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Scaling the energy transition
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As Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RWE Clean Energy, LLC, Andrew Flanagan leads the fourth largest renewables business in the United States with more than 9 GW of installed capacity and operating assets in more than 19 states. In this role, Flanagan is responsible for executing on RWE’s growth strategy in the U.S. and driving the business toward its mission to be the leading renewable energy company in America. Flanagan also serves on RWE’s Board of Directors, a position he has held since 2022.
Prior to being named CEO in January 2024, Flanagan served as Chief Development Officer for RWE Clean Energy, a position he held since the company’s inception in March 2023 following RWE’s acquisition of Con Edison Clean Energy Business. As Chief Development Officer, Flanagan played an instrumental role in standing up the newly formed US business unit and leading the expansion of the company’s onshore wind, solar and battery energy storage development pipeline.
Andrew joined RWE in July 2022 as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of RWE Renewables Americas. As COO, Andrew led the development, engineering, construction and operations of RWE’s operating portfolio and its growth initiatives in North America. Prior to joining RWE, Andrew held leadership positions with Leeward Energy and Invenergy focused on the development, construction, financing and operation of power generation projects.
Andrew brings more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry in North America and has worked with various international teams in several countries across Europe.
Andrew holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, a BS from the United States Merchant Marine Academy and served eight (8) years in the United States Naval Reserve.
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Shashank Sane leads the Invenergy Transmission business with responsibility for the multi-faceted execution of complex transmission projects, including analyzing the market for new development opportunities, working with customers to commercialize the projects, and building relationships with key stakeholders to advance projects that benefit communities and customers. Previously, Shashank led Invenergy’s Corporate Development team where he executed on value accretive M&A transactions and identified new business opportunities for Invenergy. Earlier in his time at the company, Shashank held various finance-oriented roles, successfully completing over $5 billion in financings and divestitures. Prior to joining Invenergy, Shashank spent time advising energy companies at Oliver Wyman, after beginning his career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers. He earned a BS in Finance and International Business from the New York University’s Stern School of Business, and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
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Mauricio Angulo is currently a Senior Strategy Advisor in the ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company, where he oversees strategy projects across the Energy, Chemicals and Specialty products business units.
Prior to this role he spent several years as director of business development activities for Lower Emissions Fuels across the globe and was part of the team that successfully led and managed the ExxonMobil fuels entry into Mexico, after market deregulation, becoming the leading international brand in the market.
His experience at ExxonMobil has also included leadership roles across marketing, commercial, operational and finance activities in multiple business lines with country, regional, and global scope.
Prior to joining ExxonMobil, he worked as a civil engineer leading the design and construction of environmental remediation and hydropower projects around the world.
Mr. Angulo earned B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. Degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
He is an avid traveler and lives in Houston, where he enjoys spending time with his family. He is passionate about education, where in addition to supporting Kellogg, he actively supports several elementary education related initiatives in the Houston area as well as in his native country of Colombia.
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Darpan Kapadia is the Chief Operating Officer of LS Power and is a member of the firm’s Management Committee and Investment Committee, overseeing one of the largest power generation, transmission and energy infrastructure companies in the United States. Since its inception, LS Power has raised over $54 billion to construct, acquire and operate its projects, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, natural gas-fired and battery energy storage assets, and over 780 miles of high voltage transmission. LS Power actively invests in and scales businesses that are accelerating the energy transition, including electric vehicle charging, demand response, microgrids, renewable fuels, and waste to energy platforms.
Prior to his appointment as COO, Mr. Kapadia was Head of Strategy for the firm. He is also a member of the investment committees of Edge Principal Advisors, Verance Capital and Marmora Capital, three affiliated companies that invest across real estate, sports, media and alternative investments. Before joining LS Power in 2004, Mr. Kapadia was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in its Investment Management Division. Previously, Mr. Kapadia was a Senior Consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he provided strategic and financial advisory services to corporations.
Mr. Kapadia received a B.A. in Economics with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the College of William and Mary and an M.B.A. with highest distinction from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.
Mr. Kapadia currently serves on the Board of Directors for electric vehicle charging company EVgo Inc., renewables and battery storage platform REV Renewables LLC, and global risk management advisory firm K2 Integrity Inc. He is also Vice Chairman of the William and Mary Foundation Board of Trustees and a member of the Kellogg Alumni Council, the Kellogg Private Equity Advisory Council, and the Executive Council of the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern University.
