Awards Ceremony Keynotes

Carl Schramm
President & CEO, Kauffman Foundation

Carl Schramm is recognized internationally as an authority on entrepreneurial innovation, job creation, and economic growth. The Wall Street Journal has cited his “prescient” work and The Economist hailed him as “the evangelist of entrepreneurship.”

He is president and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the world’s premier organization dedicated to creating new firms and understanding the role they play in economic growth. The Kauffman Foundation is the leading private funder of economic research related to growth and innovation in the United States. The Foundation also plays a leading role in educational reform.

Schramm is credited with opening a new field of inquiry—expeditionary economics. His essay in Foreign Affairs (April 2010) describes this emerging area of economic thought, which focuses on rebuilding economies in post-conflict nations, including Iraq and Afghanistan.

Schramm’s research on how entrepreneurship fuels economic expansion led him to play a prominent role in the December 2009 White House jobs summit. Schramm chaired the National Advisory Commission on Measuring Innovation during George W. Bush’s presidency. In addition, he has advised government leaders worldwide on promoting job growth and economic expansion. In 2009, he was appointed by the Prime Minister of Singapore to serve on the country’s Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council.

Before joining Kauffman, Schramm served as a professor of health finance and policy at The Johns Hopkins University, founded several companies in health care finance and information technology, served as executive vice president of Fortis, and established a merchant banking firm. He was chairman of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission and a member of the Maryland Health and Higher Educational Facilities Authority.

Schramm is a prolific writer whose commentary often runs in publications such as Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, and The Financial Times. He frequently appears on CNBC and Fox Business News. His two books, Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism (with Robert Litan and William Baumol, now published in eight languages) and The Entrepreneurial Imperative, are considered international classics in their field for their insights into economic growth. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Batten Fellow in the Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia. He earned degrees in economics and law and holds several honorary doctorates. In 2005, he received the University of Rochester’s George Eastman Medal.

Lori Wigle
General Manager, Eco-Technology Program Office, Intel Corporation; President, Climate Savers Computing Initiative

Lorie Wigle leads Intel’s Eco-Technology effort which is focused on the sustainable manufacturing and usage of Intel’s products. This corporate-wide function drives Intel’s market position across energy efficient performance and design for the environment. In this capacity Lorie also drives external programs related to client, server and data center efforts including Intel’s participation in Green Grid and the Climate Savers Computing Initiative. Prior to this position, Lorie was the Director of Server Technology and Initiatives Marketing for Intel. In that role, she and her team were responsible for Intel Virtualization Technology offerings as well as Intel Dynamic Power Technology and other advanced platform capabilities. Her organization also drove industry engagement on memory and I/O for server platforms. Lorie has been with Intel for 24 years in a wide variety of Marketing and Product Planning roles and was the General Manager of Intel’s Internet Imaging Services group. She has an MBA from Portland State University and a BA degree from the University of Oregon.

Joel Serface
Managing Director, Serface Ventures

Joel is one of the early cleantech voices, investors, community-builders, and policy-supporters. Over the past 11 years, Joel has created or funded more than 20 cleantech companies, non-profits, and policy organizations. Most recently, Joel served as the first Entrepreneur in Residence at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Joel previously headed renewable energy efforts at the Austin Clean Energy Incubator, Eastman Ventures, and Sierra Ventures.

Joel is currently focused on accelerating innovations from lab-to-market, building start-ups, and supporting policies that will massively scale energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment. His personal passions are helping close the energy financing and philosophical gaps between Silicon Valley and Texas and creating scalable social mobilization tools that can quickly scale energy efficiency.

Joel serves on the boards of the Clean Economy Network, the CleanTX Foundation, and the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association. Joel received his B.S. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from The University of Texas at Austin and M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management where he was the recipient of the first Patrick McGovern Award for Entrepreneurial Leadership for starting the first MIT Venture Capital Conference.

