Judges
You can learn more about our judges by clicking on the pictures.
Alex Betts
Partner, Climate Change Capital Private Equity Fund
Formerly Head of Corporate Venture Capital at Royal Dutch Shell and a Partner of Montagu Private Equity. Alex has 20 years experience in private equity and 8 years in cleantech. He has invested in a range of industries, geographies and stages. Board member with Climate Energy, Orège and Soltecture.Fabrice Bienfait
Principal, the Environmental Technologies Fund
Fabrice is a Principal at the Environmental Technologies Fund, focusing on new investments with a particular emphasis on French speaking Europe. Since joining the firm, Fabrice has worked on investments in Chemrec, Elstat, Enablon, Industrial Origami, Kebony, Metalysis and 4energy. Fabrice worked previously at Goldman Sachs' M&A advisory group as part of the Industrials and Natural Resources team. His work covered both public and private transactions, including the renewable energy and environmental services sectors. Fabrice also worked as a strategy consultant at Simat Helliesen & Eichner, focusing on the transportation and aerospace sectors across Europe and Asia. Fabrice is a French national and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MSc in Aerospace Engineering from l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure D'Ingénieurs Des Constructions Aéronautiques.Richard Brass
Director, Berenberg
Richard Brass joined Berenberg in June 2011 and is a member of the management team of Berenberg's UK private banking business. His responsibilities include Berenberg's Entrepreneur's Office and family office advisory business. Having trained as a chartered accountant with KPMG and worked in their corporate finance team, Richard moved to Compass Advisers, an international corporate finance advisory business, where he co-founded their European office. He moved to Montpelier Asset Management in 2006, an emerging markets investment firm before joining Schroders Private Banking in 2008, where he used his experience to advise business owners and entrepreneurs. He is a Director of the recently founded Montpelier Foundation Limited which will look to support charities and social impact businesses globally. He also works with the owners of a wide-range of social impact businesses through his involvement with Wavelength Connect, a global leadership programme for business leaders, entrepreneurs and social innovators.
Jonathan Bryers
Founding Partner, CT Investment Partners LLP
Jonathan is a Founding Partner of CT Investment Partners LLP, and has nearly 10 years experience in the Clean Tech investment field. CT Investment Partners LLP (“CTIP”) is an FSA Authorised Venture Capital and Fund Management Company that advises the UK’s Carbon Trust on its £50m venture capital fund. CTIP also manages a £20M Energy and Environment Fund for the European Investment Bank and ERDF. CTIP is one of the main UK Clean Energy technology investors having made 25 venture investments over the last 9 years and having so far realised three successful exits by way of two IPOs and one trade sale.
CTIP has developed a specific focus on energy efficiency within the telecoms and ICT sector. A number of companies in the portfolio reflect this interest including: 4energy (Free cooling for base stations and data centres), Arieso (Network optimisation), Acal Energy (Back-up power), Camsemi (Energy efficient device chargers), RLtec (Smart Grid), Intamac (Smart buildings and metering), Helveta (Smart Logistics), and Concurrent (Smart IT).
Jonathan joined the Carbon Trust in September 2001, having previously worked at Coller Capital, a private equity Secondaries Fund, and Flemings Investment Management, as a buy-side analyst on the UK and Japanese market. Jonathan holds an MA in Business Studies/French-University of Edinburgh; an MA in Japanese Area Studies from SOAS, London University; and an MSc in Environmental Technology (Energy) from Imperial College, London.
Benoit Charpentier
Senior VP Investments Total Energy Ventures, TOTAL
Benoit Charpentier has been co-heading Total's Corporate Venture activity since its inception in 2008. From 2005 to 2008, he was part of M&A Department of Total's Finance Division, in charge of number of acquisitions. His previous assignments during his 20+ years with Total were mostly in business development related activities. He is a graduate of ESSEC/Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales.Dr. Anton Daubner
CEO, agri.capital
Anton is CEO of agri.capital Luxembourg S.à r.l., one of Europe's leading companies in creation of biogas from renewable feedstock.
agri.capital owns and operates nearly 100 sites in Germany, Italy and Austria with over 60 MW installed capacity. A refinancing of the company in April 2011 secured the equity to grow the biz further. Anton joined agri.capital in November 2009.
