Europe advisory board

Chair

Gina Domanig
Emerald Technology Ventures

Ms. Domanig has over 20 years of international business experience including banking, M&A (mergers & acquisitions), strategic development, and venture capital. Currently she is the Managing Partner of Emerald Technology Ventures, formerly SAM Private Equity which later spun out of SAM Sustainable Asset Management, an independent asset management company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Upon joining SAM in 2000, she launched the private equity business and established SAM Private Equity as the largest European cleantech venture capital fund and the only such fund with a transatlantic strategy. In early 2007, Ms Domanig and her team spun the entire business out of SAM and thus created Emerald Technology Ventures. Currently, Emerald manages 2 funds and 2 mandates with combined assets of over $350 mio. The team consists of 16 professional, enjoys an international reputation as a pioneer in its field and is the initiator of first European energy venture fair. Emerald has offices in Zurich and Montreal and invests primarily in Europe and North America.

Prior to joining SAM, she was senior vice president at Sulzer Ltd., a Swiss-headquartered multinational, responsible for strategic planning and M&A. During her ten year tenure, Ms. Domanig built up a team of 12 international professionals which completed approximately 45 transactions including acquisitions, divestitures, initial public offerings and joint ventures. Also during her tenure the corporation was transformed from an expansive conglomerate with over 30 divisions to a focused medical and industrial technology corporation with 6 divisions. She was member of the corporation's 5-person strategy committee which dealt with all strategic issues of the corporation, which then had about CHF 6 billion in revenues and over 25,000 employees world-wide.

After completing graduate school, Ms. Domanig began her career in banking at Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS) in Chicago and New York. She holds dual MBA degrees from Thunderbird in Arizona and ESADE in Barcelona and an undergraduate degree in finance from Arizona State University.

Board

Olivier Dupont
Demeter Partners

Olivier Dupont has twenty one years of senior management experience in Private Equity. Since 2005, he has been Chairman of the Executive Board of DEMETER Partners, a 105 M€ European fund dedicated to environment and renewable energies. Prior to DEMETER Partners, Mr Dupont was Managing Director of “Fonds de Promotion pour le capital-risque” (CDC Entreprises) from 2001 to 2005, the Head of Private Equity at Société Générale from 1997 to 2000, the Director of Financial Engineering and Investment at Crédit du Nord from 1995 to 1997, CEO of BTP Capital, a Fund dedicated to Environment from 1991 to 1995 and the CEO of SNVB Participations (Groupe CIC) (1987-1990)

Olivier Dupont’s industry experience includes being an Export manager at SOFRETU and SCHNEIDER Group (1974-1987). “Ingénieur civil des Ponts et Chaussées” (Paris 1973), DES Sciences Économiques (Paris I Sorbonne 1974). Mr Dupont is the Chairman of the training committee of AFIC and Vice - Chairman of the Compliance Committee and a former member of the EVCA’s Investor Relation Committee, as well as “Conseiller du Commerce Extérieur”. He is author of « les PME et le marché de l’environnement » (1995) and « Ajustement de prix et capital-investissement » (2002).

Richard Erskine
Energy Capital Management 

Richard Erskine is the former SVP of Hydro Solar, EVP AGR Petroleum services, Managing Director of Hydro Technology Venture AS, Commercial, Petroleum Engineering and Drilling positions in Hydro and Phillips Petroleum UK.

Currently a Board member of Ascent Solar, Navita AS, Ocean Riser System AS and Resman AS.

Richard earned a BSc in Chemical Engineering from UMIST, MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Imperial College and MBA from Norwegian School of Managment.

Robert Markus Feldmann
Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance GmbH

Robert Markus Feldmann joined Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance in Germany as a Partner in the beginning of 2008. As Practice Leader Clean Tech & Renewable Energies (CTRE) for Europe, he is responsible for deal generation, international coordination and the practice’s business development. Further, he actively supports the partnership with the Cleantech Group by serving on the Advisory Board.

