World’s largest business accelerator builds on its proven formula for readying cleantech entrepreneurs for market…
Mr. Adler is Managing Director of CalCEF and President of CalCEF Ventures, a $30 million nonprofit venture capital fund created to accelerate investment in California’s clean energy economy. Employing a fund-of-funds model, CalCEF is invested in more than 40 young companies covering the full range of clean energy technologies. In 2006, CalCEF founded the nation’s first university center on energy efficiency, the Energy Efficiency Center at the University of California, Davis, and in 2008, it launched CalCEF Innovations, an affiliated public policy and market intelligence organization, and the CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund, the industry’s first seed stage–focused fund. Prior to joining CalCEF, Mr. Adler was a senior analyst in the Division of Strategic Planning at the California Public Utilities Commission, where he was responsible for the design and implementation of California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard and was senior staff for climate change policy. He is a Director of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and an advisor to the state of California and city of San Francisco on clean energy technologies. He has a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and an MA in Public Policy from Harvard University.
Josh Becker started his career in the Clean Energy area in 1991. From Williams College he went to work for ICF-Kaiser International, a DC-based environmental consulting and engineering firm. There he helped launch the first Clean Air Marketplace conference back in 1992 and consulted on energy strategy for companies like General Electric.
After working on Capitol Hill as a Press Secretary for a Congresswoman on the Energy and Commerce Committee, he started his first Internet company in 1994 when he co-founded IntraACTIVE a pioneering groupware company. He was also one of the first employees at EarthWeb Inc, which went public in 1998.
After joint degrees from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, Becker joined Brentwood Venture Capital and then joined Brentwood’s technology partners in 1999 in founding Redpoint Ventures (www.Redpoint.com). At Redpoint he brought in investments like BigBand Networks (NASDAQ:BBND) and served as a board observer for BigBand, Esurance, and ViaFone.
Becker is an Advisor to Energy Unlimited, a pioneering wind energy company. He is Co-Founder of the Freedom Prize Foundation (www.freedomprize.org), which will soon be giving out $5M in prizes with DOE to encourage deployment of clean energy technologies and Co-Founder of SmartTransportation.org. Becker is the Founder and Chair of The Full Circle Fund, www.fullcirclefund.org, an alliance of emerging business leaders who help solve public problems through engaged philanthropy and public policy advocacy. He serves on the National Board of Directors for One Economy (www.one-economy.com) and serves on the Board of Trustees for the newest campus in the University of California System, The University of California at Merced. Becker was recently named as one of the Top 40/under 40 people to watch in Silicon Valley by the San Jose Business Journal. He also was selected to be part of the SV100 A group of the 100 Most Influential People in Silicon Valley.
Himanshu Choksi is a member of the Board of Advisors at The Cleantech Open. He is Managing Partner at Pacifica Fund, a venture capital firm that invests in cleantech and IT companies; and a board member and advisor at several start-ups. His operating and venture experience spans cleantech, internet, software, interactive TV, and semiconductors. Previously he was an entrepreneur and an executive at Intel, Bain & Company, and Pacific Telesis. He earned an MBA from Stanford University, an MS in Materials Science from UC Berkeley, and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology. He holds four US patents.
Ed is a Senior Vice-President with Bridge Bank focusing on creating and expanding relationships with Emerging Growth to Public High-Tech, Green and Life Science Companies. He began his 30 years of banking/lending experience with Bank of America and has achieved significant success wherever he has worked, including Silicon Valley Bank, Imperial Bank and Comerica Bank. Ed also began the Tech Practice and was a founding member for two Asset-Based Lending companies – Coast Business Credit and Greyrock Business Credit.
In all instances he built practices from the ground up and achieved close relationships with hundreds of clients-many of whom continue to this day. He contributes this success to being an overall “solution source” partner to clients, prospects, referral partners and colleagues – for any problem. Ed has focused on providing solutions to companies from seed to public–including such well known companies as Cisco, Atmel, CNET, Biomarin, Cepheid, Mattson, Read-Rite, Pandora, Solar City, Serious Energy, Stumble Upon, Digital Chocolate and Cadence to name a few. At Bridge, his focus is to provide a combination of “virtual” and human support to clients that will allow them to grow domestically and internationally.
Ed holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA in history from the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Ed has sat on several Director and Advisory boards, including the executive committee of Tech America, the Silicon Valley Assoc. of Software Entreprenuers (SVASE), SDForum, AlwaysOn and the CleanTech Open. He also sits on the Boards of several Tech companies and Investment Banks. He has spoken at Tech and Banking conferences in the U.S. and Europe and is a contributing blogger on banking and VC issues to AlwaysOn Networks.
Jonathan Livingston is the president of Livingston Energy Innovations (LEI), a San Francisco Bay Area-based strategic consulting firm specializing in energy efficiency, demand response and customer-facing smart grid domains. LEI clients include large and small technology companies, leading energy utilities, and research laboratories. Jonathan brings nearly 30 years’ experience creating pathways for technology companies, utilities and investors to achieve business success in the demand-side management marketplace. He previously held key innovation management positions at Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Ecos Consulting. He serves on the advisory boards of the CTO, the Environmental Business Cluster, and the CalCEF Angel Fund.
Jenna Olsen is the Director of Core Products, Customer Energy Solutions at PG&E, where she directs the portfolio of offerings that help customers manage their energy usage. Her team manages emerging technologies, rebates, incentives, and program offerings for residential, small and medium, and large commercial and industrial customers. She also manages the technology platforms that help customers understand their energy use and build plans for reductions.
Prior to this role, Jenna served as Chief of Staff to the Vice President for Customer Energy Solutions and also managed third party and government partnership sales channels in energy efficiency at PG&E. Before coming to PG&E, Jenna worked with a sustainability consulting firm advising multinational corporations on integrating sustainability into their businesses. She also served as Executive Director of the Tuolumne River Trust, a San-Francisco non-profit where she now volunteers. Her interests include kayaking, bicycling, running, and yoga. She has a joint Masters in Public Policy and Natural Resources from the University of Michigan, and graduated with High Distinction from the University of Virginia.
Marianne Wu is a Partner at MDV where she focuses on Cleantech investments. These typically involve significant technology or business model breakthroughs applied to large, evolving markets such as solar, biofuels and chemicals, clean coal, energy efficiency, smart grid, and water treatment and management. She leverages over 15 years of technology development and business experience to help entrepreneurs build meaningful, successful businesses. At MDV, she is on the Board of Laurus Energy and works closely with Zeachem and Catilin. Marianne has been named one of Top 10 Women in Cleantech and one of Silicon Valley’s Women of Influence. She is on the Advisory Committees of the Cleantech Open, Western Governors’ Association, SdForum and Astia. She is a member of the Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association (HYSTA) VC Group and Environmental Entrepreneurs. Prior to joining MDV, Marianne was VP Marketing at ONI Systems where she was responsible for product strategy and market development. Earlier in her career, Marianne was a consultant at McKinsey and Company where she advised major technology clients on strategic and operational issues. Marianne has conducted state-of-the-art research in materials, devices, and systems at Stanford University and started her career as a design engineer at Nortel Networks where she developed high-speed networking technologies. Marianne earned both her doctoral and master’s degrees from the School of Engineering at Stanford University and her bachelor’s in Applied Science at the University of British Columbia
World’s largest business accelerator builds on its proven formula for readying cleantech entrepreneurs for market…
WASHINGTON — Registration is open for teams seeking to compete in the $1.5 million energy…