The GSB Alums Working On Climate Are Awesome

The entrepreneurs

Buildings and real estate Arch, co-founded and run by Phil Krinner ’20, is developing a software platform for HVAC installers. Pallen Chiu ’12 is CRO of Audette, which offers a modeling platform to generate decarbonization plans for commercial real estate portfolios. Forrest Baringer-Jones ’08 is CFO and Cam Chisholm ’23 is Head of Marketing at Dandelion Energy, which is taking geothermal heat pumps mainstream. Supriya Booth ’12 is CRO at Lumen Energy, whose technology enables commercial real estate owners to select and deploy clean energy that meets their carbon and IRR targets. Span (Doug Booms ’99, Alex Pratt ’12, Sydney Larson ’15) is building smarter, digital electrical panels to accelerate home electrification. Desiree (Peill) Castell ’16 is Group VP People, Culture & Organization at Viessman. Leia de Guzman ’22 and Stephanie Grayson ’22 are co-founders of Cambio, which is developing a software platform for decarbonizing commercial real estate portfolios.

EVs and Mobility Sendil Palani ’13 is VP Finance and Derek Johnson ’20 is Supply Chain Program Manager at Tesla. Mike Caron ’19 is a Group Product Manager at GM’s Brightdrop subsidiary, developing electric delivery vehicles. Lyuba Wolf Czeskis ’14 is Head of Business Ops and Strategy at Chargepoint. Wyatt Toolson ’13 is Co-founder of EV Realty, which develops and owns grid-ready EV charging hubs for commercial fleets. Johannes Tyralla ’19 is Lead Purchasing Manager and Felipe Freitas ’21 is Sr. Group Manager Raw Materials at EV maker Rivian. WeaveGrid, co-founded and run by Apoorv Bhargava ’17 (and with Nandi Chhabra ’15 as General Counsel), provides software to optimize EV charging for utilities, automakers, and drivers. Kent Kuran ’16 works on Mobility Solutions at NextEra. Joon Lee ’21 is Chief Business Officer for Biliti Electric, a provider of modular battery swapping technology for compact EVs.

Financing and deployment Matt Tilleard ’12 is Co-founder and managing partner at CrossBoundary, which provides financing and advisory services for clean energy projects and investors in underserved markets. Alfred Johnson ’13 is Co-founder and CEO of Crux Climate, a platform for energy transition developers, tax credit buyers, and financial institutions to transact transferable tax credits. Odyssey Energy Solutions, co-founded and run by Emily McAteer ’15 (and with Elissa Chandler ’20 as VP Marketing and Ops), accelerates renewable deployments with its platform to facilitate financing, procurement, and operations. d.light, co-founded by Ned Tozun ’07, with Karl Skare ’13 as Chief Product and Strategy Officer, is selling affordable, reliable off-grid solar powered solutions to low-income families worldwide. Kevin Quilliam ’08 is CEO of InClime, which manages renewable energy and energy efficiency programs for utilities and public entities. Mike Volpe ’13 is co-founder and SVP of Open Road Renewables, which develops utility scale solar and battery energy storage projects. Joel Ullmann ’99 is Chief Partnerships Officer for Redaptive, an energy-as-a-service provider that funds and installs energy saving and energy generating equipment.

Software, Data, and Analytics Udit Garg ’15 is VP Product for Arcadia, which began in the community solar business and now provides utility data and analytics as an service to enterprise customers. Scott McGaraghan ’02 is CRO of AutoGrid, a provider of software and services to unlock the potential of distributed energy resources. Jason Kaminsky ’08 is CEO of kWh Analytics, which provides data-enabled climate insurance for renewable energy assets. Pano, co-founded and run by Sonia Kastner ’09 (and with Javier Cambon Sanjurjo ’12 as VP Product) provides actionable intelligence for wildfire management using AI. Tad Gauthier ’02 is VP eMobility for Stem, a provider of software, battery storage and services for optimizing energy usage. Watershed (Carrie Simonds ’10, Kristin Thayer ’14, Claire Kiely ’16, Yubing Zhang ’16, Maya Granit-Foley ’20, Victoria Wills ’21, Eric Nevalsky ’22) delivers granular, audit-ready sustainability data that companies can use to drive decarbonization.