Previously, Mr. Feldmann worked for six years as a director in private equity and mid-cap investment banking at Dresdner Bank & Dresdner Kleinwort. Prior to this, he held the CEO position of his own venture capital / private equity funded company in the technology sector. Following his studies, Mr. Feldmann started his career as a sales engineer and management trainee at Robert Bosch to later switch to strategic top management consulting in the technology sector at Capgemini and serve as global VP at Software AG.

Through his career, Mr. Feldmann has developed a unique expertise of the Telecom & IT, Chemical & Energy and the Clean Tech & Renewable Energy sectors. He has led various consulting projects, M&A transactions and funding mandates in the technology sector, has gained comprehensive experience in private equity investment management and has advised a series of small and mid-cap companies with regard to financial, growth and succession issues.

Mr. Feldmann has conducted several presentations and publications on mid-market finance, generation change, private equity and venture capital and speaks German, English, French and Spanish fluently.

Bjarne Henning Jensen
Vækstfonden

Bjarne Henning Jensen is the Investment Director in charge of the cleantech investment portfolio of Vækstfonden. He was previously the Vice President of technology/R&D and co-owner in Anhydro Group, executive director in Elsam, CEO for Elsam Engineering. He was the Divisions Director for COWI's energy-og industrial activities and the General Manager of Sorption Process Technology in FLSmiljø. Mr Jensen graduated with a M.Sc (eng.) and Ph.D. from the Technical University of Denmark. He also holds a B.Comm from Copenhagen Business School.

Michael Stuer Lauridsen
BankInvest Group

Michael Stuer Lauridsen has more than 25 years experience from Schneider Electric, Siemens and ABB with sales, marketing, business development and project management. He holds a B.Sc. Eng. (hon) in power electronics and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration. In his latest job Michael Stuer Lauridsen was responsible for a wind turbine application centre with focus on product development and international project management. Michael Stuer Lauridsen has also experience from jobs within the shipyard industry and metal working industry and has started his own company. He joined the New Energy Solution team as partner in New Energy Solutions in Nov. 2005.

Henrik Olsen
Environmental Technologies Fund

Henrik is a founding partner of the Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF), a London-based venture capital fund backed by some of the world’s leading institutional investors. ETF’s mandate is to invest growth capital in Cleantech companies across Europe.

 Prior to establishing ETF, Henrik was a Managing Director of GE Equity, GE’s private equity business. During his 13 years with GE he was involved with transactions in a wide variety of industries and markets across Europe. He is also well known for his active and effective involvement on a number of boards of his investee companies throughout Europe. Henrik has an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics, which included a scholarship exchange with the New York University, Stern School of business.

Iyad Omari
Frog Capital

Iyad began his career in product marketing at Advanced Micro Devices before moving into equity research at Quartz Capital Partners. In 1999, he joined Kennet Venture Partners investing in growing technology businesses before moving into venture development for two semiconductor start-ups. Iyad joined Frog Capital in 2006 to focus on the cleantech sector, and has a particular interest in advanced industrial processes, materials recovery and recycling, water and waste water treatment, energy efficiency and next-generation energy transmission/distribution. Iyad is involved with SiC Processing AG, Oxsensis Ltd, Hydrodec Plc and Solar Century Ltd. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the London Business School.

Dr. Jos B. Peeters
Capricorn Venture Partners NV

Dr Jos B. Peeters is founder and managing partner of Capricorn Venture Partners NV, a Belgian based general partner to venture capital funds investing in early stage, technology based growth companies. Capricorn's latest fund, the Capricorn Cleantech fund, focuses on start up, early and development stage investments in clean technology based growth companies in Europe. For Capricorn, cleantech embraces a diverse of range of products, services and processes that harness renewable materials and energy sources, dramatically reduce and optimize the use of natural resources, cut or eliminate polution and toxic waste and add economic value by significantly lowering cost and improving profitability.

In addition to being Capricorn's managing partner, Dr, Peeters is the co-founder and chairman of Quest for Growth NV, an investment company quoted on the Brussels Stock Exchange specializing in investing in quoted and later stage unquoted technology based growth companies. Jos Peeters was one of the founders of the EASDAQ stock market. Currently he is a non executive Director of Borse Berlin and Easdaq which are launching Equiduct as a pan European secondary trading platform.

