Taylor Moot is a Senior Innovation Technology Consultant at Xcel Energy. She currently works to help Xcel Energy achieve their 2050 carbon free electricity goal by working with early-stage technologies. Prior to Xcel, she worked on commercialization and innovation across climate tech and has a PhD in Chemistry.
Jonathan is a multifaceted executive MBA with over fifteen years of experience guiding companies through massive problems to profitable solutions and sustainable growth. He is one of the co-founders of COVENTURE.io, who has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs, startups, and companies start and scale. Recently, he has focused his career on the fight against climate change, helping global climatetech companies make the world a better place for future generations.
Jane Schachtel (she/her) has spent 20+ years as a marketing executive building and scaling technology businesses at companies like Intuit, Microsoft and Meta. At Meta, she built and scaled the tech business’ go to market solutions, resulting in the fastest revenue growth across six businesses. At Intuit, (Digital Insight) Jane conceptualized and launched a new brand and go to market strategy, ultimately aiding in total valuation growth from $600M to $1.35B, with an Intuit exit in under two years. Jane has advised climate startups for years, but making the industry her full time job is a dream come true because she believes everyone deserves an equitable future on a thriving planet.
Arpan Soparkar has long operational experience and strong technical background. Passionate about climate technologies, he most recently led the practice in Sustainability and Climate sectors at Orange Silicon Valley, a US subsidiary of Orange, one of the largest global telecom corporations. Based in the San Francisco bay area for the past 15 years, Arpan has mentored various founders in green and autonomous mobility startups, renewable energy, food and agriculture spaces. Arpan holds an MS (Computer Engineering) from Columbia University and an MBA from Berkeley Haas School of Business.
Katie Kross is a sustainability educator, thought leader, and speaker. For 15 years, she has developed and directed educational and extracurricular programs for MBA and MEM/MBA students as the managing director of the Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment (EDGE) at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. She is also the senior editor for the MBA EDGE knowledge platform, co-founder of ClimateCAP, an Advisory Council member for Diversity in Sustainability, and author of Profession and Purpose: A Resource Guide for MBA Careers in Sustainability
Nathalie is a marketing leader with over 15 years of experience in go-to-market strategy development, marketing operations management, content & brand development, and data-centric performance marketing management. Largely specialized in the tech and SaaS space (with forays in finance and publishing), she now works as a full-time advisor, mentor, and fractional CMO to startups and scaleups (both funded & bootstrapped).
Sonam Velani has worked across the world and across the public and private sectors, connecting the dots between cities, climate, and capital. She is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Streetlife Ventures, a seed stage venture fund investing in the nuts and bolts of sustainable cities. Previously, Sonam financed $10 billion of transportation, energy, and water infrastructure projects at Goldman Sachs, helped build coastal protection and water systems in Asia at the World Bank, launched drone mobility solutions in Africa at Zipline, and developed New York City’s $15 billion Green New Deal at the NYC Mayor’s Office. Sonam is a strong believer in paying it forward and loves being active in her community. She advises the Aga Khan Development Network on economic empowerment in the Ismaili Muslim community, serves on the Women’s Impact Alliance board, and volunteers with the Girl Scouts. Sonam enjoys sharing ideas about urban development and has spoken at the UN COP Climate Summits, C40, and more. Sonam was recently featured in Business Insider as one of the world’s top 10 women leaders solving the climate crisis and is on the Crain’s Business 40 Under 40 List. The first in her family to go to college, Sonam attended Harvard University on a full scholarship and received a BA in Government, Economics, and Visual and Environmental Studies. Fun fact: Sonam has traveled to 60+ countries around the world, Mongolia and Uzbekistan included!
Murali serves as the Senior Vice President of Climate Tech at VolteoEdge. He is also a member of Volteo Group’s leadership team and overseas Strategy, Corporate Development, and Market Intelligence. Before joining Volteo, Murali drove Competitive Intelligence activities at Symantec’s Consumer Business Unit and LifeLock. Murali started his career in the semiconductor industry where he spent almost 10 years at ASML in various engineering roles. Leveraging his technology background, he transitioned to Wall Street and provided Equity Research services to institutional investors for a decade. As part of his journey in the financial space, he established two technology-focused boutique research firms. Murali earned an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from West Virginia University, an MBA from Arizona State University, and a Master’s degree in International Management, specializing in International Development, from the Thunderbird School of Global Management.