Management Team

The Clean Power Finance management team, board of directors, and advisers include Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and larger company veterans from the solar, finance, and Internet industries. We focus our significant expertise and experience to drive the mass-market adoption of solar.

Management Team

 

Nat Kreamer

President & Chief Executive Officer

Nat is the President and CEO and member of the board of directors of Clean Power Finance.  Nat’s original idea to finance solar for consumers led him to co-found SunRun, which he led as the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer.  Nat was the President and member of the Board of Directors of Acro Energy Technologies, a residential and commercial solar integration company.  He created the Chicago Climate Exchange market-making business for Pioneer Futures. Nat has also worked in power industry financial consulting at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Nat is a member of the board of directors of the Solar Energy Industries Association. An officer in the US Navy (Reserves), Nat is an Afghanistan war veteran, where he served in the Special Forces and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He has a BS from Northwestern University and an MBA from Rice University.

Mike Pope

Chief Financial Officer

Before joining the company, Mike was the COO and CFO of MarketTools.com, which was acquired by Texas Pacific Group (TPG). Prior to MarketTools.com, Michael served as Vice President for the office of the CEO of BearingPoint (NYSE: BE) and as President and COO of Network General, which was acquired by NetScout Systems (NASDAQ: NTCT). Before that, he was President and CEO of DigitalThink (Nasdaq: DTHK), EVP and CFO of Dionex (NASDAQ: DNEX), and a bank examiner at the New York Federal Reserve. Mike has a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Robert Prigge

Chief Commercial Officer

Robert has twenty-years of sales leadership experience, delivering business solutions and driving growth for large multi-national corporations. Prior to joining Clean Power Finance, Robert was the Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing for Sterling Commerce where, as part of the eight-person Senior Leadership Team, he helped steer the acquisition of the company by IBM for $1.4 billion from AT&T. Following the integration of the company into IBM, Robert was the North America sales leader for IBM’s B2B division. Additionally, Robert has also led the Asia-Pacific & Japan sales operations of companies like Secure Computing, McAfee, Quest Software and Symark Software. Robert is fluent in multiple languages, matriculated at age 16, and received a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Illinois.

Adam Marsh

Chief Technology Officer & Co-Founder

Before co-founding Clean Power Finance, Adam co-founded Coactive Networks, a technology startup that pioneered energy management, remote monitoring, and control over the Internet for commercial and residential buildings. At Coactive, he led strategic planning, product marketing, and investor relations, raising $42 million of venture capital. Adam also co-founded Internet identity company PrefPass, and has developed software ranging from web and mobile applications to large data analysis platforms to embedded systems. Adam has a BA in Mathematics and Physics from the University of California at Berkeley, a MS in Physics from M.I.T., and has completed postgraduate work in theoretical physics.

Kristian Hanelt

Senior Vice President, Renewable Capital Markets

Kristian has spent his career financing energy projects across a variety of energy sectors. He comes to Clean Power Finance from Tioga Energy. As the Vice President of Project Finance and a member of the founding team at Tioga, Kristian was instrumental in both project finance and corporate fundraising initiatives. Previously, Kristian worked as an Associate at ArcLight Capital Partners, an energy infrastructure-focused private equity investor.  Prior to ArcLight, he was the Financial Manager for Gunnison Energy Corporation, where he controlled all finance-related activities for the startup natural gas producer.   Kristian has also worked for Goldman Sachs in their Industrial and Natural Resources group, and PA Consulting in their Wholesale Energy Markets practice. Kristian has a BS in Business Administration from Boston University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Kirstin Hoefer

Senior Vice President, Marketing

Kirstin brings 15 years of marketing and product management experience to her role at Clean Power Finance. As Senior Vice President of Marketing, she leads the company’s brand, communications, acquisition and retention strategies. Kirstin has worked in the solar industry for three years, consulting for SunRun and working as Sungevity’s first Chief Marketing Officer. Prior, she was at eBay for six years, where she led product management and marketing teams responsible for eBay Motors, eBay Express, and the end-to-end buyer experience on eBay.com. Earlier, Kirstin worked for Excite@Home where she also led product and marketing organizations. Kirstin holds a BA from UCLA in English and an MBA from Stanford University.

Nicholas Mack

Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

Before joining Clean Power Finance, Nick was the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Sungevity, a residential solar finance provider. Prior to Sungevity he was the General Counsel for Mainstream Energy, the parent of REC Solar and AEE Solar, the leading solar integration and distribution companies in the United States. Before entering the solar industry, Nick was the Deputy General Counsel at Yodlee, Assistant General Counsel in the Products Law Group at Sun Microsystems, and an Associate at Heller, Ehrman, White, & McAuliffe LLP. Nick has a JD from the University of California, Hastings College of Law and a BA from Georgetown University.

