Jimmy Samartzis is the Chief Executive Officer of LanzaJet, Inc., a global leader in sustainable fuels technology and production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel from low-carbon and waste-based sources. Lanza Jet’s pioneering technology enables the efficient conversion of ethanol to sustainable hydrocarbon fuels. As the founding CEO, Jimmy is leading the company and the technology through commercialization and operational execution, and is building the world’s first Alcohol-to-Jet (ATJ) production facility. LanzaJet is supported by a world-class group of strategic investors including LanzaTech, Suncor Energy, Mitsui & Co., Shell Oil, and British Airways, along with financial participation from All Nippon Airways, Microsoft, and the US Department of Energy. LanzaJet’s ATJ technology originated with the US Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Lab and scaled-upby LanzaTech. LanzaJet is developing projects on multiple continents with the first biorefinery to be operational in Georgia, USA, which is built, owned, and operated by LanzaJet. LanzaJet is working with its strategic investors and with third party licensees on multiple projects across the globe, working its way towards a goal of 1B gallons of sustainable hydrocarbons produced using LanzaJet’s ATJ technology by 2030.

Jimmy’s career has focused on climate change and in particular advancing the decarbonization of industries reliant on fossil fuels. He is known for his inspirational leadership, building private/public partnerships, and impact by enabling change across industries, governments, companies, and teams. He effectively navigates the complexities of first-of-a-kind technologies, commercial partnerships, regulation and policy, global adoption, and stakeholder relations. While in the airline industry, his contributions led to pioneering test flights, the first commercial-scale sustainable jet fuel deal and commercial production, and to a global industry agreement to enable a reduction in aviation emissions and adoption of low-carbon fuels. Additionally, he led a global coalition of stakeholders across the value chain to break down the barriers associated with the commercialization of sustainable fuels.

He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, a global leader in high-energy particle physics. He previously served as chief executive of a business unit at United Airlines as well as in various senior executive functions at the airline, and as an executive advisor to clients globally through his work with top consultancies including Oliver Wyman, Booz Allen Hamilton, and Slalom. He served President William J. Clinton at The White House and his administration at the US Department of Labor, and also worked in the Mayor’s Office for the City of Chicago. He earned his M.B.A. from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, a M.A. from John Hopkins University, and an B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Meghan Busse joined the Kellogg faculty in 2008 as an Associate Professor of Strategy. Prior to that, she was on the faculty of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and at the Yale School of Management. At Kellogg, she teaches the core strategy course and an elective course on the economics of energy markets and the environment.

Professor Busse's early research focused on market structure and competition, with particular interest in pricing and price discrimination. She has studied these issues in a variety of industries, including cellular telephones, airlines, and automobiles. Her recent work has been in the area of energy and environmental economics. Professor Busse investigates how the effectiveness of environmental and climate policy is determined not only by the design of the policy itself, but also by the strategies and competitive interactions of the firms to whom the policy is applied.   

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Professor Busse received her PhD in economics from MIT. She is a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. 

As a scientist, clean energy entrepreneur and CEO, and now as a Member of Congress, Representative Sean Casten has dedicated his life to fighting climate change. In Congress, Casten draws on his two decades of experience as a business leader to reduce emissions while creating jobs, lowering energy costs for Americans, and spurring economic growth. 

Casten serves on the Science, Space, and Technology Committee, the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis and is the Vice Chair of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets. He also serves as Co-Chair of the New Democrat Coalition Climate Change Task Force and Co-Chair of the Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition (SEEC) Power Sector Task Force.  

While working diligently in Washington on behalf of Illinois’ 6th Congressional District, Rep. Casten is also committed to keeping in close contact with his constituents. He lives in Downers Grove with his family.  

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Visit Rep. Casten’s website: https://casten.house.gov  

Professor David Besanko is the IBM Professor of Regulation and Competitive Practice at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Besanko is a Northwestern graduate, having received his Ph.D. in Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences in 1982. He received his BA in Political Science from Ohio University in 1977. Before joining the Kellogg faculty in 1991, Professor Besanko was a member of the faculty of the School of Business at Indiana University from 1982-84 and 1986-1991. In 1985, he was a member of the Economics Staff at Bell Communications Research. 

