Bigger Than Us

Larry Keeley is a renowned innovation scientist with over forty years of experience in the field. He co-founded Doblin, the leading global firm focused on enhancing innovation effectiveness, and has nurtured over 700 alumni through the organization.

Keeley's contribution to academia is noteworthy. He has been a professor at the IIT Institute of Design for 39 years, a board member, and a leading employer of graduates. He also held a professorship at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management's MMM Program for 12 years, earning the title of Distinguished Professor in 2015. Throughout his academic career, he has helped educate over 5,900 Masters or PhD students as innovators, creating a robust global network of colleagues.

Adding to his achievements, Keeley is the author of the #2 all-time best-selling book on innovation, "Ten Types of Innovation," which has been translated into 15 languages. His outstanding contributions to the field earned him recognition by BusinessWeek as one of the top seven global "gurus" of the innovation field, and one of the top 27 designers in the world.

In 2021, the Bankinter Foundation in Spain appointed Keeley as the new director of their famed Future Trends Forum, which is conducted bi-annually in Madrid. Despite retiring as a Managing Director from Deloitte (the firm that now owns Doblin) in late 2020, Keeley continues his mission to advance the methods of innovation through research, currently with Keeley Innovations LLC.

Keeley is a frequent lecturer on innovation at the Berkeley Haas Business School and an EY Luminary, where he works on cases and capabilities that are reshaping the field of innovation. His dedication and passion continue to have a profound impact on the innovation landscape.

Brittany Zimmerman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Yummet. Brittany is the CEO of a globally recognized organization with a diverse team of over 300 graduate-level experts hailing from over 50 countries. This organization has bridged the gap between space technology and terrestrial applications by bringing advanced solutions to meet the needs of humanity on earth. By mimicking the natural process of mother nature, Yummet's innovative, proven, and patent-pending technological approach breaks down waste, disassembles the molecules, and rebuilds them into valuable resources, minerals, soils, water, and clean air - just as nature does. In doing this they produce the strongest, most net-negative concrete ever tested made entirely from waste. They produce biochar that serves as a sustainable alternative to synthetic fertilizers, restoring soil health and purifying water. They desalinate water and treat waste water with no production of brine or other waste products. They produce Green hydrogen at costs that rival dirty hydrogen, providing an alternative to fossil fuels.

Ms. Zimmerman was selected early in her career as the Youngest National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Principal Investigator. She served as Principal Investigator (PI) for three NASA Programs.

She served as Program Manager and Lead Engineer for the NASA Integrated water Recovery Assembly (IRA) designed to reclaim water from planetary surface habitats for NASA. As Lead Systems Engineer for the Brine Processor Assembly (BPA), currently on the International Space Station, Ms. Zimmerman spent years designing, analyzing, testing, and managing programs that utilize membrane distillation for water recovery during on-orbit and planetary surface operations. This includes her role as Program Manager and Lead Engineer for the Boeing Starliner Humidity Control System (HCS) ammonia testing campaign, and her role as a PI, Lead Engineer, and Inventor of the NASA Condensate Separator for Microgravity Conditions (COSMIC).

Ms. Zimmerman’s role as Lead Engineering Analyst for the United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) RAIDER program showcased her strength at mathematical analysis of thermal and fluid solutions. She has supported the development of the environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS) for a single person spacecraft and has been instrumental in the design of many extreme environment United States Department of Defense (DoD) ECLSS solutions.

Ms. Zimmerman earned her B.S. of Mechanical Engineering in 2011, followed by an M.S. in Space Studies focused on bioregenerative physical-chemical hybrid life support systems for long-duration spaceflight. Ms. Zimmerman specialized in the ecology of closed environments and biospherics, for which she designed the greenhouse module for the NASA Inflatable Lunar/Martian Habitat (ILMH).

Ms. Zimmerman has been a crew member on several analog Mars missions, including a mission to the Mars Desert Research Station, as an officer of Mission 171. She served in the ILMH, leading Crew 3, the first all-female crew.