Micah Myers

Senior Vice President, Corporate Development

Micah has led teams in senior operational roles for over 18 years and comes with deep experience in renewable energy, software and finance. Prior to rejoining as a full-time team member, Micah was the first Product Manager at Clean Power Finance in 2007. He later led the investment in Clean Power Finance as a Principal at Claremont Creek Ventures where he also served as a board observer with Alphabet Energy and Sentilla Corporation. He previously worked with the energy team as an analyst at Passport Capital. Still an officer in the United States Marine Corps (Reserves), Micah has served in combat operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan and graduated from the TOPGUN Strike Fighter Weapons Instructor School. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of California at Davis and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Steve Olszewski

Senior Vice President, Operations

Steve brings extensive consumer financial services experience to Clean Power Finance. Prior to joining the team, Steve served as a Senior Vice President at Discover Financial Services, where he led the student loans business through the integration of The Student Loan Corporation and later oversaw the largest portfolio acquisition in Discover’s history. He also managed the six-fold growth in the deposits business, which became the company’s largest funding source. Prior to Discover, Steve led underwriting and servicing operations for GMAC’s auto insurance business and held operations strategy roles at Capital One. He is an alumnus of McKinsey & Company and Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), where he served a variety of clients in the energy and financial services sectors. Steve graduated from Wesleyan University with a BA in economics and government and holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Vice Presidents

 

Tom Harvey

Vice President, Sales

Tom Harvey is the Vice President of Residential Sales at Clean Power Finance. Tom has played a leading role in expanding the adoption of third-party financing solutions for the U.S. residential solar market: in addition to his management role at Clean Power Finance, Tom previously spent more than three years as Director of Sales & Marketing at Sunrun, which he helped grow into one of the largest residential solar finance providers in the U.S. Prior to entering the renewable energy industry, Tom spent time in client-facing roles at software companies such as Coremetrics and Netcentives, and led mergers and acquisitions efforts for Performance Bicycle. Tom has a BA from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Greg Sellers

Vice President, Field Operations

Greg Sellers is a solar energy executive who has led industry efforts to increase quality and expedite the development of residential solar installations. Greg pioneered the development of residential solar inspections, founding and leading Burnham Energy, a company that inspected over 2,500 systems in 31 states. He has been a presenter at major solar conferences, and is a founding member of SolarTech, an industry consortium seeking to resolve barriers to the adoption of solar energy. Prior to his work in the solar industry, Greg served as a public policy consultant for a wide range of public and private sector clients. He has a graduate degree in Public Policy from California State University Monterey Bay and the Panetta Institute, where he was named Panetta Institute fellow to the Academy of Achievement. Greg was elected and served three terms as City Councilmember in the Silicon Valley community of Morgan Hill, California.

Shawn Tabak

Vice President, Corporate Controller

Prior to joining Clean Power Finance, Shawn was a Director in KPMG’s Transaction Services practice, where he led a group that focused on providing accounting advice to clients in the renewable energy sector, including utility scale, commercial, and residential solar. Shawn was also a member of KPMG’s National Office Lease, Revenue Recognition, and Consolidation Topic Teams. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences, including the AICPA, EEI, and ELFA. Shawn holds a BA from UCSB, and is a CPA.

Elaine Zhou

Vice President, Engineering

Before joining Clean Power Finance, Elaine served as Senior Director of Engineering at Ask Partner Network; VP of Product Development and Technical Operations at PlanetOut, Inc.; Director of Engineering at HomeGain.com, Inc.; and Software Engineering Manager/Chief Architect at Homestore.com, Inc. Elaine’s 15+ years of experience includes software and web application architecture design and development (including system-wide implementation) and product development and process improvement. She developed SaaS and web applications at Ask Partner Network and PlanetOut. At Homestore.com, Inc. she developed and deployed Relay™, a distributed online transaction system, which is today the foundation of the California Association of Realtors. Elaine successfully implemented automated loan underwriting systems for Merrill Lynch (formerly First Franklin Financial), resulting in revenue attainment of US $3B. Elaine earned her BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from UC Berkeley.

