About The Event

Mr. Noboru Saito has held the title of President and CEO at TDK Corporation since April 01, 2022. Entering TDK Corporation in April 1989, his most recent prior role was Chief Executive Officer of Sensor Systems Business Company of TDK Corporation from April 2017 until April 2022. Previously, Mr. Saito was Senior Vice President at TDK Corporation from June 2013 until April 2022. He has served as Representative Director at TDK Corporation since June 2022.

Mr. Saito was General Manager for Corporate Strategy HQ from 2015 to 2017 and General Manager of the Electronic Components Sales & Marketing Group from 2013 to 2015. He also served as President of TDK Electronics Europe GmbH from 2006 to 2011. He has held roles at the Electronic Components Sales & Marketing Group in Germany, Hungary, and the United States between 1995 and 2005. Mr. Saito graduated from Doshisha University, Faculty of Law in March 1989.

Meghan Sharp, Managing Director, is Global Head of Decarbonization Partners, BlackRock’s joint venture with Temasek that will invest in the next generation of innovative decarbonization solutions and businesses to accelerate global efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. In this role, she is responsible for leading the overall vision and investment strategy for the venture and its funds. Mrs. Sharp oversees deal origination, investment execution, and value creation for Decarbonization Partners’ portfolio companies, and leads the global team to further develop its capabilities and partnership network.

Before joining BlackRock, Mrs. Sharp was Global Head of BP Ventures, BP’s global corporate venture arm. During her time there the team made over 70 investments across the decarbonization sector including advanced mobility, bio and low carbon products, power and storage, and carbon management. Mrs. Sharp has significant experience in venture capital investing and the technology industry.
Meghan holds a PhD in microbial genetics from the University of California, San Francisco, an MBA from Columbia University, and post-doctoral experience from the Carnegie Institute, Stanford.

Marty Tucker Neese serves as the Independent Director of the Company. Mr. Neese’s principal occupation is corporate director. He is also a co-founder of Nuvosil AS (silicon recycling). Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer of Velodyne LiDAR, Inc. (autonomous vehicles) from February 2017 to October 2017. Before that, Mr. Neese was Chief Operating Officer of SunPower Corporation (solar power equipment and services) from 2008 to 2017; responsible for Global Operations at Flextronics (electronics manufacturing services) from 2007 to 2008 following its acquisition of Solectron Corporation (electronics manufacturing services) where he was Executive Vice President from 2004 to 2007

Clea Kolster is a Partner and the Head of Science at Lowercarbon Capital and leads the firm’s technical research, development, diligence, and scientific strategy efforts. Clea’s distinguished career has always focused on solving climate emergencies through technology, business models, and policy innovation. Before joining Lowercarbon, she worked at San Francisco-based energy consulting firm, E3, where she developed electricity resource planning models and economy-wide decarbonization plans for entire states, utilities, and asset owners, with a focus on the role of hard science emerging technologies like hydrogen production methods, long-duration energy storage, biomass conversion, carbon sequestration, geothermal and advanced nuclear. She led the analysis on over 15 projects in her two years at E3, including “Achieving Carbon Neutrality in California” (link) for the California Air Resources Board, “Net-Zero New England: Ensuring Electric Reliability in a Low-Carbon Future” (link) in collaboration with the Energy Futures Initiative, and another on “Examining the Role of Nuclear for Decarbonizing the Pacific Northwest.” Clea also co-founded her own company focused on access to clean cooking fuels in West Africa, having previously worked on clean energy access and investment across emerging markets in East and North Africa.

Clea earned her Ph.D. in chemical engineering and energy policy at Imperial College London. She was awarded the Grantham Institute’s full scholarship to conduct her Ph.D. and became the student representative of the Grantham Institute at the Paris COP21 Climate Conference. Clea conducted her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Imperial College London and was the only student selected to spend a year at Columbia University in New York.

Dr. Yet-Ming Chiang is a Kyocera Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research focuses primarily on advanced materials and their role in energy technologies. Prof. Chiang was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2009, and is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, the Materials Research Society, the American Ceramic Society, and the National Academy of Inventors. Prof. Chiang has published more than 300 scientific articles and holds more than 100 U.S. patents. He serves on numerous government and academic advisory committees and is recognized as an expert in materials science, energy technologies, and battery technology.Prof. Chiang is active in developing technology from basic research and has co-founded 7 companies based on work from his MIT research laboratory.

