Leadership - Program Chairs
California
Northeast
North Central
Pacific Northwest
Rocky Mountain
California
Cheryl Bostater - San Diego Chapter Chair
Sherrie Carter - Volunteer Program Chair
Sherrie serves as the Volunteer Chair for the Cleantech Open where she helps connect volunteers with the various needs of the organization. She has more than 18 years of experience in inside sales and marketing of technology products in Silicon Valley as well as many years mediating for the Santa Clara Office of Human Relations. Sherrie is a certified Saleforce.com consultant helping software companies implement or extend their customer relationship management processes and systems. She holds an MA in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix and a BA in Speech Communication from the University of Minnesota.
Tim Cox – Public Relations Chair
Tim Cox runs ZingPR, a boutique PR firm that develops strategic and tactical communications and public relations campaigns for companies of all shapes and sizes, across numerous industries. He has 20+ years of marketing experience, the last 12 of which have been focused on PR. Prior to founding ZingPR, he managed brand marketing, marketing communications, promotions and product marketing functions for Apple, Alias, Autodesk and Schlumberger. He has been involved with the Cleantech Open for three years, providing PR mentoring and advice for contestants and alumni. He is British, grew up in England, and has lived in Canada, France, & the USA.
Laura Draxler - 100K Jobs Challenge Chair
Laura Draxler is Founder/Director of Products and Programs of The CodeLab, a consulting business in the high technology industry. She has led development and shipped a variety of software products and instruments. Laura has a passion for clean technology and for the past two years, she has driven go-to-market strategy at several early stage clean tech companies as a mentor of the Cleantech Open. In addition, Laura helped build the Grants program and has been a mock judge. Laura is active at the FIT (Feed-in-Tariff) Coalition. She is a graduate of the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA Program and is on the board of the Association of Women MBAs.
Christina Ellwood - Training Program Chair
Rebeca Hwang – Judging Chair
Rebeca is the Judging Chair and a member of the Board of Directors of the Cleantech Open. She serves as an advisor to the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students and as a Senior Advisor for the MIT 100K Clean Energy Prize.
Her passion is to find solutions to pressing problems in the world, particularly those related to improving access to safe water by poor communities in developing countries. Rebeca was the winner of the MIT IDEAS competition for work with ceramic water filters and a finalist in the MIT 100K Competition with a business plan for a low-cost chlorine generator. Her Ph.D. thesis at Stanford University is based on the role of social network structures on the performance of water companies. She graduated with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering and a Masters in Civil and Environmental Engineering from M.I.T. She holds three US patents (6 929 236, 6 935190 and 6 929235).
Sarita Mallya - In-Kind Services Chair
Ron Long - Mentor Program Chair
Carole Low - Alumni Program Chair
Azmat Malik - Contestant Recruitment Chair
Richard Melnyk - Legal Oversight Chair
Rich Melnyk represents users of commercial real estate in a wide variety of matters, including leasing, subleasing, purchase and sale, and project development for office, biotech, industrial, mixed-use, wind, solar, and geo-thermal developments in California and throughout the United States. Rich is a LEED Accredited Professional and can assist clients in navigating the LEED certification process and the negotiation of "green" leases.
Rich also assists the firm's corporate clients with respect to any real estate or environmental issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions or securities offerings, including the drafting and negotiation of all necessary transfer documents and disclosures, as well as conducting any necessary due diligence. Since early 2007, Rich has served as the Cleantech Open's Chair of Legal Oversight. The Cleantech Open promotes the development of clean and renewable technologies, and is the nation's premier business plan competition devoted to clean technology ventures.
Mairtini Ni Dhomhnaill – Finance Chair
Mairtini Ni Dhomhnaill, FCCA, CIA, leads the San Francisco and Silicon Valley Offices of Accretive Solutions. She has more than twenty years of experience in the fields of accounting and finance. Working with both public and privately held companies, she has provided senior level consulting services ranging from system implementation support to financial planning and analysis. Mairtini leads Accretive Solutions start-up practice, and works extensively with venture backed emerging companies in a CFO capacity. Mairtini is a board member for Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network, a Non Profit organization and serves as the Finance Chair for The California Cleantech Open Competition. Mairtini graduated from the Galway & Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) in Ireland, is a Fellow of The Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and is a Certified Internal Auditor.
