Speakers
Jill Anderson is the Director of Supply Acquisition and Renewable Energy at the New York Power Authority (NYPA), where she manages a department responsible for power supply acquisition and project development including land-based and offshore wind, biomass, solar, and other clean energy programs.
Prior to joining NYPA, Jill was the Project Office Manager for Hess Corporation, leading projects in the areas of refining, offshore oil and gas production, corporate risk, electricity expense reduction, biofuel strategy, solar power generation, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction.
Jill worked for Consolidated Edison Company of New York (Con Edison) prior to joining Hess. At Con Edison, she held positions of increasing responsibility in field operations and supervision. For Con Edison's Smart Grid Third Generation (3G) System of the Future project, Jill led the international benchmarking program and established relationships with electricity utilities in major urban centers around the world. She also has experience in power generation design and construction, working as a field engineer for Parsons Brinckerhoff in Boston, Massachusetts.
Jill currently volunteers for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and has held leadership positions with ASME since 1999. Jill is also the President for the New York State Women in Communications and Energy (WICE), a 600+ member organization that encourages members from across New York to network and learn more about the energy and telecommunications profession. She recently served as a board member for the Environmental Committee of the Village of Larchmont, New York, assisting the Village with the development of a Climate Action Plan.
Jill received a Master of Business Administration from New York University and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University. She holds certifications in engineering, project management, and process improvement.
CEO, co-founder Roodhals Capital B.V. Roodhals is an investment management company with a particular focus on investment in sustainability. Roodhals launched the sustainability themed Branta Solutions Fund in 2009.
Prior to founding Roodhals Capital, Willem was a Managing Director at ING Bank, London, where he was a member of the management team of the bank's global proprietary multi-strategy trading platform. He joined ING in 1990 and spent most of his career investing for the company's account, initially from New York, later from Hong Kong. From 1998 to 2002 he lived in Tokyo. Willem earned a masters degree in Business and Economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1990.
Matt is the Head of the Office of Environmental Affairs at JP Morgan Chase, where he is responsible for the firm-wide environmental agenda.
Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase, Matthew Arnold was a Principal and leader of Sustainable Business Solutions, at Price Waterhouse Coopers in the United States. His team helps clients achieve business success from their sustainability strategies and investments. They focus on revenue growth, cost reduction and risk mitigation in industrial, financial, airline, food and consumer product companies. Matt and his team have extensive experience in the chemicals sector, where they have helped global chemical companies develop sustainability-driven growth strategies and tools to identify and respond to market demands for sustainable products in their value chains.
Matt was a co-founder of Sustainable Finance Ltd, which helps financial services companies to develop sustainability strategy, manage environmental and social risk and to identify environmentally superior investment opportunities. His clients include commercial and investment banks, insurers, real estate companies, industrial products and development banks. Sustainable Finance was acquired by PwC in December 2008.
Matt was Chief Operating Officer of at the World Resources Institute, a sustainable development think tank. He held positions in marketing with IBM, in investment banking with Merrill Lynch, and in business development with Santa Fe Trading, Hong Kong. Matt founded the Management Institute for Environment and Business, which was a pioneer in presenting environmental challenges as business opportunities to companies and business schools.
Matt holds an AB degree in Psychobiology from Harvard College, an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Nikos Avlonas is the Founder and President of the Centre for Sustainability and Excellence (CSE), a global sustainability advisory and training organization. CSE is based in Chicago, Brussels, and Athens and delivers services to clients in more than 20 countries.
In 2010, Nikos was distinguished as one of the "Top 100 Thought Leaders in Trustworthy Business Behavior" by Trust Across America, an organization dedicated to promoting dependable business practices and ethics. He is a well-known international speaker on topics related to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Nikos has been a featured panelist, delivered speeches and educated executive and managing professionals throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
For the last 15 years, Nikos has conducted numerous projects for forward-thinking organizations including Fortune Global 1000 companies such as BP, Dell Computers, McCain Foods, DHL, Lafarge, Deutsche Post, HSBC, the European Investment Bank and the Lloyds Banking Group. Additionally, he has extensive international experience in Executive training & coaching, having trained over 5,000 managers worldwide.
Nikos also has contributed as a conference chairman and advisory member in the development of international business conferences. He is one of the authors of Management Models for the Future, a book released in 2009 analyzing the topic of responsible competiveness. He has also published numerous articles & surveys in international and local magazines and newspapers on issues related to sustainability, corporate social responsibility & governance, climate change, and business excellence. Nikos is a recognized expert who has given interviews relevant to sustainability issues to local and international media including: CNBC, CCTV (China Central TV), Voice of America, to name a few.
Since 2000, Nikos has served as a part-time professor at the American College of Greece (Deree College) lecturing on corporate social responsibility (CSR), total quality management, and supply chain management. Additionally, he has lectured at a variety of Universities including the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management (Chicago) and Sheffield Hallam University (U.K). He collaborates with global non-profit organizations such as the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the World Council for Corporate Governance (WCFCG), UN Global Compact, the European Academy for Business in Society, and many others. Nikos is also a member of the advisory board of the The EthicMark, an annual global award based in the U.S. that recognizes outstanding marketing, advertising, and public relations campaigns and communications designed to uplift the human spirit and society.
Nikos is one of the founders and Vice President of the Corporate Responsibility Institute, a non-profit organization for CSR performance evaluation and benchmarking based on the Business In The Community (BITC) Corporate Responsibility (CR) Index. In the past, he has served as initiator and Vice Chairman of the Greek Institute for Business Ethics (Member of the European Business Ethics Network - EBEN) and Scientific Advisor to the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), based in Brussels. He has cooperated, often as project leader, for the development of a CSR European Framework with relevant tools and methodologies supported by the United Nations and Secretary General Kofi Annan. Additionally, Nikos participated as an expert in the EFQM Excellence model Executive Review Committee, which created the 'Business Excellence Model Ed. 2003' for more than 30,000 European Enterprises.
Contact Information:
Nikos Avlonas
Email: avlonas@cse-net.org
Rick Bell serves as executive director of the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Since starting at the AIA in 2001, Rick has raised the profile and involvement of the architectural community in New York on public policy issues, including accessibility, active design guidelines, affordable housing, disaster response and sustainable design. He helped create the AIANY's storefront Center for Architecture, a place where 1,000 events each year include many educational programs, professional training sessions and topical exhibitions.
Previously, Rick worked in the public sector as Chief Architect (1993-1996) and Assistant Commissioner of Architecture & Engineering at New York City's public works agency, the Department of Design + Construction (1996-2001) where he supervised a staff of 100 design professionals with responsibility for capital projects ranging from libraries and day care centers to courthouses and police stations. He oversaw the DDC Office of Sustainable Design and participated in the writing of the NYC High Performance Building Guidelines.
Rick has also worked in the private sector in NYC, France and Switzerland and was a design partner at WBTL Architects & Planners (1979-1993), responsible for the design of schools and libraries. A registered architect in New York, New Jersey and California, Rick was elected to AIA Fellowship in 2000 for his work in public facility design. He was president of the AIA's staff association, CACE in 2008 and served on the AIA National Board (2008 and 2009) and its Executive Committee (2009). He holds degrees from Yale College (1973) and Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation (1976) and has received numerous awards for civic activities and design. A frequent speaker on architecture and planning issues, he is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, the Institute for Urban Design and the Forum for Urban Design.
Dan Bena is currently the Senior Director of Sustainable Development for PepsiCo, serving as liaison between government affairs, public policy, and operations to "connect the dots" for impact and develop advocacy and messaging to key stakeholder groups. He serves on the Public Health Committee of the Safe Water Network, dedicated to market-based, sustainable community-level solutions to provide safe drinking water in developing economies; the Leaders Group of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD); the Global Agenda Council for Water Security of the World Economic Forum; and formerly the Steering Committee of the United Nations CEO Mandate. He was invited by the mayor of his city to serve on a new Sustainability Advisory Board to develop a forward-looking sustainability plan for the city, one of only three nationwide selected to pilot a new sustainability planning tool kit. In 2011, he was invited to the Expert Panel of www.katerva.org, and recently published his first book, Sustain-Ability: How a Corporate Conscience Sustains a Company's Ability to Win, specifically to help other companies along their sustainability journeys. He lives in New York with his wife, Diane, and their dog, Opie.