He currently holds leadership positions at Sublime Systems, a Somerville, MA company developing decarbonized cement products, Form Energy, a Somerville, MA company developing long-duration grid storage to smooth the output of intermittent renewables, and 24M Technologies, a Cambridge, MA company that is re-inventing lithium-ion battery design and manufacturing. He previously co-founded A123 Systems, a developer of monophosphate lithium-ion batteries, and American Superconductor Corporation, a developer of high-temperature superconductor technology. Other technology areas in which he is active include low-cost metal 3D printing, where he co-founded Desktop Metal.

Aruna has over a decade of experience in chemical engineering R&D and strategy and has held technical leadership positions at Linde and ExxonMobil. She has expertise in the development of emissions mitigation technologies like biofuels, hydrogen, and carbon capture and has authored fifteen patents in the fields of sustainable materials and processes. She holds a B. Tech in Chemical Engineering from IT, Bombay, and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Serving on the EnergyX Advisory Board, Bob is an energy storage technology executive with experience in large corporations (ATL, CATL, Magna, Delphi, GM) and small entrepreneurial businesses (Tawas, Indy Power Systems, World Energy Labs). He is currently CTO of CATL (Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited) the world’s largest battery manufacturer.

Specializing in clean technology, lithium-ion battery systems used in electric vehicles, and high-efficiency storage systems, he has held the Chairmanship of the SAE International Battery Standards Steering Committee for 5 years and is President-Elect for NAATBatt International. He also serves on Senator Lugar’s Advisory Board for Renewable Energy at IUPUI the Dean’s Executive Advisory Council at Ball State University and the National Fire Protection Agencies Board of Advisers.

Bob holds a Master’s degree in Chemistry and has 38 years of experience in battery technology. He was the first ever front cover individual feature story for Batteries International and has feature articles regularly.

Shirley Meng is a professor of molecular engineering at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. She also serves as the chief scientist of the Argonne Collaborative Center for Energy Storage Science (ACCESS) at Argonne National Laboratory.

Her work pioneers in discovering and designing better materials for energy storage by a unique combination of first-principles computation-guided materials discovery and design, and advanced characterization with electron/neutron/photon sources. Meng is the principal investigator of the research group – Laboratory for Energy Storage and Conversion (LESC). She has received several prestigious awards, including the Faraday Medal of the Royal Chemistry Society (2020), the International Battery Association Battery IBA Research Award (2019), the Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists Finalist (2018), C.W. Tobias Young Investigator Award of the Electrochemical Society (2016), Science Award Electrochemistry by BASF and Volkswagen (2014) and NSF CAREER Award (2011). Meng is an elected fellow of the Electrochemical Society (FECS) and an elected fellow of the Materials Research Society (FMRS). She serves as the editor-in-chief for the Materials Research Society MRS Energy & Sustainability Journal.

Meng received her Ph.D. in Advanced Materials for Micro and nano Systems from the Singapore-MIT Alliance in 2005, and her bachelor’s degree with first-class honors from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore in 2000. She worked as a postdoctoral research fellow and became a research scientist at MIT from 2005-2007. Meng was the Zable Endowed Chair Professor in Energy Technologies at the University of California-San Diego (UCSD) before joining PME at the University of Chicago.

Yan Wang is William Smith Foundation Dean’s Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Since joining WPI, Wang has been very active in research. Currently, his lab focuses on the study of new electrodes and materials for energy storage, including lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors, flow batteries, battery manufacturing, battery safety and recycling, and fundamental electrochemistry. This research can lead to energy storage with high energy density, high power density, long life, low cost, and high safety. In addition to fundamental research, Wang has commercialized the technologies developed in his lab.

Dr. Hu received his PhD in applied physics from Harvard in 2012.
In the fall of 2012, cofounded SolidEnergy Systems and spun it out of MIT. The goal was to develop next-generation battery materials and revolutionize the consumer electronics and electric vehicles industries. This was during the toughest time in the US advanced battery industry, with many large battery companies going bankrupt. After overcoming enormous adversity, led SolidEnergy to win a worldwide exclusive license on the MIT patent, Series A venture investment, became the first and only startup to form a strategic partnership with A123 Venture Technologies, built a world-class team, and developed prototypes that achieved almost 1400 Wh/L in energy density in less than one year. Created a beautiful “phoenix rising out of the ashes” story.