Her background also includes rocket design, robotic launch systems, and high-altitude ballooning.

Achievements:

• Patented the most sustainable concrete ever tested

• Exceeded $85 Million in Awarded Grants

• Youngest NASA Principal Investigator

• Principal Investigator for 3 NASA Programs

• Patents and/or technologies developed for the ISS, spacesuits, spacecraft, U.S. Department of Defense, Artemis Program returning human's to the Moon, habitats for Mars, and private space industry life support systems.

• 20 Under 35 Awardee from the Space and Satellites Professional International

• 2020 Promise Award recipient identifying her as a leader in the space industry

• Future Space Leader Awardee

• Analog Astronaut: Commanding Crew 3 in Inflatable Lunar/Martian Habitat

• Analog Astronaut: Mission 171, Mars Desert Research Station

John Cleland is Co-founder and CEO of RenewWest, an environmental asset developer that addresses climate change through the development of natural working land emission reduction projects.

Preston Bryant is a graduate of SMU Cox School of Business with a B.A. in Economics, specializing in energy. In college, he established an oil and gas company in memory of his late father. Preston furthered his expertise in commodities recovery at the firm LPI, where he uncovered a groundbreaking critical materials processing method called Membrane Solvent Extraction. After obtaining exclusive licensing rights from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Lab, he founded Momentum Technologies with the mission to revolutionize the way metals were recovered by challenging the conventional norms that processing facilities must be large, expensive, and centralized.

NJ Ayuk is the Executive Chairman of the African Energy Chamber, CEO of pan-African corporate law conglomerate Centurion Law Group, and the author of Big Barrels as well as Amazon and Wall Street Journal’s bestselling Billions at Play: The Future of African Energy and Doing Deals. His experience includes advising major companies and governments on energy issues and investment strategies. NJ graduated from the University of Maryland College Park and earned a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law and an MBA from the New York Institute of Technology.

Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in the energy sector, including a proven track record in the development and commercialization of fuels and chemicals technologies. Prior to LanzaTech, Jennifer was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. Under her management, UOP technology became instrumental in producing nearly all of the initial fuels used by commercial airlines and the military for testing and certification of alternative aviation fuel. Today, under Jennifer’s guidance, LanzaTech is working towards deploying carbon capture and reuse facilities globally to make fuels and chemicals from waste carbon.

Josh Brooks is a partner with WayBright, LLC, with office in Jacksonville, FL, Asheville, NC, and Torreon, Mexico. WayBright is a project development, finance, and management platform designed to accelerate the deployment of clean energy, clean water, and other infrastructure services across the U.S. and Mexico.

Prior to WayBright, Josh served as aide to Amory Lovins, founder and former Chief Scientist of RMI, a world-leading energy and economy think tank. There, Josh focused on implementing integrative design across the energy-intensive sectors: transportation, industry, buildings, and electricity generation as well as utility business model innovation and energy regulatory reform which resulted in numerous successful legislative initiatives.

Prior to RMI, Josh served as Project Developer for NTE Energy, a private sector energy production company, where he directed the company’s renewables development and related wholesale customer programs in multiple national markets. His work with NTE and other regional utilities produced some of North Carolina’s first community solar installations and one of the nation’s most diverse public generation portfolios at Appalachian State University, Josh’s alma mater.

Today, along with his work at WayBright, Josh services as an advisor to the Council for New Energy Economics, which participates in electric-utility resource planning processes across the country and sits on the Board of Blue Link Pro, LLC, the first full-service partner for water and sewer utility infrastructure management, monitoring, renovation, and upgrade, including financing as beneficial to the utility.

