Speakers

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  Ben Bixby, Nest

  Ben Bixby is the general manager of energy services at Nest Labs, where he steers Nest’s new product and global business development with its energy partners. Ben came to Nest in early 2013 when Nest acquired MyEnergy, the venture-backed energy data technology company he founded in 2007 and led as its CEO — and which now powers a number of Nest’s energy data capabilities. Ben earned his BS from Georgetown University. Together with his wife, he resides in Boston and Palo Alto — fiercely supporting the Red Sox from both coasts.

  
  

  Keynote

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  Edward Fenster, Sunrun

  Ed co-founded Sunrun to make solar affordable for American families. He oversees capital raising and legislative and regulatory affairs. Under his leadership, Sunrun has enjoyed uninterrupted access to project finance throughout its history. Ed has worked to shape public and industry policy with the goal of building a sustainable, subsidy-free solar industry. Before Sunrun, Ed served as Director of Corporate Development at Asurion Corporation. He also worked at The Blackstone Group, completing more than $10 billion in private equity and M&A transactions. Ed is a 2010 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner with Lynn Jurich, a member of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, and serves as an Advisory Partner to Millennium Technology Value Partners. Disrupting the energy industry comes naturally to Ed – when Ed’s preschool teacher asked him what his favorite thing was, he replied, “Electricity!”

  
  

  Keynote

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  Pat Kennedy, OSIsoft

  Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy is the CEO and majority owner of OSIsoft – a software company founded in 1980 and today employees nearly 1000 people and operates in 142 countries.  This year, OSIsoft was selected for the Presidents E-Award (Export Award) for exporting over $0.5 Billion over the last five years. In order to insure that San Leandro, the HQ for OSIsoft, remained the proper environment to support innovation in the software and other hi-tech business, especially manufacturing, Dr. Kennedy established two companies – San Leandro Dark Fiber LLC to build out the infrastructure and Lit San Leandro LLC to establish an open loop of fiber optic communication around San Leandro. Dr. Kennedy attended the University of Kansas where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering. He holds a patent on control of a catalytic reformer control system and has worked in Advanced Process Control and Process Data Management for many years.  He has received numerous awards including the Pioneer Award from TAPPI (Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry), Lifetime Service Award from the NPRA (National Petroleum Refining Association) and was recently inducted into the SVEC (Silicon Valley Engineering Council) Hall of Fame.

  
  

  Keynote

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  Tim Mulhere, Ecolab

  Timothy Mulhere is executive vice president and president of Global Water and Process Services for Ecolab Inc., the global leader in water, hygiene and energy technologies and services that provide and protect clean water, safe food, abundant energy and healthy environments. Previously, Mulhere was executive vice president and president of Global Healthcare and also served as senior vice president and general manager of Food & Beverage, North America. He has also held other key executive positions within Ecolab’s Healthcare and Professional Products businesses. Prior to Ecolab, Mulhere was vice president and global business manager of Refined Products for Witco Corporation. He served on the board of directors of the National Petroleum Refiners Association and Witco BV. During his tenure at Witco, he also held a number of sales and marketing positions for the Refined Products business. Mulhere currently serves on the Board of Directors of the American Chemistry Council (ACC). He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Executives’ Club of Chicago. Mulhere previously served eight years on the board of governors for the Minneapolis-based Children’s Theatre Company. He also served on the board of directors of University Enterprise Laboratories, Inc. Mulhere graduated summa cum laude from Pace University with a bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a minor in Mathematics.

  
  

  Keynote

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  Nancy Pfund, DBL Investors

  Nancy E. Pfund is Founder and Managing Partner of DBL Investors, a venture capital firm located in San Francisco, whose goal is to combine top-tier financial returns with meaningful social, economic and environmental returns in the regions and sectors in which it invests.  As a leading player in the growing field of “impact investing”, DBL has helped to reveal the power of venture capital to promote social change and environmental improvement. Ms. Pfund currently sponsors or sits on the board of directors of several companies, including; SolarCity (NASDAQ: SCTY) on both the audit and compensation committees, BrightSource Energy, Primus Power, Eco.logic Brands, EcoScraps, OPx Biotechnologies, Powergenix and, prior to their public offerings, Tesla Motors and Pandora Media.  Prior to founding DBL, Ms. Pfund was a Managing Director in Venture Capital at JPMorgan, having started her investment career at Hambrecht & Quist in 1984. Previously, Ms. Pfund worked at Intel Corporation, the State of California, Stanford University and the Sierra Club. Ms. Pfund was featured #17 in the FORTUNE World’s Top 25 Eco-Innovators; Chair of the Advisory Council of the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University; a member of the Advisory Board of the UC Davis Center for Energy Efficiency; Lecturer in the Practice of Management at the Yale School of Management; a board member of the California STEM Learning Network (CSLNet); a C3E Ambassador to the U.S. Clean Energy Education and Empowerment Program, led by the U.S. Department of Energy; and is a founding officer and director of ABC2, a foundation aimed at accelerating a cure for brain cancer. In 1988, President Bush appointed Ms. Pfund as a charter member of the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology. In 1999, Ms. Pfund was appointed by President Clinton to serve on the Congressional Web-Based Education Commission. Ms. Pfund received her BA and MA in anthropology from Stanford University, and her MBA from the Yale School of Management.

  
  

  Keynote

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  KR Sridhar, Bloom Energy

  KR Sridhar is the principal co-founder and CEO of Bloom Energy. Prior to founding Bloom Energy, Sridhar led a team developing technologies to sustain life on Mars for NASA.  For his work, Fortune Magazine cited him as “one of the top five futurists that are inventing tomorrow today”. Before this Sridhar was a professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering as well as Director of the renowned Space Technologies Laboratory (STL) at the University of Arizona. Sridhar received his Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering with Honors from the University of Madras, India, as well as his M.S. in Nuclear Engineering and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Sridhar has served on many technical committees, panels and boards. He has over fifty publications and is a sought-after speaker and advisor on energy and environmental issues. He is outspoken in his belief that the climate crisis we face is also a tremendous economic opportunity, that energy policy must be technology-neutral and performance-based, and that we can solve our current energy problems through a combination of technology, innovation and conservation.

  
  

  Keynote

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  John Woolard, Google

  John Woolard is currently the VP Energy at Google, where he is focused on Google’s global energy strategy through investment in new technology and creation of new business opportunities. Previously, John served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of BrightSource Energy, Inc. from 2006 to 2013, where he led the development, construction, and commissioning of the $2.2 billion, 392 MW Ivanpah solar thermal power plant. John began his career in energy at Lawrence Berkeley Labs in 1996, in the Energy and Environment Division, and then joined PG&E Energy Services to lead their efforts in Facility Information and Control Systems. Mr. Woolard co-founded Silicon Energy in 1997, and served as the President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman as he led its growth in enterprise energy management software through its acquisition by Itron in 2003. He then served as Vice President and General Manager of End User Solutions Business Unit and Energy Management Solutions Group at Itron through 2005. He served on the Board of the California Clean Energy Fund, the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust, and the Strategic Advisory Board for Xcel Energy. He is a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and holds an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. in Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia. John is an avid whitewater kayaker, kiteboarder, and loves to spend time with his family, ideally playing outside.

  
  

  Keynote

Cleantech Group North American Advisory Board