Phoebe Wang is a cleantech venture capitalist who serves as an Investment Partner at the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund. Previously, she was an Investment Director at Shell Ventures where she led investments in early- and late-stage startups working on technologies to accelerate the energy transition, including in the areas of hydrogen, carbon management, energy storage, mobility, and power. She also chaired Shell Ventures’ early-stage investment committee and co-led its diversity and inclusion task force.

During her 10-year tenure as a venture capital investor, Wang has invested more than $150 million in frontier technology startups such as Antora, Celadyne, ZeroAvia, Veros Systems, Ionomr, Li Industries, Aurora Hydrogen, Bluware, Quanterra, South 8 Technologies, Connected Freight, FreeWire, Xpansiv, NIO Capital, PowerShare, MaaS Global, and many others. She sits on the boards of ZeroAvia, Veros Systems (acquired by Baker Hughes), Ionomr, Aurora Hydrogen, Bluware, Quanterra, and South 8 Technologies, and she is a member of the Rocky Mountain Institute Third Derivative Corporate Founding Partner Advisory Board, the Global Corporate Venturing Leadership Advisory Board, the Counter Club Advisory Council, and the Rice Alliance Energy Advisory Board.

Wang has more than a decade of experience in cleantech with a strong passion for fighting climate change for future generations. In addition to her investment experience, she was also an entrepreneur who built a start-up in technology commercialization and—earlier in her career—as an engineer in the chemical and semiconductor industries. Wang is a frequent guest lecturer at Brandeis University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Rice University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Wang holds an MBA concentrated in Climate and Finance from Rice University and a BS in Materials Science and Engineering from Nanyang Technological University. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder.

Linda Zhong is an accomplished and visionary leader, serving as the President of LiCAP Technologies. With her extensive experience and expertise in the field of clean energy and advanced materials, Linda is at the forefront of driving innovation and advancing sustainability in the industry.

In her role at LiCAP Technologies, Linda leads a highly skilled team dedicated to revolutionizing energy storage solutions. Under her guidance, the team develops cutting-edge Lithium-Carbon (Li-C) batteries that offer high energy density and improved safety. Linda’s strategic vision and commitment to sustainability have positioned LiCAP Technologies as a key player in the clean energy sector, driving the transition to a greener and more efficient future.

Rick Needham is a Partner with The Rise Fund and the fund’s Sector Lead for Energy. Before joining The Rise Fund, Rick was the Director of Energy and Sustainability for Google, where he led teams that invested in transformative, large-scale renewable energy projects, explored ways to help accelerate energy access in emerging markets, and catalyzed actions to address climate change. Rick spearheaded Google’s renewables project investing, which channeled more than $2.5 billion into renewable energy projects around the world. Before joining Google in 2008, Rick was a business development executive and project manager at DEKA Research & Development Corp, where he led clean energy business development efforts and managed several technology development projects in clean energy, medical products, and robotics. Rick also worked as a consultant at Bain & Company and served for eight years as a nuclear submarine officer in the U.S. Navy. Rick was on the Board of the Atlantic Wind Connection (AWC), a project company developing an offshore wind energy transmission backbone off the Mid-Atlantic coast. He was also a member of the Energy Systems Integration Technical Review Panel for NREL and a member of the Sustainability Expert Advisory Panel for P&G. Rick holds a BS in Aerospace Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MS in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT, where he attended as a Draper Fellow and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Helen Lin was formerly the Head of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at FINCA Impact Finance (FIF), where she launched the Innovation Lab that sourced new fintech partnerships for FIF’s microfinance operations. Through running POCs, she evaluated new technologies to support FINCA Ventures in seed-stage equity financing. Helen drove FIF’s digital transformation strategy in its 20 subsidiaries across 4 continents. She has led the implementation and launch of strategic delivery channel initiatives in Africa including agency banking, mobile banking, and mobile savings and lending. Helen’s first role with FIF was Regional Analyst and acting Regional Financial Controller for Africa, responsible for budgeting, treasury, and business analytics for the region. Before FINCA, Helen worked for 7 years in Investment Banking and Private Equity, including two years in China launching a new growth equity fund investment in Greater China (Baird Capital Partners Asia). She executed investment, merger, and acquisition transactions, and helped scale and operationally streamline Baird’s portfolio companies. Helen previously spent a year as a volunteer teacher in the Marshall Islands through the Harvard Institute of International Development (WorldTeach). She holds an MBA from INSEAD and a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. She speaks Mandarin and French and enjoys practicing Swahili.

