Peter L. Corsell, Chairman and CEO
Peter L. Corsell is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GridPoint, an established leader in the clean technology industry. MIT’s Technology Review has recognized Mr. Corsell as one of the world’s top innovators under age 35 and the World Economic Forum named him a Young Global Leader in 2010. Mr. Corsell is a frequent speaker on energy issues and is a regular participant in CERAWeek, the Clinton Global Initiative, The Economist’s Innovation Summit, Goldman Sachs’ Alternative Energy Conference, and the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos.
In 2003, Mr. Corsell founded GridPoint to fuel the adoption of energy efficiency and renewable energy. Today, the company is working with electric utilities, commercial enterprises and consumers across North America to create a clean and efficient 21st century power system. GridPoint brings to market a broad range of smart grid, energy efficiency and renewable energy solutions, enabling its commercial and residential customers to reduce energy costs and minimize environmental impact, while helping utilities embrace new distributed technologies. The World Economic Forum selected GridPoint as a Technology Pioneer in 2008, and the company has been featured in several books including “Hot, Flat and Crowded” by Thomas L. Friedman.
Mr. Corsell’s commitment to the environment and society is also evident in his background and work outside of GridPoint. He was Chairman of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Sustainable Energy (2008-2009) and is a founding member of the Electrification Coalition, which advocates for mass adoption of electric vehicles as imperative to U.S. national security. Mr. Corsell is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Clinton Global Initiative. He serves on the Board of Directors of Entech Solar, a developer of concentrating solar energy systems, and on the Board of Directors of the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami Beach. Early in his career Mr. Corsell served with the U.S. State Department in Cuba and as a political analyst with the Central Intelligence Agency. He holds a B.S. from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
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Jeffrey Berman, Director
Jeffrey Berman is a private investor primarily focused on early stage opportunities in a variety of sectors including energy management, medical devices and software. Mr. Berman is the former founding partner and CIO of hedge fund company Atlantic Capital Management Partners, where he managed the firm's long/short equity strategy until his retirement in 2001. Previously, he served as a director of Compass Capital Advisors, a fund management business. He divides his time between private investing and community service.
Mr. Berman is currently Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Greenhouse Schools project, a London-based charity delivering structured sport and performing arts programs in schools and community clubs in areas of high deprivation. He is serving his second term as a member of the TATE Modern Council at the TATE art museum, and is involved in other philanthropic endeavors.
Mr. Berman began his career in London at Waddington Galleries, a leading contemporary art gallery, serving as a director from 1987 to 1993. He holds a B.A. in art history and economics from Boston University and recently completed postgraduate study in Asian art as part of a collaborative program with the Royal Holloway College, University College London, and the British Museum.
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J. Roderick Heller, III, Director
J. Roderick Heller is Chairman and CEO of Carnton Capital Associates LP, a venture capital firm, and has more than 30 years' experience in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Heller serves on the board of directors of two public companies, Montpelier Ray Holdings, Ltd. (NYSE) and First Potomac Realty Trust (NYSE), as well as three private companies. He recently served as Chairman of the National Capital Revitalization Corporation (2001-2003), a quasi-public entity that stimulates economic development in Washington, D.C. through real estate development, business finance and job creation.
Mr. Heller assumed control of, and successfully turned around, several underperforming corporations. As Chairman and CEO of the National Housing Partnerships, Inc. (1985-1997), Mr. Heller built the housing consortium into the largest owner and operator of apartments in the U.S. and directed the public offering and subsequent sale of the company in 1995 and 1997. As President and CEO of Bristol Compressors, Inc. (1982-1985), a manufacturer of air conditioning compressors and condensing units that had not been profitable since its founding in 1975, Mr. Heller led the company to significant profits within two years. Bristol Compressors was sold in 1986 to York International, a global supplier of heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Heller was a partner at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering in Washington, D.C. (1971-1982), where his practice focused on corporate finance, with an emphasis on foreign investment transactions, real estate financing and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Heller holds an A.B. degree from Princeton University, where he was awarded the Danforth Foundation Fellowship and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship. Mr. Heller also holds an M.A. degree in history from Harvard University and an LL.D degree from Harvard Law School.