Barbara J. Bennett was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Chief Financial Officer for the United States Environmental Protection Agency and was confirmed by the Senate on November 6, 2009. Ms. Bennett's responsibilities include oversight of EPA's annual planning and budget formulation, budget execution and financial management, performance and financial reporting, and strategic planning.
Ms. Bennett is a global business executive with over 25 years of experience. Prior to joining EPA, she served as Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Discovery Communications, Inc. From 1990 to 2007, Bennett was a key member of the team that built the parent company of the Discovery Channel into one of the world's most extensive media enterprises, with more than 100 channels telecast in 170 countries, in over 30 languages to over one billion subscribers. As CFO, she was responsible for the worldwide financial functions and strategies of the company, including accounting, treasury, budgeting, reporting, audit, tax activities, and evaluation of new growth opportunities, and for leading a multi-cultural, multi-lingual team located in the five leading international hub offices in addition to corporate headquarters. From 2007 to 2009, Bennett was an independent consultant working with companies and nonprofit organizations with interests in media, hospitality, tourism, and professional sports. She earned her bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University and completed executive programs at Harvard Business School and Yale University.
Thomas Blum has spent 25 years as an investment banker and an investor in private equity and venture capital companies. He is a partner of GC Andersen Partners LLC, a boutique merchant bank where he focuses on the clean-tech sector. Prior to joining Andersen in 2006, Mr. Blum ran Channel Capital LLC, a firm he founded in 2001 to make venture capital investments and provide financial advisory services to emerging companies. Prior to then he was an investment banker with Salomon Brothers Inc and Bear Stearns & Co. He is a 1984 graduate of Harvard Business School and has a BS degree in Engineering from Princeton University in 1980.
William S. Brennan is Principal and Portfolio Manager for Summit Global Management Inc, the largest water hedge fund. He was previously the founder of Brennan Investment Partners LLC, an RIA focused on the global water business and related industries that rely on water for sustainability. He is regularly quoted on water investing in the Wall Street Journal, Baron's, Smart Money, Business Week and Kiplinger. Mr. Brennan presently serves as the lead Portfolio Manager and Sub Advisor for the Kinetics Water Infrastructure Fund (KWINX). Mr. Brennan also served as an analyst & portfolio strategist at Summit Global Management, a firm solely focused on investing in water equities and water rights, from 1999 to 2006 where he developed a strong value investment approach working for John Dickerson. Mr. Dickerson and Mr. Brennan launched the Praetor Global Water Fund as co-portfolio managers in April 2005 with Mr. Brennan acting as the Senior Portfolio Manager for the Praetor Global Water Equities Fund from April 15, 2005 through August 1, 2008. He also directed portfolio selection for the Claymore Global and Domestic Water UITs, the first structured water investment products launched in the U.S.
Mr. Brennan began his investment career with Pacific Growth Equities in San Francisco, where he managed the Environmental Services, Aviation Security and Special Situation groups. Mr. Brennan also has public company experience serving as the Executive Vice President-Corporate Development at Sequoia Software, where he was responsible for the strategy, coordination and execution of global sales, marketing, and business development prior to the sale of the company to Citrix Systems (NASDAQ: CTXS). Prior to Sequoia, Mr. Brennan was a Senior Equities Analyst and Principal at Pacific Growth Equities (PGE) in San Francisco where he was named to The Wall Street Journal's 2000 "Best on the Street" Analyst Team in the industrial/pollution control sector and was recognized as a leading consolidation/industrial services/special situation security analyst by buy-side institutions. While at PGE, Mr. Brennan was regularly quoted in The Wall Street Journal, Barons, Forbes, Business Week, Investor's Business Daily, and Individual Investor regarding environmental, industrial and security related investments. Mr. Brennan spent the early part of his career as an officer in the United States Air Force, both a missile launch officer and design engineer on Shuttle Mission 51-J, where he was assigned to the AFPRO responsible for the shuttle bay configuration for the launch of a classified satellite. Upon resignation of his commission, Mr. Brennan spent several years working on classified programs for General Electric Aerospace and as an environmental engineer with Law Environmental, where he developed an interest in the global water market as a professional engineer. Mr. Brennan has an MBA from Villanova University, where he is also an Adjunct Professor in the Graduate MBA School of Business, an MS in Mechanical/Biomedical Engineering from Colorado State University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering & Biology minor from Lehigh University.
Mr. Brooks founded THiNKGREEN! Global Advisors, Inc. (TGGA) in 2008 and as President and CEO, heads the firm's Global Institutional Capital Markets efforts and co-chairs the Investment Banking Commitment Committee. Mr. Brooks has dedicated his career to financing Cleantech companies and renewable energy projects as a matter of national security and economic imperative for the United States.
Mr. Brooks focuses on private and public equity capital raising, mergers and acquisitions and fairness opinions, focused on clean energy technology and renewable projects across a wide spectrum of financial structures related to power generation and sustainability.
Based in New York, Mr. Brooks has 15 years of capital markets and investment banking experience across a wide spectrum of financial structures. Having financed and advised some of the nation's largest and most recognized power generators and electric utilities his experience naturally extends into Clean Energy Technologies.
As specialists dedicated solely to renewables, our team maintains a broad and detailed understanding of the various players and technologies, which provides our clients with unparalleled perspective into market trends, transactions, relevant investors, and legislation. Moreover, the critical process of targeting the right institutional investor relationship is the key to securing long-term repeatable success.
As Senior Managing Director for the Cleantech and Renewables Investment Banking Group at Pali Capital, he spearheaded capital raise efforts in biofuels, wind, solar and clean municipal transportation private equity offerings and syndicated public offerings.
At Merrill Lynch, Mr. Brooks served as First Vice-President in Institutional Capital Markets (CICG) Power Generation and Utilities Team, where he provided domestic and international capital markets sales coverage to institutional investors focused on power generation and utilities. During "deregulation" he and his team executed on tens of $billions in public market equity raises as the #1 Institutional Investor globally ranked team on Wall St.
At The Robinson-Humphrey Company, an Atlanta, GA based affiliate of Salomon Smith Barney at the time, Mr. Brooks was a junior equity analyst in the equity research division for the Chief Market Strategist and Senior Market Technician with the economics, model portfolios and quantitative analysis group. While at RH, the research department was awarded the Wall Street Journal #1 Ranking for best regional equity research in the United States.
Mr. Brooks earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, and was an Honors Graduate with a BS in Business Administration. Originally from South Carolina, Mr. Brooks has been a resident of Manhattan since 1997.
Mr. Brooks is a registered rep with New Century Capital Partners, member FINRA & SIPC.
Primary industry focus includes: Defense & Homeland Security, Efficiency, Power Generation & Utilities, Server Farms & Network Components, Telecommunications & Broadband, Transportation, and Wireless Communications.
Michael has more than 25 years experience in the energy, mining and utilities industries, analyzing assets, companies and industry issues. Michael is the head of SNL Energy, a Division of SNL Financial and is responsible for all energy news, research, databases, commodities and advisory products and services. He joined SNL in 2009 from Duff & Phelps LLC, where he was the Director of their Energy Advisory and Consulting practice. Prior to this, he was the Senior Director of Product & Business Development with Platts, a Division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. Michael has degrees in Geology and Geosciences from The Australian National University and the Canberra College of TAFE and a M.Sc. in Economic Geology from the Colorado School of Mines
Mr. Cianci is President and Chief Investment Officer of Marvista Management, an investment advisor focused on green and renewable technologies. Marvista is the General Partner in Green Science Partners, LP.
Mr. Cianci has been an investor in public and private equity, primarily in biotechnology and renewable materials, as well as in real estate properties.
He recently completed a 22-year career as a stock research analyst, most recently with UBS Investment Bank, and prior to that with Bear Stearns. Mr. Cianci has been cited many times as a top Wall Street analyst by Institutional Investor and other trade groups. He also has been a merger and acquisitions consultant.
Mr. Cianci also serves as an adviser to a number of companies, both public and private. He is also on the advisory board of Ardour Capital, and investment bank specializing in clean technology, and is a trustee of New College Foundation.
Mr. Cianci holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University, an MS in Chemistry from the University of Miami, and a BA from New College of Florida.