Solar Aurora Solar, co-founded by Christopher Hopper ’13 (CEO) and Samuel Adeyemo ’13, and with Justin Durack ’12 as VP Product and Peter Grogan ’21 as Business Operations Manager, helps solar installers simplify their design, sales and installation processes. Aaron Nitzkin ’99 is EVP Solar at Citadel Roofing and Solar, a California based solar and energy storage company. Ben Cook ’01 is EVP Capital Markets and Strategy for Earthos, which is installing solar modules directly on the ground to reduce utility scale solar costs. Jamie Raczka ’09 is EVP Operations for Palmetto, which provides platform solutions enabling homeowners and businesses to go solar. Badri Kothandaraman ’08 is CEO of Enphase Energy Inc., the world’s leading provider of microinverter-based solar, home batteries, and energy management systems. Sunrun, the #1 home solar & battery company in America, was co-founded by Ed Fenster ’07 and Lynn Jurich ’07. Satoko Wakasa ’22 is VP Strategic Growth at community solar developer Nexamp.

Batteries and Storage Giovanni Damato ’06 is President of CMBlue Energy AG, and leads its North American subsidiary in the development of long-duration energy storage projects. Annie Baldwin ’19 does product management and Charles Stone ’21 does commercial finance at Form Energy, which is building long-duration iron-air battery energy storage systems. Jeff Barnes ’15 is Head of Finance at Lunar Energy, which develops batteries and management software for home electrification. NineDot Energy, co-founded and run by David Arfin ’91, is deploying community-scale battery storage to help decarbonize cities. Kevin Hettrick ’11 is CFO at QuantumScape, which is developing solid-state lithium metal battery technology. Kemp Gregory ’19 is co-founder and CEO of Renewell, which repurposes idle oil wells into gravity energy storage. Karim Ibrik ’21 is EVP Commercial for Rondo Energy, which is developing thermal (heat) batteries to integrate into industrial processes. Shilesh Muralidhara ’23 is VP Finance and Business Development at Peak Energy, which is focused on scaling the production of sodium-ion batteries for grid applications.

Carbon and methane Ebb Carbon, co-founded and run by Ben Tarbell ’05, is developing technologies to enable ocean based carbon removal and storage. Edward Sanders ’10 is COO of Equatic, which is developing seawater-based electrolysis technology that couples atmospheric carbon removal with green hydrogen generation. Project Canary, co-founded by CPO Will Foiles ’19 (and with Colin Routledge ’15 as VP Finance), offers an enterprise emissions data platform that helps companies identify, measure, and reduce emissions (e.g. methane leaks). Twelve, co-founded and run by Nicholas Flanders ’15 (and with Andrew Stevenson ’16 as VP of Commercial), is developing technologies to transform CO2 into essential products. Rustom Birdie ’22 is an account exec at Pachama, which is harnessing satellite data and AI to empower companies to confidently invest in nature. Pawan Gupta ’23 is Senior Director, Environmental Markets at Xpansive, which develops infrastructure for carbon markets. Louise Hannecart ’23 is Director of Business Development and Strategy for M2X, which has developed technology for turning flare (methane) gas into usable products like green methanol.

Hydrogen and Ammonia Paul Harraka ’18 is Chief Business Officer at Koloma, which develops technology to identify, access, and produce geologic hydrogen. Rahul Bammi ’03 is President of Verdagy, which is developing advanced electrolyzers to produce green hydrogen. Bav Roy ’21 is co-founder and COO of Verne, which is developing high-density hydrogen storage for heavy transport. John Foye ’22 does Operations at Talus, which is developing containerized, zero-carbon, green ammonia systems.

Waste Reduction and Efficiency Lauren Dunford ’18 is co-founder and CEO at Guidewheel, which gives factories visibility into improving efficiency and sustainability. Lauren Smith ’14 is Head of Business Operations at Dispatch Goods, a waste-reduction focused returns logistics platform. Shaunnah Sopko ’14 is an Operations Leader at Mill, which makes products for reducing food waste and associated emissions. Olio, co-founded and run by Tessa Clark ’04 and Sasha Celestial-One ’04, is a sharing app and global community aimed at reducing waste. Katie Lee ’23 is Lead Product Manager at Amp Robotics, which is applying AI to improve waste sortation.

Food and Agriculture Shely Aronov ’11 Founded and runs Inner Plant, which is developing genetically-engineered living sensor plants to be an early warning system for growers, and help protect crops. Julia Collins ’09 is Founder and CEO of Planet FWD, a decarbonization and emissions assessment platform for the food industry. Dana Worth ’11 is SVP Commercial for Plenty, a developer of indoor vertical farms. Gina Pulcinelli ’21 is Director of Corporate Development at Gotham Greens, a greenhouse-based farming company with a focus on sustainability.

Other Tim Hade ’12 co-founded and is Chief Development Officer at Scale Microgrids. Greg Stillman ’16 is GM for precision engineered fabrics at NFW, which produces scalable and sustainable (e.g. plant-based) materials for fully circular production. Kieran Furlong ’09 is co-founder and CEO of Realta Fusion, which is developing fusion energy technology for the production of industrial heat and power. Terra.do, founded by Anshuman Bapna ’05, is building a learning and recruiting platform with the goal of getting 100 million people to work directly on climate this decade. Cory Waltrip ’23 is Senior Manager Business Development and Strategy for Sublime Systems, which is commercializing a process to make low carbon cement.