Dr. Peeters has a PhD in Physics from the University of Leuven, Belgium. He was co-founder and first chairman of the Belgian Venturing Association. He has been a member of the Board and in 1989/1990 he was chairman of the European Venture Capital Association (EVCA). Dr Peeters is a Fellow of the Hogenheuvel Institute at the Applied Economics Department of KU Leuven, a Fellow of Science@Leuven and a member of the International Advisory Board of the London Business School. He is co-editor of “Realizing Investment Value” and of “The Venture Capital Handbook” both published by Pitman - Financial Times Publishing.

Whitney Rockley
Nomura

Whitney Rockley is Partner at Nomura New Energy & Clean Technology Ventures based out of London, England. New Energy & Clean Technology Ventures acts as a bridge between later-stage USA and EU companies and the surging demand for new forms of clean energy and water technologies in India, China and across Asia. Nomura is a global financial services group that offers a diverse line of competitive products and value-added financial and advisory solutions through its global headquarters in Tokyo and an international network in 30 countries.

Prior to joining Nomura New Energy and Clean Technology Ventures Whitney successfully started up and managed corporate venture capital funds with EPCOR, a large Canadian power and water company, and EnCana (previously PanCanadian Energy), a large Canadian oil and gas company. She has also worked for a foremost energy fund in San Francisco. In addition to Whitney’s venture capital experience, she has extensive operating experience in the areas of analytics, finance and environment.

Whitney is Nomura’s board representative for Novinium, Inc., SpectraSensors, Inc. and DeepFlex Inc.

Samer Salty
Zouk Ventures

Samer has 22 years of experience in venture capital, investment banking, and technology in Europe, the Middle East and the United States. Throughout his career, he has kept a clear focus on technology and entrepreneurship. Samer founded zouk ventures in 1999 and has successfully raised two technology venture funds including its current fund, Cleantech Europe. Samer built zouk into one of the leading European firms investing in Clean Technology. Samer has considerable management experience and has spent the last nine years building technology businesses. Prior to founding zouk, Samer worked on M&A and private equity transactions within the Telecom, Media and Technology Group at JP Morgan. He was also head of Global Markets for the Middle East region, structuring large corporate finance and derivatives transactions with institutional clients. Before JP Morgan, Samer spent seven years designing and implementing communications and computer systems for the FAA of the US Government and a number of other international civil aviation authorities. Amongst others, he worked with Martin Marietta, Lockheed, AT&T and Hughes Aircraft.

Samer holds a BS in Electronic Engineering specialising in fiber optics from CalPoly and a MS in Finance from MIT. He is on the Dean’s International Council of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public policy and is on the International Council of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government Belfer Center. In addition, he is Chairman and co-founder of World Links Arab Region, a non-profit organization focused on integrating technology in the education process of the Arab world. He also helped launch The Arab Region Initiative for Social Entrepreneurship for Ashoka. Samer represents zouk as board member for Orb Energy and Solarcentury.

Allison Berry Spinner
Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Allison Berry Spinner is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, specializing in corporate and securities transactions and corporate governance matters for public and private companies, venture capital and private equity firms, and investment banks.

Allison has extensive transactional experience in venture capital and public and private equity and debt transactions, as well as mergers and acquisitions involving both public and private companies. She has worked with companies in a variety of industries, including software, networking, wireless communications, clean technology, semiconductor, Internet, consumer goods, and retail.

Allison is actively involved in the firm's business development efforts in representing companies and entrepreneurs with ties to Israel. She is currently a member of the advisory board of Cleantech Group Europe/Israel.