Professor Besanko teaches courses in public economics and infrastructure strategy at the Kellogg School. In 2015, Besanko received the Aspen Institute's Faculty Pioneer Award, sometimes referred to as the Oscars for the business school world. In 2013 he was a finalist for this award. Besanko has received the two most prestigious teaching awards at the Kellogg School: the L.G. Lavengood Professor of the Year Award in 1995, 2010, and 2016 he is the only three-time winner of this award since its inception in 1975 and the Alumni Choice Teaching Award in 2006. At the Kellogg School, he has also received the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award (1998, 2000, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2018, and 2020), the Chair's Core Teaching Award (1999, 2001, 2003, and 2005), and the Kellogg Impact Award (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021). 

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Professor Besanko's research covers topics relating to the intersection of competitive strategy and public policy, the economics of regulation, and the theory of the firm. He has published over 50 articles in leading professional journals in economics and business. Among other places, his work has appeared in the American Economic Review, Econometrica, the Quarterly Journal of Economics, the RAND Journal of Economics, the Review of Economic Studies, the Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, and Management Science. Along with Daniel Diermeier and Jose-Miguel Abito, he is co-author of Corporate Reputation and Social Activism, published in 2019. He has co-authored the widely used textbook, Microeconomics, with Ronald Braeutigam, now in its sixth edition. And with David Dranove, Mark Shanley, and Scott Schaefer, Besanko is a co-author of Economics of Strategy. 

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Professor Besanko served as Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Strategy and Planning at the Kellogg School from 2007 to 2009 and Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs: Curriculum and Teaching at Kellogg from 2001 to 2003. 

Wendolyn Holland’s consulting work with clients in the high-impact sustainability sector is driven by purpose and passion. As Managing Director of Holland Consulting, LLC, she advises at the nexus of finance, technology, and policy, focusing on clean energy, sustainability technologies, and Native American communities. With a particular expertise in tax strategy and policy, her projects focus on the very essence of our social and environmental problems. Holland is a holistic systems thinker with core competencies in creative finance mechanisms and in bridging cultural gaps between Native and non-Native groups.

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With the background of a historian, she models her projects for the long-range view to bend the arc of history. She is the Co-Founder of the Idaho Geothermal Alliance, a non-profit organization whose mission is to bridge the gap between the state's extraordinary subsurface resource and the deployment potential. She sits on the Governor's Task Force for implementation of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Holland works with several Tribes, Section 17 Tribal organizations, and Tribal consultancies to enhance sovereignty through such means of economic development as renewable energy deployment. Additional clients include philanthropies and families in their impact investment strategies for renewable energy and Native American endeavors.

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Holland served as Senior Advisor for Commercialization in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy from 2008 through 2011, as a member of the Senior Executive Service. In 2012, she served as Director for Strategic Development and Technical Partnerships at Savannah River National Laboratory, which serves DOE’s Office of Environmental Management. She led the Washington, D.C. effort for Polarnet, LLC, an Arctic optical fiber project to connecting Asia and Europe. Prior to federal service, she worked with clean energy and water start-up firms. She responded to the terrorist attacks of 2001 by joining Global Options, a Washington, D.C. security, investigations, and counter-terrorism start-up, later serving as Vice President. Holland received her JD, LLM in Taxation, and certificate in Trusts and Estates from Georgetown Law in 2017, her MBA in Finance and Strategy from Kellogg School of Management in 2001, and her BA in History and Studies in the Environment from Yale in 1991.

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She is a frequent lecturer on U.S. renewable energy policy and Western Americana.

Paula R. Glover has served as President of the Alliance to Save Energy since January 2021and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2017. A dynamic leader with more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry, Ms. Glover is the seventh president in the Alliance’s 45-year history.

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Ms. Glover’s leadership at the Alliance is driven by her belief that universal adoption of energy efficiency is foundational to achieving energy affordability, economic growth, and decarbonization. She is responsible for working with the Alliance’s diverse coalition of stakeholders to find lasting, consensus-based solutions. During her tenure, the Alliance has secured billions of dollars in federal funding for energy efficiency programs, amplified its work on energy justice, and worked to advance the next generation of technologies with the Active Efficiency Collaborative.