The investors

Climate-focused investment firms employing GSB alums include Galvanize Climate Solutions (Tom Steyer 83, Saloni Multani 06, Nicole Systrom ’13, Ida Hempel ’19), Woven Earth Ventures (Jane Woodward ’87), Sandbrook Capital (German Cueva and Alfredo Marti ’04, Jean Wilson ’92, Serra Sebastian ’17, Manuel Coquet ’23), Toyota Ventures’ Climate Fund (Lisa Coca 95), Pioneer Point Partners (Guiseppe Curatolo ’96), Sosteneo Infrastructure Partners (Ivor Frischknecht ’96), Energy Innovation Capital (Kevin Skillern ’98), TPG Rise Climate (Jonathan Garfinkel ’05 and Eric Esposito ’23), Breakthrough Energy (Guy Michlin ’06, Eric Trusiewicz ’19, Marissa Reddy ’21, Abigail Mathieson ’22), Impact Assets (Margret Trilli ’06), Generate Capital (Kristine Whiteman Janhunen ’08, Christian Okoye ’15, Elisabeth Harnmeijer ’16), Fifth Wall (Brendan Wallace ’10), Proeza Ventures (Enrique’s Zimbrano ’11), Prelude Ventures (Mark Cupta ’13), Innopower (Athip Tantivorawong ’14), Energy Impact Partners (Cassie Bowe ’17), Three Cairns Group (Taylor Ray ’18), Decarbonization Partners (Nina Mesalles ’21), Gigascale Capital (Victoria Beasley ’15), G2 Venture Partners (Valerie Shen ’19, Matt Jensen ’19, Zach Barasz ’14, and David Mount ’08), Valo Ventures (Mona ElNaggar ‘93) and many more.

The advocacy and non-profit leaders

Marcene Mitchell ’86 is Sr. VP, Climate Change, for World Wildlife Fund. Adam Stern ’87 is Executive Director of Offshore Wind California. Leila Surratt ’91 is Director of Strategic Partnerships for the World Resources Institute’s Center for Sustainable Cities. Alicia Seiger ’02 has multiple roles at Stanford leading sustainability and energy finance initiatives. Matt Scott ’03 is Executive Director of the UK Center For Greening Finance and Investment. Tom Mercer ’09 is Head of Product at Rewiring America. Mike Henchen ’12 is a Principal at Rocky Mountain Institute. Julia Park ’22 is a Program Manager at The Clean Fight in NY, part of New Energy Nexus. Kirsten Stasio ’14 is CEO and Greg Zegas ’22 is Director of Investments at the Nevada Clean Energy Fund. Anna Haw ’18 is Regional Manager for African Rangelands for Conservation International. Emily Rogers ’22 is Manager, First Gigaton Captured at Third Derivative. Shawn Marshall ’24 is CEO of Peninsula Clean Energy, a community energy provider working to provide 7/24 clean energy to California homes and businesses.

The government leaders

Medha Raj ’19 is Chief of Staff of the White House Climate Policy Office. Josh Becker ’98 is a California State Senator active in energy policy and decarbonization. Emma Wendt ’08, Justin Smith ’18, William Dean ’22 and Louise White ’23 work for the U.S. Dept. of Energy. Dominique Gomez ’13 is Deputy Director of the Colorado Energy Office.

The corporate leaders

Patti Poppe ’05 is CEO of Pacific Gas and Electric, the largest (by revenue) investor owned utility in the U.S. Maria Pope ’92 is CEO of Portland General Electric, one of Oregon’s largest utilities. Simms Duncan ’99 is VP Structured finance at Lightsource bp. Rachel Payne ’04 is Portfolio Director of Climate Moonshots at Google X. Jenna Hussein ’21 is go-to-market on climate and sustainability for Google Maps. Sarah Chandler ’07 is VP Environment and Supply Chain Innovation at Apple. Janice Lin ’99 is founder and CEO of Strategen. Laura Corb ’93 leads McKinsey’s North America sustainability practice, and Mark Patel ’03 co-leads McKinsey’s Platform for Climate Technologies. Ken Alston ’11 is a Venture Investor at Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund. Brandon Middaugh ’13 is Senior Director at Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund. Nan Ransohoff ’15, Hannah Bebbington ’20, and Joanna Kllitzke ’21 work on climate at Stripe. JB Monu ’18 is Exec Director, Sustainability Strategy at Comcast. Saki Tomita ’20 is Lead Market Development Manager at Orsted.