SAIL Venture Partners announces expansion

Energy and Environmental Executive & former EPA Chief Operating Officer Hank Habicht joins SAIL’s new Washington, DC Office

• February 27, 2006 -- SAIL Venture Partners announced today that Hank Habicht, Energy
• and Environmental Executive and former EPA Chief Operating Officer, has joined the
• firm as a Managing Partner in its newly established Washington, DC office. SAIL is a
• national Energy/Cleantech venture capital firm whose partners have substantial
• backgrounds in energy, Cleantech and related technologies.
•  
• Most recently, Habicht is Co-founder and Principal of The Capital E Group, a prominent
• energy investment and technology consultant to venture capital firms, Fortune 500
• companies and such other clients as the California Energy Commission. Habicht is also
• CEO of The Global Environment & Technology Foundation, where he co-founded the
• Center for Energy and Climate Solutions and pioneered working with Fortune 500
• companies, The White House and regulatory agencies on deployment of cutting edge
• clean technologies.
•  
• “We first got to know Hank as a thought leader in our industry and advisor to one of our
• portfolio companies, and are excited to welcome him to our team,” said the SAIL
• partners.
•  
• After practicing law at Kirkland & Ellis, Habicht, before age 30, was named by President
• Reagan as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Environment and Natural
• Resources Division of the Department of Justice. There he was responsible for all federal
• environmental enforcement, energy and natural resource litigation.
•  
• Subsequently, as leader of the Washington, DC office of William D. Ruckelshaus
• Associates, a well known environmental consulting firm, Habicht served as the general
• partner of Environmental Venture Fund I, one of the most successful venture capital
• funds in its space in the 1980s and 1990s.
•  
• Habicht served for four years as Deputy Administrator & Chief Operating Officer of the
• United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where he managed 18,000
• employees and a $7 Billion budget. Recently, he was Senior Vice President for Corporate
• Development & Environmental Affairs at Safety-Kleen Corporation, a $1 Billion
• environmentally-oriented industrial services & recycling company, where he oversaw
• numerous acquisitions and played a key role in achieving a record premium upon exit of
• the Company.
•  
• Habicht has long been recognized as a leading expert in energy and energy efficiency. He
• currently serves on the Department of Energy’s prestigious Advisory Board to the
• Secretary of Energy; the National Commission on Energy Policy; the Steering Committee
• of the Energy Future Coalition; and the Advisory Council to the Director of the National
• Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He is a Co-founder of the American Council on
• Renewable Energy (ACORE). He has also served on Dow Chemical’s Corporate
• Environmental Advisory Council, and chaired the Advisory Council to Princeton’s
• Environmental Institute.
•  
• “I have been uniquely fortunate to be in government during the rollout of today’s marketoriented
• approaches to regulation and then to move to business as it became clear that solutions begin with business,” Habicht said. “Now the urgent need for cleaner, domestically-produced energy technologies is a common theme both in Washington and on Wall Street. The SAIL team is the right skill mix at the right time to deliver the strongest financial returns and game-changing business models. The chemistry of this team is outstanding.”
•  
• “Like our existing team,” said the SAIL partners, “Hank brings that blend of high-level
• investment, operating and regulatory experience sought by our investors. SAIL’s mission
• is to invest in and grow companies which transform the energy and resource-efficiency
• horizon of our country. Hank’s senior corporate and regulatory experience uniquely
• qualify him to help disruptive Energy/Cleantech companies overcome resistance to
• change and gain acceptance.”
•  
• Habicht was graduated magna cum laude from Princeton University, and received a JD
• from the University of Virginia, where he was a Dillard Fellow and Senior Editor of the
• Journal of International Law. He is married to Wendy Wilson Habicht, and has two
• daughters, Caroline and Jennifer.
• SAIL Venture Partners, LLC, with offices in Southern California & Washington, DC, is a
• lead sponsor of the Cleantech Venture Network, the industry’s leading trade association.
• Its portfolio includes such companies as ORYXE Energy International, Inc. (additives for
• traditional fossil fuels); Ice Energy, Inc. (enhancing electrical grid efficiency); Earthanol,
• Inc. (waste to ethanol); and CNS Response, Inc. (medical cleantech efficiency). SAIL
• seeks a lead, value-add role in its investments. SAIL’s partners (Walter Schindler, Alan
• Sellers, Tom Cain, Dave Jones & Hank Habicht) have experience with over 240
• transactions and 185 exits, and represent over 110 years of investment and operatingrelated
• experience.