for five years at Solaria, a solar company in Silicon Valley. From 2007 to 2008, he served as a commissioner at the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.
For his work to advance clean energy, Chair Hochschild was awarded the Sierra Club’s Trailblazer Award, the American Lung Association’s Clean Air Hero Award, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s Million Solar Roof True Champion Award. Chair Hochschild holds a bachelor of arts from Swarthmore College and a master of public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He also was a Coro Fellow in Public Affairs.
Matanya Horowitz
Founder & CEO, AMP Robotics Speaker bioMatanya Horowitz
Dr. Matanya Horowitz is the founder and CEO of AMP Robotics, an industrial artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics company applying automation to modernize recycling and enable a world without waste.
Horowitz developed and commercialized AMP’s breakthrough AI platform, AMP Neuron™, and robotics system, AMP Cortex™, which automates the identification and sorting of recyclables from mixed material streams. AMP’s AI platform continuously trains itself by recognizing different colors, textures, shapes, sizes, patterns, and even brand labels to identify materials and their recyclability. Neuron then guides robots to pick and place the material to be recycled. AMP’s technology recovers recyclables from municipal waste, precious commodities from electronic waste, and high-value materials from construction and demolition debris at superhuman speeds with extremely high accuracy.
Fast Company recognized Horowitz as one of 2020’s “Most Creative People in Business.” Waste360 named Horowitz its “2019 Innovator of the Year,” and included him on its annual “40 Under 40” list. Under his leadership, AMP has received numerous awards and international recognition, including Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies for 2020,” Forbes “AI 50,” Fortune’s “Impact 20,” an Innovation Award from Robotics Business Review, a Colorado 2020 “Inno on Fire” award, Cleantech Group’s 2021 Cleantech 100 and 2020 “Rising Star Company of the Year” award, The Circulars 2018 Award for “Circular Economy Top Tech Disruptor” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and the National Waste and Recycling Association’s “2017 Innovator of the Year” award.
Horowitz earned four bachelor’s degrees, in electrical engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, and economics, along with a master’s degree in electrical engineering, from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He holds a doctorate in control and dynamical systems from the California Institute of Technology, with publications and research in control theory, path planning, and computer vision.
Jeremy Hux
Senior Managing Director, Marathon Capital Speaker bioJeremy Hux
Jeremy Hux is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Energy and Sustainable Technologies at Marathon Capital.
Mr. Hux has over 20 years of technology, energy, and sustainable technology investment banking and private equity experience. He has advised on over $80 billion of transactions over his career. He spent nine years at Credit Suisse, where he was a Managing Director and Head of Credit Suisse’s Clean Technology Investment Banking practice and eight years at Morgan Stanley where he created and was head of Morgan Stanley’s West Coast Clean Technology Banking group.
Mr. Hux was also the founder and Managing Partner of HCP Advisors, an independent Technology and Clean Technology investment banking boutique and a Partner at True North Venture Partners, a clean technology and sustainability-focused private equity and venture capital firm.
Mr. Hux received a BA in Economics and History from Vanderbilt University, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude.
Craig Irwin
Managing Director / Senior Research Analyst, ROTH Capital Partners Speaker bioCraig Irwin
Craig Irwin is a Managing Director, Senior Research Analyst leading ROTH’s Cleantech coverage in biofuels, advanced lighting, and the companies providing products and services that enable the Utility of The Future, including batteries and electric vehicles. Prior to joining ROTH Capital Partners, Mr. Irwin covered Cleantech companies at Wedbush, Merriman Curhan Ford, and First Albany, where his equity research experience in the sector reaches back to 2001. Mr. Irwin has also served as a Director of corporate strategy for a public energy storage company, where he completed the acquisition of leading energy storage and technology companies.
Mr. Irwin has a BS from the University of Rochester.
Jeanette Jackson
CEO, Foresight Cleantech Accelerator Centre Speaker bioJeanette Jackson
Jeanette Jackson is the CEO of Foresight, Canada’s cleantech accelerator.
Foresight works with innovators, industry, investors, government, and academia
across Canada to identify, develop, and commercialize cleantech solutions.
Jeanette is an entrepreneur with broad experience across multiple industries. She
founded a tech company and built it into a thriving business before a successful
exit. She has secured millions in investment dollars, project funding and revenue,
led cross-functional teams, and developed innovative programs for entrepreneurs,
industry, and investors.
Since taking on the role of Foresight CEO, Jeanette has led the organization
through remarkable growth, expanding accelerator programs from one province to
national, building a vibrant Innovation Challenge program, and launching a sectoral
approach to cleantech innovation. Recognized as a leader in cleantech, both in Canada and internationally, Jeanette is a frequent speaker, media guest, and
advisor to industry and government.
Pete Johnson
Partner, Azimuth Capital/Co-Founder & Board Director, Monolith Materials Speaker bioPete Johnson
Pete is a Partner with Azimuth Capital. His responsibilities include developing investment hypotheses in the changing energy landscape, origination of new investment opportunities, performing strategic, technical, and financial due diligence, and guiding existing portfolio companies. Pete runs the Firm’s SF Bay Area office and focuses on investments in energy and materials technology and infrastructure.
Prior to joining Azimuth, Pete was Co-Founder, President, and Chief Technology Officer of Monolith Materials, Inc., a company that secured, developed, and commercialized technology for producing industrial grade hydrogen and carbon materials from natural gas with significant environmental and economic advantages over incumbent methods. Monolith is now constructing a commercial facility in Nebraska and is considered the gold standard for new technology in the carbon materials industry. Prior to forming Monolith, Pete led engineering and product development for AREVA Solar and spearheaded the manufacturing and construction of a 125 MW solar plant in Rajasthan, India after successfully merging the company Ausra with AREVA.
Pete received a Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. Prior to that he graduated Summa cum Laude with a Bachelors degree in Physics from the University of Utah. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California and is an inventor on 12 patents. He serves as an advisor to multiple companies in the energy and material space as well as to the US Department of Energy.
Stacy Kauk
Director - Sustainability Fund, ShopifyStacy Kauk
David Keith
Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School Speaker bioDavid Keith
David Keith has worked near the interface between climate science, energy technology, and public policy for twenty-five years. Best known for his work on the science, technology, and public policy of solar geoengineering, David led the development of Harvard’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program. He took first prize in Canada’s national physics prize exam, won MIT’s prize for excellence in experimental physics, and was one of TIME magazine’s Heroes of the Environment. David is a Professor at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Harvard Kennedy School, and founder of Carbon Engineering, a company developing technology to capture CO2 from ambient air.
Pat Kennedy
CEO & Founder, OSIsoftPat Kennedy
Kostyantyn Khomutov
Co-Founder & CEO, Gbatteries Speaker bioKostyantyn Khomutov
Kostyantyn Khomutov is a Co-Founder and the Chief Executive Officer of GBatteries, an advanced battery technology company. GBatteries has developed a technology that allows the ultra-fast charging of lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries without reducing cycle life, changing the battery chemistry, or altering the manufacturing process. A seasoned executive with more than 15 years of experience in the global technology sector, Kostya also has a Master of Applied Science in Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University.
Prior to GBatteries, Kostya was the founder of several organizations including Wolna, a SatCom company and Smart Rotor Systems (SRS), an organization that develops vibration and noise reduction technology for helicopters.
Dave King
CEO, Denvr Dataworks Corp Speaker bioDave King
Dave King has 25+ years of expertise in managing and growing computer hardware development, manufacturing, and software technology companies.
Dave is a proven expert with System on a Chip (SoC) development, data center and related technologies.
Career highlights include the completion of more than 20 public and private company financings and 10 mergers, acquisitions or exits. A wide array of executive and technology development roles at Xerox, Compaq, Electronics Manufacturing Group, Wi-LAN, Cineplex Entertainment and ZAIO.
