Speakers
Greg Arnold is co-founder and Managing Partner of CE2 Capital Partners and President of CE2 Carbon Capital. Mr. Arnold began his career as an investment banker with Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Kidder, Peabody & Co. At Goldman, Sachs & Co., he focused on corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions advisories for energy and power companies. Over his career,
Mr. Arnold has had a number of senior deal making roles in large corporations and growth companies, including as President of Passlogix, Inc., a security software company he co-Founded.
Mr. Arnold earned an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School and a B.A. from the University of California at San Diego. Mr. Arnold is on the boards of the UC San Diego Dean's Council in Physical Sciences and Passlogix, Inc. and a Member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.
Nick Baily is a founding member of The Belgrave Trust, a firm based on serving core membership of leaders in technology, media, public policy, finance, fashion, and industry, and dedicated to supporting solutions to global climate change. Founded on the principles of ease through simplicity, innovation via markets, and strength from diversification, The Belgrave Trust manages a diverse porfolio of offsets, providing a service that represents the most efficient and effective way for members to live carbon neutral.
Mr. Baily has over a decade of experience on the forefront of popular culture and media, and has been responsible for managing the public profile for clients ranging from Oscar and Grammy winning celebrities to Fortune 500 companies and global consumer brands. With a background including public policy, economics, and complex adaptive systems analysis, Nick is a passionate advocate for an interdisciplinary approach to environmental problem solving.
KARBONE DESCRIPTION:
Karbone is a rapidly growing, full-service global environmental commodities brokerage, project finance and carbon advisory firm with a core focus on renewable energy and emissions. Headquartered in New York, the company was founded to develop sound and innovative strategies to help clients effectively address and manage today's increasingly complex environmental and emissions marketplace. Karbone's global team brings unparalleled expertise to help clients overcome challenges and take advantage of opportunities, all while exceeding business goals.
Karbone has long-term relationships with firms in oil & gas, energy, financial and large industrial sectors as well as with diverse renewable energy and carbon credit developers around the globe. The firm services these clients through offices in New York, London and Istanbul with strategic partnerships in Sao Paulo, Toronto, Melbourne and Hong Kong.
IZZET BENSUSAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR:
Izzet Bensusan is the founder and the executive director of Karbone. Throughout his career, he has been involved in several entrepreneurial ventures focused on cutting edge markets. As an early adopter and innovator, Mr. Bensusan focuses on making significant and lasting difference on his industries of focus. To realize his vision around sustainability and energy conservation, Karbone is focused on defining the best comprehensive strategies for emission reduction. Mr. Bensusan has brought together the two key disciplines of technology and carbon finance to offer Karbone's clients many unique options currently unavailable through other providers. He is a regular speaker at emissions market and sustainability conferences and an active advocate of shaping policies for the development of renewable energy and sustainable economies.
Prior to Karbone, Mr. Bensusan was a partner at Net2s, a global consulting firm where he built the privacy and IT security division and established it as the firm's leading practice, servicing top global financial firms. He managed a team of over 100 consultants and engineers while focusing on the North American region. Before joining Net2s, Mr. Bensusan was one of the founding members of Parlo.com, the first online language-learning experience, taking advantage of the emerging Internet technologies.
Mr. Bensusan holds an M.B.A. from Columbia University and a B.A. and M.A. from Brandeis University in international economics and finance. He is also the co-founder of the Entrepreneurs Network of Brandeis University Alumni in New York.
A pioneer in the development of carbon markets, Eron has extensive experience in the areas of
carbon finance and emissions reduction project development. Eron serves as Equator's President
of Environmental Markets with responsibility for carbon and environmental assets throughout the
organization. Prior to joining Equator, Eron was US Country Director for EcoSecurities, where he
spearheaded the firm's entry in to the North American carbon market and managed all aspects of
the firm's United States operations including origination, strategic planning, project development,
and policy. Eron has advised governments, multilateral institutions, and international corporations
on many aspects of the emerging market and worked on several carbon market "firsts" including
the first Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project in the world to receive carbon credits and
the first unilateral CDM project. Eron currently serves on the Board of Directors of the
Environmental Markets Association (EMA), is a Founding Member of the Coalition for Emissions
Reduction Projects (CERP) and previously served as a Liaison Delegate to the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). He holds an M.A. from Columbia University's
School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), and a B.A. from Pomona College.
Eric Boonman has worked over the past nine years in green energy trading and environmental markets. Eric is currently the Head of Origination of Energy, Carbon and Commodities at Fortis Bank and has been involved in the majority of the primary and secondary carbon deals as well as the design and implementation of the Fortis wide Carbon Banking Services. He has also established local origination teams in Hong Kong and New York.
Prior to his current position, Eric was responsible for developing the global energy and carbon market access and clearing services at Fortis. After having successfully completed this task, Eric moved to Global Markets as the Head of Trading Emissions where Fortis had a daily market share between 10-20% and became a market maker on the most liquid ECX exchange. The team aims to reduce greenhouse emissions efficiently through portfolios of reduction projects and to use those reductions to optimise and ensure compliance for a pan-European corporate client portfolio. The activities of this desk range from valuing environmental benefits in long term discounted cash flow models for project finance to short term pure trading and long term hedging.
Eric has a Bachelors and Masters in economics and started in risk management at the Dutch utility Nuon with a focus on designing and implementing a Corporate Risk Policy for environmental and green energy products. He then became a green and environmental trader at Nuon. Nuon, which was involved in the first carbon deal in 2003, soon established itself as the market leader in green energy markets in West-Europe.
Eric is also a regular speaker on international conferences, such as, The Wall Street Green Trading Summit, April 2007, New York City, Carbon Finance & Investment Summit, May 2007, New York City, Guardian Climate Change Summit, June 2007, London, Euromoney US Carbon Finance Forum, September 2007, New York City, Carbon Finance World, September 2007, Chicago, Carbon Forum Asia, November 2007, Singapore, Climate Change & Business, November 07, Kiev, Carbon Markets Insights 2008, March 2008, Copenhagen, The Wall Street Green Trading Summit, April 2008, New York City, Moscow Carbon Market Forum, April 2008, Moscow, Russia and the Kyoto Protocol, June 2008 Moscow, Annual Carbon Trading Summit 2009, January 2009 New York City, EU Emission Trading in Practice, January 2009 London.
William S. Brennan is 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.