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Ms. Glover previously served as President and CEO of the American Association of Blacks in Energy, a non-profit professional association whose focus is to ensure that African Americans and other minorities have input into the discussions and development of energy policy, regulations, and environmental issues.

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Ms. Glover’s other experiences include 15 years in the energy industry for both electric and natural gas distribution companies. During that time, she built a stellar reputation working with state legislators and regulators and commands a clear understanding of the consumer and community sides of the business. Ms. Glover has served on the National Petroleum Council since 2014.She serves on the board of the Keystone Policy Center and Groundswell, a community solar development organization. She is also a Trustee for Cardigan Mountain School, a junior boarding school in Canaan, NH. She received her B.S. in Marketing Management from the University of Delaware.

Professor Megan Kashner serves as the Director of  Social Impact at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. In her leadership of Kellogg's Social Impact offerings, Kashner focuses on the areas of impact investing, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, nonprofit management, policy, global development, values and ethics. Kashner leads up the global  Impact & Sustainable Finance Faculty Consortium, the  Kellogg-Morgan Stanley Sustainable Investing Challenge, the Moskowitz Prize, and more collaborative work at the intersection of markets and impact.  

Kashner is additionally the co-founder of  Colorful Capital a VC firm founded to focus investment and opportunity on ventures led by LGBTQ+ community members. Previously, Kashner held leadership roles as a founder, CEO, and consultant. Kashner holds an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, a Master's from the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and a B.A. in Public Policy from Brown University.  

Darpan Kapadia is the Chief Operating Officer of LS Power and is a member of the firm’s Management Committee and Investment Committee, overseeing one of the largest private power generation, transmission and energy infrastructure companies in the United States. Since its inception, LS Power has raised over $49 billion to construct, acquire and operate its projects, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, natural gas-fired and battery energy storage assets, and over 680 miles of high voltage transmission. Additionally, LS Power actively invests in businesses and platforms focused on distributed energy resources, such as electric vehicle charging infrastructure, demand response, microgrids, and energy efficiency, as well as waste to renewable fuels and energy platforms.

Prior to his appointment as COO, Mr. Kapadia was Head of Strategy for the firm. He is also a member of the investment committees of Edge Principal Advisors, Verance Capital and Marmora Capital, three affiliated companies that invest across real estate, sports, media and alternative investments. Before joining LS Power in 2004, Mr. Kapadia was a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. where he managed assets for institutional and private clients. Previously, Mr. Kapadia was a Senior Consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP where he provided strategic and financial advisory services to corporations.

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Mr. Kapadia received a B.A. in Economics with Phi Beta Kappa honors from the College of William and Mary and an M.B.A. with highest distinction from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

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 Mr. Kapadia currently serves on the Board of Directors for electric vehicle charging company EVgo Inc., renewables and battery storage platform REV Renewables LLC, and global risk management advisory firm K2 Integrity Inc. He is also a member of the William and Mary Foundation Board of Trustees, the William and Mary Public Policy Advisory Board, the Kellogg Alumni Council, the Kellogg Private Equity Advisory Council, and the Executive Council of the Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN).

Jason has more than 13 years of experience in the electric utility industry working in a number of engineering, consulting, program management, and strategy roles. Specific areas include emerging technology evaluation, EV program design, renewable energy grid integration, corporate strategy, and energy security program design. At Element Fleet Management, Jason leads the vehicle electrician practice helping clients realize their EV adoption goals through data driven EV feasibility planning, charging solution implementation, and fleet operation management. Jason received a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

Mark Feasel is responsible for commercial operations for Fuel Cell Energy, a global leader in manufacturing stationary fuel cell energy platforms for decarbonizing power, and producing hydrogen to enable a world empowered by clean energy.  He also serves on the board of Anuranet, a company that is leveraging NVIDA technology to deliver revolutionary grid-edge processing and services for energy applications.

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Prior to his role at Fuel Cell Energy, Mark spent more than fifteen years at Schneider Electric in various executive positions of increasing responsibility, most recently as the President of the Electrical Utility & Smart Grid North American division.