Steven Kloos
Partner, Burnt Island Ventures Speaker bioSteven Kloos
Steve Kloos is an experienced investor and company leader with a deep background in water, energy, and climate. He was previously at GE Water as Membrane Technology Leader, Advanced Technology Leader, and member of GE’s venture capital team. Steve led new investment sourcing as a Partner at True North Venture Partners, and served in two stints leading True North portfolio companies, and he is the founding board chair of Current Water and a longtime advisor to ImagineH2O.
Ajay Kochhar
Co-Founder, President & CEO, Li-Cycle Speaker bioAjay Kochhar
What happens to an electric vehicle battery when it dies? As rechargeable lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries continue to play an increasingly vital role in our society, there is an urgent need for a safe, sustainable and economically viable end-of-lifecycle pathway for these batteries. Since 2016, Ajay Kochhar has led the successful scale-up of Li-Cycle to address this urgent global challenge and opportunity. The company is now the largest commercial lithium-ion battery recycler in North America. Li-Cycle is now at another inflection point – on the verge of an international expansion.
Prior to Li-Cycle, Ajay gained deep technology and project development experience through progressive roles with Hatch’s Industrial Clean Tech and Advisory practices. While working in the Industrial Clean Tech practice, Ajay gained in-depth engineering and project management experience through clean technology development in the lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, gold, lead, zinc, molybdenum, and rare earth metals industries. His technical expertise spans the entire project lifecycle, from conceptual and pre-feasibility studies to construction and commissioning. Following his work in the industrial clean tech engineering field, Ajay worked as a Management Consultant with Hatch’s Advisory practice. In this role, he led teams to deliver financial and technical reviews of multi-billion-dollar investment opportunities, including technologies and assets across the li-ion battery value chain.
Ajay originally graduated from the University of Toronto in Chemical Engineering with honours. Ajay comes from entrepreneurial roots with family business experience gained from a young age.
Tyler Lancaster
Principal, Energize Ventures Speaker bioTyler Lancaster
Tyler Lancaster is a Principal at Energize Ventures, a Chicago-based venture capital firm investing in digital innovation for energy and industry. Tyler drives investment activity and portfolio management for Energize, focusing primarily on the intersection of software with the physical world. Tyler is a Board Director for Aurora Solar, as well as a Board Observer for Volta Charging and Jupiter Intelligence. He is helps manage Energize portfolio companies Matroid and Optimus Ride.
Prior to joining Energize, Tyler worked at Accenture Strategy, where he shaped new business models and investment plans for Fortune 500 electric utilities and private equity. His work focused on distributed energy resources, regulatory innovation, grid modernization, and transportation electrification. Tyler began his career building commercial solar PV and energy efficiency projects. Tyler holds a B.S. in Earth and Environmental Engineering from Columbia University, where he was an Egleston Scholar.
Howard Learner
President & Executive Director, Environmental Law & Policy Center Speaker bioHoward Learner
Howard A. Learner is an experienced attorney who serves as ELPC’s President and Executive Director. He is responsible for ELPC’s overall strategic leadership, policy direction and financial platform. Mr. Learner served as the General Counsel for Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, specializing in environmental, energy, economic development and civil rights litigation and policy development. He serves as Vice-Chair of the (Cook County) Forest Preserve Foundation. He was the founding Chair of the Illinois Citizens Utility Board and founding Chair of the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance. He served on the Executive Committee and Board of the Environmental Law Institute and as the Vice-Chair of the U.S. EPA’s National Advisory Council on Environmental Policy and Technologies. Mr. Learner is an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University Law School and the University of Michigan Law School, teaching advanced seminars in energy law and climate change policy.
Alicia Lenis
Vice President, Chrysalix Venture CapitalAlicia Lenis
Joe Madden
CEO, Xpansiv Speaker bioJoe Madden
Joe is a pioneering entrepreneur focused on the convergence of markets, data, and impact. In 2015, he co-authored a paper outlining how existing commodity production data could be mined, transformed, and delivered to markets, enabling a deeper assessment of “value.” In order to drive the digital transformation of global commodity markets, Joe co-founded Xpansiv, which merged with CBL to create the global marketplace for Intelligent Commodities™. Prior to Xpansiv, Joe co-founded EOS Climate, a market leader in the California greenhouse gas markets, which was awarded the Governor’s Economic and Environmental Leadership Award (GEELA), California’s highest environmental honor.
Erin Madro
Sr. Engineer, Environmental Innovation, Cenovus Energy Speaker bioErin Madro
Erin Madro is a senior engineer leading the Environmental Innovation team at Cenovus Energy, where she channels her passion for sustainability, collaboration, strategy and innovation to help transform the energy industry towards a cleaner future. Ms. Madro has nearly a decade of experience in upstream oil and gas engineering and further expertise in carbon capture and sequestration, digital transformation and ESG strategy. Currently, Ms. Madro is a secondee to Evok Innovations as an extension of her role at Cenovus Energy.
Ms. Madro has a B.A.Sc in Chemical & Biological Engineering from the University of British Columbia and an MBA from the University of Calgary. Ms. Madro also serves on the board of SPECEF, a non-profit organization that supports energy literacy programs for youth across Canada. She is an avid outdoor adventurist, exploring the Canadian Rockies in most of her free time.
Taku Matsumoto
Energy Business Manager, Acario Innovation/Tokyo Gas Speaker bioTaku Matsumoto
(Profession)
2018 – Energy Business Manager @Acario Innovation
2012 – 2018 Power Transaction Specialist @Tokyo Gas
(Education)
2009 – 2011 Emporia State University; Kansas, United States; Master of Business Administration Degree
2005 – 2009 Chiba University; Chiba, Japan; Bachelor of Engineering, Information and Image Technology Department
Zebedee McLaurin
Director of Sustainability, GoodrZebedee McLaurin
Steve Meller
CEO, CH4 Global Speaker bioSteve Meller
Steve Meller is an internationally recognized innovation strategist whose career has taken him almost everywhere – whether it’s global and local organizations or C-Suite executives of F100 companies, Boards, CEOs of start-ups, Venture Capital, senior country officials and across nearly every vertical there is and covering the breadth of Corporate, Academic, Government and Private Sectors – as an investor, an advisor, strategist and partner. He understands how to position new, novel and disruption innovations and new business models for success to maximize innovation potential and impact and has been involved in creating new and innovative strategies, businesses, capabilities, platforms and business models.
Having trained as a neuroscientist, he had his first taste of disruptive innovation where he was the first to discover new pathways involved in chronic pain which are now leading to new clinical therapies. Motivated to produce an even greater impact, Steve was recruited to Procter & Gamble (P&G – a F50 company) where he spent almost 2 decades honing his ability to create new strategies, enable disruptive innovation and build key enabling platforms that provided disproportionate business growth and significant profit. As a result, the company added billions each year to the bottom line and enabled P&G to be recognized as one of the world’s most innovative companies.
Finding his own space after an early retirement in late 2012 from P&G as Chief Innovation Catalyst, he moved to sunny Northern California when he met his wife and has been providing consulting on strategy and innovation across the globe in nearly every vertical to C-Suite executives of F100 companies, CEOs of start-ups, Boards, investment companies and senior country officials in multiple governments. In addition to consulting, he has also founded or co-founded a number of companies on multiple continents across diverse sectors that are focused on strategies for disruptive change. He has been an entertaining key-note speaker on every continent across widely divergent topics. He now focuses his time as the CEO of a disruptive technology company addressing climate change.
Steve is originally from Adelaide, South Australia and was awarded a B.Sc., B.Sc. (Hons.), and a Ph.D in Neuroscience from the University of Adelaide. When he’s not traveling the world for business or pleasure, he resides in Atherton, CA with his American-born wife, Colleen Haight, who holds an MBA in Finance and a Ph.D in Economics and is currently Professor of Economics at San Jose State University.
