Cleantech Group

Carrie Kibler

Carrie Kibler is Of Counsel in the San Francisco office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where her practice focuses on the representation of start-ups and emerging growth companies, as well as venture capital and private equity firms focused on positively impacting our world through innovative technology, products, and services. She has dedicated her entire practice to helping those companies start up, grow, and mature. Through her company-focused representation, Carrie has also had the opportunity to represent many investors that have funded and built great companies.

In short, Carrie is an experienced attorney on a mission to advise companies (founders, investors, and boards) on navigating their key objectives and help achieve results. She specializes in bringing a business-minded approach to venture capital and debt financings, negotiating corporate strategic alliances, and general securities and corporate governance matters. Her genuine passion for teaming up with private, early-stage companies and investors is ever evident as she thoroughly embraces and thrives on the challenging and rewarding nature that is at the heart and soul of private company and venture financing representation.

Emily Kirsch

Emily Kirsch is the Founder and CEO of Powerhouse and the Founder and Managing Partner of Powerhouse Ventures. Powerhouse backs entrepreneurs building software-focused technology for the clean energy industry. At Powerhouse, Emily has built strategic connections between venture capital, corporate leaders, and entrepreneurs to drive innovation. Startups at Powerhouse have collectively raised hundreds of millions in capital, generated hundreds of millions in revenue, and have created over a thousand jobs in the US and around the world.

Prior to founding Powerhouse, Emily worked as the Lead Organizer at the Ella Baker Center, where she founded and lead the Climate Action Coalition which drafted and secured passage of the most ambitious Energy and Climate Action Plan of any city in the nation. Emily designed and launched the Green Jobs Corps with Ella Baker Center Founder and former Advisor to President Obama, Van Jones.

Emily serves on the Board of Station A and is on the Advisory Board of University of San Francisco’s Master’s of Science in Energy Systems Management. Emily serves on the Advanced Energy Technologies Council for the World Economic Forum.

Emily is the winner of 2017 Entrepreneurship Award from C3E, a partnership between the US Department of Energy, Stanford, and MIT to highlight women’s leadership in clean energy. Her work has been cited in Bloomberg, The Guardian, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post, and The New York Times. Emily has guest lectured at UC Berkeley and Stanford.

Veery Maxwell

Veery Maxwell is the Director for Energy Innovation, where she helps clients achieve their goals in climate and energy philanthropy. Veery earned a JD degree with honors from UC Hastings School of the Law where she focused on environmental issues. She was Managing Editor of West-Northwest, the Hastings environmental law and policy journal, and published a paper entitled, “Wind Energy Development: Can Wind Power Overcome Substantial Hurdles to Reach the Grid?” Veery received a B.A. degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a double major in finance and international business. She spent her junior year at the London School of Economics. While she attended Georgetown and Hastings, Veery worked for The Nature Conservancy, ClimateWorks Foundation, and the environmental law division of Union Pacific.

Nancy Pfund

Nancy E. Pfund is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Partners, a venture capital firm whose goal is to combine top-tier financial returns with meaningful social, economic and environmental returns in the regions and sectors in which it invests. As a leading player in impact investing, DBL has helped to reveal the power of venture capital to promote social change and environmental improvement, and Ms. Pfund writes and speaks frequently on the field of impact investing. She sponsors or sits on the board of directors of several companies, including; Farmers Business Network, The Muse, Advanced Microgrid Solutions, Zola Electric, Andela, Bellwether Coffee, Spatial, Primus Power and, prior to their public offerings, Tesla Motors and Pandora. She also served on the board of SolarCity, and was on both the audit and compensation committees, and also chair of the corporate governance committee from 2008 until its acquisition by Tesla in December 2016.

Ms. Pfund was a recipient of The Commonwealth Club 2018 Distinguished Citizen Award; and Earth Day Network 2018 Climate Visionary Award. She was also featured #17 in the 2014 FORTUNE Inaugural World’s Top 25 Eco-Innovators; and appeared on Fast Company’s 2016 List of Most Creative People in Business. Ms. Pfund serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Geographic Society; is a member and Chapter Chair of Women Corporate Directors (WCD) Foundation Silicon Valley; is a member and former chair of the Advisory Council of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University; an advisor for the UC Davis Center for Energy Efficiency; and co-chairs the Yale School of Management Program on Entrepreneurship. She has been a Lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the Yale School of Management; and is a C3E Ambassador to the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Program, led by the U.S. Department of Energy. From 2001-2019, she was also a founding officer and director of ABC2, a foundation aimed at accelerating a cure for brain cancer.

Ms. Pfund received her BA and MA in anthropology from Stanford University, and her MBA from the Yale School of Management.