Navigating Sustainability and Profitability with a Chief Sustainability Officer
BEA PEREZ
Executive Vice President and Global Chief Communications, Sustainability & Strategic Partnerships Officer
The Coca-Cola Company
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Beatriz "Bea" Perez is Executive Vice President and Global Chief Communications, Sustainability and Strategic Partnerships Officer for The Coca-Cola Company.
Perez oversees a diverse portfolio and manages networked teams that lead and support the company's business objectives. This includes commitments to global leadership in the areas of environmental, social and governance (ESG). Perez leads global external and internal communications, including digital media strategy for company-owned channels; global brand public relations; financial communications; and leadership communications.
Perez also leads the strategic direction and business performance for the company's retail, licensing and attractions portfolio of assets. Until January 2022, Perez oversaw strategic marketing assets of the company, including renewal of a partnership with the International Olympic Committee; marketing activations for FIFA; and all global marketing assets.
Her roles included serving as chief marketing officer for Coca-Cola North America, where she built brands and developed key relationships, including with American Idol and NASCAR. Perez was named as the company's first chief sustainability officer in 2011. Her team went on to become the driving force behind the company's World Without Waste program. Her team also developed and led global commitments to advance water stewardship and women's economic empowerment, among other key ESG goals.
Perez began her career at the company in 1996. She went on to hold senior-level branding, marketing, operations and public policy roles that utilized her breadth of experience, business acumen and passion for sustainability to create and build programs and partnerships that have enhanced the lives of people and communities worldwide. This included learning how to drive a Coca-Cola delivery truck to see the business from the ground up.
Numerous organizations have recognized her commitment and accomplishments: Perez has been recognized as a "Conservation Trailblazer" by The Trust for Public Land; the Association of Latino Professionals for America named her to its "50 Most Powerful Latinas" ranking in 2017, 2018 and 2019; she was on Hispanic Executive magazine's list of top ten leaders; she was featured as one of the "25 Most Powerful Latinas" on CNN and People en Espanol; she is a member of the American Advertising Hall of Fame, the Sports Business Journal's Hall of Fame and the PR Week Hall of Fame; and PRovoke (formerly The Holmes Report) has listed her as a member of the Influence 100 for communicators since 2017.
Perez is a committed advocate for community engagement, serving on various boards. She is chair of The Coca-Cola Foundation, the company's global philanthropic arm. She serves in leadership positions for several not-for-profit organizations, including the board of trustees of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. She is a public director for Primerica and W.W. Grainger, Inc. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Maryland.
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Meghan Busse joined the Kellogg faculty in 2008 as an Associate Professor of Strategy. Prior to that, she was on the faculty of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and at the Yale School of Management. At Kellogg, she teaches the core strategy course and an elective course on the economics of energy markets and the environment.
Professor Busse's early research focused on market structure and competition, with particular interest in pricing and price discrimination. She has studied these issues in a variety of industries, including cellular telephones, airlines, and automobiles. Her recent work has been in the area of energy and environmental economics. Professor Busse investigates how the effectiveness of environmental and climate policy is determined not only by the design of the policy itself, but also by the strategies and competitive interactions of the firms to whom the policy is applied.
Professor Busse received her PhD in economics from MIT. She is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The road to decarbonizing the transportation sector
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Dr. BJ Johnson is CEO and co-founder at ClearFlame Engine Technologies. BJ earned his PhD in thermodynamics and mechanical engineering at Stanford University where he successfully built and modified diesel engines to run on cleaner fuel alternatives like ethanol, methanol and other sustainable fuels. His design not only created a sustainable diesel engine, it produces net-zero emissions, reduces the costs of long haul trucking for fleets large and small, and in some cases can even reverse greenhouse gasses yielding a net negative balance in carbon emissions. His mission in founding ClearFlame is to reverse climate change. His vision builds on the existing infrastructure, talent pool and industrial assets we use today to deliver everything from car batteries and groceries to mining equipment and generators. ClearFlame will use the more than 3 million diesel trucks on the road today and turn them into clean-burning engines. To date, ClearFlame’s investor base includes the Department of Energy, Mercuria, Clean Energy Ventures and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. In 2021, BJ was named to the Grist 50 — a list of emerging leaders working on real-world solutions to the world’s biggest challenges.