Till 2009 he was member of the extended board of GEA Group AG, followed by 5 years of private investments in companies in Germany and the USA. He holds a PhD in Process Engineering from University in Bochum, Germany, and was trained in Business and Administration at Duke University, NC, USA
Colin le Duc
Partner, Generation Investment Management
Colin is Senior Portfolio Manager for Generation's Climate Solutions Fund, a $683mn public and private equity fund investing in companies that are part of the solution to the climate crisis.
Prior to co-founding Generation in 2004, Colin was a Director at Sustainable Asset Management ("SAM") where he worked on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and SAM's sustainable investment funds. He has also worked for Arthur D. Little and Total. Colin holds a BSc in International Management and Modern languages from University of Bath, UK and has completed the Corporate Finance Programme at London Business School. Colin is on the Boards of RecycleBank, Infinite Power Solutions, Business for Social Responsibility and Forest Trends. He speaks fluent French and has lived in 9 countries around the world.
Arun Jayadev
Principal, Wellington Partners
Arun is strengthening the cleantech team since November 2008. As a Principal, his primary task is to source and evaluate new deals and to support the current cleantech portfolio. Arun is a Board Observer on Enstorage, a flow cell based enery storage company focused on grid level solutions. An Indian native, Arun has exclusively focused on the cleantech industry in the last years. He has worked for Spanish S.I. Capital, a private equity firm investing in renewable energy assets, where he conducted extensive analysis on cleantech investments. Prior to this he has worked for a start up electric motorcycle company and also served as an advisor to an Australian Waste to Energy company. He has helped organize five clean technology forums across the world, e.g. the first industry-specific seminar in Spain, which brought together start-up companies, VCs and executives for the first time. Arun started his career as a consultant with Computer Associates on projects in India, the U.S. and various other locations. There, he has managed teams of up to 16 people. He then worked for a startup providing web based enterprise solution in India.
Arun holds a MBA from IESE Business School, Barcelona in 2008, where he took also the opportunity to study one term at UCLA Anderson School of Management, Los Angeles. In 2003, he finished a BE with a focus on computer science with distinction at the Rashtriya Vidhyalaya College of Engineering, Bangalore.
Ian Jenkins
Managing Director, RUSTON wheb
Ian joined RUSTON wheb in 2009 following eight years senior executive search experience gained within two global firms: Mercuri Urval and Odgers Ray Berndtson. At the latter, Ian was Partner in the Technology practice where he built and led the firm's global Cleantech practice. Before joining the search industry, Ian had 13 years of board experience, ten of which were at CEO level. During this time he led businesses within the technology sector through IPO and MBI transactions. Ian's former corporate career was within brands marketing and general management for a number of blue chip FMGC multinational corporations including Glaxo and Tambrands. Ian holds a BSc in Materials Science from Sussex University and a DPhil in Engineering.
Cédric Latessa
Investment Manager, Aster Capital
Prior to joining Aster Capital in 2010, Cédric has been active in Venture Capital for the past 10 years. He first held long term internships in early stage VC funds like Mangrove (Luxembourg), Mileno Capital (Spain) and FCJE (France). He also worked for a year at the EIF, Europe's leading fund of funds.
Cédric started his career at BIP (Luxembourg) where he was responsible for investing in early and later stage technology funds and made 8 co-investments with them as well as 2 direct investments. He subsequently joined DFJ Esprit (UK) as an Investment Manager where he led the fundraising efforts and deal flow sourcing activities in Cleantech and tech related companies in Europe. He also co-founded or has been closely involved with three Cleantech companies.
Cédric has 3 master degrees including 2 from Sciences Po Paris in Finance and European politics and is fluent in Spanish and English.
Cédric is responsible for managing the investment in OST.
Jana Mansour
Partner, Morrison & Foerster
Based in New York, Jana Mansour is a partner in Morrison & Foerster's Project Finance and Development Group.
