Ian Adams

Managing Director, Evergreen Climate Innovations 

Ian Adams is the Managing Director at Evergreen Climate Innovations where he is a strategist and investment professional working to accelerate the clean energy transition. He brings more than a decade of experience working in energy and climate across investing, operations, and government. He works to identify technology and market trends, evaluates new investment opportunities, and develops new initiatives to support the companies in Evergreen’s investment portfolio. Prior to Evergreen, Ian served in the administration of President Barack Obama. He is a graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Haven Allen

CEO and Co-Founder, mHUB

Haven Allen, chief executive officer and co-founder of mHUB and managing partner of the mHUB Product Impact Fund, is a business leader and technology strategist focused on driving hardtech and manufacturing entrepreneurship to create economic opportunity. Since 2017, Haven’s leadership has translated into mHUB being recognized as one of the nation’s fastest growing hardtech innovation centers. To date, mHUB has supported over 450 startups and 200 manufacturers who have engineered and designed over 1,610 products, been awarded over 533 patents, attracted over $1.89B in investment and exits, generated over $1.57B in revenue, and creating over 5,540 jobs.

Latane Brackett

Innovation Program Manager, Jackson State University 

Latane is a highly accomplished Supply Chain/Manufacturing Operations Executive developing future leaders, creating performance cultures, and driving sustainable productivity. He has 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and food manufacturing industry as a corporate engineer, plant manager, director of operations, and vice president of supply chain and operations. Latane also served as Executive Director of Student Affairs at Tennessee State University and as an Adjunct Instructor for the Great Lakes and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Hub. Previously he was the Principal Manager of Innovation Programs at the National GEM Consortium, partnering with the National Innovation Network. He currently serves as Jackson State University’s Innovation Program Manager.

Mary Brown

Senior AVP, Sustainability Philanthropy, Wells Fargo

Currently, Mary Brown is the Senior AVP, Sustainability Philanthropy at Wells Fargo, responsible for initiatives to enable an equitable transition to the low-carbon economy. She manages grants, partnerships, and sponsorships, specifically focusing on accelerating and broadening equitable cleantech adoption. Her role involves collaborating with the banking teams to support clients’ decarbonization efforts. She also provides educational support and facilitates connections between external partners, grantees, and internal teams. Additionally, she works on uncovering opportunities to help Wells Fargo achieve its goal of deploying $500B in sustainable financing by the end of 2030.

Karin Calvinho

CTO & Co-Founder, Renew CO₂

Karin Calvinho has over eight years of experience innovating in catalysis to convert CO₂ to value-added chemicals. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Rutgers University and has published numerous papers on understanding reaction mechanisms at the catalyst surface. As CTO, Karin drives technological innovation and leads Renew CO₂’s  R&D efforts to develop new system designs, novel catalysts, and electrolyzers. She contributes to the product development roadmap by accelerating research and building partnerships. She is passionate about fostering an inclusive, collaborative culture and applying technology to solve real-world problems. Karin is a Chain Reaction Innovations alumnus and Breakthrough Energy fellow.

Sara Chamberlain

Managing Director and Co-Founder, Earth Foundry

As Co-Founder and Managing Director, Sara leads Earth Foundry’s investment activities and maintains an active role with each of the firm’s portfolio companies. She has worked in the energy and environment sectors for nearly 20 years, with a core focus on helping startups develop commercialization strategies. Working at the intersection of technology and entrepreneurship is a personal passion. Through her work with large Fortune 500 companies to startup businesses, Sara has broad and deep industry knowledge of the energy sector. She earned an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.A. in environmental studies from Emory University.

Eve Hanson

Senior Vice President,  Research & Innovation, Energy Impact Partners 

Eve Hanson is the Senior Vice President of Research & Innovation at Energy Impact Partners (EIP) where she leads research on carbon management and clean fuels. Prior to joining EIP, she worked at Third Derivative, the climate tech accelerator arm of RMI. Previously, she founded, and led the customer engagement team at AI startup Citrine Informatics. Eve started her career as a business consultant at Applied Predictive Technologies, an analytics startup acquired by Mastercard. She holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Chemistry from Princeton University, magna cum laude.

Chris Heckle

Director of the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center, Argonne National Laboratory 

Chris Heckle is director of the Materials Manufacturing Innovation Center at Argonne National Laboratory. She is a globally recognized research and development leader who came to Argonne from Corning Incorporated, where she served as Research Director for Inorganic Materials Research and Asia Research Labs. She is a materials informatics champion who has facilitated technology innovation across business units for multiple industries, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Her experience includes creating a manufacturing platform that opened new market opportunities for Corning in energy storage, as well as a demonstrated record of translating megatrends into technical thrusts and accelerating product timelines through introduction and adoption of new tools.