Cogan is Director of Climate Risk Management and heads climate change research for MSCI's Financial Research and Analysis unit. He is the author of several books on environmental and energy topics, and a frequent speaker on corporate social responsibility issues. He has testified before Congress to provide an investor perspective on climate change and clean air legislation.
Cogan's 1992 book, The Greenhouse Gambit: Business and Investment Responses to Climate Change, was one of the first to examine the investment implications of global warming for major industries. In 2003, he wrote Corporate Governance and Climate Change: Making the Connection. Commissioned by Ceres, this report used a 14-point framework to evaluate how some of the world's biggest carbon-emitting companies are factoring climate change in their business strategies and governance practices. The Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR) formally endorsed this framework in 2008 and has commissioned follow-up reports from Cogan and his climate team addressing the banking sector, consumer and technology companies.
In 2007, Cogan wrote the analysis of S&P 500 companies in their annual response to the Carbon Disclosure Project, supported by 315 investing institutions. The CDP 2007 USA S&P500 Report featured guest commentaries from eight scientific, academic and business experts on climate change.
Cogan's latest research sponsored by Ceres and INCR is on two especially carbon-intensive sectors. Canada's Oil Sands: Shrinking Window of Opportunity, was published in May 2010. A forthcoming report on prospects for U.S. coal producers and the electric power industry will be published in Fall 2010.
Cogan has written extensively on fiduciary issues related to social investing and shareholder activism. In 2000, he edited Tobacco Divestment and Fiduciary Responsibility: A Financial and Legal Analysis, commissioned by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This report examined legal and fiduciary issues raised by fund trustees who seek to align investment practices with their institutional missions.
In 2004, Cogan wrote an Investor Guide to Climate Risk: Action Plan and Resource for Plan Sponsors, Fund Managers and Corporations. Also in 2004, he wrote Unexamined Risk: How Mutual Funds Vote on Global Warming Shareholder Resolutions. This report addressed mutual fund proxy voting practices on social and environmental issues. An update of this report was published in 2006.
Prior to MSCI and RiskMetrics Group, Cogan was Deputy Director of the Social Issues Service at Investor Responsibility Research Center, and helped establish its Environmental Information Service in 1988. He was co-author of two editions of Generating Energy Alternatives: Renewable Energy and Demand-side Management at America's Electric Utilities (1983 and 1987) and two editions of Power Plays: Profiles of America's Leading Renewable Electricity Producers (1985 and 1989). He also wrote Stones in a Glass House: CFCs and Ozone Depletion (1988) as well as scores of other articles and company reports.
Cogan is a graduate of Williams College. He graduated cum laude and received highest honors in political economics.
MSCI Inc. is a publicly traded company (NYSE: MSCI) and a leading global provider of investment decision support tools, including indices and portfolio risk and performance analytics. MSCI has clients in over 60 countries, and more than 2,000 employees located around the wor
John Conklin brings New Energy Technologies, Inc. 26 years of industrial, commercial, and renewable and alternative energy experience, providing technical and business consulting services to more than 50 technology, manufacturing, and industrial process companies. John Conklin brings New Energy Technologies, Inc. 26 years of industrial, commercial, and renewable and alternative energy experience, providing technical and business consulting services to more than 50 technology, manufacturing, and industrial process companies. Throughout Mr. Conklin's career, he has actively managed both the technical and business requirements of various energy and industrial companies. In additional to technical oversight, Mr. Conklin has overseen financial management and accounting; strategic planning; product prototyping, development and distribution; productivity and profitability analyses; inventory and cost controls; and team recruitment and management.
Mr. Conklin continues education in photovoltaic systems design, installation and operations at the University of Central Florida, Florida Solar Energy Center, and the State University of New York at Ulster, a noted leader in renewable energy certification and education. He has also studied chemical technology, chemical engineering, and various industrial, safety, and renewable energy programs at Broome Community College, University of Rhode Island, State University of New York at Buffalo, and Rochester Institute of Technology. Mr Conklin was inducted into the Golden Key International Honor Society. Mr. Conklin is currently studying Business Administration with a finance emphasis at Penn State University.
Mr. Conklin is a Certified Football Official and a licensed private pilot.
Neal is a founding partner of Jane Capital Partners LLC, an energy and technology merchant bank and buyside M&A advisor whose clients have included the technology arms of multinational energy companies. His teams have helped found 6 companies, leading to multiple IPOs, JVs, and acquisitions. He is Chairman and cofounder of Carbonflow, a provider of automation software for the carbon markets. He previously cofounded SC Power Systems, Inc. and its successor Zenergy Power plc (AIM:ZEN) in superconductor technology, helped launch WaiterPad POS Systems, Inc. in wireless hospitality POS solutions, and led the spin-out of Fideris, Inc. in fuel cell test & measurement. He has served as a director of several technology companies, edits the Cleantech Blog, named one of the 50 Best Business Blogs by London Times, is chairman of industry portal Cleantech.org, and a board member of the non profit San Francisco Carbon Collaborative.
He previously served as Director of Business Development for Globalgate, the parent company of Yellowpages.com, and as an investment professional at private equity fund manager Doyle & Boissiere. Before entering private equity, he began his career in energy investment banking at Bankers Trust, and has a B.A. in History and Economics from Texas A&M University.
Mr. Dinucci has had a business and finance career that has spanned forty years and includes extensive business development, client relationship management, corporate finance and direct operations and management experience. Over those years, he has worked with a wide array of corporate clients ranging from start-up, seed capital ventures to multinational corporations in a variety of industries. During his career he spent ten years as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch in the Energy and Natural Resources Group working with a large group of diversified oil and natural gas companies. He left Merrill Lynch to become the head investment banking at Conning & Co. for three years before launching his own boutique investment bank and venture firm with two Wall Street partners. For 14 years Forest Street Capital and SAE Ventures, the company he founded provided a full range of advisory services to early stage technology companies. He was instrumental in launching and building these early stage companies.
In 2006, he left the company to become the President and Executive Director of Connecticut Innovations, overseeing all its investment strategy and administration. The organization is a mutli-dimensional investment company with about $300 million of venture capital investments focused on early technologies including alternative energy as well as the evergreen Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, a steady pool of capital directed at initiatives to increase electricity generation in the state as well as support a large push into residential and commercial solar installation through investment and incentives.
In 2007 he joined with the principals of Triton Meridian Resource Advisors to provide project and technology development, merger, acquisition management and capital finance advisory services to a wide array of opportunities from innovative new alternative energy solutions to large alternative energy and power generation programs.
During this period, Mr. Dinucci was brought in to restructure and launch one of the most unique and dynamic medical technology commercialization companies. He became President and CEO of Boston BioCom, founded by Partners Healthcare (the parent for the Harvard teaching hospitals) and funded by Pfizer.
Mr. Dinucci has extensive experience in a wide range of financial products and services including M&A, corporate licensing, business planning, and financing. During his career, he has managed financial transactions that totaled approximately $15 billion in equity and debt. He began his career in 1972 as an institutional investor for the Aetna Life & Casualty Company and CBT Corp. His team at Aetna managed over $1 billion of direct investments in a wide range of industries.
Jonathan leads the Cleantech Practice at MaRS Discovery District where he assists Ontario based Cleantech companies in growing their business and raising capital. He has an extensive background in early stage and high growth alternative energy companies. Prior to joining MaRS, Jon led Business Development for Hydrogenics Corporation where he focused on strategic partnerships, product development, and sales and marketing. During his time with Hydrogenics he was involved in the introduction and launch of both the company's fuel cell and hydrogen generation divisions. Jon was also previously with the Pembina Institute where he led corporate consulting services on low-impact renewable energy and energy policy. In 1997 Jon co-founded Sustainable Energy Technologies, which is a leading Canadian provider of power electronics for the solar power industry.
In June 2008, Mr. Donohue was appointed Babson College's first Clean Technology Entrepreneur-in-Residence. He is primarily teaching, and conducting research, within the Olin Graduate School and Arthur Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, yet he will also lecture in the executive education program. In 2001, he was the sole Founder, Managing Partner and Chairman of Expansion Capital Partners, LLC, a pioneer in Clean Technology venture capital investing, which manages over $100,000,000. Mr. Donohue sold most of his interests in Expansion Capital Partners in June 2008.