Josh Dorfman is a sustainability entrepreneur and brand builder dedicated to scaling mission-driven ventures. He is co-founder & CEO of Plantd, a carbon-negative building materials company pioneering a new path to reach gigaton-scale carbon capture. Previously, Josh led Vine.com, an Amazon business unit specializing in natural, organic, and sustainable products. He has founded two award-winning modern design sustainable furniture companies: Vivavi, named to Inc. Magazine's "Green 50" as a pioneer accelerating the green economy, and Simbly, recognized by the National Wildlife Federation for its sustainable practices to preserve forest ecosystems. Earlier in his career, Josh was the author and host of The Lazy Environmentalist reality TV series on Sundance Channel, radio show on SiriusXM, and book series designed to make sustainable living easy, convenient, and delightful. Josh served for four years as the national spokesperson for Brita’s FilterForGood campaign to reduce bottled water waste. He currently serves on Governor Roy Cooper’s North Carolina Entrepreneurship Council.  Josh holds an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Sanjay Shrestha joined Plug Power as Chief Strategy Officer in 2019. Prior to joining Plug Power, Mr. Shrestha served as the CIO of a global solar IPP and President Sky Capital Americas since 2015.  Under his leadership, Sky Capital America built and acquired over 100MW of operating solar assets and secured pipeline over 100MW.  He also sourced various types of financing solutions to support this growth including project debt, construction equity and long-term equity. He brings almost two decades of experience in the broader clean tech sector to our team. Before global solar IPP, he led the renewables investment banking effort at FBR Capital markets. During 2014, and under his leadership, the firm was ranked among the top renewable energy underwriters in the U.S.

Prior to joining FBR, Mr. Shrestha spent seven years as the global head of renewables research coverage at Lazard Capital Markets. During his tenure at Lazard Capital Markets, he was a member of the Institutional Investor All America Research team and was also ranked as one of the top five stock pickers on a global basis. Prior to Lazard Capital Markets, Mr. Shrestha spent seven years at First Albany Capital, where he built the firm’s renewables and industrial research practice. Starmine/Forbes Magazine ranked him the number 1 stock picker and the number 1 earnings estimator during his tenure at First Albany Capital. Mr. Shrestha serves as an independent director on the board of directors of Fusemachines, an AI company.

Peter Kelly-Detwiler has 30 years of experience in the electric energy arena. He writes for Forbes.com and other publications on topics related to disruptive innovation and its impact on the electricity infrastructure. He provides strategic advice to clients and investors, helping them to navigate this transitional period. Peter is also the author of The Energy Switch - a book about how companies and customers are transforming the electrical grid and the future of power.

Mr. Kelly-Detwiler has spent much of his career in various areas of competitive power markets. As Senior Vice President at Constellation Energy, he oversaw creation of VirtuWatt – a market leading platform to facilitate real-time awareness of electricity pricing and consumption and bidding of assets into competitive markets. He is currently writing a book on the transformation of electric power markets, to be published by Prometheus Books in the Spring of 2021.

Get motivated to step into 2023 with advice from our 2022 guests. 

John has over 30 years of experience taking novel solutions from conception to reality across the energy, semiconductor and supercomputer industries. Prior to founding Rondo, John served as co-founder and vice president of development for GlassPoint Solar, the leading provider of solar thermal energy for industry worldwide. He is also the former founder and president of Ausra, Inc., a pioneer in solar thermal and solar electric systems. John launched his career as the lead engineer for Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national lab, where he designed award-winning technology to support real-time fusion experiments. He is a published author of numerous technical papers and holds more than 20 patents in the U.S. and internationally. John earned a B.Sc. with Special Distinction in Computer Science from Yale University.

Dr. Gruber, CEO and Board Member of Gevo, has spent over 30 years developing and commercializing renewable biobased technologies to replace petrochemicals. His teams have developed and commercialized several renewable resource-based products, including organic acids, plastics, fibers, advanced alcohols, hydrocarbon fuels, and the like.  Gruber led the development and commercialization of PLA at Cargill and co-founded Natureworks.  As CEO of Gevo, Dr. Gruber leads the business to commercialize Isobutanol for gasoline blendstock, renewable, low carbon jet fuel, and low carbon renewable gasoline.