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Mark began his career in the U.S. Navy, where he was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the systems associated with the nuclear reactor plant on a ballistic missile submarine. He received several commendations during his time of service.

Jonathan is the Chief Technology Officer of Volexion Inc. and an experienced research director working predominantly on electrochemical technologies. With expertise and experience developing and commercializing advanced materials he has led efforts in a variety of functional products: solid polymer electrolytes, silicon anodes, bio-based super absorbing polymers and electrochromic windows. Outside of work Jonathan is a new father and enjoys competitive swimming.

Grace Rumford is Director of Integrated Clean Energy Solutions for NextEra Energy, the world’s largest generator of renewable energy. In her role, Grace works with companies to further define and execute their sustainability roadmaps leveraging NextEra’s strengths in energy, mobility, and water. Prior to NextEra, Grace worked for BP in London, developing the oil major's low carbon strategy and implementing the subsequent corporate restructure. Grace now lives and works in downtown Chicago for NextEra. She has a BA from Middlebury College and an MBA from Kellogg School of Management.

Matan is the Senior bid manager at Trina Energy Storage Solution, NA (TES), a Chinese manufacturer of lithium phosphate batteries dedicated to utility scale grid storage application. Trina Solar is a well-known leading brand of PV panels and complete solar solutions. At TES, Matan is responsible for business development and the company’s proposal process. Prior to TES, Matan was a sales manager at Eos Energy Storage Solutions (Eos), a US based manufacturer of long duration Zinc aqueous batteries for grid storage applications. Before joining Eos, Matan was an assistant manager for major project proposals at S&C Electric, where he oversaw business development and proposal activities for EPC projects, including substations, solar, energy storage and microgrids.  

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Born and raised in Israel, Matan grew up with a strong passion for environmentalism and sustainability from an early age. The scarcity of natural resources, including water, oil, and natural gas, along with the need for sustainable practices were publicly promoted in the media creating a culture with strong climate values.  Matan believes that caring for and preserving the earth should be a basic human value. For this reason, Matan chose to pursue a career in clean energy, actively promoting sustainability for the next generation as an expert in battery energy storage. Matan has presented at various industry events both as a panel member and a moderator. He has given lectures and presentations on the topic of energy storage at various universities and professional organizations, including the University of Illinois in Chicago, the University of St. Thomas at St. Paul, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW Union). 

Matan attended the MMM program at Kellogg and holds both an MBA from Kellogg and an MEM from McCormick School of Engineering. 

Michael Rutkowski serves as the Regional Global Practice Manager for the Chicago region of 1898 & Co., the business and technology consulting arm of Burns & McDonnell. 1898 & Co. is enabling the clean energy transition through a full suite of services including business strategy & transformation, asset planning & management, transaction support, policy & regulatory support, enterprise technology, and cybersecurity to energy and other critical infrastructure industries.

Michael has over 30 years of experience in the energy industry, spanning management consulting, engineering, and research & technology development. Previously, I served as SVP of Research & Technology Development at GTI Energy, overseeing teams of research scientists and engineers advancing technologies across unconventional energy supply, gasification, bioenergy, CCUS, hydrogen, advanced power cycles, energy delivery infrastructure, building energy efficiency, industrial energy systems, and transportation, and co-founded the Low Carbon Resources Initiative (LCRI), a collaborative R&D partnership with EPRI focused on advancing technologies in hydrogen, biofuels, synthetic fuels, and ammonia to reach Net Zero by 2050.
 

He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and is also an alum of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Program. He is a licensed Professional Engineer in Illinois.  He serves on several advisory boards, including the University of Illinois Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC), and the Industry Advisory Committee for Evergreen Climate Innovations (f/k/a Clean Energy Trust).  

Derek Beaty believes in the power of human ingenuity and capital to address climate change and to support a long-term transition to cleaner energy.  He is the Founder of Kapok Partners, a private investment and advisory firm passionate about partnering with management teams, entrepreneurs, and capital providers to build profitable, sustainable growth businesses.

Derek has a 20+ year career in M&A, private equity, and strategic investments and has developed deep sector expertise in energy efficiency, environmental services, cleaner energy, industrial services, and technology-enabled logistics.  He has invested globally and has served on the corporate or advisory boards of businesses in the US, Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Turkey, and China. 

