Organizing Team - May 2010

Elaine is a first year master's student in International Policy Studies at Stanford, where she is focusing on energy policy and China. Her interests lie in implementing company strategies to deal with climate change regulation, with a particular emphasis on quantifying carbon emissions, structuring carbon finance solutions, and risk management. She previously worked in the reinsurance and corporate banking industries, covering clients in the software, retail, and consumer products sectors. Elaine holds dual degrees in Business Administration and Environmental Economics & Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and has worked in New York, San Francisco, and Zurich.

Polly Hand - Director of Content

Polly is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in International Policy Studies at Stanford University, focusing on energy policy. Prior to coming to Stanford, Polly worked at environmental non-profits in Washington DC and Bangkok. She eventually returned home to Minnesota to work as a Marketing and Business Development Coordinator at Norwest Equity Partners, a private equity firm in Minneapolis. She plans to spend the summer working on renewable energy policy as an intern at Suntech America, as well as researching energy storage policy for the California Energy Storage Alliance. Polly holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in Diplomatic History and Environmental Studies.

.

Paul Mackinaw – Director of Content

Paul is an MBA candidate in the Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA
program. He has 13 years of experience in enterprise application consulting with a focus on evaluating and implementing emerging technologies. He is currently Vice President of Professional Services at a Echo Lane, Inc, a salesforce.com implementation partner. Prior to joining Echo Lane, Paul spent over 6 years at the Research and Development group of Accenture, where he worked with pioneering clients to define the value propositions of emerging technologies and implement first of kind solutions. From there, Paul left to manage key accounts and service offerings at R4 Global Solutions, an RFID consulting company, later acquired by VeriSign. Paul is interested in bringing his combination of experiences in emerging technology, mission critical implementations, and startup management to help further the amazing innovations that make up the Cleantech market. Paul holds a Bachelor of Science Cum Laude from the Miami University (Ohio), where he studied Management Information Systems.

Anthony Suen – Director of Marketing

Anthony Suen is a first year M.A. candidate in the Ford Dorsey International Policy Studies Program at Stanford University, concentrating on Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources. He is currently designing a global energy efficiency social network for the California Public Utility Commission. Anthony was born in Hong Kong and spent his childhood in Shanghai. Prior to attending Stanford, Anthony conducted research on the growth and business models of social networks in China. He has also worked in marketing and outsourcing projects in Vietnam, India, and China and was a business consultant at Apple. His research interests include the role of technological innovation and large-scale infrastructure projects to resolve the world’s energy and environmental challenges. Anthony received a B.A. in Global Economics with Honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz and holds a Certificate in International Relations from Fudan University.

Amy Kim - Director of Operations

Amy will be graduating from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business in May 2010 with a B.S. in Business Administration.  She has worked as a research assistant investigating the organic farming movement and is particularly interested in engaging the agricultural community to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  She is currently working with a team in her Economics of Philanthropy course to secure a grant for a nonprofit organization that enables farmers and ranchers to adopt environmentally sustainable agricultural practices .

Mariana Sierra – Director Sponsorships/Partnerships

Mariana Sierra is a Sr. Project Manager for the Customer Energy Efficiency department at Pacific Gas & Electric Company. Mariana works in the petroleum sector of the Heavy Industrial & Manufacturing team and manages energy efficiency projects for refineries within PG&E’s territory. Mariana started her career at PG&E in 2005 as an entry engineer then as a New Business representative working with commercial customers and managing their electric and gas service requests. Mariana has a BS in Industrial Engineering & Operations Research from University of California, Berkeley and received a Project Management Certificate from UC Berkeley Extension in January 2010.

Malena Mesarina – Manager of Web Operations

Malena Mesarina is currently an MBA student at the Haas School of Business. Prior to business school, she was a Researcher at Hewlett-Packard Laboratories where she developed cutting edge technologies in low power digital media processing, supply chain, sensor networks,RFID, the Semantic Web and text analytics. She has been awarded four patents and has more than 15 publications. Prior to HP-Labs she was a lead hardware engineer at tthe Computer Science Department at Princeton University, where she designed network interface hardware for a research multicomputer platform. She is interested in emerging software services for the efficient management of energy usage. She earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Boston University and an M.S in Computer Science from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Chris Weatherford – Marketing Manager

Chris is an MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where his academic and career interests include the commercial aspects of electric vehicles, storage and fuel cells.  Prior to Haas, Chris was a management consultant with Accenture for 6 years, working with Utilities clients to improve their supply chains.  Chris earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Penn State.

Gabe Schwartz – Marketing

Gabe is an MBA candidate at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, where his academic and career interests include market strategy in renewables, electrification, and energy storage. Prior to Haas, Gabe was an internal management consultant with Bank of America and Countrywide, working cross-functionally to optimize operations, improve revenues, mitigate risks, and execute strategic projects. Gabe earned a BS in Management Science from UC San Diego.

Chris Plasser – Content Adviser

Chris has long been interested in environmental sustainability and energy efficiency.  He is also an ardent car enthusiast, following green developments in the automotive space around the world with much excitement.  His first electric car experience was a CityEL way back when he was still in high school.  Many more have followed since, including an early drive of the Tesla Roadster in 2006.  Chris is particularly excited about the potential of electric and gas-electric hybrid vehicles and their supporting infrastructure. As a car buff, he can't help but note how sports car manufacturers are using the technology to increase both efficiency and performance. A technology and Internet executive with such companies as Yahoo! and Adobe for many years now, Chris has also served stints in the United States Congress and at the Department of Interior and the National Park Service.  He began his career in management consulting, advising large companies on complex finance and economics matters.

Chris has Bachelor and Master degrees in economics and an MBA.  He attended both Berkeley and Stanford for graduate school and thus cannot publicly disclose whom he roots for in the Big Game