Dr. Gruber received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Minnesota. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Gruber has received numerous awards including: The George Washington Carver Award from BIO, The Presidential Green Chemistry Award, The Discover Award for Environmental Innovation from Discover Magazine, The Lee W. Rivers Innovation Award from CDMA, an Outstanding Achievement Award from the University of MN in 2011,  The Julius Stieglitz Award from the University of Chicago, The Kirkpatrick Award from Chemical Engineering, Design and Engineering Award from Popular Mechanics, Technology of the Year Award from Industry Week, Technology of the Year Award from United States DOE,  and numerous others.  Dr. Gruber was the editor of the two-volume book “Biorefineries—Industrial Processes and Products,” and holds more than 60 US patents, with several others pending.

Dr. Laura Lammers is the founder and CEO of Travertine Technologies, Inc., a start-up working to scale a new technology for carbon dioxide removal and inorganic chemical upcycling. Dr. Lammers obtained a PhD in environmental geochemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 2012. Her expertise focuses on carbon mineralization and carbon cycling, as well as selective critical element extraction. She has spent the majority of her postgraduate career as an Assistant Professor in the Environmental Science, Policy, and Management department at the University of California, Berkeley as well as a Faculty Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Since its founding in 2022, Travertine has raised $3M in seed funding led by the Grantham Environmental Trust and Clean Energy Ventures, along with $2M in grant funding from the US Department of Energy ARPA-e program. Travertine was recently recognized as Chemical & Engineering News' Top 10 Start-Ups to Watch for 2022. 

Jason Salfi is co-founder and CEO of Dimensional Energy, a clean energy company that transforms carbon dioxide into the fuels and products that people use every day.

Dimensional Energy’s mission is to replace the use of newly extracted fossil carbon from the supply chains for hydrocarbon-based fuels and products and do so in alignment with globally agreed upon climate justice practices outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Salfi has served as an Innovation Advisor for New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) from 2016 - 2019

In 1997 Salfi founded Comet Skateboards, a founding B Corporation, licensed in 2014, with the mission of building and sharing skateboards for space travel in ways that care for the earth and its community. His experience as a manufacturer led him to consult on product design standards and acquisition strategy, building profitable and regenerative business models for a market-leading fortune 500 company from 2015-2017. 

He has a BS in Natural Resources Management from Cornell University.

As an efficiency expert, Dan has spent the past 20 years eliminating waste for Fortune 100 Companies in a variety of industries. In 2013, Dan turned his focus to organic waste for his new venture, seizing on an opportunity to repurpose the billions of tons of waste biomass generated annually. In collaboration with Villanova University, he developed and commercialized Hydrothermal Carbonization technology that became the cornerstone of SoMax’s larger Resource Recovery Platform which transforms organic waste into advanced biofuels, carbon negative products, and fertilizers in a closed loop system. In 2021, SoMax’s Resource Recovery Platform was recognized as a grand prize winner of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Water Resource Recovery Challenge.

After serving in the United States Marine Corps, Jake dove headfirst into the oil and gas tech scene in 2013 co-founding some of the first cloud-based tech startups and later co-hosting the first podcast in oil and gas. Now, Jake is the co-founder at Digital Wildcatters and spends most of his time at the intersection of O&G and tech.

A mechanical engineer by training, Adam is a seasoned management executive with over 15 years experience building and growing companies across a variety of fields including 3D printing, ocean engineering, real estate, and Bitcoin mining. Prior to co-founding Vespene Energy in 2022, Adam was Director of Manufacturing for Mantle, Inc., a 3D printing company developing a new way to print high-precision metal components. Adam also spent 6 years as CEO of DeepFlight, a marine technology manufacturer that, under Adam’s leadership, expanded to become a global provider of personal and tourism submarines. 

Adam has continued the family legacy to pursue and support climate-related causes – his grandfather founded the Oceanic Society, a non-profit dedicated to ocean conservation and research. Adam holds a degree in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley and speaks fluent Mandarin.