Board of Directors

 

Ed Feo

Managing Partner, USRG Renewable Finance

Ed is the managing partner of USRG Renewable Finance, the lending affiliate of the US Renewables Group. USRG is one of the nation’s largest, pure play private equity firms for renewable power, biofuels and clean technology infrastructure projects. Previously, he was a partner in the international law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP where he co-chaired the Firm’s project finance and energy practice. Ed was identified for his work in renewable energy as one of “The Decade’s Most Influential Lawyers” by The National Law Journal, and was previously named one of the “Five Most Influential People in Renewable Energy” by Euromoney/Institutional Investor. Ed has his BA and JD from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Rajiv Ghatalia

Chairman of the Board, President of Hennessey Capital Management

Rajiv A. Ghatalia is Chairman of the Board of Clean Power Finance and President of Hennessey Capital Management, a San Francisco-based investment firm. Rajiv spent sixteen years in Asia, first as a Partner and Co-head of Investment Banking for the Asia-Pacific region for Goldman Sachs, and later as a Partner at Warburg Pincus where he focused on the firm’s special situations and financial services investments in Asia. Rajiv also worked with Goldman Sachs in New York and London. He received a BA and BS from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Rajiv has served on public, private and not-for-profit company boards, such as Nikko Asset Management, Transpacific Industries and Junior Achievement. He is currently Advisor to the Board of Proterra Inc., a provider of zero-emission solutions to the commercial transit sector, and is working with UCSF in the areas of healthcare delivery and personalized medicine.

Ben Kortlang

Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Ben is a Partner with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers where he focuses on growth-stage greentech investing. Prior to KPCB, Ben worked at Goldman Sachs for eight years, most recently co-heading Goldman’s Alternative Energy Investing business. In this capacity, Ben managed Goldman’s multi-billion dollar portfolio of alternative energy investments including Horizon Wind Energy, SunEdison and First Solar. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, Ben was an Associate with A.T. Kearney and a Business Analyst at National Australia Bank. Ben has a BS from RMIT University, a Bachelor of Commerce and an honors degree in Econometrics from University of Melbourne, and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Joe Kraus

Partner, Google Ventures

Joe has been a Partner at Google Ventures since 2009, focusing on investments in mobile, gaming, and local services. Before moving in to Ventures, Joe held multiple product management roles at Google, including Blogger, Picasa, Sites, Friend Connect, and OpenSocial. He co-founded JotSpot in 2004, a wiki company that was acquired by Google in 2006. In 1993, Joe co-founded Excite.com, an early Internet search engine.  During his tenure, he held multiple positions in the company, including leadership roles in product, business development, and marketing. In addition, Joe has been an active angel investor in multiple companies, including LinkedIn, Aardvark (sold to Google in 2010), Kongregate, and OpenCandy and he serves on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org).  Joe has a BA from Stanford University.

Nat Kreamer

CEO, Clean Power Finance

See above

Paul Straub

Director, Claremont Creek Ventures

Paul Straub focuses on energy technology investments for CCV. He is on the Boards of Alphabet Energy, Blue Pillar and Project Frog. He is a board observer at EcoFactor and Adura Technologies and was previously a board observer at Property Bridge (acquired by MGI), Cyanea (acquired by IBM) and Lefora/Meetro (acquired). Prior to Claremont Creek, Paul worked for and invested in technology companies while an investor at Information Technology Ventures, Infinity Capital, VERITAS Software and Red Hat Software. Paul began his career in investment banking at Montgomery Securities and subsequently joined Thomas Weisel Partners at the firm’s inception. Paul has an MBA from Duke University and a BS from the University of Virginia.

Alex Weiss

Managing Director, ClearSky Power & Technology Fund I LLC

Alex is currently Managing Director of ClearSky Power & Technology Fund I LLC, a venture capital fund that primarily makes mid to late stage and growth equity investments in power and technology companies. He is also Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of a Fortune 200 energy company, and in this role he is responsible for investment decisions and fund management for more than $9.5 billion of invested financial assets. Previously, Alex was a vice president at Morgan Stanley, and a managing director in the investment banking divisions at Smith Barney and Paine Webber. He has over 20 years of experience working with private equity and venture capital funds. Alex has completed transactions across investment life cycles in a range of industries, including extensive experience in investing, equity raising, high yield, mergers and acquisitions, leveraged recapitalizations and restructurings. Alex holds a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Boston University and an M.B.A. in finance from Columbia University.

Advisors

Gary Kremen

Founder

Gary has over twenty years experience as a serial entrepreneur and expert in emerging growth companies, developing information technology, and Internet domain management. He is an investor in over 40 companies, private equity funds, and venture capital funds. Prior to Clean Power Finance, he was the founder and CEO of Grant Media, LLC, and co-founder and President of NetAngels.Com, Inc., bought by Microsoft. From 1993 through 1996, Gary founded and was Chairman of the Board of Electric Classifieds, Inc. / Match.Com, the leading on-line classifieds advertising technology outsourcing company that he eventually sold to Ticketmaster / Citysearch for $50 million. Gary has a BSE from Northwestern University and an MBA from Stanford University.