Tarun Mehta graduated from IT Madras with a degree in Engineering Design (Dual Degree
Along with Swapnil Jain, he conceptualized and started ‘Ather Energy’ in April
Ather has developed India’s first smart electric scooter that aims to revolutionize two-wheeler driving in India.

At IT, Tarun was associated with various product development teams and was actively involved with the entrepreneurship ecosystem (C-TIDES). He worked on more than a dozen prototypes over a wide range of topics and has six co-patents (pending), under his name. Driven by his core interest in electric vehicles, Tarun quit his job at Ashok Leyland in the year 2012 to start work on battery packs which is one of the biggest existing shortcomings in electric vehicles today. Eventually, realizing that the problem wasn’t just the battery pack, the team was drawn to the idea of designing and building a completely new electric vehicle.

As CEO at Ather, Tarun drives the strategic thinking for the company while being involved with the close-knit Ather team in reviewing every aspect of the vehicle development. He represented Ather in the ‘Technical Advisory Group for Electric Mobility’, to the Government of India. He also led the Electric Vehicle group in the Champions of Change program organized by Niti Aayog.

Swapnil Jain and Tarun were listed on the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2018 and Fortune 40 under 40 list in 2017 & 2019 for their innovative product that is disrupting the Indian auto industry.

Sophia is a managing partner at BP Ventures, leading the sourcing of venturing deals in the Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern markets. She explores new opportunities that support BP’s scaling of advanced mobility, clean energy, and other tech-led business models that accelerate the transition to net zero. Sophia joined BP Ventures from BP’s advanced mobility team, having designed the company’s e-mobility strategy, helping the business to become a leading provider of integrated mobility solutions for a future world.

Sophia holds an MBA from Warwick Business School, a BSc in Physiology from McGill University, and an LLB(Hons) from University College London. Before joining BP, she worked as an innovator and business builder in the global consumer goods and services industry, ran her own award-winning business, and qualified as a lawyer. Sophia was recognized as a Global Corporate Venturing Emerging Leader in 2022.

She explores new opportunities that support BP’s scaling of advanced mobility and digital energy that help to accelerate the transition to net zero in India. She led BluSmart’s Series A fundraiser and currently sits on their board. Before joining BP, she worked as an innovator and business builder in the global consumer goods and services industry, ran her own award-winning business, and qualified as a lawyer.

Akshima serves as a Member of the Expert Advisory Group of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of Govt. of India on matters related to electric vehicles, alternative fuels, and other energy and emissions-related topics in the road transport sector. She was selected as one of the fifteen women globally for her contribution to the field of electric mobility in the ‘2022 Remarkable Women in Transport publication’ by TUMI and the Women Mobilize Women Initiative.

Before joining RMI India, Akshima was working as a Senior Fellow and Associate Director at the Transport and Urban Governance Division of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi. At TERI, Akshima led policy research studies focusing on the promotion of sustainable and low-carbon development of transport systems for the Govt. of India, state governments, multilateral and bilateral financing agencies, and corporate organizations. She has contributed to several important reports of the Government of India and the UN. She was a contributing author of the ‘India Transport Report: Moving India to 2032’ prepared by the National Transport Development Policy Committee of the Government of India. She has published several policy briefs, articles, research papers, and reports on policy issues related to the promotion of sustainable transport. She also serves on several committees set up by the Govt. of India and international agencies.

In the past, Akshima has also been associated with TERI University as an Associate Faculty and has been taking guest lectures at the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, the Institute of Urban Transport (India), and the International Center for Environment Audit and Sustainable Development (ICED), Jaipur.

Sanjay’s leadership and depth of expertise have positioned Shell Mobility as a global thought leader in the mobility space. Through strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, his team is actively shaping the future of sustainable transportation. Sanjay’s commitment to driving the transition to cleaner transport systems, such as electric vehicles and alternative fuels, has not only positioned Shell as a frontrunner in the industry but also catalyzed a broader movement towards a more sustainable energy ecosystem.

Outside of his role at Shell Mobility, