Cleantech 50 To Watch Expert Panel

Laurie brings over a decade of deep tech commercialization, company building, and venture capital experience to the team. She's played roles in the chemical industry (Solvay, BASF) and built a dozen ventures out of DoD research programs (SRI International). Biotechnologist by training, Laurie is an ecological transition advocate.

Dr. Johanna Wolfson is a co-founder and General Partner at Azolla Ventures, and co-founder of Prime Impact Fund. Johanna’s career has focused on accelerating climate technologies from lab to market, spanning university and industry applied research, government, and venture investing. Prior to investing, Johanna was Technology-to-Market Director for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), where she deployed more than $50MM per year into innovative energy projects and companies and also advised DOE, congressional staff, and national labs on effective lab-to-market strategies. Previously, Johanna led start-up engagement at the applied R&D lab Fraunhofer, where she both sourced innovative technologies for Fortune 500 clients and designed demonstration projects for emerging start-ups to ready their products for market entry. Johanna has a B.S. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from MIT, where she conducted research on solid-state physics and photonics.

Olga has worked for innovation and business development within the energy&environment sector across Europe. She has focused on a wide range of topics from grid optimisation and e-Mobility to environmental management systems and lifecycle assessment. Olga holds a M.Sc. double degree in energy engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

Ashley joined the Breakthrough Energy team in 2020 and will lead the new global Breakthrough Energy Fellows program. Her deep expertise and passion surrounding early innovators and the commercialization of clean technologies will help to guide the Breakthrough Energy program, designed to find and fund innovators working to bring climate technology solutions to the market. Ashley has spent the entirety of her career working across the sustainability and impact investment landscape, spending 15 years in various capacities at Wells Fargo where she managed a $100 million impact program and was largely involved as a thought leader in the company's overall ESG and sustainable finance strategies and commitments.  During her time at Wells she immersed herself among cleantech entrepreneurs, universities, incubators/accelerators, national labs, and investors - pioneering an award winning cleantech commercialization program, IN2, that focused on speeding up the path to market for clean technologies. The IN2 program’s 46 portfolio companies have gone on to raise $410M in follow on funding from external sources. She earned a B.A. degree in Economics and Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder, as a student athlete on the CU NCAA Division One women’s soccer team. She holds a Certified Financial Planning certificate from DePaul University and a Renewable Energy Certificate from CU Boulder. In 2017, Grosh was recognized as a ’40 under 40’ winner in Colorado and also recognized that year as a “Top Women in Energy” in the Denver Business Journal. Ashley is based in Denver, Colorado. In her free time she enjoys cooking, hiking, camping and fishing with her husband Michael, their two children, Kenley and Charlie and her bernadoodle Tilly. Ashley is also a sports fanatic – and loves cheering on her Colorado Buffaloes.

Bennet Barth is the Managing Director at RESPOND and drives the strategic development and implementation of the BMW Foundation’s work around business, innovation and technology. Bennet is also part of the Foundation’s investment team, where he manages an international portfolio of impact investments and supports the foundations programmatic work around Sustainable Finance. Before joining the BMW Foundation, Bennet worked at MAZE in Lisbon, where he, alongside entrepreneurs and investors, sought to scale impactful and effective solutions to social and ecological challenges. As investment associate in a 50-million euro Impact Venture Capital Firm, with offices in London and Lisbon. In this capacity, he supported the set-up and fundraising, advised several impact enterprises and, through various joint publications with international partners, contributed to building the impact investing ecosystem in Europe. Bennet studied industrial engineering and management with a focus on mechanical engineering (B.Sc.) and economics (M.Sc.) in Berlin and Lisbon. In previous roles Bennet worked in development cooperation in renewable energy projects in Asia and West Africa.

Iain is an Associate Director in the Programmes and Innovation team at the Carbon Trust UK, where he plays a senior role in the company’s low carbon innovation activities.

