Cleantech Leaders Roundtable

We are immensely grateful to everyone who joined us for our incredible networking dinner during New York Climate Week on Monday! It was a fantastic evening filled with many insightful conversations. A big thank you to all our attendees for the incredible support as we welcomed our new CEO, Ann Davlin, into her role. Your spirit of collaboration and shared vision defines our vibrant community. A special note of appreciation to Dr. Vanessa Z Chan, Chief Commercialization Officer at the Department of Energy, for her inspirational remarks. Her energy and insights have left us all more motivated for the important work ahead. Thank you once again for being part of this memorable evening. We are excited about the future and look forward to continuing our journey together in driving impactful change. #NYClimateWeek #Cleantechleaders #Networking #Leadership #Innovation Jacob Susman, Loren Blackford, Al Subbloie, David Magid, Erin O'Shaughnessy, Micah Kotch, Patrick Gilmartin, Richard Dovere, Sara Axelrod, Julian Dash, Allison Myers, Arash Nazhad, Elizabeth Halliday, Cully Cavness, Hanan Fishman, Jane Park, Jason Salfi, Laura Hickernell, Mark Barnett, Janice Tran, Patrick Verdonck, Jo Trahms, Shazim Chhapra, Paige Carratturo, Tom Matzzie, Sara Mattern, Susan Betcher

We are thrilled to welcome Ann Davlin as the new CEO of CTLR! With a vision to propel us into a bold, cleaner future, she is set to lead with innovation and passion. Dive into our press release to discover more about her dynamic background. Welcome to our incredible team, Ann! #CleantechLeaders

We are still riding the wave of excitement from our sold-out lunch event near RE+ last week! It was incredible to see such a dynamic turnout, with industry leaders and innovators all eager to engage in meaningful conversations. The dialogue was robust, reflecting the buzzing energy and crucial discussions of RE+. Our community's passion and insight were palpable in every interaction, making it a truly memorable gathering. A big thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to the vibrant discussions. We are already looking forward to our next event and continuing these important conversations! Tom Weirich, Tim Hade, Paige Carratturo, Raina Tillman Hornaday, Jacob Susman, Mark Barnett, Sara Mattern, Kevin Doffing, Erin O'Shaughnessy, Peter Kelley, Allan Abela, Jamie Boyd, Marium Nisa, Jesse Grossman, Jacquelyn Omosunbo Omotalade, Nathan Arbitman, Alan Cordova, Rachel Permut, Jeff Weiss, Jo Trahms, Aviv Shalgi #RE+ #CleantechLeaders #Networking #CleanEnergy #Events

"I visited the University of Cambridge, and went to the room that Isaac Newton lived in. Growing up in rural India, in a lower middle-class farming family—that was just never a possibility, right?" CTLR Member Mahesh Konduru is featured in our #HumansofCleantech series this month. "To think I would be in the same room as Newton, it blew my mind. It instills in you this sense of, 'Hey, you need to do your part to contribute.' You have this wonderful opportunity that was given to you. "I grew up in Hyderabad, India. Although my parents came from a farming family, they wanted their kids to have a good education. "I was a very good student, one of the higher-ranking kids in my class, and naturally gravitated towards math and science. "My favorite subject was chemistry. There was structure to it, carbon molecules stacked next to each other. I didn't really get bothered by how voluminous the molecules were. Those hexagon shapes were fascinating! "In the last two years of high school, I didn't have a life besides studying. I ended up getting a good score that translated into admission to a top-tier undergrad school. "I met people from different parts of India. One of them got us into hard metal music. Before you knew it, I was wearing earrings, had a cross with a skull, and became a big Guns N' Roses and Metallica fan, grew a goatee, all that stuff. Rock and roll was a big deal. "I ended up doing well, I could have done much better. My undergrad was focused on shedding the hard work that I did, and enjoying myself a little bit more. "I started looking at what it would take to come to the U.S. for grad school and applied to the University of Akron. "In the second or third year of your PhD, you start reporting your experimental data to publications and conferences. "I was awarded the best presentation award at a regional conference. In a technical field, there is a certain skill in communicating in simple terms. It was a good validation of the path I was on. "As a person involved in technology, it's good to be mindful of the unintended consequences of scientific advancement. It teaches you to be mindful. "I ended up attending MIT for my MBA after some work experience. This was a game changer for me in many ways. I met my wife there and it catapulted me to be an investor and C-level executive. "I worked as a venture capital investor and traveled all around the world helping CEOs and CFOs. I love that aspect of understanding leadership and what it takes to make impactful decisions for companies that uplift the standard of living for everybody around the world. "That became my mantra—I want to be involved in ventures that improve the standard of living for everybody on Earth. "I'm part of both traditional and new energy. I think the world needs both. We just need to be responsible in how we use them."

