nextwave greentech investing 2014

Scott heads up Energy Partner Products for Nest Labs, maker of the Nest Learning Thermostat. The Nest Learning Thermostat learns about you and your home to automatically turn itself down when you're away, guide you to energy-efficient temperatures when you’re home, and free you from programming hassles by creating a customized temperature schedule.

Previously, Scott oversaw EnerNOC’s business development activities and continued growth in the Western United States and then outside of the United States, working with utilities, regulators, and customers in demand response program design, and enrolling customers in available programs. In this capacity, Scott opened EnerNOC’s UK office to establish the company’s first presence outside of North America. Earlier in his career, Scott spent a few years as a management consultant for Bain and Company, providing strategic and operational support for electric utilities and other international clients.  

Scott holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Engineering from Stanford University, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He has been published and spoken extensively on issues relating to breakthrough approaches to energy management, and currently resides in Menlo Park, CA.

Nancy Pfund is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Investors, a venture capital firm located in San Francisco. Ms. Pfund currently sponsors or sits on the board of directors of a number of companies, including; SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY), BrightSource Energy, Primus Power, Eco.logic Brands, EcoScraps, OPx Biotechnologies, Powergenix and, prior to their public offerings, Tesla Motors and Pandora Media. Previously, Ms. Pfund worked at JPMorgan (then Hambrecht & Quist) from 1984 - 2008 first as a securities analyst and then as a Venture Capital Partner and Managing Director.  Ms. Pfund received her BA and MA in anthropology from Stanford University, and her MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Claire is Chief of New Markets and Services at Next Step Living, a whole home energy efficiency contractor which has a mission to make it easy, affordable and rewarding for homeowners to implement energy-savings solutions.  NSL has served over 98,000 customers.  Claire was responsible for opening the Connecticut and most recently the New York offices for NSL and also launched NSL’s community solar product.  Prior to NSL, Claire was Vice President at Serious Energy, managing the nascent commercial financing program. In 2009-2010, she was the Acting Program Manager of the Office of Weatherization and Intergovernmental Programs and an energy efficiency advisor to Secretary Chu at the Department of Energy, where she guided deployment of $11 billion in stimulus funds for clean energy while also championing policies that expand the impact of public investment through engagement with private capital. 

She is a Co-Founder of SunEdison, North America’s largest solar energy services provider ([url=http://www.sunedison.com]http://www.sunedison.com[/url]) where she was responsible for market development, renewable energy credit portfolio management, sales, marketing, finance and operations. She worked as an electricity deal originator and manager of long term renewable energy contracts at Constellation Power Source, Enron North America and GE Capital.  Mrs. Johnson holds a B.A. in Environmental Science & Public Policy from Harvard College, where she helped to create that major, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Prior to forming Upwelling, Joncarlo was a Senior Portfolio Manager in the Alternative Investment Management (AIM) Program at the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the largest public pension fund in the US, with approximately $240 billion in overall assets. He was a part of the senior leadership team responsible for investing in global private equity partnerships and direct investments, with a portfolio that exceeds $48 billion. During his tenure, Joncarlo represented CalPERS on multiple fund advisory boards and held Board of Director observer seats for a number of AIM portfolio companies. In addition, he served as Chairman of the Board for the Institutional Limited Partners Association (ILPA) from 2007 to 2010, whose 250 member institutions manage more than $1 trillion of private equity capital. Joncarlo is currently an Advisory Board member for the Private Capital Research Institute (PCRI), a non-profit organization that works with the Brookings Institution to further the understanding of the economic impact of private capital through independent academic studies. He also serves as a Volunteer Advisor for the UC Davis Foundation Finance and Investment Committee. Prior to joining CalPERS, Joncarlo spent six years with Premier Farnell PLC, a global industrial products manufacturing and distribution company. Joncarlo earned an MBA from the University of California, Davis Graduate School of Management and received a BA from the University of California, San Diego.