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Yann is the Director Business Development Fleet Electrification Advisory at NextEra Mobility, and co-founder of eIQ Mobility, acquired by NextEra Energy in 2020. NextEra Energy is the largest generator of wind & solar energy in the world, and also operates Florida Power & Light, the largest regulated utility in the US. NextEra Mobility is a leader in fleet electrification solutions in North America. Their clients include Fortune 500, utilities, OEMs, school districts, universities, and major public and federal fleets. To date, they've worked with over 350,000 vehicles light, medium & heavy-duty vehicles across the US.
Yann is the former Head of North America e-Mobility strategy for Schneider Electric and was a key architect of their global strategy. From 2012 to 2016, he led an internal startup at Schneider Electric to develop an IoT smart thermostat & residential energy business. Prior to that he led marketing operations for a billion euros Schneider Electric Business Unit from their Paris HQ, and held sales, strategy and product roles in Europe and the US. Yann received his MBA at Syracuse University Graduate School of Management and lives in Chicago, where he and his wife enjoy swimming in Lake Michigan when it's not frozen, theatre, dive bars and hanging out with their 3 adult kids.
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Erica Tsypin is a seasoned and passionate EV veteran who joined Rivian in Oct 2021 to lead key fleet and strategic programs, and oversee major initiatives such as the EDV roll-out for Amazon. Prior to Rivian, Erica worked at Exelon, North America’s largest clean energy company, where she held many roles that advanced Exelon’s fleet electrification efforts and clean transportation strategies.
In March 2018, Erica founded and lead Steer, an electric vehicle subscription service which gives members a convenient and hassle-free way to drive clean.
Erica has been recognized in Forbes for her start-up venture and sits on the board of the Illinois Alliance for Clean Transportation.
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William Hotchkiss is the Director, Quality and Safety Systems at General Motors Energy. Previously, Mr. Hotchkiss served as Director of Advanced Technology and Energy Assets in GM Energy’s V2X & Battery Solutions group. Drawing on his executive experience in leading global technical and business organizations, Mr. Hotchkiss is focused on leveraging GM technology to grow energy solutions within and beyond mobility.
Formerly, Mr. Hotchkiss held the position of Director, GM China Engineering. In this role, he was responsible for establishing GM’s China Center for Intelligent Connected Vehicles and the regional automated driving strategy. Prior roles include Director, Global Supplier Quality and Development, Interiors & Safety; Executive Chief of Staff, Global Purchasing and Supply Chain; Global Commodity Manager; and Lead System Engineer, Brake Systems. In addition, Mr. Hotchkiss is a member of the Board of Directors for the Kiefer Foundation focused in ending distracted driving.
Mr. Hotchkiss began his career in 2000 as a college cooperative student with GM North America Engineering group and spent several years in Global Product Development. Mr. Hotchkiss has a master's degree in business administration from Indiana University. He also earned a master’s degree in Energy Systems Engineering from University of Michigan and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from Wayne State University.
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Brian Collie is a Managing Director & Senior Partner at Boston Consulting Group, where he is the Global lead for the Automotive & Mobility practice.
Brian specializes in working with automotive manufacturers and suppliers on a broad range of strategy, operations, and organizational topics. Over the course of his career, Brian has led dozens of large scale transformation and growth efforts across North America, Europe, China, India, and Latin America. He is an expert on new mobility and passionate about the potential for the convergence of sharing, autonomous technologies, and electrification to change the world. Brian previously served as co-lead of BCG's support of the World Economic Forum initiative on Future of Urban & Autonomous Mobility and as a member of the Chicago Taskforce on the Future of Transportation and Mobility.
Brian began his career as a Surface Warfare Officer in the U.S. Navy. Brian presently resides in Glen Ellyn, IL with his wife and five children.
Exploring the carbon capture and removal frontier
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Shannon Smith is Chestnut Carbon’s Chief Commercial Officer. She leads the commercial organization responsible for all GTM activities including customer pipeline development and branding, for the Chestnut credit product line as well as Chestnut’s forest conservation membership program Forest Carbon Works. She brings 20 years of experience leading sales and marketing across a variety of industries including clean tech, fin tech and consumer goods. She was a consultant in McKinsey’s San Francisco office and an analyst at Morgan Stanley in NY. She holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She currently resides in NYC.
