Advisory Committee
The NYC ACRE Advisory Committee is comprised of individuals that are experienced and committed to early stage investing in New York City.
Members of the Coordinating Committee will offer strategic advice to tenant companies, help identify specific areas of engagement, make themselves available for panels, conferences, advisory boards, and assist the Technical Advisory Board in reviewing applicants.
Ralph Alexander
Ralph Alexander is a Managing Director of Riverstone. Mr. Alexander has served in various positions with subsidiaries and affiliates of BP plc, one of the world's largest energy firms. He served as Chief Executive Officer of Innovene, BP's $20bn olefins and derivatives subsidiary and also as Chief Executive Officer of BP's Gas, Power and Renewables and Solar segment and was a member of the BP group executive committee. Mr. Alexander serves on the board of Coastal Carolina, CNAA and AES Solar. He is also a Director of Stein Mart Corporation and previously served on the board of Foster Wheeler and Anglo-American plc. He is currently Chairman of the board of NYU Polytechnic.
Andrew Bata
Andrew Bata is Chief Officer of Strategic Improvements and Best Practices for MTA New York City Transit. He is currently involved in a number of new technology and sustainability projects and is responsible for developing recommendation that follow Best Practices for New York City Transit and the entire MTA family. He is a member of the Board of Directors of ITS New York and has served as its past president. He is a member of the Transportation Research Board's Committee on Emerging and Innovative Public Transport and Technology. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Transportation of Polytechnic University and the City University of New York.
Robert B. Catell
Robert B. Catell is Chairman of the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center (AERTC) at New York State University at Stony Brook. Mr. Catell is Chairman of Alberta Northeast Gas Ltd., and a member of the board of directors of KEYERA Energy Management Ltd. He is also the Chair of New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation (NYSTAR), Cristo Rey Network's Lourdes Academy, and Futures in Education and the Co-Chair of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.
Mr. Catell was formerly the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of KeySpan Corporation and KeySpan Energy Delivery, the former Brooklyn Union.
Michael Colgrove
Michael Colgrove is the current Director of Energy Programs in NYSERDA's New York City office. His primary responsibility is to insure that NYSERDA's energy efficiency programs work to effectively meet the energy needs of New York City and Westchester county. The New York City office consists of project managers with energy expertise across a wide range of sectors including new construction, existing buildings, residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional and can assist all New Yorkers interested in managing their energy usage. Prior to his promotion, Michael served as a Senior Project Manager with NYSERDA's Residential Energy Affordability Program working on the Multifamily Performance Program.
Maria G. Gotsch
Maria G. Gotsch is President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York City Investment Fund (www.nycif.org). The Fund, which has raised over $100 million, has built a network of top experts from the investment and corporate communities who help identify and support New York City's most promising entrepreneurs in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. Prior to joining the Fund in 1999, Maria was a Managing Director at BT Wolfensohn (now part of Deutsche Bank), providing strategic and financial advice related to mergers, acquisitions, dispositions, joint ventures and the development of business strategies.
Ashok Gupta
Ashok Gupta is Director of Energy Policy and a Senior Energy Economist at the Natural Resources Defense Council where he works with his colleagues on global warming policies, energy efficiency, renewables, sustainable building design, smart growth and transportation policy. Mr. Gupta is NRDC's representative on Mayor Bloomberg's Sustainability Advisory Board and Energy Policy Task Force. Mr. Gupta also serves on the Boards of Directors of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies, U.S. Green Building Council - New York, Clean Air-Cool Planet, Alliance for Clean Energy New York, Citizen's Union Foundation, and Riverside South Planning Corporation.
Orin Herskowitz
Orin Herskowitz is the VP of Intellectual Property and Tech Transfer for Columbia University, as well as Executive Director of Columbia Technology Ventures (CTV). CTV's core objective is to facilitate the transfer of inventions from academic research to outside organizations for the benefit of society on a local, national and global basis. CTV manages more than 300 invention disclosures from faculty, 50 license deals and 12 new start-ups each year, as well as approximately 45 multi-disciplinary, full-time staff across Columbia's two campuses. Orin received his BA from Yale and his MBA from the Wharton School of Business. Prior to joining Columbia, Orin spent 7 years at the Boston Consulting Group's New York office as a strategy consultant, and was previously an entrepreneur and a consultant to start-ups.