Steve Brosnan is Commercial Director and Head of Risk for the Cumulus Funds at PCE Investors in London. The Cumulus team manages the Cumulus Fahrenheit Fund, which focuses exclusively on weather derivatives, and the Cumulus Energy Fund, which uniquely applies weather derivatives expertise to the European energy and emissions markets and won the "Most Innovative Product" award in Hedge Funds Review's 2009 European Performance Awards.
Steve was Managing Director of Energy Sales and Trading Limited (a subsidiary of a major UK power generation company) before joining Cumulus in 2007. He has a Doctorate in Physics from the University of Oxford and an MBA from Henley Management College.
Bill Bumpers is an environmental partner in the Washington, D.C., office and heads the firm's global Climate Change Practice. Mr. Bumpers focuses on the Clean Air Act and climate change issues. He has an active environmental regulatory, litigation and transactional practice, representing petroleum refineries, investment companies, electric generators and pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers. He is regarded as a national authority on new source review issues affecting the electric generation and petroleum refinery industries. He previously served on the EPA's New Source Review Reform Subcommittee of the Clean Air Act Advisory Committee.
Mr. Bumpers also is a leading authority on climate change issues, including carbon trading mechanisms in the United States and internationally pursuant to the Kyoto Protocol. He has been involved with climate change issues since his work on energy policy and climate change as a graduate student in 1977. He has been involved in transactions involving Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects or Certified Emission Reduction (CER) sales in Malaysia, China, Liberia and Equatorial Guinea. He also represents companies involved in the capture and storage of GHG emissions and has helped pioneer the creation and sale of carbon storage rights in the United States. Mr. Bumpers also represents a wide range of companies on developing policy and regulatory issues in the United States and regarding the creation and sale of GHG emission.
Frank Canterbury is General Manager of Pyrolyzer LLC (www.PyrolyzerLLC.com) an international waste to energy firm specializing in gasification of carbon based waste into high energy synthesis gas. Previous experience as a regional sales executive with GE Power and Water. Frank holds an engineering degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, NY.
Lorenzo Carver, MS, MBA, CPA, is the inventor of Liquid Scenarios' Carver Import Algorithm, which enables importing financial reports in seconds, without data tagging or manual data entry, and converting them into interactive models anyone can use immediately. He has developed of over 200 strategic plans for information technology and life sciences companies and participated in over $1 billion in financing rounds as an advisor and planner. Noted as one of the Top 100 Free Sites by PC Magazine, Lorenzo authored and produced an online sample business plan used by well over 3,000,000 students, teachers and entrepreneurs. He conceived, designed, developed and coded an award winning small business valuation program used by thousands of entrepreneurs and advisors worldwide in 1999. He's also the author of the National Association of Certified Valuation Analysts' "5 Mistakes Your Auditor Made" course.
-Developed strategic business plans for Alienware (acquired by Dell), ConstructionNet (acquire by McGraw Hill), developers of the first music DRM deployed by major record labels in the US, the founder of Chiron, a founder of Register.com, the first portable thin tissue scanning device to receive 510K clearance in the US, numerous subsidiaries acquired and disposed of by WellPoint (WLP), with many former clients appearing on the Inc. 500 list
-Provided assurance and advisory services at Arthur Andersen's Enterprise Group on clients, IPOs and projects including Vermeer Technologies (the creators of FrontPage, acquired by Microsoft) Genome Therapeutics IPO, Hybridon's IPO, Open Software Foundation, multiple venture capital funds, Boston Acoustics (Nasdaq, BOSA), Concord Communications, Inc. (Nasdaq: CCRD) and Goldhirsh Publishing (original publisher of Inc. Magazine, now owned Mansueto Venture, publishers of Fast Company)
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.
Neil Cohn, Senior Vice President of Macquarie Bank (New York Representative Office), has over 20 years of experience in international environmental and commodities trading. Neil currently heads origination and project development for Macquarie's Environmental Financial Products division in the Americas. Prior to joining Macquarie, Neil was Managing Director of Natsource were he facilitated some of the market's first GHG trades and originated CDM and JI projects in China, India, Africa and Latin America. Neil began his career trading non-ferrous metals for Glencore based in Stamford, London and Zug, Switzerland and was a founding partner of Penfold Limited, a commodities trading firm based in Shanghai and Mumbai.
Annika L. Colston is Vice President at Blue Source, LLC, North America's leading portfolio of carbon offsets. Blue Source has $500 million of committed capital from strategic partner Och-Ziff Capital Management to develop projects that mitigate climate change. At Blue Source, Ms. Colston is responsible for identifying and developing carbon offset projects including landfill gas capture projects and coal mine methane projects among others.
Prior to joining Blue Source, Ms. Colston was the US Country Director at EcoSecurities. From 2002 to 2006, she played a pivotal role in helping the company grow from a small advisory firm in a nascent carbon market to a global leader in carbon offset development and sales. Her accomplishments include creating the first-ever Kyoto Protocol-issued carbon credits by originating, developing and marketing the La Esperanza project in Honduras. A pioneer in the carbon market, Ms. Colston developed over 35 of the Kyoto Protocol's initial carbon project documents and navigated the early stage policy and regulatory frameworks. Ms. Colston also developed 2E Carbon Access, a full service facility geared toward projects that were considered too small to participate in the Kyoto Protocol, after recognizing the unlevel playing field for small-scale projects and the significant sustainable development benefits they could provide. Ms. Colston secured forward contracts from the Government of Austria and Japan Carbon Finance to purchase up to 3 million credits from the small projects. She also managed the partnership between EcoSecurities and Cargill to identify, develop and operate projects worldwide.
Ms. Colston was drawn to the carbon markets after working in Africa with E+Co where she provided business development services and seed capital to clean energy enterprises. Ms. Colston sought to empower local small and medium enterprises that supplied clean, modern and affordable energy to households, businesses and communities in developing countries.
In her professional and personal capacities, Ms. Colston has traveled to over 45 countries. She received her graduate degree in International Development and Environmental Policy from MIT and holds a BA in Environmental Policy and Economics from Boston University. She lives in New York City with her husband Greg and their two children, Grey and Eleanor.
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.
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.
Andrew O. Ertel is President and Chief Executive of Evolution Markets Inc. Under Mr. Ertel's leadership, Evolution Markets has become the green markets leader, leveraging its unrivaled experience and knowledge on behalf of participants in the global carbon, U.S. emissions, renewable energy, weather derivative, and over the counter energy markets. The company provides institutional brokerage and merchant banking services to participants in global environmental markets and the clean energy sector. Mr. Ertel has been an industry pioneer assisting in market design and facilitating the first trades in several emerging environmental commodities, such as Kyoto allowances (AAUs), European carbon allowances, Kyoto carbon credits, US emissions allowances, renewable energy (RECs), and weather derivatives.