Mr. Schick has more than twenty years of experience as a technologist and investor. In his investing role at Clean Energy Ventures, Mr. Schick works with deal teams to source, screen and diligence new investments, as well as support portfolio companies on technology, markets, strategy and commercialization. Prior to joining Clean Energy Ventures, Mr. Schick was co-founder, partner and CTO at NewWorld Capital, and served as a Managing Director at Ritchie Capital. From 1997 to 2005, Mr. Schick held a variety of positions at General Electric’s Corporate Research and Energy groups. Mr. Schick facilitated GE’s entrance into both solar and wind energy, and led GE’s solid oxide fuel cell program. Mr. Schick was trained as a physicist and co-authored papers in accelerator physics, space physics, and biophysics as well as earning ten granted US patents. He holds a BS in Physics from Union College; an MS in Physics from Cornell University.

Erki is one of the founders of the Estonian cleantech startup sector. He’s actively seeking funding opportunities for promising startups and programs that deliver positive impact. Erki has helped the Estonian cleantech sector develop since its birth. He has a background in Environmental Management Engineering and Business Administration. He is responsible for creating a vast network of stakeholders in Estonia, Europe, and distant parts of the World. In 2014 Erki started his first cleantech startup journey in the Netherlands and pursued it in 2016 back in Estonia. After that moved to the Estonian Renewable Energy Association and started in Cleantech Estonia as the CEO, leading the acceleration programmes for startups, he’s also the Co-Founder of Little Green Fund and one of the region’s first cleantech specialised accelerators, Beamline, combining a portfolio of 78 cleantech startups. Today his responsibilities are expanding in the Baltics region, making sure that innovation opportunities and policy walk the same path, as well as making sure the more significant opportunities in cleantech investments in the New Nordics and CEE are dealt with within a highly specialised manner, always bearing in mind the potential impact of cleantech investments and regulative developments that drive the uptake of innovation.

Jason is President and CEO of Cleantech San Diego, a business organization that positions the greater San Diego region as a global leader in the cleantech economy. Cleantech San Diego’s members include more than 120 businesses, universities, governments, and nonprofits committed to advancing sustainable solutions for the benefit of the economy, the environment and all members of the community. Before joining Cleantech San Diego in 2010, Jason was Vice President of Business Development for the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation (EDC). Prior to joining EDC, Jason lived in Austin, Texas, where he worked in the State Capitol as Legislative Director for Texas State Senator Frank Madla. Jason holds a degree in Corporate Communications from the University of Texas in Austin. Jason serves on the boards of the San Diego Urban Sustainability Coalition, CONNECT, the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation, the San Diego Regional Climate Collaborative and Equality California, the nation’s largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights organization. In 2021, Jason was named by The San Diego Business Journal as one of San Diego’s LGBTQ+ Leaders of Influence.

Caitlin is passionate about creating a positive impact on the planet and is dedicated to making effective change. Her background in mining and low carbon engineering combined with renewable energy and deep tech venture investing, complements her focus on carbon removal. She is energised by people and nature, and is excited by helping entrepreneurs scale their solutions and reversing climate change.

Olivier joined the team of DEMETER at the beginning of 2014. He is involved mainly in the technological files related to the domains of energy, environment, smart-city and more recently winetech. Before joining the team of DEMETER, Olivier worked about 15 years in the sectors of the energy and the environment in France and abroad (US, Scotland) into functions in connection with the innovation and the business development, at the same time as entrepreneur/co-founder within technological start-ups (Alterg, ITI Energy) or within big industrial groups (Atofina Inc. (Total), ENGIE). Olivier holds a PhD in Physical-Chemistry of materials and a MSc from the University of Bordeaux (France) and a post-graduate diploma in physics and physical chemistry of the University of Metz. He is the author of several scientific papers and several patents. Olivier was/is DEMETER’s permanent representative on the Supervisory or Management Boards of: APIX Analytics, Deepki, Kemiwatt, eLichens, Nexdot, Sweetch Energy, Ergosup, Géoflex, BeFC, Plan A, Lixo, Antofénol and My Bacchus.

Erik Snyder’s acumen for business and love of the environment led him to be founder of the Drawdown Fund in 2018. The Drawdown Fund invests growth capital to scale technologies and businesses that reverse global warming by sequestering CO2 or reducing emissions. The Drawdown Fund was co-founded by Paul Hawken and follows the strategy laid out in the New York Times Best-seller: “Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan to Reverse Global Warming.” Prior to the Drawdown Fund, Erik worked on investments held by GLE Capital, a global multi-family office and was CEO of Armada Skis. Erik received his MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS) where he was a recipient of the Rock Entrepreneurial Fellowship. Before HBS, Erik worked at Partners Capital Investment Group managing a multi-asset class hedge fund and overseeing private equity investments. Erik’s corporate career began with PRTM Management Consultants after graduating from Cornell University with Honors. Erik’s background is as diverse as his passions. He has been involved in a number of successful entrepreneurial enterprises, worked for a non-profit in Nepal, was a climbing guide in Mexico, and played professional soccer in Bolivia. Outside of work, Erik spends his time being as active as possible with his wife, Julie, and two boys, Jake (11) and Nate (9). You might find him running through the mountains preparing for an ultra-marathon or skiing in a remote part of the world. Regardless of the adventure, Erik always enjoys coming home to Park City for Sunday brunch with his family.

Georgia Parker is Innovation Director at Fashion for Good, the global platform for collaborative innovation in the fashion Industry. Georgia oversees scouting and implementing innovation within materials, processing and circular business models as well as managing all endeavours related to impact. This includes orchestrating multi stakeholder projects and pilots to validate and scale innovative technologies, the most recent being the ‘Untapped Agricultural Waste Project’ that launched early 2022. Georgia joined Fashion for Good in 2018 from adidas, where she worked on the Brand Sustainability team. Prior to this, she worked at Deloitte with a focus on finance and investment and participated in the Ellen MacArthur Fellowship Programme focusing on creative and innovative thinking around the circular economy. While completing her Masters in Environmental Technology at Imperial College, Georgia co-founded her own closed loop startup, N-Grain.

I am at Formica to help build truly sustainable businesses that are resilient, prosperous and growing over a long period of time. Supporting the creation of beautiful companies that can shine as guiding stars to others while driving required change in society across environmental, social and economic issues is what Formica is all about. As a strategy consultant I did often see companies struggle on this topic due to the lack of interest and focus of its owners. We set clear expectations and give the right support with funds, competence or network to help management teams make their business thrive, drive innovation and speed of change. Background: 15 years as a consultant at Accenture Strategy working with more than 50 large multinationals across industries. I helped build our global circular economy offering and most recently held the Nordic lead role for Sustainability Strategy. I hold a MSc from Chalmers University of Technology and equivalent level studies in Economics at University of Gothenburg School of Business, Economics and Law.

Chris has been active in the agriculture and food innovation space for 7+ years. At Hatch Blue, he works with the senior management team of Hatch Innovation Services and manages a portfolio of innovation projects. Previously Chris worked with Cleantech Group where he ran the Agriculture and Food research and consulting practice, working with corporate innovation, venture, capital, government, and entrepreneurial clients globally, but focused in North America and Europe. He has expertise in sustainability, climate, and ESG consulting, as well as providing support for corporates and investors looking to partner with, or invest in, innovation. Chris has lived and worked mainly in London and San Francisco. Chris holds an Msc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London and an MA from Oxford University.

Scott is President of Imagine H2O, a global organization that envisions and builds solutions with the world’s best water entrepreneurs. Since 2009, Imagine H2O’s water innovation accelerator programs have supported over 165 water startups which have collectively scaled water solutions to over 1.1 billion people and raised more than $850 million in early-stage investment. In 2019, the organization launched Imagine H2O Asia, a Singapore-based accelerator program that bridges global innovation to cities and communities across Southeast Asia. The organization also hosts the Urban Water Challenge, a global deployment program for entrepreneurs reimagining a water resilient future. Imagine H2O is supported by leading philanthropies, corporate partners, and public sector partners.

