Executive Committee
Mitch Tyson, Tyson Associates (Co-Chair)
Mitch Tyson is a high tech executive and entrepreneur. He serves on a number of corporate, non-profit, and governmental advisory boards. He advises early stage companies and entrepreneurs and lectures on clean energy, entrepreneurship, management, and the triple bottom line.
Mitch was CEO of Advanced Electron Beams (AEB) a venture backed cleantech company between 2005 and 2010. AEB is an industrial energy efficiency company that supplies compact electron beam emitters that replace thermal and chemical processes, improving sustainability and reducing costs in a broad range of industries. In 2003 Mitch served as interim CEO at AmberWave Systems, a venture backed IP company developing a range of material science technologies for the semiconductor and solar industries. Earlier Mitch was the CEO of PRI Automation, a publicly traded corporation that supplied automation systems to the semiconductor industry. From 1987 to 2002, he held positions of increasing management responsibility, and helped grow the company from $4 million to over $300 million. Previously, Mitch worked at GCA Corporation as Director of Product Management (1985-1987) and served as science advisor and legislative assistant for energy to U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas (1979-1985).
Mitch is a co-founder of the New England Clean Energy Council and serves on its Executive Committee. He is also a member of the Mass High Tech Council Board and serves as the head of the Clean Energy and Sustainability Team. Mitch is a founding member of the Progressive Business Leaders Network and is co-chair of its Energy/ Environment Working Group. Mitch also serves on the executive and governing boards of John Adams Innovation Institute and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.
In 2008, the Mass High Tech Journal named Mitch a Mass High Tech All-Star for his leadership in and commitment to the clean energy sector. Mitch has served on the board of ten public, private, and venture backed company boards in a variety of technology areas and currently serves on the Board of Photronics and the Advisory Board of Greener U.
He has a bachelors degree in Physics, a masters degree in Nuclear Engineering, and a second masters in Political Science, all from MIT.
Hemant Taneja, Managing Director, General Catalyst Partners (Co-Chair)
Hemant is the Co-Founder and Co-Chair of the New England Clean Energy Council. As a Managing Director of General Catalyst Partners, Hemant invests in technology-intensive software, hardware and services in clean energy and internet communications. He is a Board member of Humedica, Hunch, Lumenz, Mascoma, Modular Wind, Sand9 and Stion. Hemant is also the co-founder and Chairman of Sunborne Energy, a General Catalyst portfolio company that is focused on commercializing utility scale solar power in India. Previously, Hemant also served on the Board of SiteAdvisor, a General Catalyst investment that was acquired by McAfee (MFE) in April 2006. Before joining General Catalyst in 2002, Hemant was co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Isovia, a Boston-based mobile software and applications company that was acquired by JP Mobile (MOT) in 2001. Hemant is the co-founder & Chairman of the New England Clean Energy Council (NECEC.org), a non-profit, focused on advancing New England's clean energy economy to global leadership. The U.S. Department of Energy presented the Energy Innovator Award to the Council in 2008 for its successful execution. Hemant is also on the Board of Directors of the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a quasi-public agency, The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a non-profit organization focused on helping entrepreneurs, and the GreenLight Fund, which catalyzes the replication and growth of innovative non-profits. Hemant holds an M.S. in Operations Research, an M.Eng. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, a B.S. in Mathematics, a B.S. in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, and a B.S. in Biology & Biomedical Engineering; all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Nick d'Arbeloff, President, Advanced Energy Economy (AEE)
Nick is Vice President of Enterprise Management at EnerNOC and Co-Chair of the New England Clean Energy Council. Prior to joining EnerNOC, Nick d’Arbeloff was President of the New England Clean Energy Council. He is a veteran entrepreneur, having held senior positions in a number of technology companies and start-ups over the past 20 years. Before joining the Council, he was the CEO and founder of Conjoin, a developer of sales productivity software for corporate sales teams. The company was acquired by Intranets.com (subsequently acquired by WebEx). Previously, Nick co-founded and served as VP Marketing for Wildfire Communications, which brought to market a voice recognition-based electronic assistant for managing all of an individual’s telephone activities. Wildfire was acquired by Orange PLC, now a subsidiary of France Telecom. Nick also served as Vice President of Marketing for C-bridge Internet Solutions, Director of Marketing for PRI Automation, and Product Manager for Apollo Computer. Nick is a representative of The Climate Project, trained by former Vice President Al Gore to educate audiences about the science underlying global climate change. He serves on the Board of the Carlisle Conservation Foundation and the Mass Audubon Council. He is also the author of Excessive Entanglement, a novel, published in 2008. Nick holds a BA from Georgetown University.
John P. DeVillars, Managing Partner, BlueWaveCapital, LLC, Senior Vice President, TRC Companies Inc.