Robert Menegotto
President & CEO, MANTECH Speaker bioRobert Menegotto
Robert is the President and Chief Executive Officer of MANTECH and ManSci Inc, its USA based subsidiary. Robert holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry and a minor in Business Administration from the University of Guelph. Robert is married to Lynn Menegotto and they have 3 wonderful children Maja, Talija and Sasha, 2 girls and a boy. Robert and Lynn are proud of their children all currently studying in University, therefore, there is a money tree growing in their back yard.
Andrée-Lise Méthot
Founder and Managing Partner, Cycle Capital Management Speaker bioAndrée-Lise Méthot
Andrée-Lise Méthot is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cycle Capital Management, an impact investor and the most active cleantech venture capital platform in Canada. She has over 25 years of experience in venture capital, management and engineering. In the last few years, she has fundraised almost $400M from strategic and industrial players and she recently closed a fund with a strategic institutional investor in China.
Andrée-Lise serves on many boards of directors for public and private companies, including some of CCM’s portfolio companies. She is the co-founder and Chair of the Ecofuel Accelerator, for which she also championed the Ecofuel Fund. She sits on the Board of directors of Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC), Transition énergétique Québec (TEQ) and Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI). She also co-founded Écotech Québec, the Quebec cleantech cluster and SWITCH, the Alliance for a green economy.
Andrée-Lise sits on the North-American advisory Board of the Cleantech Group, the selection committee of Bloomberg’s New Energy Finance’s New Energy Pioneers, the Private Sector Advisory Board for the Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada and the External Advisory Committee to the Vice Principal Research and International Relations at McGill University. She co-chaired a Task Force under the auspices of the UNEP and the SETAC on the Life Cycle Initiative. She sat on various recognition committees, including the Grand prix du Génie Québécois, the Canadian Consulting Engineering Awards, and the EY Entrepreneur of the Year contest.
Andrée-Lise was recognized as one of Canada’s Clean16, named one of the Top 20 cleantech investors by CleanTechnica and amongst the most influential women in sustainable development and in the cleantech industry by Corporate Knight.
Albert Mihranyan
CEO & Founder, Nvigorea AB Speaker bioAlbert Mihranyan
Albert Mihranyan is CEO and Founder of Nvigorea AB. He is Professor of Nanotechnology at Uppsala University. Prof. Mihranyan is the author of 95 peer-reviewed articles, ten patent families, and the founder of 2 start-up companies. His research interests include nanomaterials for life sciences applications, cellulosic nanomaterials, bioprocessing, and drinking water purification.
Nisa Mirza
Associate, Data and Ecosystems, Cleantech GroupNisa Mirza
Tim Mohin
Executive Vice President & Chief Sustainability Officer, Persefoni Speaker bioTim Mohin
Tim Mohin is a globally recognized sustainability/ESG (Environmental Social and Governance) executive. He is the Executive Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer for Persefoni – the intelligent carbon footprint management and reporting platform.
Previously Tim was the Chief Executive of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the world’s largest ESG reporting standard.
With more than 20 years’ experience at three Fortune 500 companies – Intel, Apple and AMD – Mr. Mohin has developed strategies to embed sustainability into business. Mr. Mohin also led the development of environmental policy, including the Clean Air Act, within the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Senate.
Mr. Mohin serves as an ESG advisor to BASF as well as other companies and was a founder and Chairman of the Board for the Responsible Business Alliance. He is the author of Changing Business from the Inside Out and a frequent speaker and writer on corporate responsibility. Mr. Mohin is consistently recognized in the top 20 of Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders.
Eugene Montoya
Climate Strategy & Impact Specialist , Sustainable Finance Center of Excellence, Wells Fargo Speaker bioEugene Montoya
Eugene Montoya joined Wells Fargo in 2020 as a climate change specialist focused on enterprise-level capacity-building. He’s recently migrated into a leading role with the Sustainable Finance Center of Excellence as a climate strategy and impact specialist connecting the work of climate scenario analysis with internal risk and finance use cases. Previous to Wells, Eugene spent over 5 years with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York focusing on trade, investment & commodity finance verticals across U.S. markets and implications for financial condition, business strategy, and corporate governance oversight. Eugene has worked on climate-related risks & opportunities since 2009 with direct and significant experiences across the buy side, sell side, ETFs, project finance, banking, and sovereign wealth.
Francisco Morocz
Co-Founder & CEO Helia TechnologiesFrancisco Morocz
Ryan Morris
CEO, Turntide Technologies Speaker bioRyan Morris
Ryan Morris is an entrepreneur and investor with over 12 years of experience building companies. As Executive Chairman of Turntide Technologies since October 2017 and CEO since July 2020, he is helping drive Turntide’s mission of replacing all the world’s electric motors with optimal efficiency motor systems. Ryan founded Meson Capital Partners LLC, an investment firm in Feb 2009. Meson Capital applies exponential technologies to established businesses to transform them into leaders in their domains. Ryan has served as chairman of three publicly traded companies including most recently Sevcon, Inc. which was a world leader in power electronics for high performance electric vehicles. Sevcon was sold to BorgWarner in September 2017. Ryan also co-founded Belichka in 2019 with his wife to create plant-based keto snacks to drive sustainable healthy energy.
In July 2008, after finishing his B.S. and M.Eng. from Cornell University in Operations Research & Information Engineering, Ryan was Co-Founder and CEO of VideoNote LLC, a software company dedicated to capturing and indexing the videos of college lectures.
Ryan is passionate about using technology and software to solve hard problems. He was formerly a champion rower and road cyclist, outdoor sports that have helped drive his passion for ending the use of fossil fuels in an economically rational way.
Fares Mubarak
CEO, SPARK MicrosystemsFares Mubarak
Bob Mumgaard
CEO, Commonwealth Fusion SystemsBob Mumgaard
Kedar Murthy
Chief Commercial Officer, Boston Materials IncKedar Murthy
Laura Nereng
Corporate Strategy & Business Development, 3M Speaker bioLaura Nereng
Laura Nereng is in her 33rd year at 3M, having served in various roles including Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Marketing, Sales, Product Engineering, R&D, Manufacturing, and Sustainability.
Laura is currently engaged in the development of transformational new businesses for 3M at the Corporate level from the center of the company, shaping R&D programs and new business ventures alongside internal and external collaborators.
Laura received a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1988, and an MBA from Cardinal Stritch University in 2005.
Robert Niven
Chair & CEO, CarbonCure Technologies Speaker bioRobert Niven
Rob Niven is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Canadian company CarbonCure Technologies, the global leader in carbon dioxide removal technologies for the concrete industry and Cleantech Group’s 2020 North American Cleantech Company of the Year. Rob has the simple goal of making concrete sustainability both profitable and easy for industry. Under his direction, CarbonCure and its partners are achieving their mission to reduce 500 million tonnes of carbon emissions annually. Rob has received countless international awards recognizing his leadership in sustainability, innovation and technology development including the Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, the 2016 Ernest C. Manning Innovation Award, the Cleantech Group’s Top 100 Global Cleantech Companies and the BloombergNEF New Energy Pioneers Award. Rob holds an MSc in Environmental Engineering from McGill University and a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Victoria, British Columbia.
Steve Oldham
CEO, Captura Speaker bioSteve Oldham
Steve Oldham is a prominent entrepreneur and carbon removal advocate. He currently serves as CEO of Captura where he is leading the commercialization of Direct Ocean Capture – a climate solution that combines innovative technology with the natural carbon removal powers of the ocean to remove CO2 from the atmosphere at scale.