Aimée Christensen is CEO of Christensen Global Strategies and manages the Christensen family office overseeing a portfolio of equity, debt and fund investments. Her clients have included the Clinton Global Initiative, Duke Energy, Microsoft, Swiss Re, the United Nations, Virgin Unite and Wolfensohn & Co. She has two decades’ experience including with Google, the World Bank, Baker & McKenzie, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Aimée wrote the first university endowment investment policy on climate change (Stanford University, 1999) and was the 2011 Hillary Laureate and a 2010 Aspen Catto Fellow. She graduated from Smith College and Stanford Law School.

Andrew Dillon is a co-founder of Varentec, a company focusing on applying power electronics to achieve dynamic control and energy conservation on the electric grid.  Andrew has expertise in the areas of smart grid solutions, advanced technology commercialization, Volt VAR Optimization, grid efficiency, as well as cloud software. 

With academic degrees in electrical engineering as well as communication technologies, Andrew has spoken at events hosted by IEEE, DOE, EPRI and others. Over 15 years in the area of technology commercialization, start-ups, and business building, Andrew has raised funds for companies in excess of $20m, and assisted the introduction of multiple new products to the marketplace.
 

Dan Adler is Managing Director of the California Clean Energy Fund (CalCEF), a nonprofit, evergreen investment fund created to advance the clean energy economy. Mr. Adler is responsible for CalCEF's investments across six funds in venture capital and project finance, and leads the firm's efforts to identify catalytic new investment theses. Prior to joining CalCEF, Mr. Adler was senior staff at the California Public Utilities Commission, where he was responsible for the design and implementation of California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard and for climate change policy. He serves as Board co-chair of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), on the Boards of Directors of the Coalition for Green Capital and the Vote Solar Initiative, and on the Board of Advisors of the Clean Tech Open.

Shahin has worked with Lux Capital since 2006, focusing on investments in energy and technology. He is a Partner based in Lux's Palo Alto office. Before joining Lux, he held technical positions at General Motors and several Silicon Valley technology startups. He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering Computer Science with College of Engineering Honors from the University of California at Berkeley, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering with a Minor in Management from the University of California at Los Angeles. Shahin has also served as a Postdoctoral Scholar at the UCLA department of Electrical Engineering, and Staff Research Associate at the California NanoSystems Institute. His research on wireless biosignal telemetry has been published in over ten IEEE conference proceedings and three IEEE journals.

Shahin sourced Lux's investments in Silicon Clocks (acquired by NASDAQ:SLAB), SiBEAM (acquired by NASDAQ:SIMG), Planet Labs and Flex Logix, and played key roles in Lux's investments in Everspin and Luxtera. He works closely in supporting all of Lux's energy and technology companies. Shahin has been an invited speaker/panelist at a variety of Universities and organizations including the IEEE, UC Berkeley, Stanford, UCLA, UCI, the California Cleantech Initiative, OCTane, and the MIT Club of Silicon Valley.

Mr. Irvin is Senior Vice President and head of Hannon's San Francisco office. Mac most recently served as CFO at Sungevity, a venture-backed residential solar sales and leasing company, where he raised corporate equity, project equity and debt, and led the accounting, procurement and contract administration teams. Prior to joining Sungevity, Mac served as Managing Director of Structured Finance and Business Development at Sunpower, where he was responsible for funding the company’s residential, commercial and utility scale projects. Prior to Sunpower, Mac served as CFO for BPL Global, as Managing Director with GATX Capital, and as Regional General Manager with RailTex, Inc., a three-time Inc. 500 company. Mac holds a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Texas, Austin.

Bob is the CEO of LocalGrid Technologies. He formed the company to help solve the challenges distribution utilities face integrating renewables and developing a smarter grid. Through his company and involvement in WindShare, a wind power co-operative, Bob is dedicated to advancing renewable energy sources. Bob graduated from Queen’s University with a degree in Mathematics Engineering. He has used his education in control and communication systems to engineer embedded solutions for a variety of industries over the last 10 years. Bob has history working with startups in areas of embedded technology, engineering services, and the energy sector.