Michael Flett is Chief Executive Officer and President of Flett Exchange. Michael founded Flett Exchange in 2006, to introduce transparency, price discovery, and liquidity to environmental markets. His mission was to create a universal, online marketplace where buyers and sellers could meet and negotiate environmental products in a secure and seamless manner. Michael has been heralded as a pioneer of environmental markets; his leadership and innovation has afforded him the opportunity to speak at various clean energy conferences and advise utilities, energy companies, financial institutions, Fortune 500 corporations, townships, municipalities, and government agencies on renewable energy solutions. Through Michael's stewardship, Flett Exchange is dedicated to educating, serving, and offering fair and orderly environmental markets for the betterment of a progressing green economy.
Michael has over two decades of direct commodities experience. He has been a member of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) since 1996, which is the world's largest regulated energy exchange. Michael began his career at Gerald Commodities, as an energy broker and later formed Flett Futures, Inc which expanded into one of the most respected energy brokers on the (NYMEX). Michael transitioned Flett Futures, Inc into a proprietary trading firm in 2000, to participate in the advent of electronic trading in energy futures and successfully traded over $200 billion in physical futures and over-the-counter financial energy derivatives.
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.
Richard Gilmore is the founder of The GIC Group, an integrated agribusiness company offering consulting, trusteeship, carbon credit, and financial services to global corporate and public institutional clients. He has also established partner offices in Beijing, Moscow, and Sao Paulo. In addition to his responsibilities as CEO, Mr. Gilmore is currently serving as Private Sector Adviser to the White House, State Department, and USDA for the Global Food Security Initiative, He has served as a commodity commentator for CNN and CNBC, public speaker, author of books and articles, advisor to U.S. federal and state institutions on agribusiness, ag carbon, food safety, and biofuel issues, and Board Member and Advisory Council Member for several well-known biotechnology companies, non-profit organizations, and academic and think tank institutions. He has a PhD in Trade Economics and was previously a Fulbright and Rockefeller Foundation Fellow.
Responsibilities:
The GIC Group 1980 - present
President/CEO Alexandria, VA
Development of new products and services, featuring biotech, carbon, and financial services
Manages GIC operations in US, China, Russia, and Brazil and its new joint venture with Clear Carbon for carbon credit services.
Oversees management of GIC Group consulting, carbon credit, and trade services and directs all GIC financial services
Serving as Director, Global Food Safety Forum, for industry training, standards, certification and quality control in China and other Asian countries.
Directs private placements, M&A, debt financing and turnkey contracting services for agribusiness and biotechnology companies worldwide.
Provides briefings to hedge fund briefing on agricultural issues, biofuel industry developments, commodity markets, carbon credits, commercial intelligence and investment opportunities.
Directs GIC projects on global commodities, marketing, distribution, and agro-industry investments for the World Bank, International Finance Corporation (OPIC), Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), United Nations, US Trade and Development Program, US Department of Agriculture, US Government Accountability Office, Virginia and Minnesota Departments of Agriculture as well as other multilateral and domestic organizations
Provides financial management and transactional expertise as Trustee in the US and Canada for Agrium, Bayer CropScience, and Syngenta. Responsibilities include oversight for divestiture transactions, management of assets subject to divestiture, and monitoring compliance.
Supervises conferences conducted in Cuba and responsible for Food Safety Roundtable in China, April 26-27, 2009, China.
Team member for new product launches, including ag carbon credit index
Professional Background:
Education
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Ph.D., International Economics and Trade, Geneva, Switzerland, 1971, Fulbright Fellow
Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), M.A., International and Development Economics, Washington, DC, 1967
Bologna Center, Bologna, Italy, 1965-1966, SAIS Scholar
Columbia University, B.A., Political Science and History, magna cum laude, New York, 1965
Media/ Publication/Boards/ Trusteeships
Author of books, articles
Commentator for CNBC, Thomson Reuters, and CNN
Board member of non-profits and academic institiutions
Trustee for multinational companies
Michael has been a passionate user and developer of Internet applications for over 15 years. He holds a computer science degree from The University of Western Ontario and his career has spanned institutions in the areas of academia, private corporations, not-for profit organizations and start-ups. He co-founded the award winning web development firm Radiant Core Inc. and is proud to lead a very talented group of developers at Zerofootprint Software Inc.
Chris Hayes is founder and CEO of Fluid Trade, a company that offers a hosted exchange platform and trading system that eliminates the need for manual trading. FLUIDTRADE is used to create private trading networks that connect buyers and sellers in a scalable and secure electronic marketplace. Chris has been a pioneer in creating electronic marketplaces for diverse asset classes and is applying this knowledge to the global renewable energy development space.
Chris began his career with Boston Capital in their portfolio management and structured finance group. Boston Capital is the fifth largest owner/investor of multi-family real estate in the United States who syndicates and sells portfolios to institutional investors.
Following Boston Capital, Chris was a managing member of the WorldStreet Corporation team, an exchange platform for pre-trade research connecting Wall Street brokerage firms with institutional investment management firms. After WorldStreet was sold to Thomson Financial, Chris became a member of the executive management team of Macgregor, a leading electronic trade order management system and trading network of broker/dealers and associated third party trading tools.
Following the sale of Macgregor to Investment Technology Group, Chris was the founder of North Lynx Group, a firm focusing on technology solutions to help streamline electronic trading of alternative assets.
Jack D. Hidary built his career as an entrepreneur and is focused on clean energy technology and policy.
In April 2009, the Hidary Group bought the majority interest from JP Morgan in Primary Insight - www.primaryinsight.com - a leading expert network used by top-tier investment funds. Primary Insight covers sectors ranging from energy and renewables to technology, media, telecom and emerging markets.
Hidary recently launched and serves as Chairman of www.globalsolarcenter.com. Global Solar Center (GSC) is a marketplace which connects solar installers and customers. GSC serves both commercial and residential customers.
Prior to GSC, Hidary co-founded Vista Research in 2001. Vista is an independent network of 50,000+ experts serving institutional investors. Hidary sold Vista to the Standard & Poor's division of McGraw-Hill in April of 2005 (www.vistaresearch.com).
In 1995, Hidary co-founded and served as President and CEO of EarthWeb/Dice. He raised three private rounds of equity and completed a record breaking IPO. Under Hidary's leadership, EarthWeb/Dice earned the prestigious Business Week Info Tech 100 award as the third fastest growing IT Company. www.Dice.com is currently traded on the NYSE under ticker DHX.