VIP Dinner Keynote

Jeremy Kalin
Chair, Coalition of Legislators for Energy Action Now (CLEAN)

MN Representative Kalin gained real world experience in energy efficiency and conservation as a designer and draftsman for Natural Spaces Domes, a local, family‐owned company specializing in energy‐efficient geodesic dome homes. Kalin’s real world experience led to chief‐authoring in his first term the nation’s strongest Energy Efficiency and Conservation standard – the cornerstone of the historic Next Generation Energy Act of 2007. For his work on the Energy Committee, Rep. Kalin was named a 2007 Legislative All Star by Fresh Energy Minnesota. In addition to co‐chairing the Green Jobs Task Force, Rep. Kalin is an advocate for green jobs and sustainability throughout the state. He also serves on the Energy Finance and Policy, Local Government, Government Operations, Reform, Technology and Elections, and State Government Finance committees. Jeremy served as the Chair of the White House task force, CLEAN (U.S. Coalition of Legislators for Energy Action Now).

Master of Ceremonies

Neal Dikeman
Partner, Jane Capital Partners

Neal is a founding partner of Jane Capital Partners LLC, a cleantech merchant bank whose clients have included the technology arms of multinational energy companies. He has served as a director of several technology companies, is chief blogger for Cleantech Blog, named one of the 50 Best Business Blogs by the London Times, and chairs industry portal Cleantech.org.

He is currently the Chairman of Jane Capital’s recently acquired Greenhome.com operating company, the original ecommerce ecostore. He is a cofounder and director of venture backed carbon IT startup Carbonflow, a Jane Capital spin-out in SaaS worfklow for the carbon markets where he served as founding CEO and raised the first two rounds of finance.

Prior to that he cofounded Jane Capital spin-out SC Power Systems, Inc. and its successor Zenergy Power plc (AIM:ZEN) in superconductor technology for the power grid, helped launch WaiterPad POS Systems, Inc. in wireless hospitality POS solutions, and led the spin-out of Fideris, Inc. in fuel cell test & measurement. He previously served as Director of Business Development for Globalgate, the parent company of Yellowpages.com, and as an associate at private equity fund manager Doyle & Boissiere. Before entering private equity, he began his career in energy investment banking at Bankers Trust, and has a B.A. from Texas A&M University.

Speakers

Trond Unneland
Managing Director, Chevron Technology Ventures

Trond Unneland, PhD, is vice president of the Venture Capital business unit of Chevron Technology Ventures. In this capacity, he is responsible for identifying and investing in promising new technology that can deliver a clear competitive advantage and superior financial returns for Chevron.

A native of Norway, Unneland graduated from Stavanger University where he earned a bachelor of science degree in petroleum engineer and a master of science degree in reservoir engineering. He later received his doctor of technical sciences from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. He also served as a visiting scholar at Stanford University, and has worked for the Norwegian Industry Attaché at the Royal Norwegian Consulate General, San Francisco, CA.

In 1984, Unneland began his professional career as a petroleum engineer with Statoil in Bergen, Norway, working in offshore oil production operations. After serving in various positions of increasing responsibility, he was named vice president of information technology in 1998.

Unneland joined Chevron in 2000 as technology account manager for Chevron Energy Technology Company. In 2004, he was named managing director and country manager for Chevron Denmark, where he was responsible for leading all of the company’s upstream operations and serving on the executive leadership team for all of Chevron’s European upstream business.

In 2006, he returned home as managing director and country manager for Chevron Norway with management responsibility for technical, financial, personnel, planning, and reporting for the company’s upstream business. Unneland assumed his current post in August 2007.

The author of numerous articles on reservoir management and well dynamics, Unneland has been cited as an expert source in more than 100 international technical papers. He has been recognized three times by the Society of Petroleum Engineers for his service to the organization.

Unneland is currently a board observer for the four portfolio companies Brightsource Energy, DynaPump, RealityMobile and Southwest Windpower.

Chuck Reed
Mayor, San Jose

Chuck Reed is the 64th Mayor of San José. Elected on November 7, 2006, Chuck was sworn into office the following January by his daughter, Air Force Major Kim Campbell.

Chuck was born on August 15, 1948 and was raised in the small farming town of Garden City, Kansas. His family lived in a public housing project, teaching him from an early age the importance of government aide for working families.  Chuck left Kansas to attend the United States Air Force Academy and went on to serve in Thailand during the Vietnam War. He received a Master’s Degree in Public Affairs from Princeton University and graduated from Stanford Law School. After passing the bar, Chuck began working as an attorney in San José handling environmental, employment, land use and real estate law, and commercial litigation.