During the last twenty years, Mr. Donohue has built three successful investment management, investment banking and financial service companies. He has a broad background in venture capital, both on the buy-side and sell-side, plus he has served in senior operational roles for venture-backed enterprises. He has been involved in growing over twenty venture capital backed enterprises. His career has focused on entrepreneurship, investment, corporate strategy and sales/marketing in the areas of Clean Technology and socially responsible business. In the past, he has been a member of many for-profit boards, including Chairing five entrepreneurial Boards of Directors.
Mr. Donohue was a Founding Investor, and has served for seven years on the Advisory Board, of the Cleantech Group, LLC, which is the leading conference and knowledge organization in the sector. He currently advises several leading companies in the sustainability and Cleantech sectors, including the Cleantech Group and Conscious Living Ventures. He has also served in a broad variety of non-profit roles, including the "Micro-Credit Lending" Grant Committee of the Threshold Foundation. He was previously Chair of the Membership Committee for the Social Venture Network (the leading U.S. organization of executives furthering global sustainability).
Mr. Donohue earned his BS in Investment Management, with honors, from Babson College in 1988. In 2009, he graduated from the Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators, at Babson College, which is a widely regarded as the preeminent training for teaching entrepreneurship. He has served on the college's Board of Overseers since 2002. He has been a leader in many Babson initiatives, such Chairing and co-founding Babson's annual Entrepreneurial Energy Expo, which attracted over 650 attendees in 2009.
On a personal note, he resides in Boston and San Francisco. He is quite active in the lives of his two God Children, Martin and Ixchel.
Over 20 years of experience and a proven track record in building businesses in the financial services industry with senior management positions in the areas of derivative trading, investment advisory, algorithmic trading, risk management, and securities lending. She founded Terra Global Capital in 2006 to facilitate the market for land-based carbon offsets. Terra is now the leader in land-use carbon analytics, finance and advisory providing carbon development expertise to their global client base in a collaborative and innovative manner. She is a member of the VCS Steering Committee, REDD+ Social & Environmental Standards Committee, and Coalition for Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. Her prior firms have included JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Barclays Global Investors and Charles Schwab.
Nicholas Eisenberger is a pioneer of the clean economy. As a successful entrepreneur, investor, strategist, and highly regarded speaker and author, Nicholas has worked for two decades to advance the clean technology industry. Nicholas is the founder and Managing Partner of Pure Energy Partners, a venture advisory firm that works at the intersection of finance, technology, and industry to accelerate cleantech commercialization. He is also a co-founder of GO Ventures, which invests in pathbreaking cleantech enterprises and a board member of the Clean Economy Network, a national umbrella organization for the industry.
From 2005-2009, Nicholas was Managing Principal of GreenOrder, which he and his partners established as one of the most influential sustainability strategy firms and sold in 2008. GreenOrder is widely recognized for its groundbreaking work with global companies such as GM, DuPont, HP, JPMorgan Chase, and GE, whose multi-billion dollar ecomagination initiative Nicholas played a key role in guiding from its launch.
Prior to that, Mr. Eisenberger was the founder and CEO of Ecos Technologies, an environmental management enterprise software company and a venture capital investor at Churchill Capital, one of the very first dedicated cleantech funds. In the mid-nineties, he also co-founded Mypoints.com, a pioneering public Internet marketing company that was purchased by United Airlines.
Nicholas is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School and received a Certificate in Environmental Law from the University of California. He serves on the Investment Advisory Board of Tundra Capital, the X-Prize Foundation's Energy & Environment Advisory Board, the Scottish Government's Saltire Prize Advisory Board for Marine Renewable Energy, the Harvard Environmental Law Society Advisory Board, the President's Advisory Council of the National Wildlife Foundation, the Board of Directors of New York Sun Works, a sustainability and science education non-profit, and the Board of the New York Growing Up Green Charter School. He is also a founding member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), a co-Founder of the Clean Economy Network, and the Chairman of the Executive Council's Sustainable Business Advisory Board.
Kurtis A. Erickson is the Sales Leader of GE Energy's Digital Energy business for the Northern US. He leads a team of 15 commercial professionals responsible for GE Smart Grid's $300MM regional portfolio, including both products and services. He was promoted to his current role in July 2008.
Kurt has enjoyed an 18-year career in the Energy industry with ABB and GE. He has worked in both the nuclear and fossil arenas of power services and most recently in the Transmission and Distribution segment. Kurt began his GE career in 1998, holding the positions of Marketing Manager in the Commercial & Industrial and Utility markets, Utility Account Manager, Regional Director of Non-OEM Services and Technical Sales Director at T&D before moving into his current role. Prior to GE, Kurt worked for ABB and spent his early career in the engineering of nuclear reactor safety systems and refueling tools. He also worked for Husky Injection Molding Systems as a Project Manager in the plastics industry for 2 years.
Mr. Erickson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering and a MBA both from the University of Connecticut and is Six Sigma Green Belt certified. Mr. Erickson lives in Pennsylvania with his wife Elisabeth. They have 2 children.
Saskia is an experienced pioneer of new markets for innovative clean technologies and most recently environmental products. At EOS Climate she has focused on establishing the quality and transparency of emissions reductions from the destruction of ozone depleting substances. This offset is one of the four project types currently approved by California's Air Resources Board for their impending cap and trade program, and in less than 2 years has supplied about 40% of all early action offsets for the program. EOS Climate pioneered this offset type, from submitting the initial methodology to CAR to delivering the majority of emission reductions. Saskia leads EOS' marketing and sales efforts in both the voluntary and compliance markets.
Prior to EOS, she worked for Cyrano Sciences bringing new sensing technologies to market, consulted for a major oil company, and a thin film photo-voltaic developer. Saskia has multiple peer reviewed scientific publications ranging from review articles on fine chemical synthesis as well as a pioneering paper, from her PhD, on enantioselective heterogeneous catalysis. She holds an M.B.A. in Sustainable Management from Presidio School of Management in San Francisco, California, and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Liverpool University, in the United Kingdom.
Gordon works with innovative leaders making tough decisions, helping them to ensure that their organizations are more connected and more sustainable. He partners, on a daily basis, with top-tier executives who lead governments (at national, regional and municipal levels); international agencies; NGOs; and for-profit enterprises.
Among his various duties, Gordon helps to lead a variety of Cisco's key initiatives, with a focus on North America, Asia and EU. In addition, Gordon supports Cisco's numerous China urban initiatives - in part through his role as the lead executive responsible for Cisco's City Leader Program, which provides intensive learning programs to Chinese mayors, Communist Party secretaries and national government ministers.
Prior to joining Cisco, Feller was CEO of Urban Age, an international institute fostering leadership and innovation within and between cities. Urban Age provides city leaders (for-profit and non-profit) with breakthrough strategic planning, innovative public policies, and strategies for sustainable development - always with a focus on dynamic development (energy, economic, social, ecological, political).
For nearly 30 years Gordon's advised or led on a wide variety of initiatives and investments, sometimes led by the elected and appointed leaders of cities and states, heads of corporations, NGOs, foundations, national government agencies. His pre-Cisco clients included the national governments of Canada and Germany, Siemens, IBM, Metropolis, Reuters, The World Bank, United Nations and Chevron. Grants made by a long list of philanthropies, including Lincoln Institute and Rockefeller Foundation, have enabled his projects to flourish in numerous countries. Gordon enables leaders to harness Information & Communications Technology (ICT) in ways that solve complex urban problems. He develops practical and forward-looking solutions that link economics to technology and sustainability.
His work is the basis of a documentary film and other multimedia projects.
Gordon has written more than 300 articles for newspapers and magazines including CFO, Financial Times, Planet Earth, Time and Urban Land.
Gordon serves as keynote speaker and facilitator for various leadership events including the "Meeting of the Minds" conference - a premiere annual conference which gathers a unique group of senior-level government and private sector leaders. The 2011 program was sponsored by Toyota, Cisco, Deutsche Bank. Philips and ten others.
Gordon received both his undergraduate degree and his Masters from Columbia University in New York City, where he graduated cum laude with several honors and several fellowships. He serves on numerous non-profit and for-profit boards, as well as on government commissions and councils.
In his role as global head of climate change investment research based in New York, Mark Fulton co-ordinates a team of analysts who publish white papers on key industry, policy and strategic topics. The research team uses this to advise investment managers on climate change based strategies across the asset management platform.
Mark joined the Company in 2006 after 29 years of investment experience in senior roles in research and management at Citigroup in the US, Salomon Smith Barney and NatWest in Sydney and James Capel in London.