Committed to community and philanthropic causes, Hidary has received several industry and community awards as well as being recognized as a Global Leader of Tomorrow at the WEF, Davos. Hidary is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Hidary has been particularly involved in issues of energy and transportation. He is chairman and co-founder of the Freedom Prize Foundation (www.freedomprize.org ), which provides monetary prizes to cities, schools and other entities that can most reduce their petroleum use. The Freedom Prizes were mandated by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (Title X: 1008).
Hidary is the founder and publisher of the OpinionSource Energy Newsletter which provides summaries of major op-eds and editorials around the world on topics in the energy sector. (www.opinionsource.com)
Mr. Hidary helped coordinate and organize the initial development of the Cash for Clunkers bill. This aim of this bill is to reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, decrease greenhouse gas emissions and stimulate the economy by promoting auto sales.
In New York City, Hidary was a leading proponent of switching over the taxi fleet to high mileage hybrids. Hidary serves as Chairman of SmartTransportation.org (www.smarttransportation.org), a non-profit dedicated to promoting clean energy and transportation policy in the US. Hidary serves on the advisory board of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (www.nrel.gov)
Hidary studied philosophy and neuroscience at Columbia University and was then awarded a Stanley Fellowship in Clinical Neuroscience at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Under the fellowship, Hidary conducted research in functional neuroimaging using techniques such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study brain and disease states.
Hidary serves on several boards including BT Global Services (www.btglobalservices.com ) and Trickle Up (www.trickleup.org ). A frequent keynote speaker,Hidary has presented at venues including the business schools of Yale and Columbia.
Chris Hunter leads the Carbon Finance team in the United States for Climate Change Capital (CCC), and is responsible for originating and commercializing investments across North America. Before joining CCC, Chris was a Senior Associate at GreenOrder in New York, where he was lead advisor to clients on energy and carbon issues, including BP, the GE-AES Greenhouse Gas Services joint venture and KKR regarding the acquisition of TXU. Prior to GreenOrder, Chris spent nine years at Johnson & Johnson in the U.S. and Europe. At J&J he was responsible for creating, communicating and implementing energy management and carbon reduction strategies worldwide.
Chris was a contributing author of the WRI/WBCSD Greenhouse Gas Protocol in 1998 and a founding member of the Green Power Market Development Group two years later. A recognized leader in the carbon markets, Chris has been featured on broadcast television in more than 20 countries and print media including The Financial Times and BusinessWeek. He has also briefed EU Commissioners and members of the US Congress regarding climate change policy.
Chris holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering from Rutgers University and a joint Executive MBA from Columbia and London Business Schools. He sits on the Advisory Boards of The Climate Group and the GHG Management Institute, and formerly served on the Sanford C Bernstein Leadership & Ethics Board at Columbia University.
Joined the Company in 2008 with 20 years of experience in environmental research, most recently as it relates to investments. Prior to joining Deutsche Bank, he managed assets for high net-worth and institutional investors at CitiSmith Barney's Private Wealth Management Group. Previous experience includes investment and market research for IC Value Inc (previously Center for Sustainable Systems Studies, Miami University of Ohio), management consulting and corporate sustainability strategist for Cameron-Cole, LLC and environmental research positions for the University of Wisconsin, Madison, The Ecological Society of America and Auburn University, and service in the US Peace Corps as an agricultural agent and provincial representative.
BA in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut; MS in Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures from Auburn University; PhD in Environmental Science from University of Wisconsin, Madison; recipient of both a J. William Fulbright Scholarship and a National Science Foundation Fellowship in ecological economics
Tana Kantor is Publisher at THE GREEN ECONOMY media, which provides
information so that business can plan, manage and profit from the shift to a
low carbon economy. She has provided corporate communications, marketing
strategy and advertising for Fortune 1000, emerging science and technology
companies, Public Universities and large nonprofits. The author of a book on
the use of media to memorably explain complex topics to a lay audience,
Kantor is an award winning creative director. She holds a Masters in
Communication from NYIT, and a BFA from Tufts University. THE GREEN ECONOMY
website is at www.thegreeneconomy.com. The company also publishes a print
publication nine times a year, and produces events.
Scot Kelly is the Founder and President of Artistream Energy, a renewable energy broker that operates in NY, NJ, CT, PA and the island nations of the Caribbean. Artistream is dedicated to helping businesses and homeowners reduce their energy footprint (and costs) as well as produce their own renewable energy . With a growing network of solar installers (PV & SHW), energy efficiency contractors and energy financing firms, Artistream streamlines their clients research and decision making process through education, consulting, custom renewable energy design and the right match up of technology and implementation partners.
Prior to founding Artistream Energy, Mr. Kelly worked on Wall Street for 15 years in the financial software industry. He started his career at FNX (now part of GLTrade) where he ran their London support operations and oversaw the implementation of their capital markets software at Barclays, NatWest and Cantor Fitzgerald among others. He has sold software for SunGard, IDS, GoldenSource and Asset Control. He has directed both sales and marketing at divisions of COR-FS and Informa Systems. During his time at these firms he has delivered capital markets trading, risk management and back office solutions to many of the largest global financial players. More recently he has worked with some of the top energy traders and risk managers to create data solutions that increase pricing accuracy and efficiency.
With both a finance and technology background, Mr. Kelly has spoken at financial conferences on a range of topics including: investment performance measurement, securities lending, back office efficiency and risk management. He is currently leveraging this financial background and his many contacts on Wall Street to streamline the solar financing process and create additional options for both the commercial and residential sectors.
Kedin Kilgore heads US Emissions Trading at Barclays Capital. Based in New York, Mr. Kilgore is responsible for the firm's carbon, emissions and renewable energy credit (REC) trading.
Mr. Kilgore joined Barclays Capital in 2010 from JP Morgan Chase & Co. Prior to that, he was at RNK Capital LLC, a carbon and environmental markets hedge fund from 2005-2007. Mr. Kilgore also worked for Natsource LLC, an environmental markets brokerage, from 2001-2005.
Mr. Kilgore received a Masters of Public Affairs degree from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University in New York.
David Kirkpatrick is Managing Director and co-founder of SJF Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on delivering superior financial returns through high growth, positive impact companies. SJF has a ten year history of investing in and assisting growth stage cleantech and infotech services ventures. The fund invests $1MM to $5MM nationally to meet the capital market gap for well managed, capital efficient firms with a proprietary advantage. SJF specializes in helping firms utilize cleantech, IT and team innovations to drive business results. SJF has offices in Durham, NC, New York City and San Francisco. To date, SJF Ventures has invested in 30 portfolio companies with 4,500 employees operating in 128 facilities.