Steve’s career has focused on bringing ground-breaking technologies to market in a variety of domains, including robotics, aerospace, and climate. Steve was previously CEO of leading Direct Air Capture (DAC) company, Carbon Engineering, where he grew the company from ~15 to ~150 people and established the partnership with Occidental that led to their acquisition of Carbon Engineering in November 2023.
Steve also served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Business Development for MDA, a leading Canadian technology firm. At MDA, Steve held a variety of senior executive positions across Canada and the US, covering General Management, Business Development, and Strategy, and secured financing from Government and commercial sources for a variety of complex technologies, including several large satellite programs.
Ryan Orbauch
Climate, StripeRyan Orbauch
Seamus O’Regan
Minister of Natural Resources, Government of Canada Speaker bioSeamus O’Regan
Seamus O’Regan is the Minister of Natural Resources and the Member of Parliament for St. John’s South-Mount Pearl.
He is best known to Canadians for his 10 years as co-host of CTV’s Canada AM.
From St. John’s, Newfoundland, Seamus was raised in Goose Bay, Labrador. He studied politics at St. Francis Xavier University and University College Dublin, and marketing strategies at INSEAD, near Paris. He received his
Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Cambridge, England.
While working for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador, Seamus worked for the Minister of Justice and as well for the Premier as Senior Policy Advisor.
In 1999, he was named one of Maclean’s Magazine’s “100 Young Canadians to Watch” and has been twice nominated for a Gemini Award. In 2007, he became the first journalist to be named to Canada’s Top 40 Under 40.
In 2012, Seamus was named Bell Let’s Talk Ambassador, alongside Clara Hughes, with the aim of removing the stigma of mental illness through greater communication and understanding. He moderated a forum on mental health and creativity at Rideau Hall, hosted by Her Excellency, Sharon Johnston.
In 2013, Seamus was named Distinguished Media Innovator at Ryerson University. He also served as Executive Vice President, Communications, at The Stronach Group of Companies.
He has traveled to Liberia as a Spread the Net Ambassador in support of the fight against malaria, and to Antarctica with Students on Ice, to report on the effects of climate change on our polar regions.
For 10 years, Seamus sat on the board of The Rooms – the home of the Provincial Art Gallery, Museum, and Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador. He is a founding board member of both The Smiling Land Foundation and The Company Theater. Over the years, he has also served on the boards of World Wildlife Fund-Canada, The Walrus, Katimavik, and Canada World Youth.
In 2015 Seamus was elected to represent his hometown in the riding of St. John’s South – Mount Pearl, and in 2017 he was appointed to Cabinet as the Minister of Veterans Affairs and Associate Minister of National Defence. In January 2019, Seamus was appointed the Minister of Indigenous Services. Seamus was re-elected in October 2019 and is currently the Minister of Natural Resources.
In April of 2019, Seamus and Premier Dwight Ball signed a renewed Atlantic Accord Agreement, which will bring an additional $2 billion into Newfoundland and Labrador from Canada’s shares in Hibernia. Because of the Atlantic Accord, Newfoundland & Labrador receives 100% of the royalties from our offshore oil, meaning we have now become the principal beneficiary of our offshore. The agreement also outlines the federal government’s commitment to help ensure the provincial government can make the Lower Churchill Projects, including Muskrat Falls, financially sustainable for ratepayers.
Scott Pinizzotto
Senior Investment Director, ENGIE New VenturesScott Pinizzotto
Matthew Plante
Co-Founder & President, VoltusMatthew Plante
Alfred Poor
CEO, Ideanomics Speaker bioAlfred Poor
Alfred Poor became CEO of Ideanomics in February 2019, having previously serving as the company’s Chief Operating Officer. He is a seasoned executive experienced in scaling disruptive cross-border technology companies and has been either founder or executive management at several successful start-ups which were sold to public companies and private equity firms, including AOL TimeWarner’s (NYSE:TW) acquisition of Relegence, and Wix.com’s (Nasdaq:WIX) acquisition of Websplanet. Alf is actively engaged in the company’s capital-raising, M&A, new market development activities in addition to implementing the firm’s overall vision and execution strategy.
Rodrigo Prudencio
Climate Pledge Fund, Worldwide Corporate Development, Amazon Speaker bioRodrigo Prudencio
Rodrigo is a member of the Climate Pledge Fund, Amazon’s corporate venture fund dedicated to backing high-quality startups that can work with Amazon to meet Amazon’s Climate Pledge. Previously, he led deals for the Alexa Fund, a venture capital fund built at Amazon to back leading companies in voice and multimodal technology. Rodrigo was the founder of Shuddle, a family-focused transportation service, and CEO of Hara Software. He was also partner at Nth Power, a venture capital firm dedicated to energy technology, and spent several years in Washington, D.C. working on international energy and environmental policy. He graduated from Middlebury College with a B.A. in International Relations and received his MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
Julia Reichelstein
Investor, PIVA CapitalJulia Reichelstein
Chris Reid
CEO, Ekona Power Speaker bioChris Reid
Chris currently serves as the CEO of Ekona Power Inc., Managing Director of Innovative Breakthrough Energy Technologies (IBET), and Executive Director of Rotoliptic Technologies, an early stage technology company. He also works with many early stage ventures in varying capacities as an EIR with the Foresight Cleantech Accelerator. Prior to this, Mr. Reid worked with Plug Power as General Manager of the Motive Power Division following the acquisition of Cellex in April 2007. He was responsible for directing the Motive Power Division as it commercialized its fuel cell power products for material handling customers.
Prior to joining Plug Power, Mr. Reid was co-founder of Cellex and had been Chief Executive Officer since it was incorporated in 1998. Cellex was a pioneering company that introduced fuel cells products into the material handling industry. Before founding Cellex, he was the Managing Partner in General Exergy Inc., an energy technology consulting firm. From 1995 to 1997, he worked as a principal researcher for a fuel cell development program at the Institute of Integrated Energy Systems sponsored by British Gas and Ballard Power Systems Inc. Before that, Mr. Reid worked developing core technology for two early stage companies and as a plant engineer for a major manufacturing company.
Mr. Reid holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Manitoba and a Master of Applied Science degree from the University of Victoria. Mr. Reid is a director of the Working Opportunity Fund (EVCC) Ltd and a former director of Vancouver Aquarium and ACETECH, an academy for Technology CEOs. Chris has been a member of the Working Opportunity Fund’s board since 2007.
Jonathan Rhone
CEO, Axine Water Technologies Speaker bioJonathan Rhone
Jonathan is an award-winning, serial cleantech entrepreneur. In his current role as CEO of Axine Water Technologies, he’s scaling-up the company to revolutionize industrial wastewater treatment and address a global environmental problem. He’s also a founder and director of Evok Innovations, a $100 million cleantech venture fund with a mission to transform the energy value chain. Jonathan is the founder and former CEO of Nexterra Systems a global supplier of waste-to-energy systems. Prior to Nexterra, he held leadership positions with a NASDAQ-listed cleantech company, and the Delphi Group, an international consultancy. He began his career in oil and gas with Amoco Canada (now BP).
Jonathan chairs the BC Cleantech CEO Alliance. He is a past board member of Vancity Capital, the venture financing subsidiary of Vancity. He is a past member of the BC Premier’s Technology Council and has sat on a number of private and public sector advisory boards. In 2009, he was recognized as Technology Industry Person of the Year by the BC Technology Industry Association. In 2020, he was recognized as Industry Icon by the BC Cleantech Industry.