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Jared is Senior Vice President in charge of commercial efforts in North America for Climeworks, the most advanced provider of Direct Air Capture (DAC) and Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR). Climeworks is a ClimateTech unicorn having raised over $800M and recognized by Fast Company as the #1 company in sustainability and for “putting DAC on the map” as they seek to scale up to remove millions of tons of carbon by the end of this decade. Prior to Climeworks, Jared spent 14 years in the renewables industry leading teams that provided solar, batteries and microgrids for hundreds of commercial and utility scale projects. Jared made the switch from carbon reduction to carbon removal because he sees an industry that must scale for the world to meet it climate targets. He holds undergraduate degrees in Finance and Management, an MBA from IESE Business school in Barcelona and is based in Boulder, Colorado with his wife, two daughters and dog Arrow.
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David Tatum is a general manager of Carbon Capture, Utilization & Storage (CCUS) within Chevron New Energies. David is responsible for the creation of a new CCUS business line within CNE, globally. In his previous role, David was a principal consultant within Chevron’s Mergers and Acquisitions group responsible for leading the evaluation performed in preparation for the Noble and Anadarko acquisition deals.
After receiving a bachelor’s and master’s degree in geology, David joined Chevron in 2006 as a geologist and has held technical and commercial roles of increasing responsibility in New Orleans, Covington, Houston and San Ramon, as well as positions in Corporate Business Development and Global Exploration.
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Soham is an electrical engineer turned investor. Prior to entering the investment world, he spent years as an electrical engineer, designing and managing multi-million dollar infrastructure upgrade projects for electric utilities. Soham subsequently pursued an MBA at Northwestern Kellogg with a concentration in entrepreneurship and venture capital, strategically equipping himself with the business acumen to complement his technical background. Today, he leverages this unique blend of expertise as the Managing Director of gener8tor's Carbon Removal Accelerator. In this role, Soham supports early-stage CDR startups to reach commercial viability through a 12-week long investment accelerator program.
Financing the climate revolution
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Jorge Rodriguez, Managing Director & Head of Debt Capital Markets, is based in Marathon Capital’s New York office. He covers both public and private debt placements and is responsible for developing Marathon Capital's suite of debt solutions and services to energy and infrastructure clients.
Jorge has over 20 years of investment banking, capital markets, and investment management experience, having raised, managed, and invested in energy and infrastructure transactions domestically and internationally in an amount exceeding $200B. He has held various positions in sell-side and buy-side capacities as an investment banker and principal investor across the energy and infrastructure sectors. Most recently, Jorge was Managing Director, Portfolio Manager, and Head of Infrastructure Debt at DWS, where he was responsible for the management and strategic direction of the global infrastructure debt business, including managing its $2B investment portfolio. Before joining DWS, Jorge was Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure Finance at Dresdner Kleinwort, where he held roles in both New York and London and focused on the origination, structuring, execution, and placement of senior and mezzanine debt financings across all energy and infrastructure sectors. Jorge has previously held positions with Aladdin Capital, BNP Paribas, and Chemical Bank.
Jorge has been involved with several significant wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, and hydro financings involving the acquisition, refinancing, project finance, and restructuring on behalf of financial sponsors and strategic clients.
Jorge received a BA in Economics from Trinity College and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He holds Series 7 and 63 licenses.
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Joel Spenadel is a founding member of the team of 37 professionals at J.P.Morgan that sources, structures, executes and manages tax equity investments in energy projects. Since 2003 that team has been responsible for investing on behalf of J.P.Morgan and for arranging with other institutional investors more than $47 billion of tax equity for more than 57 gigawatts of U.S. wind, solar and geothermal power projects. Prior to 2003, the team arranged more than $1 billion of tax equity for natural gas reserves from shale, coal and tight sandstone formations. Joel earned an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School, Northwestern University, and earned Bachelor of Science degrees from the Wharton School of Business and the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania.