Previous to SJF, David founded and managed two other successful enterprises - KirkWorks, a cleantech investment research firm, and SunShares, a solar energy and recycling company. David was named the national 2005 CDVC Practitioner of the Year by the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance and Recycler of the Year in 1996, the National Recycling Coalition's award for leadership in the recycling industry.
David earned a BA in Physics and History from Duke University in 1982 and an MBA from UNC Business School in 1991. He serves on the Boards of groSolar, B.B. Hobbs, Ed Map, the NC Sustainable Energy Association, the CDFI Coalition, and the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership.
Patrick Kozak is Evergreen Energy's Vice President of Product Development and Industry Solutions for GreenCert, where he is responsible for operational oversight and development of the GreenCert System with industry partners across the energy, commercial and agricultural sectors. Mr. Kozak has been a key contributor in the climate change sciences community since the inception of the C-Lock project at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, South Dakota in 1998, and through the acquisition and current development with Evergreen Energy Inc.
His work has led to the development of GIS databases for soils and climate, the web interface and database backend of the prototype system as well as updating the internal validation of the model base of C-Lock's GreenCert System. His other projects include determination of wind turbine placement for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe as well as large-scale assessment of new gold deposits in the Black Hills South Dakota for Homestake Mining Company. Mr. Kozak also spent four years as a Visiting Science Fellow with the United States Geological Survey EROS Data Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota working on Environmental Remote Sensing Quantification Methodologies.
Rubén Kraiem is a partner at Covington & Burling LLP, where he co-chairs, with Stuart Eizenstat, the firm's Carbon Markets, Climate Change and Clean Technology practice. His practice includes the representation of clean technology investors and investee companies, as well as transactional work on behalf of investors and institutions in the carbon markets. He is involved also in legislative work on behalf of clients engaged in the climate change policy debate. Most recently, he was involved in designing the initiatives by KKR and TPG that gained the support of major environmental organizations for the proposed acquisition of TXU. Mr. Kraiem is an advisor to the Coalition for Rainforest Nations, and in this capacity he attended the Bali Conference on Climate Change (COP-13) in December, 2007. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Fordham Law School, where he teaches a course on Climate Change Law & Policy.
Mr. Kraiem was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) in 1994. In addition to his service as an NRDC Trustee, he is also a Council Member of Resources for the Future and has advised the Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Gordon Moore Foundation on conservation and environmental initiatives.
Mr. Kraiem is a graduate of Yale College and the Harvard Law School. He has been a teaching fellow at Harvard College and an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School. More recently, he was a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at New York University Law School (2002-2003).
Kjell Olav Kristiansen is Director of Advisory Services at Point Carbon North America. He has three decades of energy and environmental market experience having initially served 19 years for the Norwegian government in senior positions both with oil and natural gas exploration and production as well as with electricity market restructuring and environmental policies. In private sector he has been partner and executive vice president of a power trading company, co-owner and chairman of a carbon consulting company as well as running his own energy consulting company focusing on European energy and environmental policy and markets. Kjell has served eight years as Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors of the Norwegian Transmission System Operator.
He started working with Point Carbon in 2005 and transferred to the Washington DC office in 2007. He has previously lived and worked in the US as energy counselor at the Norwegian embassy in Washington DC. Kjell speaks frequently at energy and carbon trading conferences and he has testified to the United States Senate and the European Union on design of cap-and-trade programs
Radha Kuppalli leads New Forests' U.S. business and is focused on developing the ecological products investment program and supporting forestry investment globally. Before taking on the role of Director, Radha was based in Sydney as Manager of Business Development. Radha was previously an Analyst at Natsource LLC for two years. At Natsource she advised clients on a range of issues related to greenhouse gas emissions markets and renewable energy credit markets and developed extensive experience in environmental markets-related investments. Radha has Bachelor of Arts Degrees in International Studies and Economic Theory from American University in Washington, D.C., and Masters Degrees in Business Administration and Environmental Management from Yale University's School of Management and School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Radha is based in New Forests Washington, DC office.
Mr. Lack has been a successful entrepreneur within the emissions and alternative energy industry for almost a decade. In 2004, he helped found Element Markets LLC, a leading carbon management and alternative energy company, and currently serves as a Managing Director. Since founding Element Markets, Mr. Lack has assisted in the development of several alternative energy projects and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Projects, including Biomass, Wind and Landfill Gas Projects. Mr. Lack's has extensive knowledge of structuring transactions spanning seventeen emissions trading regions and covering seven emissions commodies. In addition, Randall has experience in extensive experience in transacting for Renewable Energy Credit and Carbon Allowances in North America
Mr. Lack is an acclaimed speaker and media resource for Renewable Energy Credits, Greenhouse Gas Trading, pending emissions legislation, and Regional Emission Markets. He has developed regional emissions, renewable energy, and Greenhouse Gas portfolios for a wide-range of clients, from municipalities to Fortune 500 Corporations. Mr. Lack received his B.S., magna cum laude, from the University of Houston.
Abigail E. Laufer is the CEO and founder of Virid Capital Management a firm devoted to investments in public cleantech companies. She oversees the investment philosophy and management of the firm. Ms. Laufer has over 27 years of investment experience
Ms. Laufer's career has spanned a broad cross-section of the institutional investment industry. Following her early days as a securities analyst with the National Bank of Detroit she was appointed Director of Mutual Fund Research for Merrill Lynch in New York. She was then recruited by the Frank Russell Company as a consultant serving Russell's Fortune 500 clients, providing strategy and conducting manager research for their pension funds and high net worth clients. While at Russell she was the first consultant to work directly with George Russell in the formation of the high net worth effort at that firm. In 1997, she co-founded Hanover Square Associates to represent managers and provide marketing consulting services on a contractual basis. Her successful fundraising venture led to her involvement as a partner at the New Energy Fund, a hedge fund devoted to public and private investments in the renewable energy sector. She formed Virid Capital Management in 2009 to focus exclusively on public market investments in the cleantech sector.
She has an A.B. from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan. She holds a current Series 7 and 63 registration.
Tom Lewis is a proven leader in financial markets and the technology sector, as well
as a pioneer in the development of environmental trading markets and corporate
sustainable development. His experience spans environmental securities and clean
energy finance, wholesale power, brokerage, investment banking, credit and charge
card services, travel services, data and information services, software, insurance,
hospitality, the federal government, and higher education.
Immediately prior to his appointment as Chief Executive Officer of the Green
Exchange Venture, Mr. Lewis was the founder of Tom Lewis & Co., a consulting firm
that assisted companies in gaining economic leverage where technology is central to the success of
the business. Mr. Lewis also served as an executive in residence and assistant professor of environmental
finance at the John Hopkins Carey Business School of John Hopkins University. He was responsible for
creating a new MBA course at the business school in environmental finance, which is one of the first of its
kind in the nation. Mr. Lewis remains a member of the corporate advisory board of the John Hopkins Carey
Business School.
In addition, Mr. Lewis was a general partner of Roomtag, LLC, a provider of breakthrough technology for
commercial office space and asset management. Mr. Lewis was also on the Board of Directors of the New
York-based environmental and energy financial services firm, Evolution Markets, Inc.
Formerly, Mr. Lewis was chairman and CEO of APX, Inc. from 2003-2007, where he successfully led a four-
year turnaround and repositioning of the company as the leader in technology infrastructure for renewable
energy and environmental commodities in every major market in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Under his
leadership the company went from extensive losses over a six-year period to growth, profitability, a
successful new market position, and funding from a leading investment bank.
Mr. Lewis was CEO of Ameritrade Holding Corporation (now TD Ameritrade), where he successfully rebuilt
the company's technology and operations systems, and launched an award-winning consumer advertising
campaign to capture the self-directed, on-line trading market.
Mr. Lewis was also the director of technology for the Executive Office of the President of the United States at
the White House under the Ronald Reagan Administration, where he received the highest civilian award, the
Distinguished Service Award of the Office of Administration.
Mr. Lewis holds an honorary doctorate, a master 's degree in computer and information science, a bachelor 's
degree, magna cum laude, in business administration from the University of New Haven Connecticut, where
he has also been honored as a distinguished alumnus. He was previously the Chairman of the Board of
Trustees of the Henry Lee Institute of Forensic Science and is a member of the Board of Governors of the
University of New Haven. He has taught at California Polytechnic University (Pomona), California State
University (Dominguez Hills), and the University of New Haven, and has lectured at Cornell University.
Portfolio Manager
Manages the investment management process for the Energy/Renewable Energy strategies
1998 Equity Analyst for ValueVest Management, a $150 million long/short global value fund
1997 Summer Associate at Goldman Sachs & Co.
1991-1996 Research Analyst/Institutional Sales at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York and London
1998 MBA received from UC Berkeley Haas School of Business
1991 BA in International Monetary Policy received from Bocconi University (Milan)
Torgeir A. Mantor is Chairman & CEO of VisionMonitor Software Group based in Houston, Texas. Mr. Mantor has represented foreign investors in the United States since 1981 and has been actively involved in making and managing investments in industries such as Energy, Independent Power, Real Estate, Food Distribution and Information Technology in the United States and Europe. He is currently a Board member of several companies in the United States, UK, Ireland and Norway. Mr. Mantor has extensive knowledge of start up companies and corporate turn-around situations. He has founded companies in the energy and technology sectors and has been actively involved in managing those businesses. Mr. Mantor holds an MBA from University of Wisconsin.
Andre Mech has been working in the emissions reduction sector since 2001. He was in the first cohort of 20 individuals formally trained and examined to International Standards Organization criteria in the planning, validation and verification of greenhouse gas projects. Andre has written more than 48 greenhouse gas plans and conducted hundreds of investigations for numerous corporations and organizations in the emissions reduction management sector. Andre works closely with formal Greenhouse Gas authorities and has been consulted by corporations, governments and NGOs as they address the issues surrounding the rapidly developing emissions reduction market sector.
Andre Mech has generated hundreds of thousands of tonnes of third party Validated and Verified emission reductions. He is involved with numerous projects currently at earlier stages of implementation in some of the under addressed emissions reduction sectors.
Andre regularly speaks on the closely related subject of financially responsible environmentalism to Government Committees, Conferences, Professional Associations and Schools. Andre firmly believes and has routinely demonstrated, that "environmentalism is not only cost effective, catering to common sensibilities, but that it is an under addressed profit centre for most organizations."
Andre Mech holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Royal Military College and a Masters of Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario. Andre is named as the inventor or co-inventor on three patents.
Ivo Mulder works for UNEP Finance Initiative in Geneva from March 2010 on issues related to biodiversity and water.
Prior to joining UNEP FI he worked as a senior consultant for Triple E, a Dutch firm that is specialized in visualizing and commoditizing the economic value of nature. He also worked for the Dutch National Fund for Rural Areas, an organisation which advocates optimum use of government funds for investment in nature and landscape. Within his position as an Officer Market Development he was responsible for developing a new strategy for the ForestClimate Fund. Mr. Mulder has also worked as an environmental finance consultant for KPMG Sustainability and Sustainable Finance Ltd., and as a junior professional associate for the World Conservation Union (IUCN) in China and Switzerland.
Mr. Mulder has written numerous scientific articles and reports about business incentives to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss, and has presented extensively at international conferences and other forums. He earned his BSc and MSc degrees in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University, with a specialization in ecological and environmental economics.
Michael Muyot has spent fifteen years as a specialist in Strategic
Quantum Visioning, now embodied in the SmartView platform, a
vario-metric, multi-dimensional modeling platform. SmartView is being
used to create investment grade financial indices and products such as
ETFs, UITs, and mutual funds for major financial institutions. SmartView
builds custom portfolios and indices based on Financial, Environmental
and Social (Triple Bottom line) performance metrics. Mr. Muyot designs
algorithms using both quantitative and qualitative KPIs to create a
universal language for translating datasets into Analytical
Intelligence. Mr. Muyot was recently interviewed by The Economist for
documenting the correlation between sustainability practices and
financial outcomes. He also served as a presenter at the 2008 Global
Reporting Initiative (GRI) Amsterdam Global Conference on Sustainability
and Transparency.
Prior to joining CRS in January 2008, Arthur was an independent business, energy and environmental writer for more than 25 years. He is the author of several books, including: 'Soul of the Grid: A Cultural Biography of the California Independent System Operator' and 'The Guilty Environmentalist.'
Arthur holds a Masters Degree in Communications from the University of Washington, where he was a Graduate Fellow in Business and Economics Reporting in 1981-82. He also graduated from Rutgers College in 1975 with a BA in Human Communications.
Nicholas Parker co-founded the Cleantech Group, introducing the cleantech concept to the investment and business community in 2002. Previously Nicholas accumulated over 15 years experience starting and investing venture funds worldwide through limited partnerships, family offices, corporate funds and endowments. During this time, he pioneered the first "sustainability" driven private equity funds and participated in one of the first solar IPOs. In the 1990s, he also founded, built and sold an environmental finance firm. He has served as an advisor to multilateral agencies and major corporations.