Congratulations to CTLR Member Janice Tran for this special honor by the Houston Business Journal!

We had a fantastic time at the Houston Astros game this Tuesday, hosting an unforgettable evening for industry leaders! It was a pleasure to connect and deepen connections in such a relaxed and spirited setting. Our exclusive guest, Jose Cruz, legendary former outfielder for the Astros, also joined us for a special meet and greet. Even though the Red Sox clinched the win, the evening was a home run in terms of community and conversation. We are immensely grateful to our generous sponsors— Insperity, Utility Global, and CAMS — for their support. Your commitment to fostering the cleantech community is truly appreciated! Personal shout out to Greg Heinlein for helping to make this event a reality when the idea was brought about in March and to Paul Dunphy, Mike Walker, CBPA, & John Sorrentino for working with us to bring the idea to fruition! We are looking forward to more great moments like this in future events. Let’s continue to drive change, together! #CleantechLeaders #Networking #AstrosGame #CommunityBuilding Kevin Doffing, Tom Weirich, Marium Nisa, Paul Dunphy, Mike Walker, CBPA, Greg Heinlein, Claus Nussgruber, Brian Ivany, Geraldine Gray, Michael Lee, Arash Nazhad, Sean Kelly, Adil Jafry, John Mossop, Nicole Forward

“26 years old, living in New York City with 3-year-old twins, it was time to get out. We could move to New Jersey or we could move to Hungary. Luckily, my wife is a great adventurer. CTLR Board Member Ari Raivetz is featured in our #HumansofCleantech series this month. “A couple months later, we rented the apartment out and moved to Hungary to run this business. I was passionate about the company—this technology for treating wastewater in a botanical garden, and you can put it in the middle of a community. “I grew up in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, 10 minutes west of Philadelphia. Both my parents were educators. They might say I was always a planner, and strategic planning has been a pervasive part of my career. “I was pretty into sports, and basketball was my favorite. When I was in seventh grade, Kobe Bryant went to my school. “He came to the basketball court where I played every day. I was 5'11" and was forced to guard him. “I remember I fouled him pretty hard and he went down on his knee. He got up and for the rest of the game just destroyed me. “Going into my junior year, I spent a summer in Israel on a program called Masada, where I worked on a kibbutz. “Back then, it was mostly an agricultural community. I worked in the fields, doing assembly, and in the kitchen. “They were growing their own food in excess. That was part of the way the kibbutz survived and sustained; distributing the food to others as well. “When I graduated, I got a job as an oil and gas analyst and was traveling all over Texas and Arkansas, going to these frack sites when they were first figuring out how to frack, and seeing with my own eyes the devastation to the planet that occurs from some of these actions. “This was all happening when my twin daughters were born, and I just hated myself, seeing this emerging cleantech industry, and knowing what I was doing. “That was a pretty transformative period in my life. The day I paid off my loans from school I said, ‘The rest of my career, I'm paying back this debt to the planet that I accrued.’ “Because of my startup experience, I was hired to run the private investments in a fund focused on water and water technology. One day, one of the founders called me up and said, 'How'd you like to move to Hungary?’ “You meet all these expat families, and you tell them, ‘We're going to be here for a year,’ and they're like, ‘No, you're not.’ Everybody says that. We did not expect to be there for four years! “I knew from being a cleantech investor: We have technologies that we need to save the world. The problem is deploying and implementing them. “It’s Einstein’s rule: If we keep designing things the same way we have for the past, nothing will change.”

We are excited that CTLR member Suzanne Hunt is featured in this Green Light podcast episode. Suzanne has a wealth of knowledge and experience, so please take some time to listen in on this great conversation.

Check out our latest CXO Interview with Nicole Bulgarino, Executive Vice President at Ameresco. The Department of Defense is one of the largest consumers of energy in the U.S., and for over a decade, Ameresco has been enabling the DoD to decarbonize & transition to renewable energy. Nicole has personally overseen the development & implementation of over $3 billion of sustainable solutions in federal & government energy projects. Catherine McLean, CEO & Founder of Dylan Green, spoke with Nicole about this, as well as about Ameresco’s recent military projects in places like California and Hawaii. https://lnkd.in/gzUK923k

Did you catch our latest CXO Interview with Geraldine Gray, CEO of Endiem | Salesforce Partner? Listen in for this highlight, and more: "To stay in business for a long time, you need to be resilient and grind it out. There’s no easy button for making your business successful. You need to look for continuous improvement within the organization — how can you make it 1% better, 1% more accurate, 1% more efficient, save 1% of the budget? And that continuous improvement is challenging, so you need to be okay with accepting accountability if you get some negative feedback." Thanks to Mike Casey at Tigercomm for the insightful interview. https://lnkd.in/gzUK923k