John DeVillars is an environmentalist and energy and environmental professional with substantial leadership experience in both the public and private sectors. He is currently the Managing Partner of BlueWave Capital LLC, a renewable energy and brownfields development company, and Senior Vice President of the environmental engineering and consulting firm TRC Solutions. During his career, Mr. DeVillars has held several high level positions in the United States and Massachusetts governments, including New England Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Secretary of Environmental Affairs for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Chairman of the Board of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Clean Harbors, Inc., Converted Organics, Inc., Alteris Renewables, NextStep Living, Inc. and izzitgreen.com, as well as several non-‐profit environmental organizations including the Massachusetts Environmental Trust and the Executive Committee of the Board of the New England Clean Energy Council. He has received numerous awards for his environmental service, including the President’s Award of the Nature Conservancy, given annually for national leadership in environmental affairs. Mr. DeVillars is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and Harvard University (MPA).
Daniel Goldman, Executive Vice President and CFO, GreatPoint Energy
Daniel Goldman brings 20 years of energy industry experience in strategy, corporate and project finance, project development as well as private equity and early stage venture investing. He has worked globally, with a focus on Asia, on energy related deals and has been involved in over $4 billion of financial transactions. Currently, he is the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of GreatPoint Energy, Inc., a technology-driven natural resources company and the leading developer of a proprietary, highly-efficient catalytic process for converting coal into natural gas while capturing all carbon dioxide. GreatPoint is backed by leading financial firms, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Khosla Ventures, as well as strategic investors, including Dow Chemical, Suncor Energy, AES Corp. and Peabody Energy. Mr. Goldman led GreatPoint’s $103 million Series C financing; at the time, one of the largest venture investment deals ever completed in the clean tech segment and overall one of the largest venture capital deals of 2007, and he has overseen the Company’s development activities, finance function and strategic relationships.
Prior to joining GreatPoint Energy in July, 2006, he was a co-founder and Chief Financial Officer of New Energy Capital Corp., one of the first investment companies focused exclusively on investments in clean energy projects (renewable energy, renewable fuels and distributed generation). From 1996-2001, Mr. Goldman held regional and corporate senior development and finance positions in Hong Kong and Boston at InterGen, a leading power generation company co-owned by the Bechtel Group and Royal/Dutch Shell. He started his professional career at Arthur D. Little where he held positions of increasing responsibility as a senior member of the global energy consulting team in Cambridge and Singapore from 1989-1996. Mr. Goldman also co-founded and serves as Managing Partner of Clean Energy Venture Group, a fund which makes seed and early stage clean tech investments and provide comprehensive mentoring to the portfolio companies. Mr. Goldman has played a founding role in several clean tech companies and he serves as a board member and advisor to companies and investment funds. He is a co-founder of Environmental Entrepreneurs in New England (www.e2.org) and has been actively involved in efforts to bring together the investment community, environmental groups, policy makers and clean tech companies to promote investment in the sector. Mr. Goldman received a B.S. from Cornell and an M.Sc. from the London School of Economics and he serves on the Cornell University Council and on the undergraduate Business Advisory Council to the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He lives in Newton, MA with his wife and three daughters, and is an avid road cyclist in his spare time.
Chuck McDermott, General Partner, RockPort Capital Partners
Chuck began his cleantech career over 20 years ago helping to launch in 1984 the nation’s first independent bulk electric power trading company, the predecessor to Citizens Power. In 1986, having directed the successful campaign of Congressman Joseph Kennedy II, Chuck served two terms as his Chief of Staff. He then joined Waste Management, the world’s largest environmental services company, as Vice President for Government Affairs. During his 12 years of senior level energy and environmental policy work in Washington, DC Chuck established strong administrative and strategic relationships that have put him at the forefront of cleantech policy deliberations today. He brought this public/private sector experience to RockPort when he joined in 1998. Chuck studied at Yale University before beginning a 14 year career in the music business as a songwriter, performer and recording artist.
Rob Pratt, CEO, GreenerU
Rob Pratt is the founder, Chairman and CEO of GreenerU, a company that works with colleges and universities in implementing energy efficiency, cogeneration and renewable energy projects while integrating sustainability, behavior change and student/campus engagement initiatives. (See www.GreenerU.com) Mr. Pratt was formerly the founder and CEO of Energia Global International (EGI, now Enel Latin America), a company that became one of the leading renewable energy companies in Central America. From a startup in 1991, EGI became the largest private power company in Costa Rica through the development, financing and construction of high head hydroelectric and wind projects, with substantial power and distribution assets in Guatemala, El Salvador and Chile. Prior to GreenerU, Rob was the Senior Vice President of the Henry P. Kendall Foundation, where he led foundation initiatives focused on energy efficiency policy and financing innovations. He also served as Director of the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, a $250 million state fund to promote the development of renewable energy projects as well as clean energy economic development in MA.
Rob is a national and regional leader in clean energy and currently serves as Chairman Emeritus of the American Council on Renewable Energy; Chairman, founder (1984) and board member of the International Institute for Energy Conservation; Treasurer, Executive Committee and board member of the Alliance to Save Energy; Executive Committee and board member of the New England Clean Energy Council; and President and board member of the Cambridge Energy Alliance. He received an MPA degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, a JD degree from Georgetown University Law Center, and a BA degree from Wesleyan University.