As Mayor of San José, Chuck is committed to improving the quality of life in the city, boosting the public’s trust in local government, and fixing the City’s structural budget deficit. The Reed Reforms, a comprehensive strategy to return honesty, fiscal responsibility, and open government to City Hall, are part of Chuck’s vision to make the political process more accessible to the general public. The reforms require further disclosure from elected officials, add restrictions on lobbyists, and increase the role of citizens in San José government.

Lesa Mitchell
Vice President, Advancing Innovation, Kauffman Foundation

Lesa Mitchell is a vice president with the Kauffman Foundation. She has been responsible for the Foundation’s frontier work in understanding the policy levers that influence the advancement of innovation from universitieLesa Mitchells into the commercial market and the new relationships between disease philanthropy and for profit companies.

Under Mitchell’s leadership, the Foundation is defining and codifying alternative commercialization pathways, and identifying new models to foster innovation. Mitchell was instrumental in the founding of the Kauffman Innovation Network/ iBridge Network, the Translational Medicine Alliance, the National Academies-based University–Industry Partnership and leader in the replication of innovator-based mentor programs across the U.S.  In addition, Mitchell serves on the boards of Gazelle Growth in Denmark, the University of Kansas Institute for Commercialization and is an advisor to the Institute for Pediatric Innovation.

Prior to joining Kauffman, Mitchell spent twenty years of her career in global executive roles at Aventis, Quintiles, and Marion Laboratories and ran an electronic clinical trials consulting business in support of global pharmaceutical clients.

Rebecca Cavagnari
VP Marketing, Hara Energy Partners
Fund Manager, Avante Capital Partners

Rebecca Cavagnari, VP of Marketing at Hara Energy Partners and Fund Manager at Avante Capital Fund, has been involved with Cleantech Open for the past four years as a volunteer, mentor and category champion.  For the last two years she has also been the primary research contact and manages the alumni surveys and research data.  Most recently she has been working on a National Research Study with VB/Research, to survey all the Cleantech Open alumni companies along with the MIT Enterprise Forum’s Ignite Clean Energy Competition alumni.  She will be presenting the most recent cleantech survey data and findings conducted between September and October of 2010.

Marc Gottschalk
Chief Business Development Officer and General Counsel, Proterra

Proterra’s Chief Business Development Officer and General Counsel Marc Gottschalk is focused on accelerating Proterra’s transit bus business. Having served as co-chair of the Energy and Clean Technology practice at Silicon Valley powerhouse law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati (WSGR) prior to joining Proterra, Mr. Gottschalk has tremendous insight to help Proterra accomplish the company’s overall business mission.

Mr. Gottschalk, named a California Superlawyer by Law and Politics Magazine from 2006-2010, is one of a small inner circle in Silicon Valley who pioneered the U.S. cleantech sector and helped shape it into a new driver for global innovation and economic growth. WSGR’s cleantech practice has helped dozens of innovative cleantech companies, including Proterra, go to market since 2003. Mr. Gottschalk is also a co-founder of the Cleantech Open, the world leading organization that provides all the resources inventors and entrepreneurs need to take their cleantech innovations from concept to operating business. Mr. Gottschalk continues to be a California-based advisor to WSGR and remains on the board of the Cleantech Open.

Mr. Gottschalk holds a Bachelor of Arts from Grinnell College in Iowa and a Juris Doctor degree with honors from University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

Rex Northen
Executive Director, Cleantech Open

Rex Northen is Executive Director of Cleantech Open and an entrepreneur with a long history of building and managing companies and successful teams. As founder and CEO of technology companies in both Europe and the United States, Northen has extensive product development, management and technical expertise. He has worked with hundreds of diverse companies, ranging from startups to global corporations. Northen has led Cleantech Open since January 2009, overseeing the growth of the California-based nonprofit from its Bay Area roots to a national organization with regional operations based in Silicon Valley, Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis and Boston. He also directed the establishment of the Global Cleantech Open in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation. Northen holds an M.A. from the University of Oxford.