Victor has over 17 years’ experience in programme design, development and management, investments and investment linkages, fund raising, fund management, business modelling and assessments, public-private partnerships. Prior to joining Kenya Climate Ventures, Victor worked at Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund, KPMG - International Development Advisory Services, providing technical sector expertise, leading investment and portfolio management, enterprise development and impact monitoring and reporting of renewable energy businesses and climate smart solutions in Eastern, Western and Southern Africa and Asia. Victor has a Bachelor of Science, Agricultural Economics from Egerton University and a Master of Business Administration, Strategic Management from Nairobi University. Victor is a member of the Cleantech Group - 50 to Watch Expert Panel and various Boards.

Tyler Hamilton is Director of Cleantech at MaRS Discovery District, responsible for building a network of investors, innovation organizations and government agencies that can help Canadian cleantech ventures raise capital and scale globally. He also leads the Mission from MaRS: Climate Impact Challenge program and co-founded the RBC Women In Cleantech Accelerator program, powered by MaRS. Previously, Tyler spent two decades as a business and technology journalist (Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, MIT Technology Review) and wrote extensively about the clean technology sector and global climate trends. He was also Editor-In-Chief of business and sustainability magazine Corporate Knights. In 2011, Tyler authored Mad Like Tesla, a book that examined the various barriers to clean energy innovation and surveyed the landscape of some potentially world-changing clean technologies. A recipient of the Cleantech Group’s “Pioneer” award for his early writings on the sector, Tyler was also recognized in 2016 on Canada’s “Clean50” list for his thought leadership on clean energy and climate issues.

Monali Mujumdar leads the startup relations at National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (IEC). In this role, she fosters relations with cleantech startups and provides relevant resources. In her program operations role, Monali assists with technical assistance programs at the IEC. In addition, she is part of the organization team for the Industry Growth Forum – a flagship annual event to connect innovators with investors. In her previous role, Monali worked for E Source, a research and consulting firm in Boulder, CO, as an analyst conducting research on emerging technologies suitable for the utility industry. Monali has a background in electrical engineering and completed her Ph.D. from the University of Wyoming.

Pat Sapinsley is the Managing Director of Cleantech Initiatives at Urban Future Lab/ACRE at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering. A LEED AP architect, Pat holds a M.Arch from the Harvard GSD. She is past Co-Chair of the Committee on the Environment of the AIANY, a member of the Board of Building Energy Exchange, a board member of Advanced Energy Group, and a frequent lecturer and industry panelist. Prior to joining UFL/ACRE, Pat worked in venture capital at Good Energies and was a Visiting Scholar at Harvard’s Wyss Institute. She was CEO of Watt Not, an LED lighting consultancy, and Build Efficiently, LLC.

Marie leads sourcing, diligence, and portfolio company support for Powerhouse Ventures. She has a MBA from Berkeley Haas, and formerly worked in strategic planning at APA Corporation and sales strategy at Bloom Energy.

Max is Managing Partner of Rockstart’s Energy Fund, offering early stage startups access to capital, market, expertise and community through a customized accelerator program and follow-on investments up to series B. Max is Dutch and based in Amsterdam. He has been active in renewable energy since 2003, when he helped Essent (currently RWE) to establish their wind business in Germany. As Director at EWT, the largest Dutch wind turbine manufacturer, he was responsible for corporate finance, business development and strategy. Further, he was co-founder and CEO of e-kite, a Dutch start-up which developed kite power systems. Before entering the renewable energy sector, Max worked several years at McKinsey, as Engagement Manager. He holds MSc degrees in Chemical Engineering at Delft University of Technology, Business Administration at Erasmus University Rotterdam and an MBA from INSEAD.