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Passionate about making a difference in the emerging markets through sustainable finance, Mariyam has been leading climate finance transactions as an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), World Bank Group's private investment arm. Her expertise encompasses originating, structuring, and executing capital market and structured finance transactions on a global scale, spanning regions such as Latin America, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East. She specializes in directing capital towards climate and sustainability assets through financial institutions and private credit funds. Previously, Mariyam worked on IFC's fintech investments in Southeast Asia based in Singapore, specializing in early-stage equity deals. Her prior experience includes roles in financial institutions across emerging markets, notably as an infrastructure banker at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, covering Russia, Caucasus, and Central Asia. Mariyam is a CFA charterholder (2014), holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management (2017) and a Master of Accounting degree from Stephen M. Ross School of Business (2010).
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AJ Gatesman is an associate attorney on the Energy Team at Sheppard Mullin’s Chicago office. AJ’s practice focuses on renewable energy project finance, with an emphasis on debt and tax equity financing of wind and solar facilities. AJ received her JD from the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois Wesleyan University.
Lunch & Networking with Climate Professionals
Ayo FolaranmI
Marathon Capital
Ben Mitchell
'23 MBA
Solugen
Björn de Groote
'23 MBA
CO280
Jenny mctague
'22 MBA
Invenergy
JESSICA CHabot
'23 MBA
New Leaf Energy
Katie Spasiano
'23 MBA
Clarasight
KENT HAEFFNER
'23 MBA
Boston Consulting Group
Laolu Adeola
'16 MBA
Leke Services
ex-McKinsey
Soham Dalal
'23 MBA
gener8tor
sophia Wennstedt
'22 MBA
Blip Energy
Zareen Khan
'23 MBA
Khan & Partners
incentivizing decarbonization: the role of government policy
Sourav Bhowmick
'12, '19 MBA
Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Implementation
U.S. Department of the Treasury
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Sourav Bhowmick is Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) implementation at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He is the principal advisor to the Deputy Secretary and Chief Implementation Officer on all policy operations related to Treasury’s implementation of the IRA’s clean energy tax credits and ten-year modernization strategy for the Internal Revenue Service. Sourav leads Treasury’s IRA implementation office in its day-to-day management and operations, and represents Treasury in discussions with the White House, IRS, and other interagency partners. Sourav was appointed to Treasury in 2021 as Deputy Executive Secretary, responsible for managing the policy briefing process for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and served in the Secretary’s delegation to the G20 Summit. Prior to joining the Biden administration, Sourav was a management consultant at Monitor Deloitte where he was an engagement manager focused on strategy and operations for private sector and non-profit organizations across numerous industries. He began his career at Brunswick Group, a global corporate advisory firm, where he specialized in strategic communications for mergers & acquisitions and crisis management. Sourav has a BA in political science from Northwestern University and an MBA in economics from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
Website: https://www.treasury.gov/IRA
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A 2022 recipient of the JFK New Frontier award for her work in climate justice, Jasmine Davenport (formerly Sanders) is a climate scientist, strategist, advocate and native of Monroe, Louisiana. Striving to raise awareness to the intersectional impacts of climate change and the communities who are disproportionately impacted, she works in collaboration with colleagues, communities, and organizations to make a global impact. Previously, she led Our Climate, a youth-focused organization empowering young people to advocate for science-based, equitable and intersectional climate justice policies. She has also managed the strategic initiatives and special projects for HIAS, wrote legislative briefs for the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee and worked for Terpstra Associates, a DC lobbying firm where she advocated on Capitol Hill for agricultural and environmental issues. She earned a graduate degree from the University of Essex with a MSc in Tropical Marine Biology. Specializing in climate change, her graduate thesis detailed the Shifts in the Genetic Composition of three DMS-consuming cnidarians. Mrs. Davenport is a graduate from the University of South Alabama with a BS in Biology and a minor in Spanish. She currently resides in the Washington, DC area with her family.
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Julius Goldberg-Lewis was previously Special Advisor in DOE’s Office of the Undersecretary of Infrastructure after serving as Deputy White House Liaison. Previously, he served as the Outreach Manager for the New York City Mayor’s Public Engagement Unit’s Tenant Support Unit, working to connect New Yorkers to vital programs and their government. He also worked as the Expansion States Organizing Director for the Biden-Harris campaign. He received a B.A. from the University of Michigan.