He has represented sponsors, borrowers and lenders in high value finance transactions, involving a variety of assets located in the U.S., Mexico, Bolivia, Australia, Papua New Guinea, China, and several European countries. He recently represented Spain's Acciona Energia in the $375 million financing of a 250 MW wind farm in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Mr. Mansour also represents developers and contractors in the negotiation of engineering, procurement and construction contracts, O&M agreements and long term service agreements. Since 2008, he has represented Toshiba Corporation and its subsidiaries in connection with the development of the South Texas Units 3&4 nuclear energy project in Texas.
Mr. Mansour is a member of the New York and Québec bars and the Law Society of England and Wales. He was recommended in the Legal 500 US 2011 edition.
Stephen Marcus
Senior Analyst, Cleantech Group
Stephen is a senior analyst in Cleantech Group's Research & Advisory team, the leading market intelligence company focused on cleantech innovation. Stephen has been with the company for over 2 years and his responsibilities include: leading the content development on European cleantech companies in Cleantech Group's interactive webtool, i3; delivering custom research projects that are focused on advising corporates on how best to insource cleantech innovation; and engaging in business development and account management of a selection of Cleantech Group's European venture capital and corporate clients. Prior to joining the Cleantech Group, Stephen worked in the Fixed Income Currency and Commodities department at Citi and as an auditor at KPMG. Stephen graduated from University College London with a BSc in Economics and was placed on the Deans List for academic excellence.Bart Markus
Partner, Wellington Partners
Apart from being a veteran VC, Bart is a seasoned and passionate entrepreneur and is renowned for his relentless drive (and lack of patience therein) to internationalise companies and helping them to become successful beyond Europe by conquering the US or Asia. A Dutch native, he has been a General Partner at Wellington since 2000. He primarily focuses on process technologies, in particular in the Electronics and Cleantech areas.
Bart manages an impressive collection of companies located in Europe and the US. Many have already made the successful leap to the US or are successfully opening up new foreign markets. Past investments include Navteq (NASDAQ: NVT; sold to Nokia in 2007), Meiosys (sold to IBM in 2005), Nawotec (sold to Carl Zeiss in 2005) and Q-Layer (sold to Sun Microsystems in 2009).
Prior to the past ten years which he spent as an investor in Tech companies, Bart has co-founded three companies including the MRI Centre, now a highly successful chain of private medical diagnostic clinics. He also set up and acted as CEO for ePearle, a pan-European B2B eCommerce start-up.
Before Wellington, Bart was an investment professional at HAL Investments and an Associate at McKinsey working in Holland and South Africa. He started his career as a process control system and project engineer with Shell in Norway. Bart holds an MSc in Applied Physics from Twente University of Technology in The Netherlands and an MBA from INSEAD in France.
Bernhard J Mohr
Senior Investment Manager, BASF Venture Capital
Bernhard Mohr works for BASF Venture Capital as Senior Investment Manager since 2006. He has held senior positions in the BASF Group since 1996 and brings to BASF Venture Capital an international expertise in marketing, finance, corporate development and research & development. Bernhard studied chemistry at the Universities of Stuttgart, Germany and Cincinnati, USA and earned a doctorate from the Max-Planck-Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz, Germany. Prior to joining BASF he held postdoctoral appointments in Japan, France and USA.Fergus Munro
Business Development Leader, GE Energy
Fergus Munro is Business Development Leader - Europe for GE Energy. With revenues of $28 billion and activities in over 100 countries, GE Energy is a world leader in the development and manufacture of capital goods for the production and distribution of electricity. GE Energy has a prominent presence in Europe, including manufacturing facilities in Austria, France, Germany, Hungary and the UK.
Fergus is responsible for GE Energy's corporate acquisition strategy in Europe, identifying and executing acquisition opportunities that will strengthen GE's technology portfolio and enhance the company's growth prospects. Since joining GE Energy in 2006, Fergus has led numerous transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $800 million, including the acquisitions of Sondex plc, Kelman Ltd and Novat et Bey SA.
Fergus qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Price Waterhouse prior to joining GE's Corporate Audit Staff in 1998. Subsequently, Fergus joined GE Capital's European business development team where he spent 7 years before joining GE Energy.