Sean M. Moran is a partner in Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati's Los Angeles office, where he specializes in renewable energy, project finance, and infrastructure assets. Instrumental in creating the structure that has become the standard for renewable energy deals in the United States, Sean has handled many of the country's largest and most complex renewable energy financing transactions, including numerous first-of-its-kind deals.In the course of his practice, Sean represents Fortune 50 companies, investors, utilities, sponsors, and developers. His clients include some of the largest investors in the renewable energy market, collectively investing more than $15 billion in renewable energy generation. His projects include solar, geothermal, biomass, biofuel, wind energy, and waste-to-energy facilities that generate more than 20,000 megawatts per year in 44 states.

Sean also represents clients in fossil fuel energy generation facilities, including those utilizing natural gas, coal, and oil and gas. In addition, he represents clients in a wide variety of other infrastructure projects, such as transmission systems, toll roads, transportation systems, and water and waste treatment facilities. His broad expertise includes tax issues related to capital markets transactions and derivative products, M&A and private equity, reorganizations and bankruptcy, structured finance, and affordable housing. Prior to joining the firm, Sean was a partner in Sidley Austin's Los Angeles office. Early in his career, he clerked for the Honorable Joseph M. McLaughlin in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Sean is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences, and his articles have appeared in a variety of publications.

Paul Straub brings a successful 15-year track record of working with entrepreneurs at the earliest stages of company development and leading investments in information technology startups. Paul is particularly focused on the potential of digital and business innovation to advance broad-impact core industries.

Paul represents CCV on the Boards of Alphabet Energy, Blue Pillar, Clean Power Finance, Project Frog, Renewable Funding (observer) and Yerdle (observer). He also currently manages the firm’s investment in Root3 Technologies. He previously managed the firm’s investments as a board observer at Property Bridge (acquired by MGI) and Lefora/Meetro (acquired).

Prior to Claremont Creek, Paul invested in software and datacenter technology companies at Information Technology Ventures/Infinity Capital, including co-leading the first institutional round of Cyanea (acquired by IBM) where he was a board observer. Paul worked in product management and strategy roles leading projects for VERITAS Software and Red Hat Software. Paul began his career in investment banking at Montgomery Securities. Subsequently he joined Thomas Weisel Partners at the firm’s inception where he executed over $7B across more than a dozen M&A and capital raising transactions.

Paul earned an MBA from Duke University and a BS from the University of Virginia. Paul serves on the advisory board for Duke University’s Center for Energy, Development and the Global Environment.

Becca is passionate about bringing change to our energy, food and financial systems.

Prior to founding Eagle Cliff, Becca served as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of Energy and as a member of President Obama's transition team focused on the Treasury Department and economic regulatory agencies.  She also has experience as an investment analyst at Farallon Capital and as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Becca previously served as a fellow on the Sierra Club Foundation Board of Directors.

Becca earned a bachelor's degree with distinction from Stanford University.  She also received an MS in Environment and Resources and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Tibor has over 20 years of private equity & venture capital investment and entrepreneurial experience, including the last four years in the clean energy sector.  Currently, Tibor heads the Investments Division at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC).  MassCEC invests equity and debt in early-stage and growing clean technology companies, provides incentives for the adoption of renewable energy, and develops programs to prepare workers for the next generation of clean energy jobs.  Previously, Tibor worked with FATE Consortium, Babson Capital, Ascent Venture Partners, Lee Capital and Berkshire Partners.  Tibor holds an SB in Management Science from MIT, and completed the Masters of Management and Manufacturing (MMM) program at Northwestern University, receiving an MBA from the Kellogg School and an engineering master’s degree from the McCormick School.

Scott Clavenna has been leading high-tech market research firms for over 15 years. In his capacity as a trusted analyst and consultant, Scott has helped dozens of companies enter and succeed in complex and intensely competitive markets worldwide. He also has authored more than 30 reports that helped define important emerging market segments in optical and broadband communications.

Prior to founding Greentech Media, Scott was chief analyst at Heavy Reading, the market research arm of Light Reading, the dominant online media company in the telecommunications market. CMP bought Light Reading in 2005. Before creating Heavy Reading, Scott founded PointEast Research, providing strategic consulting and market intelligence to a broad mix of startups, venture capitalists and major suppliers in the communications/IT industry, and worked as director of research for Light Reading. In 1997, Scott co-founded Pioneer Consulting, which quickly grew into the leading market research firm covering the optical and broadband communications industry.

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.