Nicholas earned a BA Hons. in Technology Studies (Carleton University, Ottawa) and an MBA (City University, London), and has authored or edited more than ten publications related to cleantech, finance and international business, starting with Investing in Emerging Economies in 1993. He served as Chairman of E+Co, a public purpose investment company for clean energy enterprises in developing countries, and is on several boards, including: Government of Singapore Cleantech Advisory Board, Canadian Centre of Excellence for Commercialization of Research and the X PRIZE Energy & Environment Council. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Nicholas has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America and currently resides with his two children in Toronto.
Mr. Rassmuson is a Co-founder of CF-Partners an environmental advisory and investment firm specialising in carbon. Previous experience includes managing the Nordic credit business for Merrill Lynch, starting a $3 billion credit hedge fund, NAC, assistant treasurer at AGA, a global industrial gas company. Mr. Rassmuson holds a degree of master in international business administration from Uppsala University, Sweden.
As the Manager of Carbon Markets at NextEra Energy Resources, formerly FPL Energy, Tina is responsible for creating strategy around carbon markets and positioning for upcoming carbon legislation. Focusing on origination, Reine looks at both creating offset projects internally as well as equity stakes in projects throughout the United States.
Prior to joining NextEra, Reine worked in Commodities at JPMorgan as part of the team of market professionals that traded, originated and distributed emissions market and risk products for the emissions markets.
Reine started in carbon markets with CantorCO2e, in London, to create the Climate Warehouse, selling VERs and CERs to voluntary market retailers and resellers. By purchasing and retiring offsets on clients behalf she in turn helped get projects funded worldwide. She holds a MBA from Columbia in Finance.
Tina.Reine@NextEraEnergy.com
Steve Schueth is President of First Affirmative Financial Network, an independent Registered Investment Advisor that specializes in socially responsible, sustainable, and transformative investing for socially conscious individuals and institutions. He has been with First Affirmative since 1999.
For over 20 years, Mr. Schueth has been a nationally recognized authority, consultant, and SRI resource. He served as a Director of the Social Investment Forum from1992 to 2002; seven of those years as Chair and President of the Forum. He was with Calvert from 1989 to 1997 where he led a product development group that created the first global socially screened mutual fund in the U.S. and was intimately involved in launching four other new Calvert funds designed for socially conscious investors. As President of Calvert Distributors from 1994 to 1997, Mr. Schueth ran Calvert's sales organization and was responsible for the company's relationships with over 2,000 broker-dealer firms. In 1998, he was awarded the SRI Service Award by his industry colleagues.
Mr. Schueth was born and raised in Iowa where he began working in his father's hardware store at a very early age. His 32 years of experience in financial services includes five years as a real estate broker and four years as Vice President of a real estate securities company. Prior to Calvert, he spent three years as Director of Development for The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He currently serves as a Director of the non-profit Alliance for Sustainable Colorado. He has served on the Investment Committee of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County, Colorado. Married for 32 years, he and his wife, Darla, have two children and one grandchild, and live in Boulder, Colorado.
First Affirmative produces the annual SRI in the Rockies Conference for the sustainable and responsible investment (SRI) industry. The 21st annual SRI in the Rockies Conference will be November 18-21, 2010 at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country.
Kris eight years of project leadership experience spans highrise construction, infrastructure, sustainable design and renewable energy. He has forged partnerships with investors, clients, suppliers, regulators, contractors and employees.
Kris is Director of Sustainable Design & Administration at Crescent Energy; he manages all aspects of company operations, contract negotiations, construction, and project oversight. He has promoted and monitored the LEED Rating System across a multitude of projects in the Northeast; the focus of his work was the design and implementation of the LEED Rating System and other Energy Programs for Commercial, Residential and institutional facilities, which integrated innovative workplace concepts with sustainable architecture, interior design and site planning.
As Senior Director of Renewable Energy and Fuels, Kris leads all aspects of research, production and distribution of biodiesel. He is a leading mind in the field of Green Engineering and Construction. His résumé includes work with JPMorgan Chase, Herman Miller, Trump National, 1400 Fifth Avenue New York, and BAM LDC.
He is also President of Project Strategix, LLC, a project management consultancy, and chairman of Go Green Recycling, LLC, a food waste recycler that produce fertilizer and biodiesel feed stock.
Kris' formal training was in architecture and mechanical engineering.
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.
Milo Sjardin - Head of US Carbon Markets, Bloomberg New Energy Finance
Milo Sjardin is the Head of US Carbon Markets at Bloomberg New Energy Finance and has been a leading expert on carbon markets since its inception. In his current capacity he is responsible for research and analysis into the emerging North American carbon markets including the development of dedicated carbon price and REC forecasting models.
Milo was one of the founding members of New Carbon Finance and prior to his current role he led the company's quantitative analysis of the European and Kyoto carbon markets, based out of London. He has advised numerous companies on the implications of emissions trading on their business as well as identifying investment opportunities in the sector. Milo frequently speaks at conferences and has been extensively quoted in the media.
Previously Milo worked as a consultant advising corporations and governments on climate change policy and strategy for Enviros Consulting in London. Milo has an undergraduate degree in Physics and a Masters in Energy and Resources from Utrecht University.
Alan Strachan is co-founder and managing partner of Green Energy Loan, a firm facilitating the creation of Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) loan programs for municipalities and counties nationwide. Mr. Strachan has over 35 years of experience at the intersection of market forces and government policy. Dedicated to the notion that green energy and retrofit projects mean job creation and GDP growth, Mr. Strachan has designed and implemented a financing structure and transaction platform that streamline the PACE process for all participants. With 3 technology patents in his name and 20 years experience designing, developing and managing large, mixed-use developments in Northern California, Mr. Strachan combines the creativity and innovation of the inventor with strategic and business development abilities in leading the implementation of Green Energy Loan's program to strengthen municipal economies while reducing their carbon footprints.