Manik Suri is the Founder and CEO of technology company Therma. Before founding Therma, Manik co-founded the Governance Lab (GovLab), an innovation center at NYU that developed technology solutions to improve government. He is a former Affiliate of Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society and has held positions at global investment firm D.E. Shaw & Company and the White House National Economic Council. 

 Manik holds an A.B. in Government summa cum laude from Harvard College, an M.Phil in International Relations (Highest Honors) from Cambridge University, where he studied as Harvard University’s annual Paul Williams Scholar, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he earned numerous Dean’s Scholar commendations. He is  admitted to the California Bar, has published in leading academic journals, edited volumes, and national media outlets. 

 THERMA: 

Dr. Megan O’Connor is the founder and CEO of Nth Cycle, a company that has developed and deployed an electro-extraction technology to recover critical minerals from battery waste. Dr. O’Connor holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Duke University and was previously an entrepreneurial fellow in the Innovation Crossroads program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Nick Myers is the co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Tailings, a company building a sustainable future by refining metals from mining waste with zero direct carbon emissions or toxic byproducts.

Before founding Phoenix Tailings, Nick worked in Venture Capital at Techstars and was the Director of Finance and Partnerships for Meenta, a medical diagnostic testing startup. He also co-founded Huntington Angels, a strategic angel investment group where he now serves as the lead outside adviser.

Nick was also a founding member of Tengu, an early Web3 startup that created one of the first stable coins. At Tengu, Nick briefed the IMF about decentralized finance and cryptocurrencies' impact on the world economy.

Nick has a Bachelor's Degree from Saint Michael's College, where he was a starting pitcher for the college's baseball team. He also has an MBA from Northeastern University.

Scott is the founder and CEO of ReMo Energy.

Scott most recently built and led First Solar’s PV + Storage (“PVS”) team. Reporting directly to the CTO, Scott’s group was tasked with developing this new line of business for the company. These responsibilities included characterizing the unique value proposition offered by PVS, communicating these benefits to both partners and prospective customers, optimizing the designs of prospective PVS projects, and coordinating the technical development and commercial offering of the company’s PVS product line.

Scott has led the development of new energy businesses for most of his career. His previous roles included VP of Business Development for GMZ Energy and OsComp Systems. Prior to that, he was the CEO of four venture-backed energy startups. As part of these efforts he raised over $20M in venture capital, negotiated strategic partnerships and licensing agreements, built multiple technology teams, and directly contributed to the development of a number unique technologies.

Education

Scott holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jim is a licensed Professional Geologist with 36 years of experience in the environmental field. In addition to his undergraduate degree in Geology, Jim has a Master of Business Administration and a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Management. He has over 20 years of environmental consulting experience and has been at the Minneapolis Health Department for the past 12 years. Jim spent a year in Afghanistan with the Army National Guard as a Hydrologist on an Agri-Business Development Team. It was during this time that he first looked at biochar to improve soil health. Jim is currently the Carbon Sequestration Program Manager with the City of Minneapolis.

Mark Toman is the Founder & President of EggTech, as well as a forward-thinking and mission-driven entrepreneur.

Prior to founding EggTech, Mark held several strategic business development roles, focused in the areas of corporate strategy, innovation and partnership cultivation.

After being involved in the mining industry, Mark identified the possibility of utilizing a vast wastestream from liquid-egg processing operations, which would otherwise predominantly go to landfill, in the interest of offsetting the need to mine for raw material, and in hopes of being in a position to manufacture a pure form of calcium (as well as other nutritionally advantageous ingredients) for supply into the premium nutritional/ingestible markets.

Mark and his team were successful in developing an industrially-scalable and cost-effective process that has been formally patented in the US, Canada, Mexico, the EU, China, and India.

Mark was invited to sit on the Innovation Advisory Council of the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN) in order to contribute to the shaping and improvement of the Canadian innovation ecosystem in the FoodTech and AgTech sectors.

Mark is a strategically-minded impact entrepreneur who is largely propelled by the desire to innovate, drive change, differentiate, and alter the landscape of an existing marketplace, while having a positive impact on the environment and create value where there previously was none, or very little thereof.