Samantha Simmonet - Orange Country Chapter Chair
Erik Steeb - Los Angeles Chapter Chair
Uma Subramaniam – Marketing Chair
Uma thoroughly enjoys working at the Cleantech Open. She is passionate about helping clean tech startups morph into successful, sustainable companies. She’s equally enthusiastic about promoting the “wonderfulness” of the Cleantech Open. When not doing stuff for the Cleantech Open, Uma runs marcom360, a boutique strategic communications agency. Doing everything from messaging, to public relations and the Web, Uma enjoys putting companies on the map. She takes pride in being a “one-stop marcom department.” Recently, she’s taken on the fun project of writing up alumni success stories for the Cleantech Open website. On the personal side, Uma loves cooking exotic food, solving cryptic crosswords, and traveling to exotic destinations.
Lafe Vititoe - Investor Chair
Northeast
North Central
Mark Borman - Mentor Chair
Nancy Byers - Special Projects Team
Jeff Carpenter - Investors Committee
Amy Fisher - Public Relations Chair
Amy Fisher is a Director with the Technology and Environmental Sciences practice areas at Padilla Speer Beardsley. Her deep understanding of business-to-business marketing strategies and her ability to communicate complicated issues to varied audiences are valued by a broad range of companies. She also is adept at marketing communications planning, messaging, writing, media relations, analyst relations and events support. Amy works closely with Padilla Speer Beardsley’s business-to-business technology clients, and been involved as a PR Chair for the Cleantech Open North Central region. She resides in Minneapolis.
Kakie Fiztsimmons - Marketing & Social Media Co-Chair
Justin Kaster - Regional Director
Don Keysser - Investor Committee
JP Kidwell - Sponsorship Chair
Jared Newberry - Special Projects Chair
Andrew Ritten - Legal Co-Chair
Michael Ritzenthaler - Contestant Recruitment Chair
Mike Ritzenthaler, PE, runs Pine River, a technology developer and consultancy he co-founded in 2009. Mike has spent his professional career as a chemical engineer, business developer, and entrepreneur working in thebioproducts field. Mike has worked with lignocellulosics, fermentations, and manufacturing, as well as managing business development projects and the engineering of bioproduct plants throughout North America. Mike has also worked in finance for a multi-billion dollar hedge fund located in Minneapolis where he was primarily responsible for financial modeling, operations, and business development activities. He has won prizes for his research, including the Boeing Excellence in Research Prize for collaborative work with NASA.
Ian Rodricks - Special Projects Team
Bill Shadid - Marketing & Social Media Co-Chair
Stephen Ulanoski - Sustainability Chair
Jeffrey Woodson - Innovation Partners Chair
Pacific Northwest
Jason Anderson - Financial Oversight Chair
Jason S. Anderson is a partner in the Lead Tax Services practice of the Seattle office and leads our Seattle Clean-Tech practice. Jason joined Deloitte in 1995 after graduating from the University of Washington Masters of Taxation program. He has over 14 years of accounting and tax experience serving clients in the Pacific Northwest marketplace. Jason’s industry experience serving clients includes technology, telecommunications, financial services, and manufacturing. Jason’s portfolio of clients includes both small and large public and private companies and he also has extensive experience with ASC 740, Income Taxes (formerly SFAS 109, Accounting for Income Taxes and FIN 48, Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes). Jason has spoken on banking and ASC 740 issues at both the national and local level and is also a frequent presenter at the University of Washington on various tax related topics.