Prior to joining the firm, Allison clerked in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

Education:

• J.D., Columbia University Law School, 1996 Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar; Managing Editor, Columbia Law Review; B.A., Political Science, Stanford University, 1993 With Distinction

Aruna Subramanian
Kenda Capital

Aruna Subramanian is currently an Investment Principal with Kenda Capital. She joined Shell Technology Ventures as an Analyst in 2005 before becoming an Investment Manager in 2006. Prior to joining STV, Aruna worked for Schlumberger Oilfield Services for 11 years in various operational and management roles including her last assignment as the Wireline Operations Manager for Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and Recruiting and Training Manager for the Middle East and North Africa. She also held operational field roles in the North Sea and Indonesia. Aruna holds a degree in Civil Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi and an MBA from IMD, Switzerland.

Vivek Tandon
Aloe Private Equity

Dr. Vivek Tandon is an experienced international executive with in-depth background in building technology start-up companies. He is currently Founder and General Partner of Aloe Private Equity, an investment group which currently manages two Energy & Environment Funds and has offices in London, Paris, Stockholm, Beijing and Hyderabad. The Funds develop and provides capital injection into companies with Environmentally Sustainable Technology or Service Offerings, whose market growth and share-holder value would benefit from establishing strategic relationships with Chinese or Indian Partners.

Vivek is currently Vice Chairman of Allied Technology Group (an environmental engineering group with revenues of over €90m in 2006 and growing at 25% per year) and sits of the Board of Greenko (a Indian based clean energy company, Recupyl (an International Recycling Company) and Maxsys (a European based Energy Fuel Saving Company targeting large Boilers).

Simon Walker
Taylor Wessing

Simon is a partner in the corporate department at Taylor Wessing. He is head of the Venture Capital Group and co head of the Renewable Energy Group. He has advised on many venture capital investments, both for funds and companies, on various acquisitions, including a number for US companies and on flotation's and fundraising by public companies, particularly on the AIM market.

He has been the lead corporate partner advising Climate Exchange plc and Trading Emissions plc since their admission to AIM and on subsequent transactions, including for CEP the merger with Chicago Climate Exchange, Inc and for TEP raising in aggregate of £410 million. Simon is also the relationship partner for Ceres Power Holdings plc and CMR Fuel Cells plc.

Adam Workman
Carbon Trust

Adam Workman is Investment Manager at the Carbon Trust. The Carbon Trust is one of the leading investors in UK clean technology start-ups. Our business incubators and links to world class R&D ensure a strong deal flow. We invest on strictly commercial terms and have co-invested in deals with a total investment of £23 million raised, one of which has resulted in a successful IPO.

Adam has led the investment for several key deals for the Carbon Trust, including Whitfield Solar and Exus Energy. Recently he co-authored the Carbon Trust’s report into investment trends the UK Clean Technology Sector (2000 to 2004) which identified Cambridge as one of the leading clean technology centres in the UK. He designed and created a £5m investment fund for Salix Finance Ltd. which assists the public sector to accelerate the uptake of low carbon technologies. Adam formerly worked with 3i and Shell in the UK. He has an MA in Natural Sciences and a Postgraduate diploma in Computer Science from Cambridge University.

Dr. Rob Wylie
WHEB Ventures

Rob has focused on the clean technology investment area for almost 20 years and is a founder Partner of WHEB Ventures which raised the UK’s first broad based cleantech VC fund in 2005. WHEB now manages two specialist cleantech VC funds with total assets under management of £100m. Prior to forming WHEB Ventures, Rob ran a specialist cleantech Corporate Finance boutique which helped over twenty cleantech companies secure investment, develop routes to market and establish management teams as well as being heavily involved with numerous UK research councils on technology commercialisation.

A chemist with an MA and PhD from Cambridge University, Rob spent ten years in Shell’s agrochemical business before working with Rothschild’s Bioscience unit looking at clean technology investment opportunities in the late 80s. He then joined KPMG, where he spent three years advising on the development of a variety of environmental funds in Central and Eastern Europe.

Rob has been an active participant on numerous Industry, UK Government and University cleantech advisory boards, including the Cleantech Network European Advisory Board, the DTI’s Environmental Innovation Advisory Group and the commercial advisory board for a consortium of the main London Universities (Imperial, King’s and UCL).