Team
Staff
Régine Clément, President and CEO Daniel Matross, Senior Director of Research, Strategy and Partnerships Russell Grant, Director of Programs and Development Matt Komorowski, Sector Manager and Analyst
Board of Directors
Jason Scott, Partner, Encourage Capital
Christian Zabbal, Managing Partner, Spring Lane Capital Martin Whittaker, CEO, JUST Capital
Gabriel Kra, Managing Director, Prelude Ventures
Nicholas Eisenberger, Managing Partner, Pure Energy Partners Marie Eriksson, Managing Partner, Stena Ventures
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Richard Kauffman Will Nesbitt
BIOGRAPHIES
Régine Clément President and CEO
Régine Clément joined the CREO Syndicate in January 2016 as its inaugural CEO to help catalyze the deployment of private capital in Cleantech, Renewable Energy and Environmental Opportunities. Prior to joining CREO, Régine was Trade Commissioner and Head of Energy and Environment at the Canadian Consulate General in New York, where she worked with hundreds of companies to advance Canadian commercial interests in energy, infrastructure and cleantech in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware and Pennsylvania. In this capacity, she co-founded and co-managed the Canadian Technology Accelerator for Cleantech, an accelerator program that helps early and growth-stage companies gain access to capital, strategic partners and mentors in NYC and Silicon Valley. Previously she was Executive Director of SENS Production, a NYC-based site-specific dance company; a Trade Policy Analyst with the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Ottawa, Canada, and an Analyst with Fundación Futuro Latino Americano on trade and environmental policy in Quito, Ecuador. Régine obtained her MSc in International Political Economy at the London School of Economics, and her Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa.
Daniel Matross, Senior Director of Research, Strategy and Partnerships
Daniel Matross, PhD, has joined CREO on a part time basis as our Senior Director, Strategic Programs. Based in Silicon Valley, Daniel will lead CREO’s programmatic activities, educational content development and key partnerships. Dan specializes in bringing strategy, innovation and quantitative tools to effectively deliver programs and consulting services in the energy and environmental field. He has over a decade of technical and business development experience in energy, climate, carbon and sustainability. Dan most recently worked for the Government of Canada, providing analysis and support to energy and environmental technology companies. Prior to this role, Dan provided strategic climate and energy expertise at KEMA Inc. (now part of DNV GL), a global energy consulting firm, and led all scientific work and carbon market operations at Cooler, Inc., a start-up with innovative technology to calculate carbon footprints from financial information. Dan began his career as a research scientist at Harvard University and the University of California Berkeley, authoring and co-authoring numerous articles in the primary scientific literature. As an accomplished speaker and writer, Dan is talented in making highly technical concepts accessible to a broad cross-section of audiences. Dan holds a Ph.D. in atmospheric science from Harvard University, and a B.S. in chemistry from Stanford University.
Russell Grant Director of Programs and Development
Russell Grant joined the CREO team as Director of Programs and Development, and is responsible for building, scaling, and delivering CREO’s programmatic strategy and network development efforts. He came to CREO from Bloomberg LP where he most recently managed relationships with the U.S. Government, the Department of Energy, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the White House. Russell led the reorganization of programmatic activities and engagement with multiple U.S. government agencies and Defense contractors. Prior to Bloomberg, Russell spent a short time at Brown Brothers Harriman, where he enhanced the sanctions compliance program for the bank. Russell moved to BBH after serving in the U.S. Army for five and half years. Whilst in the Army, he deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Officer, primarily in the “advise, train and assist” capacity with Iraqi and Afghan forces. His awards include two Bronze Stars, Combat Action Badge, U.S. Army Ranger Tab, and Senior Explosive Ordnance Disposal badge. He has a BA in Peace, War and Defense, studying the fundamental issues of human conflict and national and global security. Russell has been a long standing board member of The Versailles Foundation/Giverny Inc.
Matt Komorowski Sector Manager and Analyst
Matt joins CREO after spending two years at Huron River Ventures, an early-stage venture capital fund in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At HRV, Matt was responsible for leading diligence, deal flow management and fund marketing. Before joining HRV, Matt helped launch a tech-enabled urgent care clinic in California. Throughout these roles, Matt has consulted with a variety of startups on customer acquisition and fundraising projects.