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Prior to Kapok Partners, Derek was Head of Strategic Investments and Director of Corporate Development at Caterpillar, Inc.  Prior to Caterpillar, Derek spent 11 years with pioneer private equity impact investor Global Environment Fund and its successor company GEF Capital in both Washington, DC, and in São Paulo, Brazil.  He started his PE career at CIVC Partners and developed M&A advisory skills at BMO Capital, Arthur Andersen, and Merrill Lynch. 

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Derek graduated with an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and has a B.A. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  He is a CPA (inactive), an Ironman triathlete turned ordinary athlete, an aspiring youth sports coach, and lives in the Lake View neighborhood of Chicago with his multilingual family: wife, two daughters, and furry animals. 

Jason is Co-founder & Managing Partner at Energy Foundry, a leading early-stage venture capital fund that builds groundbreaking cleantech and energy companies. Jason sets the firm’s vision, leads investments, and coaches entrepreneurs. Energy Foundry is ranked as one of the top firms in the US and world in its focus areas and has backed some of the most transformative companies in the cleantech and energy space, which are cutting gigatons of CO2 output and billions of pounds of plastic. For the last decade Jason has been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, teaching MBAs and PhDs how to turn science into high growth businesses. He is Executive Director of ISEIF, the nation's largest independent power education foundation. Jason also serves as a Board member of an array of high growth companies and is on the Advisory Boards of several leading industry intuitions. Jason frequently speaks on energy, cleantech, and innovation. He has been featured by numerous media outlets (TV, Print & Radio) including NBC, New York Times. Entrepreneur, PBS, Forbes, Jerusalem Post, Chicago Tribune, INC and Bangkok Post. NBC named him one its top “Eco-preneurs” and WGN as their “Entrepreneur of the Week.” He earned his MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, receiving the Dean’s Award of Distinction and a BA from Michigan State University.

Saad is a Bay Area-based energy technologist focused on energy storage technology. As an entrepreneur, Saad is experienced in assessing and commercializing new clean technologies. He previously led a ground-mounted solar design and engineering software company and worked closely with researchers in battery testing, long duration energy storage, charging infrastructure, and second life batteries. In addition to work in the technology world, Saad has also worked as a emerging market renewable energy technical advisor and energy infrastructure project developer, having developed and originated solar + battery rural mini-grid systems totaling over $150 million. 

Saad enjoys organizing events in the San Francisco Bay Area to bring together the climatetech community. He is a graduate of Northwestern University Weinberg School of Art and Science Class of 2007. 

Victoria is a Director at McDonald’s in Global Impact. She leads ESG & Sustainability strategy by working across the company to drive focus and ESG integration into corporate planning to drive scaled investments across global supply chains, restaurants, and people.

Previously Victoria spent 9 years leading strategic sourcing for McDonald’s US and then Global sourcing for McDonald’s. She was responsible for leading transitions to 100% sustainably sourced coffee, fish, and innovative food platforms around the world. She led coalitions with industry groups on the Round Table on Sustainable Beef and was appointed to the advisory council of the Sustainable Coffee Challenge.

Victoria also led multiple cross-functional sustainability initiatives to empower others to act on a common vision driving change and impact in sustainable packaging, global food waste and recovery programs.

Prior to joining McDonald’s, Victoria held several positions at UBS Financial Services, the Chicago Wolves, played volleyball throughout Europe and provides consulting services. As a consultant she created growth strategies for a social enterprise focused on providing sustainable low-income housing in Nicaragua as well as humanitarian partnership strategies for the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General. Victoria is a Youn Impact Scholar in recognition of her commitment to the field of impact and has recently been reelected as a council woman for her local community.

Victoria holds an MBA in Management Strategy, Social Entrepreneurship and Marketing from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She also holds a master’s degree in Human Capital Management from Utah State University and a bachelor’s degree in Public & Environmental Affairs from Indiana University. She is originally from Barrington, Ill.

Nikodem is a co-founder and CEO of Matergy, a startup accelerating transition to EVs by improving the battery raw material supply chain. Prior to that, Nikodem spent over a decade in the energy industry working in operations, business development and strategy. He worked on projects including electrical infrastructure development, energy storage, fuel cells, energy services and sustainable manufacturing, among others. Nikodem holds an MS in Law from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. 