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Robert S. Mancini, Director
Robert S. Mancini is Chief Executive Officer of Cogentrix Energy Inc., a wholly-owned Goldman Sachs subsidiary, and is a senior leader of the Global Commodities Principal Investments unit within Goldman’s commodities business. Mr. Mancini previously served a three-year term as co-president of Cogentrix and has been a member of the board of that company since Goldman’s acquisition in 2003.
Mr. Mancini joined Goldman Sach’s Legal Department in New York in 1993, became global legal coordinator for the firm’s derivatives business in 1998, and was named Deputy General Counsel for the Securities Division in 1999. He was named Managing Director that same year. Mr. Mancini represents Goldman Sachs as a member of the Board of Directors of several portfolio companies globally, and individually serves on the Board of Directors of several not-for-profit organizations.
Prior to joining Goldman, Mr. Mancini was an attorney with Debevoise & Plimpton LLP from 1984-1987 and an investment banker in the municipal finance department of Smith Barney from 1987-1988. He then returned to Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he established that firm’s derivatives practice. Mr. Mancini holds a B.A. from Binghamton University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law.
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Tom Soto, Director
Tom Soto is Managing Partner and member of the Board of Directors and a senior investment professional of Craton Equity Partners, which invests in growing clean technology companies. Mr. Soto is founder of PS Enterprises, one of the country’s leading environmental regulatory and compliance firms, where he helped to introduce innovative technologies to market including fuel cell technology.
For 20 years, Mr. Soto has used his collective experience as a businessman, environmental activist and political advisor to assist in identifying collaborative solutions to challenging environmental and policy concerns. He is an advisor to elected officials and corporate leaders on environmental matters, clean technology-related issues and green jobs, most recently serving as Team Co-lead of the Executive Office of the President's Transition team focused on the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) for President Obama. Throughout the 1990s, he was President Clinton's appointee to the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission, which oversaw and insured adherence to the environmental component of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Mr. Soto was selected by Hispanic Business Magazine as one of 2010's One Hundred Most Influential Hispanics in the United States. He is board secretary of the Mono Lake Committee, and has been on the boards of the California League of Conservation Voters; the Planning and Conservation league; and was the longtime president and board member of the Coalition for Clean Air. He is an active member of the Clean Tech Ventures Network, the Apollo Alliance, NRDC’s E2, and is a member of the board of directors of the New America Alliance. He is also a director for several Craton Equity companies. Mr. Soto is a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Jacob J. Worenklein, Director
Jacob J. Worenklein is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of US Power Generating Company, which owns and operates a major portion of the power capacity in New York City and Boston. Before forming USPowerGen in April 2003, Mr. Worenklein was head of the global power and energy sectors and the project finance business at Societe Generale (SG), named in 2001 as the "World's Best Project Finance Bank" by Euromoney.
Before joining SG, Mr. Worenklein was Managing Director and Global Head of Project Finance at Lehman Brothers, where his group led several of the major M&A transactions and IPOs in the independent power industry. Previously, he was a partner at Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy, where he founded the firm's power, utility and project finance practices. Among his major clients at the firm were all the electric utility companies of New York State in a joint venture to construct and operate all future power plants in New York. Mr. Worenklein is also a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of Ormat Technologies, Inc., which develops and owns geothermal and other renewable energy projects, and Globeleq, Inc., a power company focused on power investments in the emerging markets.
Mr. Worenklein has served as Adjunct Professor of Finance at New York University’s Stern School of Business, as a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development, as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and while a student, as Director of Research for the New York City Council President’s Office. He is a member of the New York City Partnership. In 2002 he received the first Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Infrastructure Journal in London. Mr. Worenklein holds a B.A. degree from Columbia College and J.D. and MBA degrees from NYU Law School and NYU Graduate School of Business Administration, now the Stern School of Business.
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