Jason Scott Board Member, Co-Chairman
Jason Scott is a co-founder and Co-Managing Partner of Encourage Capital. Jason has more than a decade of experience developing and managing firms seeking to sustainably manage and invest capital. He was most recently a founding Director and investment analyst at Generation Investment Management, co-founded by David Blood and former Vice President Al Gore, Jr. From 1999 to 2004, Jason worked as an executive and advisor with Acumen Fund, the Blue Ridge Foundation, and the Flatiron Future Fund/Foundation in New York City. Jason serves on the boards of the Clean Economy Network and the Forest Philanthropy Action Network. Jason received and M.B.A. with distinction from a joint program of Columbia and London Business Schools and graduated cum laude from Duke University. He served on the transition advisory boards for the Obama Administration for Technology and Innovation and Energy and the Environment.
Christian Zabbal Board Member, Co-Chairman
Christian Zabbal is the Managing Partner of Spring Lane Capital. Spring Lane Capital is a private equity fund that invests in energy, food and water, and is specialized in investing in project finance to help companies in that space scale and grow rapidly. Christian is also the co-founder of a syndicate of family offices, called the CREO Syndicate, a group that now comprises almost a hundred large family offices that are active in the Cleantech space, and which try to co-invest together and share deals, expertise and resources. In 2009, Christian helped set up Black Coral Capital, a family office specialized in investing in cleantech and related fields. Before this, he was a founding partner at ghSmart, a management consulting firm specialized in talent assessment and development for the private equity industry. The firm serves most of the large players in the venture and private equity space on management and talent issues of all types. At ghSmart, Christian launched and managed several offices and practices for the firm. Christian sits on the investment committee for SDTC (Sustainable Development and Technology Canada) and is on the advisory board of Cycle Capital, as well as acts as an advisor to several large pension funds and investment groups on issues of strategy and talent.
Martin Whittaker Board Member
Martin Whittaker is Chief Executive Officer of JUST Capital, an NYC-based non-profit organization focused on sustainable capitalism. He is also an investment committee member for the Sonen Capital private investment platform and the Climate Change Capital private equity fund. Martin has 15 years’ experience in the sustainable investing and environmental finance field. Previously, Martin was a Managing Director and founding partner at Sonen Capital, a Director of MissionPoint Capital Partners, a Senior Vice President at Swiss Re Financial Services, where he was part of the Environmental and Commodity Markets team, and a Managing Director of Innovest Strategic Value Advisors. Martin currently serves on the Board of the Carbon Disclosure Project North America and as an advisor to SASB and GISR. Martin holds a Ph.D. in environmental science from the University of Edinburgh, and an M.B.A. from the University of London.
Gabriel Kra Board Member
Gabriel Kra is Managing Director for Prelude Ventures, overseeing Prelude's investments in alternative energy and cleantech companies. Gabriel currently sits on the Board of Directors of Renewable Funding, PLANT PV, Sense Labs, and Project Frog and is active or a board observer with Prelude’s investments in Suniva, Yerdle, Citrine, and QuantumScape. Prior to founding Prelude, Gabriel was an investment banker with Deutsche Bank in its solar and semiconductor group in San Francisco. Previously, Gabriel held positions in 3 venture-backed telecommunications and semiconductor startups. Gabriel holds MBAs from the Haas School of Business and Columbia Business School, a master’s degree in atmospheric chemistry from SUNY Stony Brook, and a BA in Philosophy from Columbia College.
Nick Eisenberger Board Member
Nicholas Eisenberger is the Managing Partner of Pure Energy Partners, a venture catalyst firm that invests in high-potential clean economy companies and partners with innovators to drive scale, profit, and impact. He is also co-founder of SuperCollider, an investment firm focused on early-stage Cleanweb companies using digital technologies to transform energy and resource use. After starting his career as an attorney in the environmental practice group of Heller, Ehrman, White & McAuliffe, Nicholas joined Churchill Capital, one of the first pure play clean technology venture firms. He went on to found and lead several pioneering companies in the digital and clean economy spaces, including MyPoints.com, Ecos Technologies, GreenYour.com, Go Ventures, and GreenOrder, which he and his partners established as one of the most influential sustainability-focused management consulting firms and sold in 2008. Nicholas serves on the World Resources Institute New Innovators Council, the XPRIZE Foundation’s Energy and Environment Advisory Board, and is a former director of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE). Nicholas is an honors graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.
Marie Eriksson Board Member
Marie Eriksson is founder and Managing Partner of Stena Ventures which invests in mission driven technology companies. She is an owner and Director of the Board of the Swedish conglomerate, Stena. Stena is an international group of companies with business activities ranging from ferry lines, offshore drilling, shipping, real estate, recycling and investment. Marie was previously working at the World Economic Forum where she launched and managed the World Economic Forum Family Business Community. Marie holds an MBA from IMD, Switzerland and a Masters of Laws from Lund University, Sweden. She is a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow and a member of the Young Presidents Organization.