Michael Roeth
Executive Director, North American Council for Freight Efficiency Speaker bioMichael Roeth
Mike has worked in the commercial vehicle industry for over 35 years, is the Executive Director of the North American Council for Freight Efficiency and is the trucking lead for the Rocky Mountain Institute. Mike’s specialty is brokering green truck collaborative technologies into the real world at scale. Mike was awarded the prestigious 2020 L. Ray Buckendale Lecturer and manuscript author. He has a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the Ohio State University and a Master’s in Organizational Leadership from the Indiana Institute of Technology. Roeth served on the second National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine Committee on Reducing Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, is a Department of Energy Merit Reviewer and served as Chairman of the Board for the Truck Manufacturers Association. He understands the customers, operations and intricacies of the commercial vehicle industry having held various positions in product development, engineering, reliability and quality, sales, materials and plant management with Navistar and Behr/Cummins.
Abigail Ross-Hopper
President and CEO, Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) Speaker bioAbigail Ross-Hopper
Abigail Ross Hopper is the President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, the national trade organization for America’s solar energy industries. She oversees all of SEIA’s activities, including government affairs, research, communications, and industry leadership, and is focused on creating a marketplace where solar will constitute a significant percentage of America’s energy generation.
Before joining SEIA, Abby was the Director of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, where she led the agency that oversaw the leasing and development of all offshore energy, from oil and natural gas to offshore wind.
She served formerly as the Director of the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA), serving as acting beginning in 2012, and then as Director starting in June 2013. She also served concurrently as Energy Advisor to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley since 2010. In those roles, she had significant engagement with the state’s electric distribution utilities on matters ranging from resiliency and reliability of the grid to multiple mergers of the state’s utilities.
Abby previously spent over two years as Deputy General Counsel with the Maryland Public Service Commission. Before embarking on a career in public service, Abby spent nine years in private practice.
Abby graduated Cum Laude from the University of Maryland School of Law and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Dartmouth College. She is the very proud mom of three children and loves to read, ride her Peloton, do hot yoga and lie on the beach in her (not so free) time.
Rick Sander
CEO & Founder, Rhombus Energy SolutionsRick Sander
Pat Sapinsley
Managing Director of Cleantech Initiatives, Urban Future Lab/ NYC ACRE, NYU Polytechnic School of EngineeringPat Sapinsley
Lidija Sekaric
National Market Director for Distributed Energy Systems, Siemens Speaker bioLidija Sekaric
In her role as National Business Director, Lidija sets the strategic direction for Siemens business units on the topic of Distributed Energy Systems, with focus on on-site energy generation, energy storage, and advanced control systems, including microgrids and virtual power plants. She leads market approaches to customer segments, policy development, and strategic technology investments.
Lidija’s experience spans energy and semiconductor industries and federal government. Prior to joining Siemens she served in a variety of executive and advisory roles at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) where she managed a portfolio across multiple applied energy programs including leading the near and long-term US government solar program strategy. Lidija has served at the executive committee level for several organizations, including the International Energy Agency (IEA) and currently serves on boards and advisory bodies of research institutes and non-profit organizations.
Lidija holds a Ph.D. Applied Physics from Cornell University and has been granted 30 U.S. patents.
Cassidy Shell
Lead Analyst, Transportation & Logistics, Cleantech GroupCassidy Shell
Deepinder Singh
Founder & CEO, 75F Speaker bioDeepinder Singh
Deepinder Singh co-founded 75F after having designed some of the world’s fastest core networks for Tier 1 service providers like AT&T, NTT and Verizon. With almost 25 years of experience in electronics and computing, he’s brought a wealth of embedded products to the market. His key goal in every endeavor is to simplify operational complexity and make products intuitive.
Marcel Smit
CEO, EnergyworxMarcel Smit
Rich Sorkin
CEO & Co-Founder, Jupiter Intelligence Speaker bioRich Sorkin
During his three-decade-long career as a serial entrepreneur, executive, advisor, board member and investor, Mr. Rich Sorkin has led breakthrough companies in numerous industries. Mr. Sorkin focuses on commercializing transformative technologies, with a significant concentration on energy, financial services, the environment, media and politics. A founder of multiple startups, his companies have pioneered the use of satellite data and scalable cloud computing to predict weather events for commodity traders and applied analytics to detect identity theft. In his capacity as CEO of Jupiter, Mr. Sorkin testified before the United States Congress’ Committee on Science, Space, and Technology; cofounded the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI); has served as a member of the climate risk working group of McKinsey & Company; and been a keynote speaker at major global events including the 2019 Amsterdam International Water Week.
Mr. Sorkin is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zip2, an Internet 1.0 company best known for analytics and visualization of geospatial data (acquired by HP for over $300 million). He served as president of Kaggle prior to its acquisition by Google, leading the introduction of big data predictive analytics into the enterprise market and serving as the company’s premier industry strategist.
Mr. Sorkin began his career as a consultant at Bain & Company. Before moving to Silicon Valley to focus on leading technology companies, he helped initiate research of the supercomputer industry at Goldman Sachs. After graduating from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Lockheed Scholar, he ran the Sound Blaster business at Creative Labs during the time it gained market dominance, growing revenues from under $100M to close to $1 billion.
In addition to Stanford, Mr. Sorkin is an alumnus of Yale University. He has served as a board member at publicly traded companies, private firms, the Yale University Development Board, and several non-profit organizations.
Arcady Sosinov
CEO & Founder, FreeWire Technologies Speaker bioArcady Sosinov
Arcady Sosinov is the Founder and CEO of FreeWire Technologies, a San Francisco Bay Area startup that develops power solutions for the grid edge, with a focus on infrastructure-light EV ultrafast charging. He has led the company from ideation, formation, incubation, and now customer acquisition and revenue growth. Arcady also serves as a Venture Advisor to Forge Ventures, and mentors entrepreneurial teams from various universities including UC Berkeley, San Jose State, and Cal Poly. Prior to FreeWire, Arcady spent seven years in the finance industry, most recently with a $130B investment firm called GMO. His responsibilities included quantitative analysis and application development, with a focus on emerging markets. Arcady holds two bachelor’s degrees from Boston University, as well as an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.
Holly Stower
Group Lead, Resources & Environment, Cleantech Group Speaker bioHolly Stower
Holly is a Senior Associate leading Resources & Environment research at Cleantech Group and is based in the UK. She is focused on emerging innovation and trends, including those in water, waste, the circular economy, natural resources, and corporate sustainability.
Prior to joining Cleantech Group, Holly was a Public Affairs & Communications Executive with the Solar Trade Association and the Association of British Insurers. Before this, Holly worked in advocacy for climate and wildlife charities.
Holly earned an Undergraduate and a Master’s in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia.
Kim Sturgess
Executive-in-Residence, Foresight and CEO, WaterSMART Solutions Speaker bioKim Sturgess
Kim Sturgess is an Executive-In-Residence for the Watertech Program at Foresight; founder and CEO of WaterSMART Solutions Ltd. and has successfully led the organization since its inception in 2005. She is also the Executive Director of the not-for-profit Alberta WaterPortal Society, which provides education on key water issues in Alberta and around the world.
As the CEO of several technology based companies over her career, Kim has extensive experience in technology start-ups and technology management, as well as in oil and gas, pipelines, and industrial products and services. In addition to serving on the boards of her own companies, she has served on the boards of CCI Thermal Technologies, the Alberta Chamber of Resources, the Alberta Land Institute, the Alberta Water Council, the Calgary Airport Authority, the Council of Canadian Academies, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the National Research Council, APEGA, the Alberta Economic Development Authority, and Queen’s University. She also served as President of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
Kim graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in Engineering Physics, and from Western University with a Master of Business Administration. In 2016, Kim received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Queen’s University, and in 2018 she received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Calgary.
In 2007, she was named as one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, and in 2012 she was named Business Woman of the Year in Calgary by Consumers Choice Awards. In 2015 she was awarded the SCI Canada Medal and was recognized by the Alberta Science and Technology Foundation for her Outstanding Contribution to the Alberta Science and Technology Community.