Jamie Boyd - Judging Co-Chair
Andy Braff - Event Chair, Administrative Co-Chair
John Dowker - Contestant Recruitment Co-Chair
Stephen Gerritson - Contestant Recruitment Co-Chair, Finance Co-Chair
Larry Hile - Cleantech Open Academy Co-Chair
Kathi Jones - Volunteer Program Chair
Erin Keaty - Marketing Co-Chair
Rick LeFaivre - Judging Co-Chair
Bill Lemon - Mentor Co-Chair
Gary Mallon - Spokane City Liasion
John Martin - Cleantech Acadamey Co-Chair
John is a bizdev consultant in Seattle and advisor to Boucher Lensch Assc. investment bankers in Silicon Valley. John previously led the Washington (State) Nanotechnology Initiative, and was Business Development Liaison-Americas for Nippon Idou Tsushin KK and KDDI/au-cellular of Japan. John has over 25 years experience with hi-tech companies including defense-electronics, industrial robotics, minicomputers, and SaaS ventures. John is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School and Babson as well as U.of Washington, and serves on the Board of the MIT Enterprise Forum Northwest, through which he first met IgniteCleanEnergy at MITEF Cambridge in 2008.
Byron McCann - Regional Director
Byron McCann founded Ascent Partners focused in investments, mergers & acquisitions, and strategic alliances for cleantech and IT companies. He is a venture partner at Prism Capital. He Co-Chairs the Northwest Energy Angels; a member of Keiretsu Forum and Hawaii Angels. He was CEO of Service Intelligence, a venture-backed customer experience measurement company for retail chains. He co-founded genSoft, the first Windows database, and was acquired by Computer Associates; COO of a cable television advertising venture acquired by TCI; and was with Ernst & Young’s national telecommunications consulting practice. He was vice chairman of the Washington Technology Industry Association and is Board Chair of Broadway Bound Children’s Theatre. Cum laude Harvard BA and Stanford MBA.
Joseph A. O'Neill - Mentor Co-Chair
John Pierce - Regional Director
James Quick - Public Relations Co-Chair
Jaime leads the media relations and account management for several of Seattle-based Scoville PR’s innovative cleantech clients. His work with these companies brings him in daily contact with national and local reporters in energy, alternative fuels, technology, and business. Jaime is deeply committed to sustainability and renewable energy in every aspect of his life – at times even to the annoyance to his friends (He’s that “recycling guy” at the bbq). He has nearly 10 years of overall marketing and communications experience in startups, non-profits and government which helps him in his work with Cleantech Open contestants and related media outreach.
Mark Rivers - Boise City Liasion
Manja Sachet - Legal Chair
Gregg Semler - Alumni Chair
Gregg is a co-founder and Managing Director of Pivotal Investments (www.pivotal-investments.com). Pivotal Investments is the first venture fund in the Northwest to focus on early stage venture capital with the goal of delivering superior financial returns through investments in companies, primarily in the Northwest, that will be leaders in the emerging sustainable economy. Prior to founding Pivotal Investments, Gregg was a clean technology entrepreneur with over 20 years of chief executive experience at advanced technology companies. His experience includes successfully financing high-growth companies, executive recruitment, management of product development efforts, acquisitions, strategic alliances, OEM partnerships and direct-to-consumer marketing and distribution. Gregg has been operating clean technology companies since 2000, most recently as president and CEO of ClearEdge Power.
Deanna Smith - Tri-Cities Liasion
Mary Sullivan - Marketing Co-Chair
Mary Sullivan is co-Founder and principal of KickStart Alliance <http://www.kickstartall.com> , where she leads the clean tech consulting practice. With both technology sales and marketing in her background, she helps clients develop positioning and messaging, content marketing strategy, and leads product launch planning and management. Mary is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Economics of San Francisco State University and developed her concern for renewable energy and water supply issues while attending the PhD Program in Resource Economics at University of California, Berkeley.
