SUSTAINABLE ENERGY

Ashley Pettus is an investor, philanthropist and freelance writer. She is the founder and director of the Global HearthWorks Foundation, a private foundation dedicated to expandingaccess to safe and affordable household energy, as well as education and economic opportunity, in the world’s poorest communities. GHWF has made equity and debt investments in a range of early-stage businesses in East and Southern Africa—from cookstoves and sustainable fuels to digital learning and landscape restoration. Prior to her work in Africa, Ashley ran Frontier Academy, a pilot program for learning disabilities outside of Boston. She also worked as a science writer for the Clean Air Task Force and was a regular contributor to Harvard Magazine. She recently relocated to Houston, where she has become involved in efforts to promote juvenile justice reform and educational equity. Ashley earned a BA magna cum laude in Social Studies from Harvard University and a PhD in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California at Berkeley.

As the Managing Director of Asia Regional Office, Deepali Khanna manages the Foundation's policy, advocacy, grant-making, and partnerships in Asia. She leads The Rockefeller Foundation's initiatives to convene and catalyze strategic collaborations that advance development in Asia, as well as harness Asia's role in enhancing the wellbeing of humanity in the region and around the world.Ms. Khanna joined The Rockefeller Foundation in 2015. She most recently served as Director and managed one of the Foundation’s flagship initiatives in India, Smart Power for Rural Development (SPRD). In this role, she provided leadership and direction across the full range of activities, partners, and resources of the initiative to provide affordable and clean energy access to over a million people in India.

Ken Hayes joined Cleantech Open in 2017 as Executive Director responsible for US National and Global operations. CTO is the largest and oldest American business accelerator for cleantech startups, working with over 100 US companies per year since 2006, and with hundreds of global companies in partnership with UNIDO since 2014.  He is also Venture Partner and Co-Founder of Canyon Creek Capital's Fund II, a VC fund focused on California tech companies from Seed to Series A, with 40+ investments since August 2014.  He is a Director Emeritus of the Pasadena Angels, where he was responsible for operations of this 100-member group which has invested in over 180 companies, and he continues to focus on deal sourcing, mentoring entrepreneurs, and performing due diligence. Finally, Ken is a "recovering entrepreneur" who has built and sold several tech companies in Europe and the USA, as well as having held management positions in large corporations such as Nordea (banking) and Dell (computers).  He earned an MBA at INSEAD, France, and a BA Economics at Pomona College, California.

Malavika leads Engie Impact’s work out of APAC. Malavika is a well regarded sustainability professional with over 20 years of experience. Her experience includes projects in clean energy, smart cities, climate change, and sustainable agriculture. She has worked with the private sector, governments, and the development sector, lived and worked both in the West (UK, Europe, and US) and in Asia (Southeast Asia, India).Malavika developed her keen interest in climate change in the early part of her career with McKinsey and Company as a part of their Climate Change Special Initiative in London, working on carbon abatement strategy for European utilities and governments. She was involved in McKinsey’s first global greenhouse gas abatement cost curves study which was widely published and quoted. 

Rachel Kyte is Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is a leading advocate for sustainable development and drives SEforALL’s work to mobilize action towards its 2030 goals on universal energy access, energy efficiency and renewable energy. As SRSG, she is the UN point person for the global goal on sustainable energy. Until December 2015 Rachel Kyte served as World Bank Group Vice President and Special Envoy for Climate Change, leading integration of climate across the Bank Group’s work as well as support for an ambitious agreement at the 21st Convention of the Parties of the UNFCCC (COP21). She was previously World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development and was the International Finance Corporation Vice President for Business Advisory Services.

Ravi Gurumurthy is the founder of the IRC’s innovation center, Airbel. Prior to joining the IRC in 2013 as Vice President for Strategy and Innovation, he held a number of government roles in the United Kingdom, including Director of Strategy for the Energy and Climate Change Department, and Strategy Advisor and Speechwriter to the Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. Gurumurthy led a number of major social and environmental reforms, including the development of the world’s first legally binding carbon emissions targets, and the integration of education, health care, and social services for children. He has also worked as a researcher for the public policy organization Demos and in local government in London and has chaired two national children’s charities.

Tareq Emtairah is the Director of the Department of Energy at UNIDO. His work experience spans over 22 years in developed and emerging economies with a progressive focus on sustainable industrial transformation, energy transition, policy advocacy, applied research and capacity development. Mr. Emtairah holds a PhD in Industrial Environmental Economics from Lund University in Sweden; a Master’s degree in Environmental Management and Policy also from Lund University.

Toby Harward has nearly 20 years diplomatic experience with the United Nations; firstly in the UN Secretariat’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations where he served in a number of missions in Africa and the Middle East, as well as at UNHQ in New York. For the last three years, Toby has headed the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ office in the UAE seeking to create partnerships with the UAE Government, public sector and private sector organizations.

Zack Bongiovanni leads Product Partnerships in Latin America, focused on bringing the next billion users online. Previously Zack served as head of Infrastructure Expansion, leading partnerships to develop clean energy and internet infrastructure in the United States and emerging markets, and driving efforts related to renewable energy investments, product innovation, and climate strategy. He participated in COP21 and as Google’s partnerships lead to the United Nations and various multilateral organizations.