Kim has been recognized with the YWCA Women of Distinction award, the Global Woman of Vision award, the Distinguished Service Award and the Alumni Achievement Award from Queen’s University, the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Alberta Centennial Medal. In 2015, she was awarded the Order of Canada for her outstanding achievements, dedication to community, and service to the nation.
Kim continues to build on her lifelong passion for water to make water management a priority for corporations, interest groups and policy makers at home in Alberta, in Canada and in the world.
Hari Suthan
Chief of Strategic Growth, Opus One Solutions Speaker bioHari Suthan
Hari Suthan Subramaniam is the Chief of Strategic Growth for Opus One Solutions, with over 20 years of experience in R&D, marketing and management consulting. Prior to joining Opus One, he was the CEO of eCamion Inc., a community energy storage company and Vice Chair of Energy Storage Ontario. Hari was also a Vice President with GE Canada’s National Executive team where he drove growth in Canada by seeking out market opportunities across GE platforms and larger infrastructure projects. Additionally, he served in senior roles within Canada’s Provincial and Federal governments, including Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Policy with the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, and member of the Government Transition Team for the Premier of Ontario as well as Federal Ministers of Canada. Hari is also a veteran of the Canadian Navy. Hari currently sits on the board of Centre for Urban Energy at Ryerson University and has previously served on the Boards of the Distributed Energy Association of Canada, McGill University, and Rouge Valley Health System.
Chris Sworder
Lead Analyst, Agriculture and Food, Cleantech GroupChris Sworder
Alex Tavasoli
CEO, Solistra Speaker bioAlex Tavasoli
Alex Tavasoli is the founder and CEO of Solistra, which is commercializing a process to make clean hydrogen out of methane and CO2 using a light-activated nanomaterial that requires zero water and requires substantially less energy. Part of the University of Toronto Solar Fuels Group and a Junior Fellow of Massey College, Alex is also a finalist in the MaRS-NRCan Women In Cleantech Challenge.
Michael Walsh
Chief Commercial Officer, Smart Wires Speaker bioMichael Walsh
Based in Dublin, Ireland, Michael Walsh is responsible for Smart Wires’ global business development and commercial activities.
Prior to joining Smart Wires, Michael was Director of Future Grids at Ireland’s Transmission System Operator, EirGrid. In this role he was responsible for planning the transmission system on the island of Ireland and bringing new technologies into its grid development strategy. It was in this role that he first became familiar with Smart Wires’ innovative solutions. Seeing the potential, he decided to join the Smart Wires team.
During his tenure at EirGrid, Michael was a member of ENTSO-E’s System Development Committee, which oversees the planning of the European-wide transmission system.
Previously, he was Chief Executive of the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) and a Board member of the European Wind Energy Association (Wind Europe). Other previous roles include Manager of market readiness at ESB National Grid, and Lecturer in Electronic Engineering at University College Dublin, Ireland.
Michael is a Fellow of Engineers Ireland and a Board member of the Energy Institute at UCD.
He holds a Bachelor of Engineering, MBA and Ph.D. from UCD, has authored many peer reviewed papers, and advised a wide variety of international bodies.
Jim Witham
CEO, GaN SystemsJim Witham
Richard Youngman
CEO, Cleantech Group Speaker bioRichard Youngman
Since January 2016, Richard Youngman has been CEO of San-Francisco based Cleantech Group (CTG). This followed 7 years of driving the growth of CTG’s activities outside North America, especially in Europe and Israel, and Asia, based in CTG’s office in London.
Richard has more than ten 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.
Joe Zhou
CEO, Quidnet Energy Speaker bioJoe Zhou
Joe Zhou is the CEO of Quidnet Energy, which develops and deploys geomechanical pumped hydro solutions for low-cost long duration energy storage. Prior to Quidnet Energy, Joe worked at Green Charge Networks, a California-based energy storage project developer that was acquired by Engie in 2016. Joe started his career in advisory for heavy-industry capital projects at McKinsey, and in process engineering at ExxonMobil. Joe holds a B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering and a MBA.
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Platinum
BP Ventures identifies and invests in private, high growth, game-changing technology companies, accelerating cutting edge innovations across the entire energy spectrum.
Read moreBP Ventures identifies and invests in private, high growth, game-changing technology companies, accelerating cutting edge innovations across the entire energy spectrum. Since 2006, BP Ventures has invested over $400 million in corporate venturing and has 42 active investments in its current portfolio.
BP Ventures’ portfolio is primarily focused on emerging technologies in oil and gas exploration and production and downstream conversion processes. In addition, it has a renewed strategic focus on five key areas: bio & low carbon products, carbon management, power & storage, advanced mobility and digital transformation.
Gold
The Canadian Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) provides its clients with practical advice on foreign markets and on-the-ground intelligence to help them make better, more timely and cost-effective decisions in order to achieve their goals abroad. Le Service des délégués commerciaux du Canada (SDC) est une organisation gouvernementale qui facilite le commerce avec le Canada depuis 1895. Avec nos bureaux au Canada et dans le monde, nous sommes accessibles aux entreprises canadiennes et internationales qui cherchent à développer leurs activités et à rencontrer des partenaires fiables
Read moreLe Service des délégués commerciaux du Canada (SDC) est une organisation gouvernementale qui facilite le commerce avec le Canada depuis 1895. Avec nos bureaux au Canada et dans le monde, nous sommes accessibles aux entreprises canadiennes et internationales qui cherchent à développer leurs activités et à rencontrer des partenaires fiables. Grâce à notre connaissance approfondie des marchés mondiaux et notre compréhension des capacités de l’industrie de notre pays, nous pouvons vous mettre en contact avec des partenaires canadiens stratégiques en matière d’acquisition, d’investissement, d’innovation ou d’éducation. Laissez notre équipe de professionnels vous aider en vous rendant sur le site deleguescommerciaux.gc.ca !
Canada’s Trade Commissioner Service (TCS) is a government organization that facilitates trade with Canada since 1895. With offices across Canada and around the world, we are accessible to both Canadian and international companies looking to increase their business and find trusted partners. With an in-depth knowledge of global markets and insight on Canadian industry sector capabilities, we can connect you with strategic procurement, investment, innovation or education partners in Canada. Let our team of professionals help you at tradecommissioner.gc.ca!
Cycle Capital Management is an impact investor and Canada’s largest cleantech venture capital investment platform with AUM (assets under management) close to CAD 0.5 billion.
Read moreCycle Capital Management is an impact investor and Canada’s largest cleantech venture capital investment platform with AUM (assets under management) close to CAD 0.5 billion. With offices in Montreal, Toronto and Qingdao – in continental China – and a presence in New York and Seattle, CCM invests throughout North America and China in growth stage companies that commercialize clean technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, optimize resource use and improve process efficiency. Cycle Capital is the Founder of the Ecofuel Accelerator and the Co-Founder of the Ecofuel Fund. For more information, visit: cyclecapital.com.
Ideanomics is a global company focused on the convergence of financial services and industries experiencing technological disruption.
Read moreIdeanomics is a global company focused on the convergence of financial services and industries experiencing technological disruption. Our Mobile Energy Global (MEG) division is a service provider which facilitates the adoption of electric vehicles by commercial fleet operators through offering vehicle procurement, finance and leasing, and energy management solutions under our innovative sales to financing to charging (S2F2C) business model. Ideanomics Capital is focused on disruptive fintech solutions for the financial services industry. Together, MEG and Ideanomics Capital provide our global customers and partners with leading technologies and services designed to improve transparency, efficiency, and accountability, and our shareholders with the opportunity to participate in high-potential, growth industries.
The company is headquartered in New York, NY, with offices in Beijing, Hangzhou, and Qingdao, and operations in the U.S., China, Ukraine, and Malaysia.
