Speakers

Andrew brings to Obvious Ventures a lifelong passion for building companies around sustainable systems and people power. For over a decade, Andrew has focused on clean technology and clean energy solutions. He started down the clean tech path with Energy Innovations in 2003, which he grew from a business plan to a major solar developer serving customers like Google, Disney, Sony Pictures, and British Telecom. After selling the company to Suntech in 2008, Andrew served as Chief Commercial Officer at Suntech as well as Vice President of Global Product Strategy. During his tenure, Suntech became the largest solar company in the world. After leaving Suntech, Andrew spent two years as Vice President of Distributed Generation for Nextera Energy, the largest clean energy developer in the US. Before his clean tech career, Andrew spent a decade building companies in the early days of “Web 1.0.” In 1998 Andrew co-founded Bigstep.com, an e-commerce platform designed to serve the needs of small businesses entering the Internet age. He has been supporting the enterprising ideas of people power ever since. Andrew is a member of the Advisory Board for GE’s distributed generation business, Current by GE. He is also a member of the NREL Investor Advisory Board. A graduate from Dartmouth College, Andrew lives in Burlingame, CA with his wife and three children. When he's not helping to build early stage companies, Andrew builds wooden boats and furniture. Andrewwas born in New York City and spent his formative years on an avocado ranch in Ojai, California.

Ashish Gadnis is the Co-founder / CEO of BanQu, which was recently named to the TIME Magazine 2019 Innovations List.

BanQu is the first ever blockchain-based Supply Chain & Economic Passport platform that enables transparency, traceability and sustainability for farmers (especially women), workers, waste pickers living in extreme poverty. BanQu has also become the leading platform for ensuring COVID-19 supplies are reaching to the most vulnerable nations and communities in the MENA region.

BanQu is being used in 40+ countries across half million beneficiaries today.

Prior to his current engagements, Mr. Gadnis was the founder and CEO of multiple technology startups, the last one of which was acquired by a $1.5 billion global consulting firm in 2012.

Over the past 25 years Ashish has been recognized for his private / public sector contributions with awards such as – MIT Innovate for Refugees (Syrian refugees) award, Young Global Leader (World Economic Forum), Minority Business Leader (Twin Cities Business), 40 under 40 (Business Journal), Change-Makers Innovator Award (Coding Schools in Refugee Camps in East Africa) and Battery Ventures Innovation Award – Democratic Republic of Congo (for Asili: a mobile / cloud-based business focused on reducing infant child mortality, improving maternal health and increasing livelihood in conflict zones).

Ashish has a Bachelor’s degree in Systems Engineering from Bombay University, MBA in Finance and Marketing from the Carlson School and Executive Education in Global Leadership and Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School.

Chris Wu is Vice President at Impact Engine, an institutional investor managing venture capital and private equity strategies that drive positive impact in the areas of economic opportunity, environmental sustainability, and health equity, where I focus on investing in sustainability and climate tech.

Prior to joining Impact Engine, he was an engineering consultant providing structural engineering services for the design and construction of municipal water infrastructure and green buildings, including the world’s first skyscraper to earn LEED Platinum certification. Previously, he was the owner and head baker of a bakery.

Chris holds a BS and MS in Structural Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Dimitry Gershenson is the CEO and Co-Founder of Enduring Planet, the leading fintech lender for the New Climate Economy. Dimitry started Enduring Planet building on his 10+ years of experience across climate tech, operations, and impact investing.Prior to Enduring Planet, Dimitry led M&A and served as COO for Rango Wireless, an Enduring Ventures portfolio company. Before that, Dimitry built Meta’s Energy Access program, a $15M+ investing initiative that enabled energy access for 5M people and unlocked over $500M in additional capital in underserved markets like Kenya and India. While at Meta, Dimitry also led the development of multiple predictive ML products in the cleantech space and built corporate accelerator programs for impact startups in India and Puerto Rico.Outside of Enduring Planet, Dimitry sits on the board of Ecosafi, a Lowercarbon-backed climate startup enabling clean cooking in emerging markets. Dimitry holds an MS in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley, a BS in Natural Resource Management from Rutgers University.