Prof. Dr. Ferdinand Panik
Professor at University of Applied Science in Esslingen, Germany
1961- 1967 Studying Electrical Engineering at the Technical University Berlin (TUB)
1967- 1972 Scientific Assistant at the Institute of Technical Mechanics of the TUB
1972 Engineering Doctorate TUB 1972 - 2002 Daimler- Benz
1972 - 1989 Daimler - Benz Research Group
1986 Appointed Director and Head of the Daimler - Benz Research Group
1989 - 1996 Mercedes- Benz do Brasil (MBBras)
Member of the Management Board of MBBras responsible for Truck and Bus Devel-opment.
1996 - 2002 Vice- President of DaimlerChrysler (DC) and Head of the Group` s strategic Fuel Cell Project
1997 President and CEO of the DC/Ford/Ballard Joint Venture Xcellsys and Member of the Boards of Ballard Power Systems in Vancouver and Ecostar in Detroit.
2003 - today University of Applied Science (50%) and Independent Engineering Services (50%) Professor of Alternative Vehicles Member of the Technical Advisory Board of Michelin Challenge Bibendum . Member of the Board of the Venture Capital Company Conduit Venture in London. Member of the Board of the Danish Start - up company Amminex. Contracted since 2002 by the Electric Power Research Institute in Californian for vari-ous projects on Alternative Vehicles. Consultant of the European Union` s Research Programs. Business and Product Development Programs with various companies and groups (Mahle, ebmpabst, EuroEngineering, Powertech Labs in Canada, Ministerium of Transportation and Environment Baden- Württemberg)
Special Awards:
1997 Hon. Professor of the University of Applied Science Esslingen 2001 Selected by Business Week as one of the 50 European Leaders at the "Forefront of Change". 2002 Honored by the British Industry with the "Grove- Medal" for Leadership in advancing Fuel Cell Technology 2010 Honored by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) as SAE Fellow for " Exceptional Professional Distinction by reason of outstanding and extraordinary Qualification, Experience and sustained Accomplishment in the Field of Mobility Engineering".
Andrew Perry
Head of Network Strategy, Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC)
Andrew leads DECC's strategy for smart grids and electricity system flexibility. His team focus on meeting the challenges that the UK electricity system will face as a result of the low carbon transition, including policy to develop flexible solutions such as demand-side response, storage and interconnection. This involves working closely with a broad range of players in the industry from the major utilities, networks and manufacturers, to communications and technology companies both large and small.
Prior to joining DECC Andrew worked as a strategy consultant for 5 years on a broad range of projects in a variety of sectors, most recently with Roland Berger in London. He holds an MSc in Public Policy and a BA in Economics and Philosophy, both from University College London.
Lorraine Ruckstuhl
Co-head of the Technology, Media &Telecoms, Barclays Corporate
Lorraine Ruckstuhl is the co -head of the Technology, Media &Telecoms team at Barclays Corporate.
Lorraine leads a team of more than 10 dedicated technology Relationship Directors who specialise in providing the specific funding mix required to support the sector most effectively.
Lorraine has 20 years experience of corporate and investment banking. Before joining the Technology, Media & Telecoms team, she spent five years in Debt Finance at Barclays, arranging and providing acquisition finance and term debt facilities to a variety of corporates.
Before that she spent seven years as a Relationship Director working with large UK and European based media clients, which took her regularly to France, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.
"I enjoy getting to know customers, understanding their businesses and supporting them to grown and achieve their goals," she says.
Originally from Yorkshire, Lorraine went to High School in the USA before returning to university in the UK. She lives in north London and is a season ticket holder at Arsenal, which is within walking distance from her house..
Patrick Sheehan
Partner, Environmental Technologies Fund
Patrick is a founding partner of ETF - the Environmental Technologies Fund. He has over 20 years experience in Venture Capital, in the UK, mainland Europe, Israel and the USA, where he was the founding MD of 3i's Silicon Valley operation.
Patrick is the current Chairman of the European Venture Capital Association's Venture Capital Committee, and is a member of the EVCA Board and Executive Committee.
Patrick started his career as a research engineer at GEC and as a technical consultant for Marconi Space Systems. He has a PhD in electronic engineering from University College London.