Mr. Thoumi, Project Developer, Forest Carbon Offsets, LLC, (www.forestcarbonoffsets.net), provides global technical and commercial forestry carbon offset asset business development consulting in the compliance and voluntary carbon markets, specializing in forestry carbon credit design, implementation, and commercialization. He frequently presents at conferences such as Copenhagen COP 15, International Emissions Trading Association, Stewardship Network, Wall Street Green Trading Summit, and many others. He also regularly publishes on technical and business market developments in the forest carbon space. He wrote the first business strategy case book on avoided deforestation and co-authored the first article on financial accounting for forest carbon offset assets. He is a member of The Forests Dialogue (www.theforestsdialogue.org) having participated onsite in meetings in the Balkans, Nepal, and Switzerland. He is also a trained forest auditor for Forest 3.1 and Urban Forest Protocols for the Climate Action Reserve. He is on the Peat Rewetting and Conservation Voluntary Carbon Standard technical review team and on the China Panda Standard AFOLU technical review team. He has conducted technical reviews of the climate changes bills in the U.S. Congress and was previously Global Forest Director at MGM International, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. He has an MBA from the Ross School of Business, an MSc from the School of Natural Resources and Environment, and a Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Development from the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning all from the University of Michigan. He is also a CFA Level III Candidate. He speaks Indonesian and Spanish and he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Maryland.
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.
Athena Y. Velie is a partner in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm's Washington, D.C. office. She is a member of the Firm's Energy & Commodities Advisory Practice Group and Co-Head of the Commodities Regulatory Practice Area.
Athena represents financial institutions, hedge funds, energy and commodity companies, agricultural cooperatives and trade associations in a wide variety of commodity and derivatives regulatory, legislative and compliance matters. She also has considerable experience drafting and negotiating agreements involving a wide range of commodities, including emissions allowances, renewable energy credits, coal, natural gas, power and agricultural products. Athena previously seconded in McDermott's London office, where she assisted clients with respect to U.S. commodities regulatory and compliance issues, as well as U.S. emissions and carbon markets, UK and EU emissions trading frameworks, and regulatory issues relating to derivatives trading in a variety of EU jurisdictions.
Athena is on the drafting committees of the ISDA Emissions Trading Working Group and the ISDA Coal Trading Working Group. She is a member of the ABA's Committee on Regulation of Futures and Derivatives Instruments, as well as various climate change committees of the ABA's Section on Science and Technology.
Athena has authored numerous articles and book chapters and speaks regularly regarding commodities regulatory, compliance and enforcement developments, as well as carbon and renewable product markets.
Athena was executive editor of the Virginia Environmental Law Journal while attending the University of Virginia Law School. She also was a semifinalist in the Lile Moot Court Competition and was awarded regional best oralist in the Jessup International Moot Court Competition. Prior to law school, Athena worked as a United States Page for the Honorable Gerald B. Solomon, and served as an intern for Senator John Warner on Capitol Hill.
Athena is admitted to practice in Virginia and the District of Columbia.
Representative Experience:
-Advises clients with respect to recent financial legislative reform proposals, including with respect to required derivatives clearing and the registration of swap dealers and major swap participants
-Advises clients with respect to Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulatory developments, including with respect to the regulation of significant price discovery contracts traded on over-the-counter electronic trading facilities and proposed rulemakings regarding speculative position limits
-Advises clients on membership and compliance issues relating to trading futures and options on designated contract markets
-Drafts and negotiates commodity brokerage agreements, asset management agreements and commodity purchase and sale agreements, including bespoke agreements, as well as ISDAs, EEIs, NAESBs VERPAs and SCoTAs among others
Advises clients with respect to the regulatory treatment of novel environmental commodity products
-Works with U.S. bank and hedge fund clients initiating renewable energy credit and emissions trading desks
-Represents clients involved in government investigations by the CFTC, including market manipulation and false reporting investigations. In conjunction therewith, she has prepared numerous compliance programs and has advised clients regarding trading practices in futures and over-the-counter energy and agricultural markets, as well as regarding electricity and natural gas transaction price reporting.
-Advises clients with respect to CFTC and NFA registration and compliance requirements
-Structures documentation and negotiates physical coal agreements on behalf of coal mines, energy companies and financial institutions. She also prepares risk analyses for companies launching U.S. coal trading desks and seeking OCC approvals, and assists coal mining clients seeking to enter the OTC coal markets. Analyses have covered commercial, legal and environmental risks associated with coal trading.
-Advises agricultural cooperatives regarding CFTC regulatory requirements, as well as the applicability and requirements of the Capper Volstead Act's antitrust exemption
In 2009, represented a large reforestation project developer in obtaining and brokering the sale of carbon offsets
In 2009, represented a prominent financial institution in the formation of a commodity trading advisor affiliate, including with respect to registration, exemptions, drafting managed account agreements and formulating the affiliate's compliance program.
-In 2008 and 2009, represented a large industry stakeholder group commenting on the Federal Trade Commission's proposed rulemaking concerning Prohibitions on Market Manipulation and False Information related to wholesale crude oil, gasoline and petroleum distillate prices
-In 2009, represented a large energy industry association commenting on the CFTC's proposed rulemakings regarding significant price discovery contracts traded on electronic trading facilities
In 2008 and 2009, represented a green-product brokerage firm in developing a novel environmental compliance product, including advising with respect to regulatory implications and drafting and negotiating documentation related to the product
Martin Whittaker is a Director of MissionPoint Capital Partners, a Connecticut-based private investment firm, where he leads the firm's environmental finance and environmental commodities strategies. Prior to joining MissionPoint, Martin was a senior vice president at Swiss Re Financial Services in New York City, where he was part of the Environmental and Commodity Markets team, and a managing director of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, Inc., where he led the firm's clean energy and carbon finance practice. Martin was also an Adjunct Professor at the University of Toronto where he taught environmental finance, and has served in the downstream environmental group at Elf Aquitaine and in consulting with Golder Associates. Martin earned a PhD in environmental science from the University of Edinburgh, an MBA from the University of London, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees in Chemistry from, respectively, McGill University, Montreal and the University of St. Andrews, Scotland.
John Winn is the Director of Carbon Solutions of Misys Open Source Solutions, specializing in the development of open source projects to create new services and applications. He is currently managing the development of an Environmental Trading Platform (METP) and the Misys Environmental Registry System (MERS) that offers enterprise trading and emissions reporting platforms.
John joined Misys from Electricite De France (EDF) Trading in London, where he was a risk business analyst for the energy, carbon and freight trading business. EDF Trading is one of the largest electricity and natural gas traders in Europe, buyers of international carbon credits and pioneers of the global freight markets. He was also lead implementation consultant at OpenLink in both Europe and Australia, a leading energy trading software provider to many of the world's largest energy and banking organizations.
John has a master's degree in Research in Behavioral Finance & Asian Studies from the University of Sydney, and holds bachelor's degrees in business and information technology respectively, from the Queensland University of Technology.
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.
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