Mark is Co-Chair of UNEP FI Climate Change Working Group, Member of Steering Committee, Capital Markets Climate Initiative, UK Department of Energy and Climate Change and also Member, Advisory Committee, IEA International Low-Carbon Energy Technology Platform.
Mark has a BA in Philosophy & Economics from Oxford University.
Peter C. Fusaro is Chairman of Global Change Associates in New York and is the best selling author of What Went Wrong at Enron. His three most recent books have been Cut Carbon, Grow Profits, Energy & Emissions: Collision or Convergence and Energy & Environmental Hedge Funds: The New Investment Paradigm. Peter is an energy industry thought leader noted for his keen insights in emerging energy and environmental financial markets. He has been on the forefront of energy and environmental change for over 30 years focusing on. oil, gas, power, coal, emissions, carbon trading and renewable energy markets. Peter is currently advising in the clean energy technology arena. Peter was recently selected for Who's Who in America. He coined the term "Green Trading" and holds the Wall Street Green Trading Summit with Reuters in New York each spring. He is also a well known expert on Asia Pacific energy and environmental markets. He co-founded the Energy Hedge Fund Center LLC (www.energyhedgefunds.com) in 2004. Peter graduated with an MA in international relations from Tufts University and a BA from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Matt is responsible for assessing worldwide markets for governmental and regulatory policies enabling IBM's Smarter Planet initiatives and revenue targets. Matt's primary focus areas are leveraging IBM's country teams on Smart Grid issues throughout the world and guiding executive leadership on strategic policy initiatives that best fit with the corporate mission. Reporting to Allan Schurr, VP of Strategy and Development, Matt assumed this role in August of 2011.
Matt's work involves policy and regulatory interactions within the international growth markets of China, India, Australia, Brazil, Japan, the EU zone, and North America. Within these markets, he guides local teams in developing market specific policy strategies within the Energy and Utilities space.
Previously, Matt lead energy policy at the Colorado Governors Energy Office as the Senior Policy Manager working with the State's electric and gas power sector. During this time, Matt helped negotiate and craft the clean energy policies of Governor's Bill Ritter Jr. and Governor John W. Hickenlooper over a five year span. His work included the passage of numerous renewable energy, smart grid, energy efficiency and regulatory reform bill titles.
Matt holds a M.A. in Global Finance and International Trade from the University of Denver and a B.A. in Communications from Colorado State University. He lives with his wife and son Alexander in Denver, Colorado.
Howard Gould is the President and Co-Founder of Tundra Capital Partners LLC. Tundra is a long/short public equity fund focused in generating returns solving global resource constraints in the Food, Energy and Water sectors and their related infrastructure/Services. Before foundingTundra, Howard co-founded Equator LLC, an environmental asset management firm with over $500mm under management. Equator is one of the largest timber asset managers in Brazil. He is active on clean tech advisory boards and environmental action committees. Howard is also on the Chairman's Council of Conservation International and is a co-founder of the Clean Economy Network, a national advocacy association for the clean technology and green business community and an active member of of E2 (Environmental Entrepreneurs).
Oliver Guinness is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Clearpoint Ventures, a clean economy venture capital fund focused on innovative lower-tech and service companies operating in alternative energy, energy efficiency and green building. Previously, Oliver advised companies on energy technologies, policies and risks, developed a telecom company and related training program in South America, helped grow a Silicon Valley startup, and worked in corporate finance. Oliver completed the Venture Capital Executive Program at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, has a Masters in International Affairs (Business in Emerging Markets) from Columbia and an Economics Degree from Cornell. Oliver is also a Special Advisor to YouthActionNet, a signature entrepreneurship program of the International Youth Foundation.
Bert Haskell is the Director of Technology for Pecan Street Demonstration Project. The Pecan Street Street Demonstration Project is a major smart grid research initiative that is testing a local smart grid and it's various components in a residential community of 176 homes in Austin Texas. The demonstration is being coordinated by Pecan Street Inc., and is led by researchers from the University of Texas, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Environmental Defense Fund in the United States. The project is supported by a $10.4 million smart-grid demonstration grant from the US Department of Energy and more than $14 million in matching funds from project partners, which include companies like Best Buy, Intel, and Sony. Pecan Street Inc is initiating efforts to globalize their model by establishing sustainability research and best practice centers globally.
Bert has been working in technology and product development since starting his career in 1984 with Eastman Kodak, where he worked for 5 years as an electronics manufacturing process development engineer while earning his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester. Bert then worked for 9 years at the Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC) in Austin,TX, concluding his tenure there as Vice president of Portable Electronics Product Research. Since 2000, the has held product development, product marketing and advisory rolls at a number of start-up companies including Stellar Display Corporation, Wireless Age, Motion Computing, Portelligent and most recently, Heliovolt, where he was Director of Product Development for CIGS based thin-film photovoltaic modules. He joined Pecan Street Project in August, 2010.
Jeff Hittner is an experienced social entrepreneur and corporate innovator.
In addition to being an adjunct professor of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at NYU, Jeff co-founded and currently runs two social ventures, named Ethikus and 3CS respectively. Ethikus is an online community of ethical consumers that seeks to harness consumer purchasing power to positively influence local business practices. 3CS is a university program, which fosters collaboration between business leaders, university students, and professors in order to bridge the sustainability gap in the undergraduate education space.
Previously, Jeff was Deputy Chair and Director of Research at the Corporate Eco Forum, a membership organization dedicated to bringing influential executives of Global 500 companies together to share sustainability best practices. Prior to this, Jeff spent more than 5 years at IBM where he founded and led the Corporate Social Responsibility consulting practice for IBM Global Business Services.
At IBM, Jeff helped clients integrate sustainability into their core business strategy and developed IBM's thought leadership on the topic, co-authoring 3 global studies on CSR. He was quoted in more than 200 articles worldwide on behalf of IBM, and has published byline articles in Forbes, Businessweek, Environmental Leader, GreenBiz, Boardmember and other publications.
Jeff received his Masters in Cultures and Development Studies from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, and a Bachelor of Business Administration from The College of William and Mary in Virginia where he was an elite gymnast. He is currently the Chairperson of the Carnegie New Leaders Program at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs in New York City.
Mr. Hoar is the ecosystem services program manager for Marstel-Day, coordinating development and implementation of ecosystem services components into current and future Marstel-Day projects. Mr. Hoar provides senior review of all relevant company documents and work products to ensure that coastal management and ecosystem services sections are adequately and accurately characterized. He also undertakes business development efforts for the company's ecosystem services and conservation business lines with resource management and regulatory agencies, non-profit organizations, universities and other for-profit business. Mr. Hoar leads ecosystem services-related projects and provides mentoring and subject-matter-expert advice to Marstel-Day staff and project leads.
Prior to joining Marstel-Day, Mr. Hoar was a chief environmental scientist for Ecology & Environment, Inc., where he was project lead for numerous habitat damage assessment, ecological restoration, emergency ecological response, and environmental policy act (NEPA) projects. Mr. Hoar also represented the State of Kuwait before the United Nations Compensation Commission for remediation and restoration of ecological damages to the Kuwait coast resulting from the first Gulf war, and for development of an international marine protected area (MPA) in the Arabian Gulf. Previously, he was coastal ecosystem program manager for the NOAA National Coastal Data Development Center, was manager of the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) in Mississippi, and implemented marine fishery science and policy for the National Marine Fisheries Service and the States of Florida and Massachusetts.
Mr. Hoar has over 30 years of experience in oceanographic and coastal ecological project design and implementation, coastal program implementation and fisheries management, and coastal ecological remediation and restoration. In these capacities, Mr. Hoar has worked for the states of Mississippi, Florida, and Massachusetts, as well as for NOAA, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Mr. Hoar is a graduate of Amherst College (biology), and has a master's degree in marine affairs specializing in fishery science and management from the University of Rhode Island. He has also completed 66 hours of course work toward a Ph.D. in coastal and marine science.
