Comprised of successful business leaders and accomplished entrepreneurs, NanoH2O's Board of Directors is committed to creating long-term value for the company.
Jeff Green Mr. Green is an experienced early-stage, venture-backed technology entrepreneur. Previously, as a software entrepreneur, Mr. Green founded two software startups, Archive, Inc. (sold to Cyclone Commerce) and Stamps.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: "STMP"). In both companies, Mr. Green co-wrote the original business plan and played a key role in raising over $300 million in private equity, public and debt financing. At both companies, Mr. Green was responsible for directing the company’s strategy, business model and marketing operations, including product management. Prior to his career as an entrepreneur, Mr. Green garnered marketing and strategy experience at leading companies such as Mitchell Madison, Hewlett Packard and Ziff-Davis. Mr. Green holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from UCLA Anderson.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, NanoH2O
Samir Kaul
General Partner, Khosla Ventures
Mr. Kaul is a General Partner at Khosla Ventures where he primarily focuses on renewable energy by clean technologies and life sciences investing. While at Khosla Ventures, Samir has been a co-founder/founding investor in Calera, Coskata, Mascoma, Range Fuels, Seeo and led the firms investments in Amyris, Ausra, GreatPoint Energy, PRAJ Industries (BSE:PRAJ), Stion, Transonic Combustion, Segetis, Nano H2O, Soladigm, and a number of early-stage science projects. Before joining forces with Khosla, Mr. Kaul invested in early-stage biotechnology companies at Flagship Ventures for 5 years, and gained a great scientific background at Venter’s Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) where he ran the project of sequencing the genome of Arabidopsis thaliana. Mr. Kaul holds a BS from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Jim McDermott
Managing Director, US Renewables Group
Mr. McDermott is a Managing Director and Partner of US Renewables Group. Mr. McDermott has operational control of the firm's day-to-day activities. As a software and energy entrepreneur/investor, Mr. McDermott founded three software startups and has invested in numerous others. Prior to forming USRG, Mr. McDermott started his career as a public power banker with Credit Suisse's Municipal Finance Group in New York. While at Credit Suisse, he worked with Southern California Public Power Authority ("SCPPA"), Los Angeles Department of Water and Power ("LADWP"), Washington Public Power Supply System ("WPPSS") and several other West Coast municipal utilities. As a private equity investor, Mr. McDermott worked for Prudential's Private Capital Group. As an entrepreneur, Mr. McDermott has started, run and invested in the following companies: Spoke Software, Inc. (Founder and CEO), Archive, Inc. (Founder and CEO), Stamps.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: STMP) (Founder and CEO), Practice Technologies Inc. (Investor and Board Member), and MagnaDrive, LLC (Investor), an energy efficiency technology company. Mr. McDermott is active in the management of Fulcrum BioEnergy, Inc., U.S. Biodiesel Group, LLC and SolarReserve, Inc.. Mr. McDermott holds an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA and a BA in Philosophy from Colorado College.
Gilad Almogy
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Skywatch Energy
Dr. Almogy is the Founder and CEO of Skywatch Energy, a startup company funded by Khosla Ventures and targeting the development and rapid proliferation of economically-viable Solar Power. Previously Gilad served as a Senior VP at Applied Materials (AMAT) were he was an Executive staff member and responsible for the Display and Thin Film Solar Products Business Group. Gilad joined Applied through the acquisition of Orbot Instruments Ltd and through a succession of R&D roles became General Manager of Applied Materials Israel in 2001, a role he held through 2007 while leading the organization to multiple new product introductions and significantly outgrowing the semiconductor equipment industry. Gilad holds a BsC in Mathematics and Physics from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and a PhD in Applied Physics from Caltech. He holds 30 registered US patents in the areas of nonlinear optics, automated inspection, and semiconductor manufacturing equipment, and has authored several scientific publications. In 2006 Gilad was recognized as ‘Hi-tech Manager of the Year’ by the Israeli Institute of Management.
Brian Hinman Brian joined Oak as a Venture Partner in 2006. Brian is the co-founder, and formerly the President and CEO, of 2Wire, a provider of broadband service platforms for the DSL market. Brian is also the co-founder, and formerly the CEO, of Polycom, Inc. (NASD: PLCM), the world's leading teleconferencing company. Brian was the co-founder of PictureTel Corporation (formerly NASD: PCTL) at the age of 22, pioneering the video compression technology that has endured into the standards of today. Brian is an engineer by training, a specialist in digital signal processing, and holds twelve U.S. patents. He has received several awards for entrepreneurship, including being named an Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2005. To catalyze entrepreneurship at his alma mater, he sponsors the Hinman CEO (Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities) Program at the University of Maryland. Brian currently serves on the board of directors of seven Oak portfolio companies: Aurora Biofuels, eSolar, GreenVolts, NanoH2O, Qpixel Technology, Sundrop Fuels, and 2Wire. He has previously served on the national board of the American Electronic Association, and was co-founder and director of the International Multimedia Teleconferencing Consortium (IMTC). Brian holds a B.S.E.E. summa cum laude from the University of Maryland, and an S.M.E.E. from M.I.T.
Venture Partner, Oak Investment Partners