Leadership - Board of Advisors

Dan Adler – President, California Clean Energy Fund

Josh Becker - Partner, New Cycle Capital

Himanshu Choksi – Managing Director, Pacifica Fund
Himanshu Choksi is a member of the Board of Advisors at The Cleantech Open. He is Managing Partner at Pacifica Fund, a venture capital firm that invests in cleantech and IT companies; and a board member and advisor at several start-ups. His operating and venture experience spans cleantech, internet, software, interactive TV, and semiconductors. Previously he was an entrepreneur and an executive at Intel, Bain & Company, and Pacific Telesis. He earned an MBA from Stanford University, an MS in Materials Science from UC Berkeley, and a B.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology. He holds four US patents.

Hal La Flash – Director of Emerging Clean Technologies, Pacific Gas and Electric
Hal LaFlash is director of emerging clean technologies in the Renewable Energy Department at Pacific Gas and Electric Company, where he evaluates and supports new energy technologies that may be part of PG&E’s future resource portfolio. He has been involved in leading edge energy activities at PG&E for more than 30 years and has degrees in engineering and business. Hal is on the board of several non-profit clean tech organizations.

Ed Lambert - Senior Vice President, Bridge Bank
Ed is a Senior Vice-President with Bridge Bank-focusing on creating and expanding relationships with Emerging Growth to Public High-Tech, Green and Life Science Companies. He began his 29 years of banking/lending experience with Bank of America and has achieved significant success wherever he has worked including Silicon Valley Bank, Imperial Bank and Comerica Bank. Ed also began the Tech Practice for Coast Business Credit, building to $20-30MM in annual commitments. He contributes this success to being an overall "solution source" partner to clients, prospects, referral partners and colleagues - for any problem. Ed has employed this focus on providing solutions to companies from seed to public--including such well known companies as Cisco, Atmel, CNET, Biomarin, Cepheid, Mattson, Read-Rite, Pandora, Solar City, Serious Materials and Cadence to name a few. At Bridge, his focus is to provide a combination of “virtual” and human support to clients that will allow them to grow domestically and internationally. Ed holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a BA in history from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Ed has sat on several Director and Advisory boards, including the executive committee of the American Electronics Association, the Silicon Valley Assoc. of Software Entreprenuers (SVASE), SDForum, AlwaysOn and the Cleantech Open. He has spoken at Tech events in the U.S. and Europe and is a contributing blogger on banking and VC issues to AlwaysOn Networks.

Jonathan Livingston – Founder, Livingston Energy Innovations
Jonathan Livingston is the president of Livingston Energy Innovations (LEI), a San Francisco Bay Area-based strategic consulting firm specializing in energy efficiency, demand response and customer-facing smart grid domains. LEI clients include large and small technology companies, leading energy utilities, and research laboratories. Jonathan brings nearly 30 years’ experience creating pathways for technology companies, utilities and investors to achieve business success in the demand-side management marketplace. He previously held key innovation management positions at Pacific Gas and Electric Company and Ecos Consulting. He serves on the advisory boards of the CTO, the Environmental Business Cluster, and the CalCEF Angel Fund.

Ronald Stoltz - Manager, Energy Innovation Initiatives Project, Sandia National Labs

Tod Perry - Senior Analyst, NREL
Dr. Thomas D. Perry IV (Tod) is a Senior Analyst focused on Technology, Innovation, and Markets in the Strategic Energy Analysis Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). He also serves on the faculty at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Previously, he was Senior Program Manager of Technology Commercialization at NREL where he was responsible for developing programs to accelerate clean energy technology innovation, commercialization, and market development through education, research, and community development. He joined the lab from Harvard Business School where he was researching science-based businesses and technology commercialization, with a particular emphasis on clean and sustainable technologies. After graduating from Earlham College with a double major in biology and chemistry, he received his masters and doctorate from Harvard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, focusing on microbial biogeochemistry. He was also involved in the formation of two Boston-area start-up companies.

Marianne Wu - Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Marianne Wu is a Partner at MDV where she focuses on Cleantech investments. These typically involve significant technology or business model breakthroughs applied to large, evolving markets such as solar, biofuels and chemicals, clean coal, energy efficiency, smart grid, and water treatment and management. She leverages over 15 years of technology development and business experience to help entrepreneurs build meaningful, successful businesses. At MDV, she is on the Board of Laurus Energy and works closely with Zeachem and Catilin. Marianne has been named one of Top 10 Women in Cleantech and one of Silicon Valley's Women of Influence. She is on the Advisory Committees of the Cleantech Open, Western Governors' Association, SdForum and Astia. She is a member of the Hua Yuan Science and Technology Association (HYSTA) VC Group and Environmental Entrepreneurs. Prior to joining MDV, Marianne was VP Marketing at ONI Systems where she was responsible for product strategy and market development. Earlier in her career, Marianne was a consultant at McKinsey and Company where she advised major technology clients on strategic and operational issues. Marianne has conducted state-of-the-art research in materials, devices, and systems at Stanford University and started her career as a design engineer at Nortel Networks where she developed high-speed networking technologies. Marianne earned both her doctoral and master's degrees from the School of Engineering at Stanford University and her bachelor's in Applied Science at the University of British Columbia