Paul Horn
Dr. Paul Horn was named NYU Distinguished Scientist in Residence in September of 2007 and Senior Vice Provost for Research in September 2009. Prior to his NYU position, he was Senior Vice President of the IBM Corporation and Executive Director of Research. In this job, he directed IBM's worldwide Research program with 3200 technical employees in eight sites in five countries around the world, and helped guide IBM's overall technical strategy. Dr. Horn is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and was an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow from 1974-1978. He is also a member of numerous professional committees including the GAO (General Accountability Office) board of advisors, the board of trustees of the Committee for Economic Development, and the NYU-Polytechnic Board of Trustees.
Jerry M. Hultin
Jerry M. Hultin is the president of Polytechnic Institute of NYU. Before joining Polytechnic, he was the dean of the Wesley J. Howe School of Technology Management and professor of management at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J. Prior to that he served as undersecretary of the U.S. Navy, the department's No. 2 civilian leader. Mr. Hultin is an honorary fellow of the Foreign Policy Association, a member of the New York/London Transatlantic Council, a director of BABI, the founding chairman of the Technology Management Education Association and an adviser to senior military and defense leaders.
Debera Johnson
Debera Johnson is the Academic Director of Sustainability at Pratt Institute and is leading Pratt's commitment to integrate sustainability through its academic programs. Deb is also directing Pratt's Center for Sustainable Design Studies and Research and the Pratt Design Incubator for Sustainable/Social Enterprise. The Incubator, founded in 2002, is an innovative model for community entrepreneurship and currently supports six start-up businesses. The Incubator also offers sustainable design consulting services to for profit and non-profit enterprises.
David Kirkpatrick
David Kirkpatrick is Managing Director and co-founder of SJF Ventures, a cleantech and positive impact venture capital fund with offices in Durham, NC, New York City, and San Francisco. SJF focuses on high growth, positive impact ventures and was founded in 1999. David helped lead SJF's capitalization of two funds totaling $45 million. SJF Ventures I and II have invested in 31 portfolio companies with $500 million in sales, 128 facilities, and 4,500 employees. David also co-founded SJF Advisory Services, a non-profit corporation, which has assisted 1,800 positive impact enterprises across the US.
William Lese
William Lese is a Co-founder and Managing Director of Braemar Energy Ventures www.braemarenergy.com , a venture capital firm headquartered in New York City that focuses exclusively on investing in early to mid stage energy technology companies primarily in the US and Canada. He has more than 24 years of research, operating and venture capital experience in the energy and environmental businesses. Prior to Braemar, he was a partner at Mantis Holdings, a venture capital firm focused on investing in environmental and energy efficiency companies.
Paul Nikolich
Mr. Nikolich is a consultant working closely with YAS Broadband Ventures LLC in the technology, standards, intellectual property and venture investing fields since 2001. He holds several patents, serves on the technology advisory boards of companies developing emerging communications technology products and provides strategic consulting services to executives in the communications industry. He is Chairman of the IEEE 802 LAN/MAN Standards Committee overseeing 50 projects in wired and wireless communications networking with 1500+ active members. In 1998 he co-founded Broadband Access Systems, Inc. (BAS), leading the development of next-generation Cable Modem Termination Systems, where he was Vice President of Technology and Standards.
Gurudatta Nadkarni
Mr. Nadkarni is currently the Vice President, of Strategic Planning at Con Edison. He is responsible for all aspects of the company's strategic planning function. Before joining Con Edison, Mr. Nadkarni held a number of positions in corporate strategy/development including managing director of growth, Duke Energy, and a management consultant, McKinsey & Company. He previously was a senior research scientist at International Paper. He is a member of the Board of the Museum of the City of New York.
Diana Propper
Diana is currently a General Partner at Expansion Capital Partners, where she manages a $100+ million cleantech fund. Diana brings to Expansion Capital Partners her recognized domain expertise and her global network of entrepreneurs, venture capital investors and large corporations active in Clean Technology. Her background encompasses work with Fortune 500 companies, venture-backed technology companies, financial institutions and private investors in Clean Technology.