Klaus is the Program Manager for the Ocean Plastic Prevention Accelerator (OPPA) in Surabaya. He enjoys the work as he gets to coordinate an awesome team to support improvements in the local waste management system. Klaus is passionate about connecting people to improve systems. He finds it fascinating to see how much can be achieved through building the right relationships and creating mutual understanding. In the case of OPPA, we do this to create a shift in the economy towards seeing plastic as a resource, rather than waste. Before joining SecondMuse, Klaus worked on the development of social innovation ecosystems. That experience was quite similar to the work at OPPA, and he is fascinated to see how concepts can be adapted from one context to another.

With almost ten years of experience in the cleantech sector, Victoria Smaniotto now leads the Outreach team at the Solar Impulse Foundation, boosting the adoption of profitable solutions to protect the environment. Victoria left France to study international affairs and social businesses at HEC Montreal in 2010, discovered the cleantech sector thanks to her first job as a market development analyst for a clean refrigeration company from 2012 to 2014, and strengthened her understanding of the sector’s strategic opportunities and challenges while working at the Quebec cleantech cluster, Ecotech Québec, from 2014 to 2020. As one of her mission in that position was to support Québec cleantech SME’s internationalization, she joined the International Cleantech Network as their Head of Secretariat in 2016 and ran CanadaCleantech from 2016 to 2020. In her current position at the Solar Impulse Foundation, her experience in ecosystem building and community management in the cleantech sector allowed the Foundation to create strategic partnerships with cleantech hubs globally, supporting the Foundation in reaching its goal of identifying 1,000 Efficient Solutions around the world.

As one of the founding directors of SOW Asia, Demetrius had the desktop view of young companies that wanted to do good. He is now on the front line as the Director of Programs in helping these young companies directly to grow with the hope that they will continue to make positive impacts to the society in the years to come. He does this by bringing his experience in fundraising, entrepreneurship, board directorship, investor relation, non-profit, restructuring and mergers and acquisitions from various organisations such as start-ups, investment banks, private equities, international and listed corporations. Demetrius graduated from Boston University, the University of Southern California and the Ivey Business School at the Western University, Canada in various degrees and program. He has also been continuing his pursuit of knowledge through online programs at MIT, Harvard, Wharton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Investment Associate at Telos Impact where I’ve been working for the past 3 years in the impact investment team. Passionate about environmental topics, particularly climate and energy and circularity. Business school education in Belgium (Louvain School of Management) and start of career in M&A team of KPMG Belgium

Alexander Langguth is a co-founder and managing partner at Übermorgen Ventures. After multiple years at the leading strategy consultancy McKinsey & Company, where Alex primarily worked with clients in the energy, industrial and technology sectors, he has worked exclusively with companies, investors, and governments in the climate tech and sustainability space. Alex is also closely associated with the Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth at the University of Zurich and the Chair of Sustainability and Technology at ETH Zurich.

Since joining UNIDO in 2012, SunYoung designed and implemented sustainable energy projects and programs with a geographic focus in sub-Saharan Africa. Her current areas of work include the promotion of cleantech innovation ecosystems in developing and emerging economies, providing strategic support for international energy and climate initiatives, and coordinating partnership engagements with governments and the private sector. Prior to joining UNIDO, she worked on environmental sustainability and climate change mitigation issues at the Asian Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability, the Global Climate Finance Project at New York University, and the Korea Environmental Industry and Technology Institute.

Pippa is the Founding Partner of Zero Carbon Capital, investors in early-stage companies in the UK and Europe on a mission to fix climate change. ZCC supports deep science, hard-tech solutions that have the potential to make half gigaton-level reductions of CO2e at scale; and vision-aligned, ambitious teams to go with them. Pippa started angel investing in decarbonisation technologies in California seven years ago, where she was an active member of the impact investing ecosystem. Prior to that, she held a variety of roles in technology companies - general management, business analysis, and consumer-facing interactive user experience research and design. She holds a Masters degree in Manufacturing Engineering from the University of Cambridge.