As the nation’s largest natural gas distribution utility, we provide safe and reliable energy to 21.4 million consumers through 5.9 million meters in more than 500 communities...
Read moreAs the nation’s largest natural gas distribution utility, we provide safe and reliable energy to 21.4 million consumers through 5.9 million meters in more than 500 communities. Our service territory encompasses approximately 20,000 square miles in diverse terrain throughout Central and Southern California, from Visalia to the Mexican border. SoCalGas is a regulated subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE: SRE). Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company. For additional information, please visit the Investor Relations section. For more than 140 years, SoCalGas has served Central and Southern California as a responsible and engaged environmental leader, employer and neighbor. With safe, clean, affordable, reliable and abundant domestic sources of natural gas, SoCalGas’ innovation is fueling new possibilities in California. Southern California is our home, too. We strive to improve the quality of life in our communities by maintaining a diverse workforce, working with suppliers that represent and reflect the communities we serve and giving back through our charitable contributions and employee volunteer activities. Like other investor-owned utilities in the state, SoCalGas’ operations are regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission and other state and federal agencies.
The Swedish Energy Agency is a government agency for national energy policy issues. The Agency works for the use of renewable energy, improved technologies, a smarter end-use of energy, and mitigation of climate change...
Read moreThe Swedish Energy Agency is a government agency for national energy policy issues. The Agency works for the use of renewable energy, improved technologies, a smarter end-use of energy, and mitigation of climate change. Its mission is to promote the development of Sweden’s energy system so that it will become ecologically and economically sustainable. The Swedish Energy Agency supports start-up companies with financing, technical expertise, market knowledge and active business development, and thus has a portfolio of well-analyzed companies in different phases.
Silver
Acario is the Venture Capital & Open Innovation arm of Tokyo Gas outside of Japan. We are based in Silicon Valley. Our mission is to help prepare and transform Tokyo Gas for the 21st century clean energy economy.
Read moreAcario is the Venture Capital & Open Innovation arm of Tokyo Gas outside of Japan. We are based in Silicon Valley. Our mission is to help prepare and transform Tokyo Gas for the 21st century clean energy economy. Acario invests in early stage startups in the following CleanTech sectors: Decarbonization & Hydrogen, New Energy/Grid2.0, Transport Electrification & Mobility, and IoT/Industry 4.0. Acario also helps facilitate business and technology partnerships between startups and Tokyo Gas’ business units. Learn more at http://www.acarioinnovation.com.
Tokyo Gas is Japan’s largest provider of city gas and is Japan’s largest PPS with 2.8GW capacity, primarily in the Tokyo metropolitan area and surrounding Kanto region. The Tokyo Gas Group’s vision, Compass 2030, states that Tokyo Gas will help lead Japan to becoming carbon-neutral by around 2050, establish a “value co-creation ecosystem” together with its customers, local communities, business partners, including companies in different industries and startups, and provide its customers with a variety of solutions such as improving customer comfort and mitigating environmental impacts. Learn more at https://www.tokyo-gas.co.jp/
For the past three decades, Chubb has provided a wide range of renewable energy, technology, and manufacturing companies with scalable, future focused insurance solutions...
Read moreFor the past three decades, Chubb has provided a wide range of renewable energy, technology, and manufacturing companies with scalable, future focused insurance solutions. With an integrated worldwide network of branches and affiliates, Chubb’s global expertise, risk engineering, and claims services help Clean Tech companies keep pace with the velocity of changing risks. To learn more about Chubb, please contact your local agent or broker today.
Silicon Valley Bank is the premier bank for technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses.
Read moreSilicon Valley Bank is the premier bank for technology, life science, cleantech, venture capital, private equity and premium wine businesses. Named one of the top financial services company for cleantech companies by the San Francisco Business Times, SVB provides industry knowledge and connections, financing, treasury management, corporate investment and international banking services to its clients worldwide through 28 U.S. offices and six international operations. (Nasdaq: SIVB) www.svb.com. Silicon Valley Bank is the California bank subsidiary and the commercial banking operation of SVB Financial Group. Banking services are provided by Silicon Valley Bank, a member of the FDIC and the Federal Reserve System. SVB Private Bank is a division of Silicon Valley Bank. SVB Financial Group is also a member of the Federal Reserve System.
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the leading law firm in the world advising enterprises devoted to development of energy and clean technologies and projects.
Read moreWilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is the leading law firm in the world advising enterprises devoted to development of energy and clean technologies and projects. We represent a dynamic client base that includes more than 300 emerging companies seeking to be tomorrow’s energy and resources leaders, mature energy technology and project development companies, and major public companies developing winning strategies in energy and clean technologies. We offer the energy and clean tech industry unmatched experience gained in representing high tech companies in all phases of their growth cycle. For more information, visit www.wsgr.com
Bronze
ENGIE New Ventures was founded in May 2014, when 115M€ of Corporate Venture Capital was set aside for investment as minority stakes in startups, to complement existing resources coming from the technology and research centres and from internal innovation.
Read moreENGIE New Ventures was founded in May 2014, when 115M€ of Corporate Venture Capital was set aside for investment as minority stakes in startups, to complement existing resources coming from the technology and research centres and from internal innovation.
Since then, a total of 65M€ has been invested in 16 projects worldwide, especially Europe, North America and the Middle East, and in fields as diverse as organic photovoltaics, natural gas chromatography and hydrogen mobility. Names include Powerdale, Sigfox, Kiwi Power, Apix Analytics, StreetLight Data, Kwh Analytics, Heliatek, Serviz, Ecova, Greentown Labs, Living Map, EV-Box.
Evok Innovations “Evok” is a fund that offers a unique approach to innovation, combining the pace and creativity of a Silicon Valley startup with the experience and insight of industry insiders.
Read moreEvok Innovations “Evok” is a fund that offers a unique approach to innovation, combining the pace and creativity of a Silicon Valley startup with the experience and insight of industry insiders. We drive innovation by deeply understanding industrial challenges, leveraging a global network of entrepreneurs to find solutions, and providing the investment, mentorship, and market access to accelerate deployment for game changing results.
Through a partnership with Cenovus, Suncor, and the BC Cleantech CEO Alliance, we invest in a global portfolio of innovative companies to address the most pressing economic and environmental challenges of the oil and gas industry.
Foresight is Canada’s cleantech accelerator. In collaboration with our Helix 5TM collaborators - innovators, industry, investors, government, and academia - Foresight is relentlessly driving cleantech innovation in Canada. Our audacious goal is that Canada be the first G7 country to reach net zero.
Read moreForesight is Canada’s cleantech accelerator. In collaboration with our Helix 5TM collaborators – innovators, industry, investors, government, and academia – Foresight is relentlessly driving cleantech innovation in Canada. Our audacious goal is that Canada be the first G7 country to reach net zero. Our mission is to accelerate the growth and impact of cleantech ecosystems across Canada to achieve deep decarbonization and net zero climate targets through problem-driven innovation.
Since inception in 2013, Foresight has made a meaningful impact in the cleantech innovation ecosystem. We have supported 1000+ ventures in our accelerator programs, 150+ industry partners through our industry programs, and 300+ investor firms through our various access to capital programs. Foresight’s leadership has helped secure $1.44 billion in capital, $419 million revenues, and 7,250+ high-paying jobs for our ventures with an economic impact of over $2+ billion. Our domestic and international engagement includes collaboration with 2,000+ stakeholders, rightsholders, and partners. We have a strong history of strategy, ecosystem mapping, and partnership building that positions Canada as a global leader in cleantech innovation.
Foresight considers that the innovation we promote and accelerate has to answer industry needs. Therefore, we also run Innovation Challenges to ensure this innovation is market driven.