Carolina Madrid is an MBA Candidate at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. She was an MBA intern at Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund in Seattle. Prior to Kellogg, she was part of the investment team at WindSail Capital Group, a Boston-based firm that provides growth financing to companies advancing energy innovation and sustainability across a wide range of industries.  Prior to that, she was on the research team at Dimensional Fund Advisors in Charlotte, NC, where she focused on domestic equities. She is passionate about all things impact, including supporting minority entrepreneurs. After Kellogg, Carolina plans to re-join an impact-focused fund.

If there is one thing Sarah is known for it’s trash talking. Well, talking about trash, that is. Sarah is passionate about leveraging human-centered and circular design to reduce waste and create products that help us all live both abundantly and sustainably.  She is Co-Founder and CEO of Beni, a browser plug-in that scours the internet and finds you the best secondhand swaps while you’re shopping online. Ben makes the secondhand shopping experience frictionless.  Beni’s vision is to transform the norms of consumption.  
 
Prior to founding Beni, Sarah leveraged her background in banking, strategy, and innovation to pursue her passion for sustainability at Imperfect Foods, an online grocery company focused on fighting food waste. She started her career at Rabobank where she supported both the corporate lending practice and managed Food & Ag startup initiatives. 
 
Sarah graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a B.A. in Political Economy and earned an MBA and MS in Design Innovation at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and McCormick School of Engineering.  She is a life-long dancer and spent a year in New Zealand wandering and working on farms. 

Sameer Anwar is Chief of Staff & Head of Strategy & BizOps at Trove, the market leader in branded resale and trade-in for world-class brands and retailers such as Canada Goose, lululemon, Patagonia, REI, Levi’s, Arc’teryx, Allbirds, and more. Sameer leads and manages the strategy and data teams, working to evolve current models to better serve Trove’s partners and overseeing data architecture and analytics to support decision-making. He also works alongside Trove’s CEO Gayle Tait on critical projects, investor & Board management and fundraising.

Prior to joining Trove in 2021, Sameer was the Associate Director of Delivery Associates where he led practice for the Middle East and South Asia and worked alongside Presidents and Prime Ministers on country-wide reforms and tech delivery at scale, which included building and improving governance and data systems. He also worked in management consulting at Bain & Company on strategy and implementation projects, where he advised Fortune 500 CEOs on both Tech and Retail Businesses. Prior to that, he worked in investment banking in both NYC and Toronto on mid-market Mergers & Acquisitions leading transactions of over $1B.

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Sameer is also an active venture investor in startups in the Middle East & Pakistan, He remains active on Paklaunch, the largest platform driving growth in the Pakistani entrepreneurial ecosystem. Sameer graduated Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in both Finance and Accounting from Georgetown University. He also received his Master of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Marketing from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management. Sameer is also a Chartered Accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ontario, Canada. In his free time, he enjoys cycling and horseback riding, as well as South Asian poetry and poetic philosophy. He currently resides in San Francisco, California.

David Donnan is a business leader and consultant with significant global experience in the agriculture, food and retail industries. During his career, David has run operating companies, managed food plants and consulted to leading global retail and consumer product companies. 

David is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University teaching a graduate course on the Future of Sustainable Food & Agriculture. He is also a Partner Emeritus with Kearney, an international management consulting firm. 

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A champion of innovation in the food sector, David works as an investor and mentor with many entrepreneurs and startups in the nutrition, food and agriculture industry. He recently served a 3-year term as a Public Board Member of The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, that represents the 100,000 registered dieticians in the US. He often speaks at leading conferences on the topics of consumer nutrition, technology and consumer trends. 

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David is a Limited Partner of Spiral Sun Investments, an early stage venture capital firm focusing on natural foods and food supplements. He also serves on the boards of Protein Industries Canada, a public-private partnership to promote plant based protein industries; Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research, a public-private partnership that funds advanced research into sustainable agriculture; Rubicon Organics, a Canadian producer of premium cannabis products; and Naturally Chicago, the network of natural and sustainable food and consumer product companies;  

David is a professional engineer and holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Rotman School at the University of Toronto. 