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Professor David Besanko is the IBM Professor of Regulation and Competitive Practice at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Besanko is a Northwestern graduate, having received his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences in 1982. He received his BA in Political Science from Ohio University in 1977. Before joining the Kellogg faculty in 1991, Professor Besanko was a member of the faculty of the School of Business at Indiana University from 1982-84 and 1986-1991. In 1985, he was a member of the Economics Staff at Bell Communications Research.
Professor Besanko teaches courses in public economics and infrastructure strategy at the Kellogg School. In 2015, Besanko received the Aspen Institute's Faculty Pioneer Award, sometimes referred to as the Oscars for the business school world. In 2013 he was a finalist for this award. Besanko has received the two most prestigious teaching awards at the Kellogg School: the L.G. Lavengood Professor of the Year Award in 1995, 2010, and 2016 he is the only three-time winner of this award since its inception in 1975 and the Alumni Choice Teaching Award in 2006. At the Kellogg School, he has also received the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award (1998, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, and 2020), the Chair's Core Teaching Award (1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005), and the Kellogg Impact Award (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021).
Professor Besanko's research covers topics relating to the intersection of competitive strategy and public policy, the economics of regulation, and the theory of the firm. He has published over 50 articles in leading professional journals in economics and business. Among other places, his work has appeared in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the RAND Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, and Management Science. Along with Daniel Diermeier and Jose-Miguel Abito, he is co-author of Corporate Reputation and Social Activism, published in 2019. He has co-authored the widely used textbook, Microeconomics, with Ronald Braeutigam, now in its sixth edition. And with David Dranove, Mark Shanley, and Scott Schaefer, Besanko is a co-author of Economics of Strategy.
Professor Besanko served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Strategy and Planning at the Kellogg School from 2007 to 2009 and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Curriculum and Teaching at Kellogg from 2001 to 2003.
SEEDS OF CHANGE: cultivating a sustainable future in food and agriculture
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Nate serves as Chief of Staff and Head of Business Development at Impossible Foods. He sits on Impossible's Executive Leadership team, co-leads overall strategy and execution, and oversees new business opportunities, international and impact strategy, as Impossible Foods grows into a household brand and beloved company.
Previously, Nate led a number of climate tech investment vehicles and programs for Bill Gates’ private office, Gates Ventures. He also served as a Technology-to-Market Advisor for Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, a semi-autonomous arm of the Department of Energy that invests $300 million annually in high risk but potentially transformational clean energy technologies. Prior to that, Nate served as Associate Director for a leading think tank in Washington, DC, leading various aspects of strategy, policy development, and advocacy related to a broad range of clean energy and climate change.
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Over the last 15 years, Audre has worked at the intersection of technology, strategy, finance and operations to incubate new ideas and drive growth. Audre Kapacinskas is a Principal at S2G Ventures, a climate platform with specialized underwriting across Food & Agriculture, Energy and Oceans. Audre leads Corporate Development which focuses on collaborating with entrepreneurs, corporates, investors, nonprofits and government stakeholders to accelerate the adoption and growth of climate-smart technologies.
Prior to S2G, Audre was a Director of Sales and Corporate Strategy at a predictive analytics start-up delivering artificial intelligence and IoT solutions to industrial sectors including transportation and energy. Previously, Audre worked for a boutique strategy consulting firm and their private equity and corporate clients on growth acceleration, value assessments and investment due diligence. Audre lives with her family in Chicago. Audre holds an Honours BA from the University of Toronto (Economics, International Relations), an MA from Vilnius University and was a Fulbright Scholar.
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Sonali Lamba is the co-founder and Executive Director of The Soil Inventory Project (TSIP), a nonprofit that supports America's farmers to make the transition to more sustainable and climate-friendly farming methods. TSIP was recently awarded a $20 million grant from the USDA to help build the supply of climate-smart commodities as we create the next "organic" food supply chain in the US that focuses on how food production can also address climate and soil health. Sonali is also a graduated from Kellogg in 2012 and is an adjunct lecturer here at Kellogg, where she teaches New Venture Development, a start-up studio for our emerging start-ups.