Mark holds a B.A from Dalhousie University, is a proud husband and father of 2 children. He resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Suma is an entrepreneur, organizer and educator committed to solving some of our society's largest systemic challenges. Suma is Co-Founder/CEO of Future Acres, which builds advanced mobility and AI solutions for farms to increase production efficiency, farmworker safety and provide real-time analytics. She is a 3x AgTech + ClimateTech founder, is on the advisory board of Scale for ClimateTech, a Board Member of GrainPro, and teaches the Future of Food and Climate: Just Entrepreneurship at the NYC School of Visual Arts. She has also built and is active in inclusive tech communities, and has been awarded the White House Champion of Change for her Asian & Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ advocacy work. She started her career at a microfinance startup-turned-unicorn in India and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mali. She is a graduate of The Wharton School (MBA).

Nicole Johnson-Hoffman is the CEO of Future Meat Technologies, bringing more than 25 years of experience across the agriculture, food manufacturing, food services, and meat production industries.

Prior to joining Future Meat, Nicole was the Managing Director of Further Processed Foods for OSI Europe, based in Gersthofen, Germany. She led OSI's European processed foods division across Europe and served as Chief Sustainability Officer and Senior Vice President. OSI is one of the world’s largest privately held food manufacturers and is the brand behind leading food service and retail brands. OSI has been in business for 111 years and operates 57 facilities across 18 countries.

Previously, Nicole spent 19 years at Cargill Incorporated, practicing law as in-house counsel, and worked in various leadership roles from financial services to beef plant operations in the US and Asia. From 2010 to 2013, Nicole was the General Manager of Cargill’s Fort Morgan, Colorado beef processing plant, one of the largest beef primary processing plants in the United States. During that time, she worked to increase the industry’s transparency with consumers, including making an appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2011.

Nicole was the founding Chairperson of the US Roundtable for Sustainable Beef and was elected to two terms as the President of the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef. She also serves on corporate boards as an independent non-executive director. She is a passionate advocate for continuous improvement in the food industry’s ability to feed the world sustainably.

Nicole holds a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and a BA in International Relations from St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

John has over 30 years of experience taking novel solutions from conception to reality across the energy, semiconductor and supercomputer industries. Prior to founding Rondo, John served as co-founder and vice president of development for GlassPoint Solar, the leading provider of solar thermal energy for industry worldwide. He is also the former founder and president of Ausra, Inc., a pioneer in solar thermal and solar electric systems. John launched his career as the lead engineer for Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, a U.S. Department of Energy national lab, where he designed award-winning technology to support real-time fusion experiments. He is a published author of numerous technical papers and holds more than 20 patents in the U.S. and internationally. John earned a B.Sc. with Special Distinction in Computer Science from Yale University.

Paul Bunje is the co-founder and CSO of Conservation X Labs, an organization that brings innovation to global conservation threats. Conservation X Labs is a leader in using technology and entrepreneurship to protect biodiversity using a mix of crowdsourcing, open innovation, directed research, and acceleration. Paul was formerly the Chief Scientist at the XPRIZE Foundation, where he led the impact strategy across grand challenge domains at XPRIZE, spanning civil society, environment, energy, health, and exploration. Dr. Bunje is a global thought leader in bringing innovation to solve environmental grand challenges. Paul was formerly the founding Executive Director of the UCLA Center for Climate Change Solutions, the Managing Director of the Los Angeles Regional Collaborative for Climate Action and Sustainability, and served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council for Oceans. The American Association for the Advancement of Science selected Paul as one of 40 individuals that exemplify the thousands of AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellows who are dedicated to applying science to serve society. Paul is trained in biology, with a B.S. from the University of Southern California and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Curtis has been CEO of Hydrostor since its inception and has led the company through technology development into commercial operations. Prior to Hydrostor, Curtis was Sr. Manager in Deloitte’s Corporate Strategy Consulting Practice where he advised and consulted for some of the top energy companies globally. He has also held positions at nuclear generator Bruce Power and wind developer Environmental Electric Company.