Andre Shortell
Partner, GP Bullhound
Andre joined GP Bullhound as a Partner in 2010. Prior to joining, Andre was an independent adviser to companies and investment funds in the clean tech sector. Andre also spent 26 years in a number of senior roles in Citigroup including MNC Corporate Banking Head for CEEMEA, India Corporate Head, Global Autos Specialist and New Issues Head in London. He also ran Merchant Acquiring for Citibank and led the sale of that business in 2005. Andre brings to the team 10 years of involvement in renewable energy as well as experience in Corporate Finance, M&A and Emerging Markets. He also brings a broad international experience having spent much of his career in Europe and Asia as well as close personal ties to Brazil. Andre has a MA degree in International History from the London School of Economics.Mossadiq Umedaly
Executive Chairman, Enecsys
Mossadiq S. Umedaly, current Executive Chairman of Enecsys, has over 22 years of experience growing cleantech businesses. In April 2010, Umedaly became a Venture Partner with Wellington Partners, a pan-European venture capital firm. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2009, he was the chairman of BC Hydro, a $5 billion electric utility. From 1999 to 2008, as Chairman and CEO of power electronics company, Xantrex Technology Inc., he transformed the $10 million test and measurement Company into a world leader in renewable power markets, took it public and ultimately sold it in 2008 to strategic acquirers for $500 million. From 1990 to 1998, he drove the growth of fuel cell pioneer Ballard Power systems as VP and CFO; during his tenure, the company went public and increased its market capitalization from $10 million to $6 billion.
Umedaly started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers and subsequently held senior positions in the Aga Khan Development Network. He is a member of several important university, non-profit, and government advisory boards focused on cleantech, education and the environment. He has a B.Com, FCA, and a LL.D (hon).
Josef R Wuensch
Managing Director, BASF Ventures
Josef R. Wuensch has been the CTO of BASF Venture Capital since July 2006. He began his career in 1992 in research and development at BASF.
Following this he had responsibilities in technical services and marketing for Polystyrene (packaging, refrigeration, white goods) and was made market development manager for Special Polymer applications.
In 2000 he moved inside the BASF Group to North America, where he took over as business manager for Special Polymers in the North American headquarters in New Jersey.
He returned to Germany in 2004 where he worked in global innovations as senior manager in strategic planning. Josef R. Wuensch studied Chemistry at the University of Göttingen.
Richard Youngman
Managing Director Europe & VP, Global Research, Cleantech Group
Richard Youngman is based in Cleantech Group's office in London and is responsible for the company's global membership offering - its industry-leading data, research, and conferences - as well as driving the growth of the group's activities in Europe, India and the Middle East.
Most recently, he was Vice President of Research & Operations at Library House, where he ran the Library House Research team, which discovered and collected the information about high-growth companies that underpinned that company's data, analytical, and event services.
Before Library House, Richard ran his own advisory firm conducting research and consulting on the measurement and evaluation of intangible assets and intellectual capital for organizations such as the European Commission. This followed nine years building a broad-based finance and research background with leading financial institutions such as ABN AMRO, Barclays Capital and BZW in the City of London. His work was centered on the debt markets and revolved around financing M&A deals and advising clients on achieving alignment between their financial and strategic plans.
Richard has an MA from Cambridge University, and an MBA from Theseus International Management Institute, Sophia Antipolis, France.
Markus Ziegler
Innogy Venture Capital
Mr. Ziegler brings more than a decade of experience in all aspects of venture capital, mergers and acquisitions and board directorships. He has also been a start-up company co-founder and investor himself. Prior to Innogy Venture Capital Mr. Ziegler spent several years advising private equity funds and as a Partner at eCapital AG, Münster. Marcus was partner for SIEMENS Venture (smac GmbH) where he executed 10 venture capital investments and realised three trade sale exits. In parallel to his Siemens engagement Ziegler was a board member of several companies and was Managing Director of Jentro GmbH. Previously Marcus was head of M&A and Business Development for O2 Germany where he led several strategy and M&A transactions.
Mr. Ziegler is on the board of Heliatek GmbH (Germany) and StirlingDK ApS (Denmark).
Marcus Ziegler holds a Masters in Business Administration from the RWTH Aachen, and a Masters in Computer Science from the Technical University in Karlsruhe. He is a German national.