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A social entrepreneur with over 35 years of higher education experience in increasingly senior leadership positions, including most recently as President of Chatham University in Pittsburgh, PA, one of the world's top-ranked universities for sustainability. Dr. Finegold is currently heading the US operations and Sustainability functions for Torrgreen, a Dutch biofuel and renewable energy company, and serving as the Program Officer for Golub Capital’s Social Impact Labs at Kellogg, Chicago Booth, and Stanford business schools.
EMERGING climate tech for a greener tomorrow
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Chip Breitenkamp leads technology development for NanoGraf while also managing customer and partnership efforts. Chip brings years of experience assisting customers in the development and manufacturing of some of the world’s best-selling, transformative consumer electronic and medical device products at Exponent, Inc. Trained as a polymer material scientist, he also previously co-founded and served as Chief Technology Officer of Intezyne Technologies, a biotechnology company focused on the development of advanced, polymer nanoparticles for targeted drug delivery. As a researcher, Chip is listed as an inventor on 20 patent families that represent 28 issued US and international patents and 18 peer-reviewed publications. He received a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and a B.S. in Polymer Science from the University of Southern Mississippi.
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Adam joined Boston Metal as one of the earliest employees and has subsequently raised over $300M in equity, developed partnerships with global industry leaders such as ArcelorMittal and BMW, and earned countless awards for the company, including 2023 North America Company of the Year from the Cleantech Group. Adam excels at market research and leads Boston Metal’s business development and corporate communications activities.
Prior to Boston Metal, he led global development at several utility-scale energy storage companies. Adam holds a bachelor’s in engineering from the University of Connecticut and a PhD in engineering and innovation from Dartmouth College.
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As the Director of Business Development at Kairos Power, Evan is responsible for the commercial deployment of Kairos Power's advanced reactor technology. Evan brings over 15 years of cleantech experience across U.S. and European markets, encompassing roles in new business strategy and venture investment. His venture experience spans two corporate venture funds with capital deployments over $100M and multiple successful exits. Evan has built his career by driving the commercialization of novel energy technologies in collaboration with Fortune 100 and FTSE 100 enterprises. He achieved this across various board positions and technology types during his time at Exelon, Constellation, and Centrica. Now, in his role at Kairos Power, he focuses exclusively on catalyzing the deployment of carbon-free power generation.
Brian Tolliver
Adjunct Professor, Master of Science in Energy and Sustainability (MSES); CEO, Banyon Power.
Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy
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Brian Tolliver serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University's Master of Science in Energy and Sustainability (MSES) Program, housed within the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Sustainability and Energy.
Alongside his academic activities, he is the CEO and founder of Banyon Power, a company specializing in innovation solutions designed to facilitate the global transition to electric vehicles, making EV ownership more accessible while aiding utilities and energy providers with grid management and renewable energy integration.
With over two decades of diverse experience spanning the energy sector, technology, corporate development, strategy, and investment banking, Brian has a comprehensive background. During his tenure at Schneider Electric (SquareD), he focused on strategic initiatives, mergers and acquisitions, and the development of innovative products and services.
He began his career as a software engineer and technology consultant, with a focus on distributed computing within the financial industry, and he progressed to senior positions in strategy, corporate development, and investment banking. Notably, at Schneider Electric, his responsibilities encompassed pivotal projects ranging from strategic growth endeavors to pioneering technologies such as energy management, e-mobility, Internet of Things (IoT), renewable energy solutions, and grid innovation.
Brian holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Industrial Management & Computer Science from Purdue University.
Harnessing the Power of AI in the Energy Transition
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Based in San Francisco, Patrick leads initiatives to accelerate innovation & commercialize energy technology at Tapestry, Google X. Tapestry is X’s moonshot for the electric grid. Patrick joined Tapestry from Macquarie’s Green Investment Group, where he focused on corporate and project level investments across a wide range of energy solutions, including battery storage, microgrids, electric vehicles, distributed energy, and consumer energy. He launched new commercial approaches and grew emerging energy technology adoption to accelerate the energy transition. Patrick holds an MBA degree from Duke University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston College.
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Sarah Millar is the Director of Virtual Power Plant Operations at Renew Home, where she oversees the day-to-day management of Renew Home’s California and New York VPPs. She and her team are responsible for scheduling user dispatches and coordinating with ecosystem partners (e.g. ConEd & NYISO) on Renew Home users' contribution to the grid. Sarah holds an MBA from The Wharton School and an MA in International Studies from The University of Pennsylvania, and Bachelors in Spanish and International Relations from Trinity College.