Karl Unterschuetz - Sustainability Chair
David Wickwire - Sponsorship Chair, Administrative Co-Chair
John Williams - Public Relations Co-Chair
John has 20 years experience in every facet of marketing and public relations both inside agencies and corporations. He is founder and president at Scoville Public Relations, the Pacific Northwest’s premier clean-tech focused public relations firm, where he and his team represent some of the most promising new bioscience, biofuels, energy efficiency and solar technology companies. His publicity strategies continue to result in features on clients in nearly every respected and influential media outlet in the world. John is also an accomplished writer, and has been published in numerous newspapers and trade journals under his own or his clients’ bylines.
Rocky Mountain
Brian Bartony - Chamber Coordinator Barrett Blank - Technology Chair
Barrett Blank is President of BB2e/BeInventiv. He leverages his 30 years of experience in sales, marketing, technology, process, and business operations in the leadership roles of BeInventiv and BB2e.com. Barrett has served as a sales and marketing executive with Commerce One, Procurepoint, Computer Associates, and eCentral, where he has led teams that have delivered cutting edge technology solutions that resulted in significant increases in sales, reductions in operating expenses, and streamlining of business processes. Barrett earned a B.S. degree in Marketing from Lehigh University.
John Browne - Finance Chair
Carol Carlson - In-Kind Services Chair
Carol Carlson, owner of August-Gram Consulting, Inc., creates strategies for sustainable business operations. From entrepreneurs to established corporations, we define and solve challenging management and technical problems so you can capitalize on growth opportunities. We do this by working side-by-side with your staff to understand the issues, analyze data and apply models to help you make informed decisions. Dr. Carlson received her Ph.D. in Energy Economics with an emphasis in Operations Research from the Colorado School of Mines. She holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in the states of Colorado and Florida.
James Carroll - Alumni Chair
Andrew Cepeda - Volunteer Program Chair
Staci Davis - Event Chair
Kim DeCoste - Sponsor Expansion Chair
Kim is the President of DeCoste & Associates, a career strategy management firm based in Denver that specializes in managing career transitions. Previously, she worked for nearly 20 years in e-Learning and technical recruitment in Los Angeles & Denver. Kim holds leadership roles in the South Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce focused on Renewable Energy, Responsible Government and STEM Education and she is active in the Douglas County School District. She also writes for ICOSA Magazine. Kim earned an MBA in e-commerce in 2005, and her BA in Language Studies & Linguistics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Nancy Fell - Sustainability Chair
Dick Franklin - Regional Director
Richard brings 25 years of CEO, COO, CSO, SVP level experience with corporations such as Reebok, Coors, Head Sports, Seven-Up, TCI, Nestle etc. His expertise is in strategic, organizational and process change which transforms ecological challenges with economic returns. He has done sustainability work, CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects, EMS (Environmental Management Systems), eco-strategies and brand positioning for organizations such as Merrick, Channel 9, Douglas County Schools, St. Mary’s University, Accuwater, Texas Business for Clean Air, etc. Among his many community activities are United Way Denver, Children’s Museum, Renewable Energy Task Force, Audubon Society, Denver South Metro Chamber, Renewable Energy Taskforce, CORE, Clean Start Incubator, Rocky Mountain Cleantech Open, Earth Protect and CCIA. Richard earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; a Master of Business Administration from Dalhousie University, Halifax; and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Commerce degree from SMU, Nova Scotia in 1999. In 2008, the South Metro Chamber awarded Richard the “Volunteer Leader of the Year” award.
Jerry Healey - Mentor and Workshop Chair
Scott Lippit - Special Projects Chair
Marcia McGilley - Workshop Co-Chair
Rich Miller - Marketing Chair
Rich runs studio1143, a Denver-based marketing strategy and creative communications consultancy. He brings 20+ years of marketing and advertising experience across a range of B2C and B2B businesses from consumer packaged goods to restaurants to e-commerce. Rich started as a volunteer for the Cleantech Open in early 2009 and became the Marketing Chair later that year.
Rex O'Neal - Legal Chair
Adam Rentschler - Judging Chair
Wes Schrader - Contestant Chair
Mo Shafroth - Public Relations Partner