Gabriel Kra co-founded Prelude Ventures in 2013, after almost 25 years as an investor, entrepreneur, scientist, and activist. He is responsible for overseeing the firm’s investments in advanced energy, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, advanced materials and manufacturing, and advanced computing. Gabrielserves on the Board of Directors for Renew Financial, Ripple Foods, Sense Labs, PLANT PV, Natron Energy, ClearMetal, Raxium, and Form Energy, and is active with Metalenz, Zymergen, Planet, QuantumScape, Catalog, Emergy and Spark Thermionics. Gabrielalso serves on the Board of Directors of Activation Energy and The CREO Syndicate, and on advisory boards for Cyclotron Road, Prime Coalition, and Carbon180.

Gregory, from Saint John, New Brunswick, has a youthful passion for aircraft and aerospace. Having first earned his Glider Pilot License (GPL) at the age of 16, he then followed that up by earning both his Private (PPL) and Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPL). As an experienced aerospace executive, Gregory holds both a Bachelor and a Master of Aerospace Engineering from Carleton University, and an MBA from the Haskayne School of Business. Gregory started his engineering career in repair design and then moved into the development of modifications and upgrades for the C-130 Hercules at Marshall Aerospace Canada. After working at Viking Air Limited as their Production Engineering Manager, and Plant Manager at the Twin Otter’s final assembly plant, Gregory led the product support team for the Canadair CL-215 & CL-415 and the organisation’s aftermarket support for a variety of other aircraft.

Jerome Foster II is an environmental activist, voting rights advocate, and emerging technology engineer. He sits on President Biden’s White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council. Based in New York City, but born and raised in Washington DC, he served as intern for the late Honorable John Lewis and served as Board Member for the DC State Board of Education. He now serves as Executive Director of OneMillionOfUs which educates and mobilizes young people to register and turn out to vote.

He studied International Environmental Governance, Policy, and Social Justice at Harvard University and was invited to speak at the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights. Jerome helped to pass the Clean Energy DC Act (one of the most comprehensive decarbonization bills being implemented in the nation). He is one of the lead organizers of the Fridays For Future youth climate strike movement holding weekly climate strikes in front of the White House and Harvard University for over 80 weeks. For the first climate strike in February, 2019, he mobilized 400 students from his school and took a citywide leadership role in organizing climate strikes and speaking out about climate justice issues in rallies and town halls. Later on, he began working alongside Jane Fonda to kickstart Fire Drill Fridays in front of the U.S. Capitol.

His experience in climate activism extends further via his work with National Geographic, where we journey across the island of Iceland as a Climatology Researcher and Virtual Reality Developer.

Before his time as an activist, he coded civic-based 3D Virtual Reality Environments. Later winning the World Series of Entrepreneurship for creating a civic-based virtual reality organization called TAU VR.

Jesse is Director of Global Sustainability at Delta Air Lines, overseeing the company’s decarbonization strategy and building solutions that integrate sustainability throughout the company’s operations. At Delta, Jesse was a co-founder and served as the President of business resource group Green Up, helping to connect employees passionate about environmental sustainability to drive positive change and add value to Delta’s business. Jesse has also worked with Delta’s Fleet Strategy team, driving detailed financial, operational and strategic analyses and recommendations to optimize the airline’s fleet of aircraft.

Kristen is currently Sustainability Senior Manager at PepsiCo and is responsible for leading the strategy, engagement, and execution of the pep+ climate and water agenda in the foods North America supply chain. Prior to this, she worked in PepsiCo’s Global Office of Sustainability on the Climate Change team focused on Scope 3 (indirect/supply chain) greenhouse gas emissions.Previously, Kristen was a consultant with Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) where she did a combination of sustainability and change management work. From there, she worked at the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise where she managed their Climate Change and Business Program, as well as the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures to invest in early-stage environmental and social start-ups.Kristen holds a Master of Science in Sustainability Management degree from Columbia University’s Earth Institute where she focused on the sustainability of global food and agriculture systems. She also has her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Leadership Studies from the University of Richmond.