Shanu Mathew is a Vice President and Portfolio Manager/Analyst on the US Sustainable Equity team at Lazard Asset Management, a $198 billion asset manager. He also serves as a Research Analyst on the US Equity team, focusing on companies’ sustainability and net zero efforts. He began working in the investment field in 2015. Prior to joining Lazard in 2021, Shanu was a Vice President and Head of ESG at First Eagle Alternative Credit, a $23 billion alternative asset manager. He has also worked at Expanse (acquired by PANW) in Strategic Finance and started his career in investment banking at Evercore. Shanu has a Bachelor of Science dual-degree in Accounting and Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a member of the Investment Committee of Evergreen Climate Innovations, which provides capital and support to early-stage startups focused on climate solutions. Shanu has also been recurring guest on Wood Mackenzie’s ‘The Energy Gang’ podcast and regularly speaks at industry events focused around climate and finance.

Joe Schagemann is a Senior Vice President in Invenergy’s Finance & Capital Markets group. Invenergy is a leading privately held, global developer and operator of sustainable energy solutions. Since its founding in 2001, Invenergy has developed 190 power projects with over 30 gigawatts of capacity. At Invenergy, Joe is responsible for renewables finance, including project and portfolio level financings, asset divestitures, debt/equity restructurings, and investor relations. He has completed over $9B in financial transactions for wind, solar, and battery storage projects. Prior to joining Invenergy in 2012, he was a manager in KPMG’s Economic and Valuation Services group. Schagemann earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Jacob Gleason is a Principal at Buoyant Ventures, an early stage ClimateTech venture fund investing in digital climate solutions. Jacob joined the Buoyant team in June 2022 following his graduation from Northwestern Kellogg. Prior to business school, Jacob held diverse roles in banking and asset management ranging from debt and equity principal investments, operations leadership of Wells Fargo’s Investment Portfolio Trading function, and risk management analytics and reporting. Jacob resides in Chicago with his wife and two pups, Kona and Snacks.

Peter Walter is a Managing Director and Partner in L.E.K. Consulting’s New York office. Peter has more than 25 years of global consulting experience, with a focus on growth strategy development M&A and performance improvement for both corporate and investor clients. He leads L.E.K.’s Agribusiness practice in the Americas and the Environmental Services practice, and he works across selected industrials markets, such as specialty chemicals, packaging and industrial/business services. Peter formerly led the firm’s Southeast Asia practice for seven years and lived overseas in Asia for more than 12 years.

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Prior to joining L.E.K., Peter worked with A.T. Kearney for 10 years in North America and Southeast Asia. He earned a B.S. degree in Zoology from Duke University and an MBA (summa cum laude) from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University. Peter is fluent in Spanish and Thai, is conversant in Bahasa Indonesia, and has basic knowledge of Khmer and Portuguese.

Davis O’Connell is a Senior Manager in Accenture’s Utilities Strategy practice. He advises fortune 500 utility clients throughout North America on how to navigate an equitable clean energy transition for their company, customers and communities. He is experienced in regulatory & policy strategy, social equity strategy, customer strategy, and strategic utility program design (electric vehicles and fleet electrification, energy storage, and more). During his time in Kellogg’s accelerated one-year program, Davis interned with Evergreen Climate Innovations and Agentis Energy (now part of Uplight). Prior to Kellogg, Davis worked as a technology consultant helping major utility clients implement complex new software systems to better manage the electric grid. In addition to a Kellogg MBA, Davis holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Cornell University. In his free time, he enjoys exploring Chicago’s parks and playgrounds with his wife and one-year-old daughter.

Jessica is a sustainability and real estate leader with more than 15 years of experience designing sustainability solutions that cut across business, sustainability and the built environment. Throughout her career, Jessica has worked with both for-profit and not-for profit clients guiding them on sustainability strategies that drive business value, mitigate risks and demonstrate commitment to all stakeholders. Jessica is currently the Global Lead for Carbon + Energy within the Real Estate and Workplace Services (REWS) team at Google.  Prior to this role, she was Senior Director, Global Product Management - Sustainability Consulting at JLL, where she led the design and implementation of industry leading sustainability consulting services like Net Zero Carbon and Climate Risk Strategy to drive global alignment, maximize customer value creation and bring differentiated products to market.

