GreenBeat 2009: Innovation Competition (Part 1)

Thomas Casey

Mr. Casey is the Chief Executive Officer and a Member of the Board of Directors of CURRENT Group, LLC, the leading provider of Smart Grid solutions that increases the efficiency and reliability of the electric grid while reducing the environmental impact of electric usage.

CURRENT's Smart Grid solution combines advanced sensing technology, two-way high-speed communications, 24/7 monitoring and enterprise analysis software and related services to provide utilities and their customers location-specific, real-time actionable data. Mr. Casey joined CURRENT in September 2006.

He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of several telecommunications companies. Mr. Casey has also served as co-head of Merrill Lynch & Co's Global Communications Investment Banking Group, as a partner and co-head of the telecommunications and media group of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and as a partner at Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo P.C. in Washington, D.C. Earlier in his career, Mr. Casey served in several roles at the FCC including as the Assistant to the Chairman and as Deputy Chief and Acting Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau. Mr. Casey has a B.A. from Boston College and a J.D. from George Washington University Law School.

Mr. Casey also serves on the Board of Directors of One Communications Corporation and is Chairman of the Board of Pacific Crossing Limited.

Navin Chaddha

Navin Chaddha is a proven serial entrepreneur and venture investor. Navin Chaddha was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in 2009, ranked on the Forbes Midas List of top 100 dealmakers as #11 in 2009, #10 in 2008 and #58 in 2007.

He invests in the energytech, internet/digital media, enterprise, semiconductor, and service provider sectors in the U.S. and leads Mayfield's investments in India. Navin Chaddha has made over 25 investments in the past, of which 9 have had IPOs and 6 have been acquired. Prior to joining Mayfield, Navin Chaddha was a Partner at Gabriel Venture Partners and EIR at Mobius Venture Capital. He was founder and CTO of VXtreme, a streaming media software company that was acquired by Microsoft and became Windows Media. He served in various management roles at Microsoft after that. Navin Chaddha was also the co-founder of iBeam Broadcasting (NASDAQ IPO) and CEO and founder of Rivio (acquired by CPA2Biz). Navin Chaddha holds an MS degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University (received the Stanford and IBM Graduate Fellowships) and a B.Tech. degree in electrical engineering from IIT Delhi (received the Director's Medal for being first in his class) and was honored with the prestigious distinguished IIT Alumni Award in 2006.

Navin Chaddha is a Charter Member of The Indus Entrepreneurs and holds over 35 patents.

Gary Fromer

As chief executive officer of CPower, Gary Fromer is responsible for advancing the company's product portfolio and continuing to expand its presence into new and current markets, as well as running the day-to-day operations of the company. Gary Fromer joined CPower in 2007.

Prior to joining CPower, Gary Fromer served as senior vice president of SAP Managed Services, where he oversaw SAP's Hosting, Application Management and CRM on-demand businesses in the Americas. Gary Fromer also held various other roles at SAP including: senior vice president, SMB and Hosting; chief strategy officer for SAP Markets, Inc.; and vice president, new business and partner solutions for SAP America, Inc. Prior to joining SAP in 1998, Gary Fromer worked at Unisys Corporation. Gary Fromer earned a BS in Economics (Finance) from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a BA in Philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD from Columbia University Law School.

Seth Georgion

Locust has a talented Executive team led by Seth Georgion, a two-time NetApp Innovator of the Year Finalist. From the demanding Oil & Gas industry Seth was involved in cutting edge R&D programs with incumbent systems vendors on as yet unreleased technology.

His vision for Locust is customer-centric, delivering next generation storage solutions that solve major real-world problems .

Craig Lobdell

As a Director in KPMG's Venture Capital Practice based in San Francisco, Craig Lobdell has over 18 years of experience in finance and strategy. Craig Lobdell focuses on serving venture capital backed clients: assisting clients with finance and accounting infrastructure planning; financial process improvement/redesign; IPO roadmap development and readiness assessments; cost take-out; strategic business and systems planning; vendor selection; operational risk assessments and contingency planning development; data integrity reviews; revenue enhancement; control transformation; chart of accounts design; customer information systems and energy trading and risk management systems assessments; organizational design and change management; and program and project management. Prior to joining KPMG, Craig Lobdell provided management consulting services for a significant systems integration firm, a major accounting, tax and advisory services firm, and a reengineering consulting firm. In addition, he has work for GE Capital and the Department of Energy. Craig Lobdell has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Finance and Strategy from Yale University’s School of Management, a Masters in International Affairs (MA) from George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Political Science and Economics from Carleton College. Craig Lobdell is also Six Sigma Green belt certified from the University of Michigan.

Pierce J. Roberts

Jack Roberts is the Chairman, CEO and President of Consert, Inc.

He began his career as an accountant after receiving two degrees in accountancy from Georgia State. He subsequently served as a U.S. Army officer in the Pentagon leading a team of analysts and programmers planning for Army personnel and equipment.

Following military service he returned to Atlanta to provide financial and operational expertise to a law firm and a venture capital firm under common ownership. Based on this experience he formed his own firm (subsequently named The Franklin Group) to specialize in mergers, acquisitions and capital formation for southeastern companies.

In 2004 he was named Chairman and CEO of Telephia, a business information company headquartered in San Francisco. Under his leadership, revenues increased by 64% and the company progressed from six years of losses to substantial profit. He sold Telephia to The Nielsen Company for $440 million in 2007.

Roberts is a director of Gilman International Conservation.

Rich Wong

Rich Wong joined Accel in 2006, with a focus on mobile services, enterprise software/SaaS, and energy technologies. Rich currently serves on the board of AdMob, the largest mobile advertising player, Parature, a leader in SaaS based customer support, SunRun, the leading provider of residential solar power, and works closely with the management team of Getjar Networks, the largest mobile development community and open mobile app store. Prior to Accel, Rich Wong also served as a board advisor to Plaxo (acquired by Comcast), Sana Security (acquired by AVG), and Simplicita (acquired by Sandvine). Prior to Accel, Rich Wong was SVP/GM of Products at Openwave and previously GM of Messaging Products, and Chief Marketing Officer at Openwave. While at Openwave, Rich Wong founded and chaired the Messaging Anti Abuse Working Group, a consortium of ISPs and technology providers working together to combat internet abuse. Previously Rich Wong was the Chief Marketing Officer and EVP/GM of Value-Added Services at Covad Communications, the DSL provider. Preceding Covad, he was a management consultant for McKinsey & Company, focusing on software and consumer technology.

Rich Wong remains active as an EVP of the MIT Club of Northern California, Board Member of the MIT CNC - Entrepreneurship Program, and the CTIA Wireless Internet Caucus. At CTIA 2008, Rich Wong was awarded a "Mobile Six" award as one of the 6 most influential individuals shaping the wireless industry by executives in the InMobile.org community. Rich Wong holds a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.