Jonathan Schrag
Jonathan is the Executive Director at RGGI, Inc. Before RGGI, Jonathan was a partner of Hudson Strategic Energy Advisors LLC, where he worked with the state governments of Wyoming, West Virginia, and Montana and the Western Governors Association on energy, climate and the environment. Jonathan was also an Assistant Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and the Executive Director of the Lenfest Center for Sustainable Energy, where he ran programs on carbon capture and sequestration, nuclear energy, carbon policy, and renewable energy technologies.
Michael Shimazu
Michael Shimazu is Project Manager, Clean Energy Business Growth and Innovation at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). He is the staff lead for NYSERDA's business development team and manages the Authority's incubator, manufacturing incentive, and acceleration programs to increase the opportunities for clean technology companies. He was a co-founder and corporate officer at Molecular OptoElectronics Corp., an optical components company. He has advised several technology startups as a consultant and Business Development Director at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and held positions in technology-based economic development in New York, Massachusetts and Hawaii.
Tokumbo Shobowale
Tokumbo E. O. Shobowale is the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor for Economic Development of New York City. In this capacity he coordinates economic policy development for the Office of the Mayor, as well as oversight of more than a dozen agencies—including those responsible for affordable housing financing, construction and preservation; city planning; transportation; business services and workforce development; tax policy and tax collections; business attraction and retention; and economic development broadly across the five boroughs of New York City. Previously Tokumbo was Chief Operating Officer of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), the City's vehicle for stimulating investment across industry sectors and broadening the City's tax and employment base by meeting the needs of businesses large and small. Prior to this he served as an Executive Vice President overseeing strategy and policy, business development, and energy policy. Before joining NYCEDC, Tokumbo was a strategy consultant for McKinsey & Company and also for Dalberg Development, a firm that works to strengthen global public institutions (e.g. UN and bilateral aid agencies). Previously, he was Honduras program director for a not-for-profit organization facilitating rural enterprise and energy development. He serves on the boards of the Excellence Boys and Excellence Girls Charter Schools, and is the founding chair of the board of the Leadership Prep Charter Schools in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and Ocean Hill Brooklyn. Tokumbo earned an A.B. from Stanford University, an M.A. from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management, earning each degree with academic distinction. He lives in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with his wife Sheethal.
Steve Wey
Steve Wey is the District General Manager for IR Climate Solutions in the New York / New Jersey region. As District General Manager, he is responsible for the successful leadership and management of the seven location and more than 300 Trane employees within the district. He oversees financial analysis and interpretation, assessment of business opportunities, enhancement of customer experience and innovations for strategic change throughout the business model. Steve has over 30 years experience in developing and providing solutions to climate and energy issues.
Steve Strauss
Managing Director, Center for Economic Transformation
New York City Economic Development Corporation
Steve Strauss spearheaded the creation of the Center for Economic Transformation at NYCEDC and a number of its high impact initiatives including the 160 Varick Street Incubator (in partnership with Trinity Realty and NYU-Poly), the NYC NextIdea Business Plan Competition, NYC BigApps, Hive@55, NYC Media Lab, and the NYC Entrepreneurial Fund.
Prior to joining NYCEDC, Steve was a Director and Senior Advisor at the World Economic Forum in the Financial Institutions group and managed the Forum’s relationships with a portfolio of financial service CEOs. Steve was responsible for the Forum’s inaugural Financial Development Index, a comprehensive look at global financial systems, and co-authored the Forum’s report on the Convergence of Insurance with Capital Markets.
Before that, Steve spent five years with the London office of McKinsey & Company serving clients in the Public Sector, including the Economic Development Board of a Middle Eastern country, the Bank Insurance Fund of a major OECD country, the National Health Service and the primary health care regulator of a major European country, and a major Sovereign Wealth Fund. He also worked in the Private Sector on a variety of strategy and risk management issues. Steve’s work experience includes sales and trading at a number of financial service firms as well.
He holds a B.A. from New York University and a Ph.D. in Management from Yale University.