Jennifer has over 20 years of experience in the energy sector, including a proven track record in the development and commercialization of fuels and chemicals technologies. Prior to LanzaTech, Jennifer was VP and General Manager of the Renewable Energy and Chemicals business unit at UOP LLC, a Honeywell Company. Under her management, UOP technology became instrumental in producing nearly all of the initial fuels used by commercial airlines and the military for testing and certification of alternative aviation fuel. Today, under Jennifer’s guidance, LanzaTech is working towards deploying carbon capture and reuse facilities globally to make fuels and chemicals from waste carbon.

Dan White began working in agriculture in high school at a family orchard outside of Gettysburg, PA. After completing his BA at Dickinson College in philosophy and political science, he moved to Italy where he did international business development work for Italian artisans, igniting his passion for business and sales. Prior to Clean Crop, he spent more than a decade working around the world in agricultural development and consulting. He has focused his career on finding novel technologies with the potential to sustainably grow more food with less resources and bring them to market, with experiences across the middle east, southeast asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Lacey has a background in civil engineering with a concentration in water resources and environmental engineering. She is the CEO and founder of Olokun Minerals, a startup focused on improving the water quality of brine wastewaters by filtering out metals and minerals that can then be used for more productive applications. She is passionate about finding solutions that improve human-environmental interactions and increase clean water access for vulnerable communities.

Taj Ahmad Eldridge is a 25+ year investment professional whose career has included high level executive roles in banking, asset management, alternative investments, and entrepreneurship. As General Partner of Include Venture Partners and former Senior Director of Investments at the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), Eldridge has built a longstanding career with expertise in the fields of fintech, media, energy, transportation, and the circular economy. Eldridge is also one of the 70 Black Investors in Bevy.com - a $325 million virtual conference platform as noted in AfroTech.

Ed McGinnis is CEO of Curio - a nuclear innovation and technology development company. A 30-year veteran of the Department of Energy, Ed previously served as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Nuclear Energy (Acting) and Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. 

Anthony Kane is President & CEO of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure in Washington, DC where he oversees the organization’s overall operations and leads the development of the Envision framework for sustainable infrastructure. Kane also sits as a commissioner on the Washington DC Commission on Climate Change and Resiliency.

Jonathan is a founding partner of Intelis Capital and a member of its investment committee. Jonathan serves in all aspects of the firm’s operations, with a particular focus on developing investment theses, creation of internal processes and systems, sourcing potential investments, providing operational and strategic support to portfolio companies.

Erin Fitzgerald serves as Chief Executive Officer. She is passionate about encouraging contagious collaboration to build the sustainable food systems of the 21st century. Erin previously worked in dairy where she led a voluntary carbon goal, innovation projects, and sustainable supply chain framework. Erin has been recognized in Chicago’s 40 under 40, a White House Champion of Change for Sustainable and Climate-Smart Agriculture, and an Aspen Institute First Movers Fellow.

A serial entrepreneur and a strategic investor, John has 20 years of experience founding and investing in technology-enabled companies in the communications, healthcare, finance and energy industries. Before co-founding Ample, John was a co-founder, president, and CEO of MedHelp, the largest consumer health platform offering tools, device integrations, and communities to millions of people empowering them to manage their own health. MedHelp’s platform powered online offerings of companies such as Walgreens and GE, until it was acquired by Merck Pharmaceuticals mid 2014. Following the acquisition, John served as the President of the Consumer Health and Healthcare Solutions Division of Aptus Health, a subsidiary of Merck. Prior to MedHelp, John led the Technology Practice of the Private Equity Group at Goldman Sachs, focusing on software and technology companies. Earlier, John co-founded Flash Communications, an Internet startup company that developed real-time two-way messaging systems, which was acquired by Microsoft. Furthermore, he co-founded Smartleaf, a financial software company.

John holds a B.S. and an M.S. in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Collège des Ingénieurs in France

Roger Sorkin — Founder & Executive Director