Ryan Jeffery

Senior Managing Director, Sustainability, gener8tor

Ryan Jeffery is an experienced entrepreneur, investor and advisor who helps leaders and organizations do their best work. With over 15 years of experience founding and building high-growth organizations, Ryan is now focused on supporting early-stage companies at the forefront of the climate and environmental crisis as the Senior Managing Director of Sustainability at gener8tor. Ryan is a three-time founder (one acquired), investor, board member, and adjunct professor at Northwestern’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Kevin Kaye

Innovation Manager, Alabama Power Company

Kevin Kaye is the Innovation Manager at Alabama Power Company, where he is responsible for growing the culture of innovation, looking for commercialization opportunities associated with Alabama Power IP, and pursuing partnerships with companies that align closely with Alabama Power verticals. His goal is to enhance these partnership arrangements to work better for both counter-parties and support commercialization efforts of local startups to fuel technology-based economic development. Previously, he served in a variety of roles at Alabama Power including Financial Manager, Assistant to the EVP, CFO, and Treasurer, as well as a costing analysis manager.

William Lese

Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Braemar Energy Ventures

Bill Lese leads Braemar Energy Venture’s activities in the power, resources, and infra-tech segments. He is responsible for Braemar’s investments in General Fusion and Metalenz. Prior to starting Braemar, Bill was a Partner at Mantis Holdings, a venture firm focused on environmental and energy efficiency businesses. He was also one of the original team members at Sithe Energies, a global leader in independent power development, and Director of Corporate Development for NPS Industries. Bill also serves on the Advisory Boards of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC ACRE).

Mike Lightman

Hate Your Deck Founder

Mike Lightman is the founder of Hate Your Deck, an agency focused on taking complex business concepts and making them digestible within 2-3 minutes. Hate Your Deck also has a course on deck building and storytelling, which has been taught to over 350 entrepreneurs and fund managers across six continents. Mike’s background includes a blend of investor, accelerator builder & operator, and storyteller. Some highlights include: Peace Corps  volunteer in Morocco, working with small business owners; venture capitalist where he fundraised for and launched a $50M global venture fund; startup ecosystem builder for the World Bank supporting startup programs worldwide; and children’s book writer, his newest endeavor.

Samir Mayekar

Associate Vice President & Managing Director, Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, University of Chicago

As head of the Polsky Center, Samir advances the University’s innovation, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, and partnership priorities. He fosters connections that enable the Polsky Center to accelerate the commercialization of critical technologies to help solve some of society’s most urgent challenges. He was previously deputy mayor for the city of Chicago, where he focused on economic and neighborhood development. Before that, he served in the Obama Administration where he was part of the White House’s national security team and on the executive staff at the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation. Samir also co-founded and served as CEO of NanoGraf Corporation, a global manufacturer of advanced materials for the lithium-ion battery industry that was spun out of Argonne National Laboratory and Northwestern University. He holds a B.A. and M.B.A. from Northwestern University.

Kate Waimey Timmerman

CEO, Chicago Quantum Exchange 

Kate Waimey Timmerman is CEO of the Chicago Quantum Exchange, which connects universities, national labs, and companies to advance quantum information science and engineering, train the future workforce, and drive the quantum economy. The CQE leads the US EDA-designated Bloch Quantum Tech Hub and the NSF Regional Innovation Engine development award. The CQE includes UChicago, Argonne, Fermilab, UIUC, UW-Madison, Northwestern, Purdue, and more than 40 industry partners. Kate is board member at P33 and advisory council member at Argonne’s Chain Reaction Innovations. Kate earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience from UC Davis and bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.

Brian Tolliver

CEO & Founder, Banyon Power Co.

Brian Tolliver has held leadership positions in strategy, corporate development, business development, finance, and engineering across a unique mix of 20+ years in large multinational corporations and fast growth businesses spanning high tech, industrials, investment banking, energy, and e-commerce. His specialties include strategy, business development, M&A, clean-tech, microgrids, EV, energy storage, smart home, Internet of Things (IoT), deal structure, portfolio management, buy-vs-build analysis, due diligence, additive manufacturing (3D printing), digital marketing, renewable energy, divestitures, channel strategy, intellectual property (offensive and defensive), e-mobility, joint ventures, valuation, competitive analysis, international, energy storage, software, hardware, internet, anti-trust, new product development, pricing & licensing, mapping, governance, finance/accounting, energy markets, multi-channel retail, and mobile devices.

Mark Werwath

Director, Master of Engineering Management Program, Northwestern University

Mark Werwath, PMP, has a history of managing complex system (software) and product development, IT, and manufacturing and system implementation projects. Most of Mark’s career has been spent program managing high-tech R&D and change management programs in large Fortune 500 firms. Mark is an investor who sits on the boards of several startups in the Chicagoland area. He is also a clinical associate professor at Northwestern University, the director of Northwestern’s Master of Engineering Management program, and co-director of the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Werwath previously was the vice president of publications for the IEEE Technology and Engineering Management Society. He also was a partner at Werwath Portfolio Group, executive director of product management for WMS Gaming, and director of business operations for Motorola.

Colleen Wright

VP, Corporate Strategy, Constellation

Colleen Wright is the Vice President of Corporate Strategy for Constellation. She is responsible for the development of the enterprise strategy at Constellation, the nation’s largest producer of carbon-free energy and the leading competitive supplier of energy products and services across the U.S. In this role, Wright also advances new technologies, policies, and business model transformations through partnerships, grants and research and development. Prior to this role, she served as Director of Corporate Strategy; Chief of Staff to Exelon’s Chief Strategy Officer and held roles in Government Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy at Exelon. Wright joined Exelon from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.