Jack Jacobs, Esq. is the founder and managing partner of Cleantech Law Partners (www.cleantechlawpartners.com), a boutique law firm that caters to the unique legal and policy needs of renewable energy project developers and cleantech companies. Before founding Cleantech Law Partners, Jack held a variety of legal, policy and business positions in the U.S. and abroad, including: environmental litigation lawyer for a Boston law firm, consultant for a venture capital fund that focuses on early-stage renewable energy and cleantech companies, policy analyst for the Israel Ministry of Environmental Protection, and as a legal fellow for the United Nations Environment Program in Geneva. He also taught a graduate-level course in comparative environmental law at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (Ben Gurion University). He holds an LL.M. degree in environmental law & natural resources from the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis & Clark College, a J.D. degree with a concentration in environmental law from Vermont Law School, and a B.A. degree in environmental analysis & planning from Frostburg State University. Jack is a member of the Massachusetts bar.
Mr. Joshi is the founding partner of CapitalFusion Partners with responsibilities in Business Development, Portfolio Management and oversight of all strategic business initiatives at the firm. At CapitalFusion Mr. Joshi established the renewable energy, project finance and structured finance advisory services, as well as strategic joint ventures in sustainability investment products, and the FinCap Financial Services joint-venture for capital markers advisory and analytics.
Prior to establishing CapitalFusion Partners, Mr. Joshi was responsible for establishing and managing Countrywide Alternative Investments a division of Countrywide Financial Corporation. As Executive Vice President, Mr. Joshi was responsible for Countrywide Alternative Investments' developing the asset management business, hedge fund products and other investment vehicles. Prior to establishing Countrywide Alternative Investments Mr. Joshi established the Structured Finance Asset Management and trading business for the Clinton Group, a multi strategy hedge fund based in NY.
Mr. Joshi was previously a Managing Principal at C.Held Inc. responsible for whole-loan MBS trading and business development. From 1990 to 1996, Mr. Joshi was a member of the quantitative research group at PaineWebber where he was involved in ABS and Whole Loan research. Mr. Joshi started his career at Salomon Brothers developing MBS/ABS analytics and joined the Salomon Mortgage Analytics Group in 1986. Mr. Joshi holds a BS Computer Science and Economics (1985) from State University of New York at Stony Brook
Sandy Kreis serves as the Green Tech Program Manager for CB Insights (CBI), a National Science Foundation-backed data firm based in New York City's SoHo. CBI works with private equity, venture capital, corporate M&A, investment banking and governments who use CBI's data for deal sourcing, benchmarking and market intelligence. Specifically, Sandy is in charge of Green Tech Insights, CBI's data product designed specifically for those interested in the clean, renewable, and green technology. In addition, she works with NYSERDA on the Green Capital Empire network which links investors and entrepreneurs in cleantech across New York State. She graduated with a BA cum laude from Georgetown University and a MA in International Energy & Resource Policy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University
Mr. Koch co-founded US Renewables Group in 2004 and has served as a Managing Director at the firm since its inception. Prior to joining US Renewables Group, Mr. Koch was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sundial, a leader in provisioning utility services online. Earlier in his career, Mr. Koch worked at General Electric focused on the acquisition of energy equipment service providers, distributed generation technology and renewable energy companies. Prior to GE, Mr. Koch worked at Booz, Allen & Hamilton consulting on large M&A transactions in the energy and life sciences sectors and advising the EPA on policy issues in the Superfund, Clean Air and Drinking Water programs.
Mr. Koch served on the Board of Pipestem Energy Group prior to its sale to Magellan Midstream Partners. Mr. Koch currently serves as a Director for Renewable Energy Group a biodiesel company, Westerly Wind, a wind development company, General Compression, an energy storage company, Fulcrum BioEnergy a cellulosic ethanol company, OPX Biotechnologies, a biochemicals company, and Niagara Generation, LLC, a power generation facility.
Mr. Koch completed the Corporate Environmental Management Program (now called the Erb Institute) at the University of Michigan and earned a joint MBA and Masters of Science in Resource Policy. Mr. Koch received a B.A. from Tufts University.
Micah Kotch is a New York City native and startup veteran. A graduate of Colgate University, he currently serves as Director of the NYC ACRE initiative at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU, where he is helping to grow New York City's cleantech sector. The New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE) helps clean technology and renewable energy companies in New York City grow, advancing the City as a role model for a low-carbon future. Micah previously worked as a strategic consultant for Pratt Institute, helping growing the Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable Innovation at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and establishing the Center for Sustainable Design Studies and Research, which is funded by a Federal DOE grant. He is a founding member of the Green Leaders Group, serves on the Board of the NY Chapter of the US Association of Energy Economists, the Green Finance Board of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, and the Sustainability SubCommitee of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at Building 92 Advisory Group.
A lifelong activist and nonprofit professional who is now a NYC-based serial social entrepreneur, where she is the founder of Third Rail Ventures, a startup to support and seed startups for social and ecological change. Danielle created and taught Laos's first course in Sustainable Development, served as an Environmental Ed trainee in the Peace Corps in Senegal, and worked in Berlin as the Development Director for the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy.
Peter Malik is the Director of the Center for Market Innovation at the Natural Resources Defense Council, based in New York City. Peter was born in former Czechoslovakia, and came to the US in 1985 on a political asylum. He received his BA from University of Wisconsin-Madison, and MA from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University. He was actively involved in the political transition of the Czechoslovak system in 1989 and 1990, and served as a translator to the International Committee of Observers during the first free elections. Subsequently, Peter embarked on a career in finance in New York and London, heading several groups as a Managing Director at Credit Suisse and JPMorgan, respectively. His main area of expertise was in emerging markets fixed income, ranging from senior sovereign bonds to junior structured debt for early-stage private borrowers. At NRDC Peter focuses on designing and implementing financially sustainable solutions to our environmental challenges
Dr. David Meyers is a serial entrepreneur and environmental finance expert with over 25 years of experience in sustainability issues spanning business strategy and management, environmental economics, international conservation and development, environmental impact, training, education, and research in ecology and evolution. David was the founding CFO/COO for Mission Markets, a financial services company providing online marketplaces for impact investing and environmental assets. In 2005, David founded and was CEO of Madagascar Bamboo, a triple bottom line bamboo flooring manufacturer. Madagascar Bamboo was the first company to produce industrially transformed bamboo products in Africa. Previously, David founded and ran Bluenet Ventures, a technology incubator in New Haven which provided startup space, business planning and consulting to a range of early stage companies. Throughout his career David has worked and traveled internationally spending well over a decade in Madagascar and has visited or worked in over 35 countries. Dr. Meyers has provided consulting services to the UNDP, World Bank, USAID, a range of NGOs and corporations. He began his career conducting research on endangered primates and has written multiple scientific publications and co-authored the definitive guide to the lemurs. He holds a PhD in Biological Anthropology and Anatomy from Duke University and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.
David J. Manning is a Senior Vice President and Energy Practice Leader for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Inc., a Boston based engineering firm with offices throughout the Eastern United States. The firm's primary areas of focus, in addition to energy, include environment, transportation, and land use.
Effective January 1, 2011, Mr. Manning has been named Executive Director of the New York Smart Grid Consortium in addition to his duties with VHB. The Consortium is made up of New York State's leading utilities, universities, research facilities (including Brookhaven National Labs), and technology developers (including Computer Associates, GE, and IBM). The mission of the consortium is to increase smart grid investment in New York State with collaborative initiatives from some of the nation's top companies and research institutions.
Mr. Manning also advises M.J. Bradley & Associates, an engineering and consulting firm which focuses on the convergence of energy and the environment.
Previously, Mr. Manning was Executive Vice President of External Affairs and Chief Environmental Officer for KeySpan / National Grid, the second largest gas & electric utility in the United States. Mr. Manning had responsibility for all external affairs, including government relations on the local, state, and national level, public relations and communications, as well as community strategy. Mr. Manning also managed both environmental policy and environmental operations for KeySpan. KeySpan operated throughout the U.S. Northeast, and was acquired by National Grid, the London based utility.
Prior to his role with KeySpan / National Grid, Mr. Manning was the President of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, the industry trade group representing the entire Canadian upstream, including Canada's Oil Sands. In that capacity, he was a delegate to Kyoto and introduced the first industry-lead voluntary CO2 reduction program in 1995.
In addition to Mr. Manning's corporate and trade association leadership, he served in government as the Deputy Minister of Energy for the Province of Alberta in the early 90's, following five years as Alberta's International Trade Counsel and representative in the United States. In that capacity, he was actively involved in the creation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and the North America Free Trade Agreement on behalf of the Province. He also participated in the successful efforts to develop infrastructure and significantly expand Canadian energy exports to U.S. markets.
