Team
Staff
Régine Clément, President and CEO Daniel Matross, Senior Director of Research and Strategy Matt Komorowski, Sector Manager and Analyst Maki Tazawa, Sector Manager and Analyst Christina Rivera, Operations Manager and Executive Assistant to CEO
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 Veery Maxwell, Director, Energy Innovation Marie Eriksson, HeartFlow Ventures, Formica Capital
FOUNDING MEMBERS
Richard Kauffman Will Nesbitt
BIOGRAPHIES
Régine Clément President and CEO
Régine Clément joined CREO in January 2016 as its inaugural CEO to help catalyze more private capital in Clean, Renewable and Environmental Opportunities (CREO). Régine is passionate about bringing positive transformational change to existing systems through the power of people, relationships and insights. 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 the US Northeast region. 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. Régine is based in New York.
Daniel Matross, Senior Director of Research and Strategy
Daniel Matross, PhD, is Senior Director of Research and Strategy responsible for overseeing CREO’s research program and managing strategy work. CREO’s diverse and active research program spans from topical analyses in energy, food/ag, water, and mobility to novel ways of analyzing networks to studies on the practice of sustainable investing. Dan joined CREO in 2017 and brings fifteen years of technical and business development experience in energy, climate, carbon and sustainability. Prior to this joining CREO, Dan led energy and environment programs in California and Hawaii for the Government of Canada, 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, 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. He is based in Silicon Valley.
Matt Komorowski Sector Manager and Analyst
Matt is Sector Manager and Analyst for Energy, Transportation & Mobility, and Built Environment. He joined CREO in 2018 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. Matt is based in New York.
Maki Tazawa Sector Manager and Analyst
Maki is Sector Manager and Analyst for Food Systems, Agriculture, Aquaculture, Water and Conservation. Maki recently completed her graduate program in business and the environment at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. After graduating from the George Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and environmental studies, Maki carried out international wildlife conservation projects around capacity building, ecotourism ventures, and sustainable development at the National Audubon Society. At Yale, Maki studied and led programs around sustainable food systems, especially plant-based foods, and social innovation. She has written for the Conservation Finance Network and Greenbiz, and led programs on corporate social responsibility. Maki is based in Denver, and originally from Rhode Island.
Christina Rivera Operations Manager and Executive Assistant to CEO
Christina joined CREO in 2017 as the Operations Manager and Executive Assistant to the CEO, and focuses on managing operations and optimizing the delivery of the organization’s core mandate. Prior to joining CREO, Christina was the Administrative and Human Resource Coordinator at Harlem RBI (Dream Charter School), where she was responsible for creating, implementing and codifying new processes and procedures. Christina also worked as an independent bookkeeper with various Nonprofit organizations. Christina is based in New York.
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.
Veery Maxwell Board Member
Veery Maxwell is a partner at Ajax Investment Strategies and a director at Energy Innovation. She focuses on regulatory, financial, and legal due diligence on technology companies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions at scale. Veery is a member of the California Bar, having earned a J.D. degree with honors from UC Hastings School of the Law. Veery received a B.A. degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a double major in finance and international business. Previously, Veery worked for The Nature Conservancy, ClimateWorks Foundation, and the environmental law division of Union Pacific. She serves on the boards of several companies and nonprofits, including Element Analytics, Ketos, Skip Scooters, Streetlight Data, Sunfolding, Voltus, WaterSmart Software, and Clean Energy Trust.
Marie Eriksson Board Member
Marie Eriksson is a community builder and investor on the mission to co-create a more conscious world from the inside and out. She is passionate about exploring different ways of healing, living and relating that allows for deepening connection with the self, other and nature. Marie is committed to leading from the heart and to follow the flow of life. She is the founder of HeartFlow Ventures, her own investment vehicle that supports initiatives that expands her heart and that she wants to see more of in the world. She is also the co-founder of her new family office, Formica Capital which aims to become the leading impact investing company in the Nordics. Marie has been a driving force in the global impact investing community since 2013. She sits on the board of CREO and she previously managed the World Economic Forum Family Business Community and co-created the Harvard Kennedy School course on Impact Investing for the Next Generation. Most recently, Marie co-founded the Katapult Ocean accelerator and she is currently in the process of exploring a new initiative, the Chrysalis, an experiential fund based ecosystem design template aimed at transfiguring not only how we do business but the reason why we do business. 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.