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Abhimanyu is a Director of Industry Solutions at AutoGrid (now Uplight), the leader in energy management software and solutions, and has over 9 years of experience in the energy sector. He is passionate about clean energy and has deep expertise in energy technologies, distributed energy resources, virtual power plants, and large-scale digital transformations. Abhimanyu leads a team of experts who design and deliver innovative and scalable solutions for utilities, energy retailers, and DER owners and operators, enabling them to achieve their goals of decarbonization, resiliency, and efficiency. He leverages his previous consulting experience at McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients on strategy, product management, operations, and technology topics. Abhimanyu has global work experience, including North America and Asia.
Abhimanyu graduated with a Bachelors and Masters of Technology from IIT Bombay majoring in Energy Systems, and is also a part-time entrepreneur; owning two Mathnasium franchises that he built from scratch with his wife.
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Ryan Jeffery is an experienced entrepreneur, investor and advisor who helps leaders and organizations do their best work. With over 15 years of experience founding and building high-growth organizations, Ryan is now focused on supporting early-stage companies at the forefront of our climate and environmental crisis as the Senior Managing Director of Sustainability at gener8tor. Ryan is a three-time founder (one acquired), investor, board member, and adjunct professor at Northwestern’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Protecting our Planet: Maintaining Biodiversity and Community Resilience
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Meera Bhat (she/they) is the Global Director of Equitable Conservation at The Nature Conservancy.
Alongside her team, Meera works to ensure that conservation and climate decisions center Indigenous rights and sovereignty, human rights, gender and racial equity. She is a changemaker, a celebrated speaker and an intentional movement builder, drawing upon experiences with the power of collective action and networks. Meera came to The Nature Conservancy in 2014 to build the North America Cities Network, leading a network of 100 and a team of ten to help transform cities into green, just, climateresilient places where people and nature thrive. Her driving motivation is to help ensure communities have the resources and access they need to make decisions that shape their lives, and to align the power of institutions in a way that drives and sustains systems change, drawing upon cross-movement coalitions and their collective expertise, networks and impact.
Previously, Meera was a Program Manager at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, supporting international pathogen discovery research. Their claim to fame was catching subway rats to figure out which diseases they carry (turns out – a LOT of diseases.)
Meera was a community gardener in Brooklyn and a devoted advocate for NYC urban agriculture and vacant land, and served on the Brooklyn Queens Land Trust board of directors. Meera now serves on the board of the Fireweed Community Woodshop, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit dedicated to building new futures for women and non-binary folks through woodcraft. Meera lives in Minneapolis with their family.
Rachel Fleishman
'98 MBA
Managing Director, Consumer Sectors and Business Transformation
BSR – Business for Social Responsibility
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Rachel leads BSR’s Consumer Sectors team in the US, focusing on topics related to business transformation. She helps companies across a range of consumer-facing industries leverage sustainability insights and tools to drive innovation, create impact and build resilience in the face of market turbulence and disruptive global trends.
For the past 20 years, Rachel has worked at the intersection of sustainability and innovation, business development, advocacy, and cross-sectoral partnerships in the US, Europe and Asia. She has held leadership positions at the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU, the Clinton Global Initiative, the Hong Kong-based Climate Change Business Forum, and BASF. Rachel has advised the US and allied governments on the impacts of climate change on national security and has created sustainability crisis simulations for government, business and academic use.
Rachel has a BA from Tufts, a Masters in Public Policy from the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland and an MBA from Kellogg, Northwestern University.
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Professor Megan Kashner serves as the Director of Social Impact at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. In her leadership of Kellogg's Social Impact offerings, Kashner focuses on the areas of impact investing, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, nonprofit management, policy, global development, values and ethics. Kashner leads up the global Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium, the Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge, the Moskowitz Prize, and more collaborative work at the intersection of markets and impact.
Kashner is additionally the co-founder of Colorful Capital a VC firm founded to focus investment and opportunity on ventures led by LGBTQ+ community members. Previously, Kashner held leadership roles as a founder, CEO, and consultant. Kashner holds an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, a Master's from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and a B.A. in Public Policy from Brown University.