At VHB, Mr. Manning serves large utilities and energy providers, as well as governments and developers on energy issues. Alternative energy, transportation, infrastructure, policy, and funding are all areas of expertise that occupy the VHB team for multiple clients, primarily in the Eastern United States.
Ms. Martin is Chief Financial and Operating Officer of Jones Lang LaSalle Incorporated, the leading integrated global real estate services and money management firm. She joined the firm as Chief Financial Officer in January 2002 and was given expanded responsibilities in 2005 to become Chief Financial and Operating Officer. She is responsible for all global finance functions including accounting, tax, treasury, internal audit and investor relations together with information technology and all aspects of the firm's operational platform.
Experience
Prior to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Ms. Martin was CFO of Heller Financial Inc., where she was involved in both the company's initial public offering in 1998 and its successful sale of the company to General Electric Capital in 2001. Ms. Martin also served as Heller's Group President - Real Estate Finance for three years before she became a Senior Group President, overseeing Real Estate Finance as well as three other business units. She previously worked at GE Capital for 10 years heading its mortgage banking and construction lending divisions.
Education and Affiliations
Ms. Martin earned a B.A. from Oregon State University and an M.B.A. from the University of Connecticut. She serves on the boards of Jones Lang LaSalle, HCP and Kaiser Aluminum. She is a member of the Executives' Club, the Chicago Network, and a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute.
In 2008, Julie joined E.ON as Head of Origination for South East Asia and became Regional Director in 2010. E.ON is headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany and is one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies, operating along the entire value chain. E.ON has activities across Europe (Including Russia) and operates renewable energy generating assets in North America. In 2010, E.ON generated just under EUR 93 billion in sales and EUR 9.4 billion in Adjusted EBIT.
Julie has seven years of experience in environmental attributes and energy markets across more than 15 countries. Prior to joining EON, Julie worked for EcoSecurities Group PLC in New York, Santiago (Chile) and Oxford (UK). Julie also concluded a two-year Peace Corps service in Nicaragua in the field of Environmental Education.
Julie completed her undergraduate work at Bucknell University, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies and English. In 2005, Julie received her Master of Public Administration in Environmental Science and Policy from The Earth Institute at Columbia University's School for International and Public Affairs in New York. She is currently pursuing an executive MBA at Chicago University Booth School of Business on a part-time basis with expected graduation in March 2013.
Clay Norrbom is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Global Infrastructure Asset Management, an investment management firm focused on investments in infrastructure and renewable energy projects. Prior to founding GIAM, he was a Director in Citigroup's Global Banking group, where he provided financing and advice to large asset management and insurance clients over the past decade. He served as a senior banker and credit officer in both the New York and London offices.
Clay grew up in rural Wisconsin and has a further background working in business and policy there before joining Citigroup. He was a partner and investment advisor in a financial planning practice and at the time also served as one of the youngest elected mayors in Wisconsin history.
Clay has an MALD with a focus on International Business and Environmental Policy from the Fletcher School at Tufts University and a BS in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is currently the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Wisconsin Institute for Public Policy and Service, a policy institute of the University of Wisconsin Colleges.
Brian is President and CEO of eWeatherRisk, Inc. the next generation in weather risk management. eWeatherRisk, Inc. brings a level of flexibility to the weather derivatives market, not previously available, allowing clients and partners the ability to develop, price, execute and manage weather risk instruments in real time. Brian was formerly Managing Director, Head of Americas, Environmental and Commodities Markets for Swiss Re responsible for leading weather, energy, emissions and agricultural product trading, business and product development and risk management. Brian is a Past President of the Weather Risk Management Association, the global industry association whose market volume grew from $4 Billion to $45 Billion during his 2 year leadership. Brian was previously President and CEO of Aquila Re Ltd. and Aquila Merchant Services-International based in Bermuda and prior to Aquila was Vice President Corporate Finance at Koch Industries in charge of Structured Finance as well as Director of Tax Planning. Brian received his LLM, MBA, JD and Chemistry degrees from the University of Missouri at Kansas City and has over 25 years of experience in the energy, agriculture, weather and risk management fields.
Mr. Reader brings over twenty five years of IT and Industry experience to Cisco's Advisory Services business, focusing on synthesizing solution architectures for new and adjacent markets. At Deloitte International and then at IBM Global Services Mr. Reader helped establish the role of the Networking Architect within their Consulting and Systems Integration Service Lines, while developing vertical industry expertise in retail banking, health care and aerospace applications through EDP auditing and security engagements.
This success resulted in leading the Offer Management and Ecosystem Development team for 1200 professionals in IBM's Systems Management and Networking Services practice as the preeminent industry model for IT Solution Development and Deployment. IBM's decision during this period to focus on Services and Software, and begin exiting commodity products such as PC's and printers allowed it to transform its business from products to systems and solutions. In addition IBM began rapidly acquiring over 100 software and services companies during this period growing the company's solution portfolio expertise and managed services relevancy.
With this experience, Mr. Reader then joined Cisco in 1998 as a corporate Strategic Alliances Manager helping Cisco push deeper into Service Provider and Enterprise segments focusing on Cisco's "convergence" solutions with Network Integrators like INS, Cap Gemini and BearingPoint. Mr. Reader has worked closely with Cisco Services, since its early days, building new go-to-market solution models, while evaluating consulting and services businesses as a member of Cisco's Business Development investment and acquisitions due diligence teams. Mr. Reader helped Cisco develop its response to the Global Outsourcing and Managed Services trend during this period.
Since 2004 Mr. Reader has focused full time on leading Cisco's move into new Physical World Infrastructure adjacencies in Factory Automation, Building Automation, the Smart Grid and IP Sensor networking where he continues as an industry expert on "The Internet of Things." within the Smart + Connected Communities global team.
Mr. Reader joined Cisco's Emerging Technologies Group in 2009 helping to launch its Converged Buildings Systems Business Unit and establish new open IP standards for building controls as a participant in ASHRAE and NIST Interoperability Smart Building Standards. Mr. Reader continues to play a key role in Cisco's Smart Grid Business Unit for Building Energy Management.
Mr. Reader holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Towson University as well as an Advanced Degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in Systems Analysis and Data Communications.
Mr. Reader lives in Boston, travels often, and enjoys mountain hiking and world music in his spare time.
Mr. Siegel is the Managing Partner of the Hartford office of Brown Rudnick and is Co-Chair of the Firm's Energy Practice Group. He represents clients in matters involving the acquisition, divestiture and financing of electric generation facilities; electric industry restructuring; bankruptcy and reorganization; corporate and real estate debt restructuring; commercial, corporate and project finance and business transactions. He also assists clients in formulating strategies and programs in the alternative energy and climate change space that are both innovative and commercially viable. Mr. Siegel also has significant experience representing clients in asset valuation litigation.
Leanne Tobias, LEED AP is founder and managing principal of Malachite LLC. Ms. Tobias brings over 20 years of institutional real estate investment, development and management experience to the sustainable real estate field, as well as extensive international contacts in commercial real estate development, finance, government and related disciplines.
Ms. Tobias specializes in the management of sustainable commercial real estate projects and portfolios, finance and investment management, green building certification, and public-private programs to facilitate green building development. She is one of the first commercial real estate investment and management experts to have been designated as a LEED Accredited Professional by the U.S. Green Building Council.
In addition to her work with private real estate and investment clients, Ms. Tobias is a sought-after international speaker, who has lectured on sustainable real estate investment and development for the United Nations; Harvard, Columbia and Wharton Business Schools; the Urban Land Institute; the U.S. Green Building Council and many others. Ms. Tobias is an advisor to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Environmental Finance Advisory Board, to the Green Building Finance Consortium, and to Washington, DC's Green Building Task Force. She also has held advisory roles with Building Design and Construction and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
Ms. Tobias was previously Managing Director of the Multi-Employer Property Trust, a multi-billion dollar commercial real estate equity fund, where she managed its Investment Committee, negotiated or participated in more than $1 billion in real estate acquisitions and sales, and managed over 6 million square feet of property, including sustainable projects, across the U.S. She headed the real estate operations of the AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust, and directed programs for commercial real estate capital markets lenders, banks, pension funds and life insurance companies at the Mortgage Bankers Association. Ms. Tobias also has worked with numerous government agencies and is an expert on economic stimulus initiatives.