Throughout her career, Jessica has worked on a diverse portfolio of projects including sustainability strategy development, large-scale construction and renovation projects, landmark restorations, interior build-outs, energy retrofits and sustainability certifications. Key clients include: Rent the Runway, NRDC, Nike, Hyatt, Proctor & Gamble, Principal Financial Group, HSBC, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Piedmont Realty, GSA, Fidelity Investments, and CMG.

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Jessica holds a BA in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania and an MS in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. Jessica is also the Vice President of Go Green Winnetka, she serves as a Communications Advisor for Illinois Green Alliance, and volunteers to develop Sustainability initiatives for local schools.

Matt Steggeman is a dual degree MBA + MS Design Innovation candidate at Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management. He interned as an associate at Energy Capital Ventures and was an MBA intern at Goldman Sachs' Investment Bank in the Industrial Coverage group. Prior to Kellogg he was a product manager for a portfolio of automation solutions and co-founded the Sustainability Group in Latin America at Emerson Electric, where he entered via the Engineers in Leadership development program. Prior to that, he worked as a design engineer and manufacturing engineer at Tesla Motors and Toyota Motor Corp and received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.

Saumya has been a social entrepreneur in India for the past 10 years. Saumya is one of the co-founders of Kheyti, a social enterprise started in 2015 that helps smallholder farmers in India overcome income variability through affordable, modular greenhouses. She currently leads Program Design at Kheyti and has won various awards for her work such as the CommonBond Social Impact Award, Kellogg Social Entrepreneurship Award and MassChallenge Israel Diamond Award for her work. She was also selected as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur in 2019. 

  

Prior to Kheyti, Saumya spent three years in the vocational training sector in India. She founded YellowLeaf in 2013 - a social enterprise helping blue-collar workers get access to high paying overseas jobs free of exploitation. Before YellowLeaf, Saumya was part of the leadership team of a skill development startup called B-ABLE where she launched and led operations in two of India’s most impoverished states.  

  

Saumya has done her undergrad from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University and has an M.B.A. from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Saumya has been selected as a StartingBloc Fellow 2014, an Ashoka Emerging Innovator 2016 and a Zell Fellow 2017.

Don Meier is an entrepreneurial technology leader with a proven track record of advancing the manufacturing workforce, Industry 4.0, and Energy Transition. Currently, he leads the Deloitte Catalyst Energy & Industrials team, which was responsible for startup partnerships, prototyping, market-testing, and scaling Deloitte’s early-stage businesses and software assets in the Energy & Industrials space. During his time, he has launched launched & built 8 new businesses including the $40mm and growing supply chain resilience business.

Previously, Don was the Co-Founder & CEO of LineShift, serving customers ranging across automotive, industrial products, aerospace & defense, and medical device industries to implement manufacturing process improvements, leverage advanced manufacturing technologies, and train their workforce for the future of manufacturing.

Don holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BS in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech. He lives in Austin, TX with his wife Kelsie and daughter, Camila.

Carl Wolf joined LanzaTech in 2011 and has worked in various roles throughout the company, including operations, project management, government relations, and business development and strategy. Before joining LanzaTech, Carl was a consultant at BCS, Incorporated, where he worked with environmental and energy sector clients, including the US Department of Energy. He holds a BA from University of Maryland-Baltimore County, a MS from New York Institute of Technology, and an MBA from The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Founded in 2008, Equilibrium Capital has built a platform of real assets focused sustainability driven investment strategies for institutional investors. Equilibrium currently manages $2 billion in two portfolio strategies: Carbon Transition Infrastructure and Controlled Environment Foods. 

  

Dave is Equilibrium’s CEO and serves on the boards of several of its fund portfolio companies. He started his career at Solectron, McKinsey, and as a general partner with OVP Venture Partners.  He served on the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank Board system until 2012 and was a board member of B Labs until 2018.  Dave has, for 14 years, been a professor at Northwestern’s Kellogg Business School equipping students for sustainable investing.