We have run over 52 Innovation Challenges. These challenges have brought more than $31 million in direct funding for innovators and are projected to reduce 68.9Mt CO2e emissions by 2033.
Founded in 2014, Fort Capital is one of Canada’s largest independent investment banking advisory firms, with over 60 team members operating from offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. We work to pair independent-minded investment bankers, many of whom left the world of big-name banking, with other partners from a wide range of complementary backgrounds to build something better for our clients and ourselves.
Read moreFounded in 2014, Fort Capital is one of Canada’s largest independent investment banking advisory firms, with over 60 team members operating from offices in Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary. We work to pair independent-minded investment bankers, many of whom left the world of big-name banking, with other partners from a wide range of complementary backgrounds to build something better for our clients and ourselves.
Fort Capital provides clients with recognized, proven and independent advice and execution on a wide variety of services including divestitures, mergers and acquisitions, capital formation, and restructurings, all delivered within a confidential and unconflicted framework. Since our inception, we have advised on over $44 B in M&A and raised over $4.5 B of equity capital, including almost $2 B for climate oriented businesses.
hub.brussels is a public agency dedicated to business support. As such, hub.brussels offers customized support, free tools, and recognized expertise to ensure the success of entrepreneurial projects.
Read morehub.brussels is the Brussels public agency dedicated to business support.
As such, hub.brussels offers customized support, free tools, and recognized expertise to ensure the success of entrepreneurial projects.
The agency supports entrepreneurs, startups, scaleups, SMEs and big companies, as well as nonprofit organizations, universities and research centers with challenges ranging from setting up a legal entity to finding partners and proper funding opportunities.
hub.brussels works diligently to make entrepreneurship accessible to the people of Brussels, and to foster a modern urban economy capable of supporting innovation, internationalization and socio-economic impact.
Through one-off projects and actions, hub.brussels initiates new dynamics within the local Brussels environment, by encouraging connections between private and public economic stakeholders to strengthen existing links and create new opportunities.
The agency will provide the government with recommendations based on its in-depth knowledge of Brussels’ economic environment. Statistical and practical indicators on the ground will allow it to carry out informed and illuminating monitoring of the industries and the area, and, in this way, judge the actions implemented by the Region.
Marathon Capital is an investment bank focused on the global power and infrastructure markets. Our mission is to provide deep expertise, scale, experience and talent to help maximize our clients' strategic and financial objectives.
Read moreMarathon Capital is an investment bank focused on the global power and infrastructure markets. Our mission is to provide deep expertise, scale, experience and talent to help maximize our clients’ strategic and financial objectives.
Founded in 1999, Marathon Capital has been involved in many pivotal energy transactions and company expansions in the areas of M&A, capital raising, project financing, tax equity and financial restructuring. We serve developers, investors and sponsors in jurisdictions around the world. The firm is headquartered in Chicago, with additional offices in San Francisco, New York and a representative office in Canada.
Marathon Capital conducts investment banking through its various licensed entities around the world including FINRA in the US and OSC in Canada where the firm operates as an Exempt Market Dealer.
The Nuclear Energy Institute is the policy organization of the nuclear technologies industry, based in Washington, D.C. NEI has hundreds of members and, with their involvement, develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry.
Read moreThe Nuclear Energy Institute is the policy organization of the nuclear technologies industry, based in Washington, D.C. NEI has hundreds of members and, with their involvement, develops policy on key legislative and regulatory issues affecting the industry. NEI was founded in 1994 from the merger of several nuclear energy industry organizations, the oldest of which was created in 1953. NEI’s members include companies that own or operate nuclear power plants, reactor designers and advanced technology companies, architect and engineering firms, fuel suppliers and service companies, consulting services and manufacturing companies, companies involved in nuclear medicine and nuclear industrial applications, radionuclide and radiopharmaceutical companies, universities and research laboratories, law firms, labor unions and international electric utilities.
OGCI Climate Investments is a $1B+ fund, launched in 2016 by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, a CEO-led consortium that aims to accelerate the industry response to climate change.
Read moreOGCI Climate Investments is a $1B+ fund, launched in 2016 by the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative, a CEO-led consortium that aims to accelerate the industry response to climate change.
We look for outcomes that reduce methane and carbon dioxide emissions, and that can recycle or store carbon dioxide. Achieving significant impact requires global implementation and commercial frameworks – at OGCI Climate Investments, we collaborate with innovators, investors and governments to fund and implement impactful solutions
To learn more about OGCI, please visit https://www.ogci.com/climate-investments/.
Opus One Solutions is a software engineering and solutions company with the vision of a digitalized, decentralized and decarbonized planet.
Read moreOpus One Solutions is a software and solutions company with the vision of a digitalized, decentralized and decarbonized planet. Its intelligent energy network analysis platform, GridOS®, optimizes complex power flows to deliver operational time-frame energy management and integrated planning to distribution utilities and other managers of distributed energy resources. GridOS is modular, scalable, and integrates seamlessly with existing data systems to unlock greater potential for distributed energy resources, including renewable generation, energy storage, and responsive demand.
Visit our page to learn more and follow us on Twitter.
Terrestrial Energy is a developer of Generation IV advanced nuclear power plants that use its proprietary Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology.
Read moreTerrestrial Energy is a developer of Generation IV advanced nuclear power plants that use its proprietary Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) technology. IMSR technology represents true innovation in cost reduction, versatility and functionality of nuclear power plants. IMSR power plants will provide zero-carbon, reliable, dispatchable, cost-competitive electric power and high grade industrial heat for use in many industrial applications, such as chemical synthesis and desalination, and in so doing extend the application of nuclear energy far beyond electric power markets. They have the potential to make important contributions to industrial competitiveness, energy security, and economic growth. Their deployment will support rapid global decarbonization of the primary energy system by displacing fossil fuel combustion across a broad spectrum. Using an innovative design, and proven and demonstrated molten salt reactor technology, Terrestrial Energy is engaged with regulators and industrial partners to complete IMSR engineering and to commission first IMSR power plants in the late 2020s.
Community Partners
London & Partners is the business growth and destination agency for London. Our mission is to create economic growth that is resilient, sustainable and inclusive.
Read moreLondon & Partners is the business growth and destination agency for London. Our mission is to create economic growth that is resilient, sustainable and inclusive. We do this by focusing on supporting international and domestic businesses in high-growth sectors to scale through our investment, trade, growth and innovation programmes.
We are a social enterprise, combining purpose with commercial rigour. We are funded by grants, partners and our portfolio of venture businesses.
Website: Welcome to London – business.london
The Solar Impulse Foundation is selecting #1000solutions that could protect the environment in a profitable way.
Read moreTo address environmental challenges without compromising economic growth, Bertrand Piccard and the Solar Impulse Foundation have identified 1000+ clean and profitable solutions, and are now committed to going even further. By offering political and economic decision-makers a Guide to Solutions that can be implemented on a large scale, the Foundation will help them establish a roadmap for the adoption of much more ambitious energy and environmental programs and thus achieve their carbon neutrality objectives.
Women in Cleantech and Sustainability (WCS) fosters an influential network of professionals to further the roles of women in growing the green economy and making a positive impact on the environment.
Read moreWomen in Cleantech and Sustainability (WCS) fosters an influential network of professionals to further the roles of women in growing the green economy and making a positive impact on the environment. Founded in 2011, WCS is a nonprofit organization made up up nearly 1000 professional women and men working to build the green economy. Our members range from the students and entry level professionals, to Founders, C-Suite executives and investors. WCS meets once a month to network and learn the latest developments in the green movement, as well as attain new business and personal skills from speakers and panelists. Topics covered include: renewable energy (solar, wind biofuel, etc), water, smart grid, biomass, carbon reduction, sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, sustainability, green buildings and many other technologies that aim to make our world a cleaner, more sustainable place.
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