Neha Palmer is the CEO of TeraWatt Infrastructure, bringing over two decades of leadership experience in the energy industry. Most recently, she led energy strategy for Google’s global data centers. As the first hire focused on data center energy, Neha built out and led the team developing electric infrastructure and electricity procurement for the global fleet, covering dozens of sites over four continents. Key achievements include making Google the largest corporate buyer of renewable energy in the world, and the first company of its size to achieve 100% renewable energy for operations, which it has done since 2017. Prior to Google, Neha held leadership roles at Pacific Gas and Electric, and worked as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. Neha will bring her deep expertise in building out rapidly growing fleets of large scale energy intensive infrastructure to the emerging heavy EV charging asset class, a segment on track to outpace even the incredible growth data centers have seen over the last decade. Neha holds an MBA in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a BS in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.

Rodney Cromwell serves as Vice President - Enterprise Accounts at Schneider at Schneider National.

Spencer Reeder is the Director of Government Affairs & Sustainability at Audi. 

Tyler is currently a Lead Engineer at MidAmerican Energy, a Berkshire Hathaway Energy company. In this role, he manages planning and design of electrical infrastructure with focus on distribution automation, sustainability, compliance, and electrical networked systems. Tyler currently manages Berkshire Hathaway Energy's corporate partnership with Third Derivative (D3); working to develop and deploy next generation technologies that will accelerate the company's energy transition. A seasoned technologist with over a decade of corporate innovation and technology development across multiple industries; Tyler is passionate about driving innovation to accelerate sustainable solutions in the BHE family of companies. Tyler has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Iowa State University and is based in Des Moines Iowa, USA.

Yana Garcia was appointed California Secretary for Environmental Protection by Governor Gavin Newsom in August 2022. As Secretary, Yana oversees the state’s efforts to fight climate change, protect air and water quality, regulate pesticides and toxic substances, achieve the state’s recycling and waste reduction goals, and advance environmental justice. As a member of the Governor’s cabinet, she advises the Governor on environmental policy.

Garcia is nationally recognized as a groundbreaking environmental leader who has worked hard to uplift the voices of those from disadvantaged communities.

Since 2021, Garcia has served as Special Assistant Attorney General advising California Attorney General Rob Bonta on the California Department of Justice’s legal and policy matters pertaining to the environment, land law and natural resources including climate, transportation, energy, and housing.

She was Deputy Secretary for Environmental Justice, Tribal Affairs and Border Relations at CalEPA from 2019 to 2021 and had been CalEPA’s Assistant Secretary for Environmental Justice and Tribal Affairs from 2017 to 2019. During her tenure at CalEPA, Garcia led three Environmental Justice Task Force Initiatives in the communities of Pomona, Imperial County and Stockton. She also led the program that delivered more than $1 million in Environmental Justice Small Grants to 28 organizations to combat pollution, improve health outcomes and increase public engagement in some of California’s most pollution-burdened communities.

Prior to her state service, Garcia litigated environmental cases on behalf of several client groups across the state and across the country, as an attorney at Earthjustice in the California regional office in San Francisco. Garcia was also a staff attorney at Communities for a Better Environment, serving in Huntington Park and Oakland. Her legal practice areas have focused on environmental justice issues, civil rights, land use, toxics and chemical disclosure, oil and gas extraction, and crude transport. Between 2011 and 2012, Garcia served as a legal research attorney at the San Francisco Superior Court’s Civil Division, Office of the Presiding Judge.

Prior to practicing law, Yana worked on various environmental justice and civil rights projects aimed at achieving equitable access to clean air, clean water, and sustainable food and energy systems in the states of Texas, New Mexico and Massachusetts.

Garcia holds a degree in politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a law degree from Northeastern University School of Law.