Michael is considered an environmental capital markets innovator and is responsible for guiding Mission Markets financial and technological innovation and apply it to the social and environmental capital markets. Michael has over 20 years of experience on Wall Street and has been integrally involved in the design and implementation of private placement and illiquid security transactions platforms for several companies including co-founding the highly successful NYPPEX. Michael has been a featured speaker at several environmental and social markets conferences and has written several articles regarding environmental capital markets innovation and financial structure. Mike will lead the Company's strategic and business development and it's marketing efforts for investors and will lead the implementation of Mission Markets environmental markets offerings. Michael is a father of four children, an avid surfer, rock climber and has completed over 50 triathlons. Michael possesses FINRA registrations 7, 63, 55, 24, 3.
Elizabeth is an attorney in EDF's Energy Program, focusing energy efficiency in large commercial buildings and the development of the smart grid. During her tenure at EDF, Elizabeth has consulted with the City of New York in its development of green buildings legislation and worked with the City and other parties to address barriers to energy efficiency that threatened to undermine the promise of the city legislation. She has also worked with New York City and State officials to raise the profile of grid modernization in City and State policy thinking.
Prior to coming to EDF, Elizabeth was a transactional real estate attorney.
Education
AB Harvard (1991), JD New York University (2003)
Ms. Tuor is a seasoned senior executive and board director, and has served in numerous executive positions over her 32 year career with CH2M HILL. CH2M HILL, a worldwide leader in engineering, design and construction of large infrastructure projects, has 23,000 staff and annual revenues in excess of $6 billion and has long been recognized for its leadership in environmental matters. Ms. Tuor is currently serving her third 3-year term as an executive director at CH2M HILL, an employee-owned company. Though not publicly traded, CH2M HILL is a SEC registrant company. The Board of Directors operates consistent with SEC and NYSE requirements. Ms. Tuor served on the Governance Committee during a 2010 evaluation of corporate best practices, which resulted in sweeping changes to the firm's corporate governance. She currently serves on the Enterprise Risk Management committee.
Ms. Tuor has extensive international operations experience including major project responsibilities in the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Among her operating accomplishments, in late 2008, she relocated to Abu Dhabi at the request of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company to serve as the program manager for the development of the Masdar sustainable new town. This strategic assignment also led to the firm's selection as Program Manager for the United Arab Emirates' development of a commercial nuclear fleet. In the United Kingdom, she led the firm's efforts in entering the nuclear market, resulting in numerous contracts with both the public and private sector. She returned to the US in 2010 to lead the firm's efforts in developing a world class sustainability practice, which has resulted in CH2M HILL being recognized as a "leader among leaders" by industry analysts.
Prior to her relocation to Abu Dhabi, Ms. Tuor served as Group Chief Executive for CH2M HILL's Federal Client Group, where she oversaw the Environmental Services, Nuclear and Governments Facilities and Infrastructure business units, representing over 3,000 staff and $1.5 billion in annual revenue. Previously she served as the firm's Vice-Chair, where she was responsible for strategic planning, governmental affairs, strategic communications and technology commercialization.
In 2006, she was nationally recognized by Engineering News Record magazine as one of the "Top Newsmakers of the Year" for her role in the historic Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Facility Accelerated Closure Project contracted with the United States Department of Energy. Serving as a senior executive, Chief Operating Officer, and then Chief Executive Officer of the project consortium, Ms. Tuor took on a project originally slated for a 70-year, $36 billion nuclear decommissioning effort, developed an accelerated strategy with strong support from the United States Congress, and completed the program in 10 years for a total cost of $7 billion.
A recognized expert in environmental and sustainability matters, Ms. Tuor is a frequent speaker to government and industry groups in both the United States and Europe.
Ms. Tuor holds a BS Degree in Economics from Portland State University, located in Portland, Oregon.
Cheri Warren holds a BSEE ('87) and MSE ('90) from Union College. She has worked at GE, Central Hudson Gas and Electric, Power Technologies Inc., Navigant Consulting and National Grid. She has over 20 years of experience and is known for her ability to create real and lasting change. Her core strengths reach far beyond her top technical talent into staff motivation and clarification of complex issues that result in a high performance environment. She has proficiency in multiple electric utility business functions including management, electric reliability assessment with a focus on fact-based decision making, asset management, PAS-55 certification, regulatory standards and testimony, performance-based regulation, key customer management, utility operations, distribution design, utility transmission and distribution audits, benchmarking, power quality, software product development and implementation (i.e., analysis, GIS, and SCADA), and software systems integration. She is currently the VP of asset management at National Grid. Her portfolio includes smartgrid, transmission and distribution asset ownership, asset information management and reliability strategy.
Cheri won the IEEE PES Excellence in Distribution Award in 2007 for her contributions to electric reliability.
Barry K. Worthington serves as the Executive Director of the United States Energy Association (USEA)
where he directs the Association's domestic and international activities. He has served in this capacity
since September 1988. Previously, he served as a Vice President of the Thomas Alva Edison Foundation
and prior to that served in several capacities with Houston Lighting & Power Company, now known as
Center Point.
Worthington has also written extensively on energy and environmental matters, and addresses many
conferences on national and international energy issues.
Elizabeth (Lisa) Zelljadt is North American regional editor at Point Carbon, which is part of Thomson Reuters' commodities and energy team. She focuses on North American climate policy as well as international climate negotiations and the issue of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD). Lisa previously worked as a journalist, covering US and international climate change policy and carbon market developments. She also worked with the European Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils and non-governmental organizations in the US. Lisa has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and International Studies from Northwestern University and a Master of Arts in Environmental Policy from Universität Greifswald in Germany.
Mike ZimmerSenior Counsel, Energy, Corporate Transactions & Securities, Environmental THOMPSON HINE » View Bio Mike practices in the firm, with a focus on energy regulation, climate change and energy corporate acquisition and project finance transactions. He has been involved in mergers, acquisitions, construction and project financing assignments in the power generation, renewables, natural gas and electric, cogeneration and independent power, emissions credits, rural cooperatives, energy and emissions trading, and manufacturing industries. Some of these transactions involve acquisitions, debt restructurings or project financings for some of the largest undertakings in the United States involving these respective industries, with a composite value exceeding $14 billion. He is national co-chair for 2010-11 of the American Bar Association Carbon Trading and Energy Finance Committee, and ABA Vice Chair of the Committee on Renewable and Distributed Energy Resources (which he co-chaired in 2008-10).
In 35 years of legal service, Mike has worked with domestic and international companies, gas and electric utilities and their unregulated subsidiaries, advanced energy technology and industrial companies, energy project developers, construction companies, trade associations, financial institutions and energy technology funds, universities and embassies in more than 35 states and 20 foreign countries.
Prior to joining Thompson Hine, Mike was a partner with an international law firm in Washington, D.C. and has also practiced as a partner with a major Wall Street firm. Earlier in his career, he was employed at the American Gas Association (AGA) as Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, representing the natural gas transmission and distribution industries on federal legislative, tax and regulatory matters related to gas production, LNG, gas pricing, interstate pipeline development and curtailments. He has served the Cogeneration and Independent Power Coalition, the Clean Coal Coalition, the Natural Gas Vehicles Coalition, the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Industrial Energy Consumers of America, the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition, the Ohio Manufacturers' Association, and the Aluminum Association on a wide range of energy, climate change, capital formation and advanced energy technology issues. He has also provided counsel to the USGBC, ASTM, the Capital Markets Partnership, the Green Standard and the Biomass Coordinating Council (BCC) on renewables, finance and carbon management issues.
Mike has also represented clients before the Department of Energy, FERC, SEC, EPA and Congressional committees, various federal departments, agencies, and state commissions and agencies on electric energy, renewable energy, natural gas, and energy tax proposals. He has been regularly invited to testify before congressional committees, various federal departments and agencies, and state commissions and agencies on electric energy, renewable energy, natural gas, and energy tax proposals.
In addition to receiving his J.D. and B.A. degrees, Mike attended courses at Brown University in 1970 and Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management in 2002.
Mike is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia.
Education § University of Baltimore School of Law; J.D.; 1975; cum laude
§ Providence College; B.A.; 1971; Political Science; cum laude; President's Council (2002 - Present), Advisory Council to School of Business (2009 - Present)
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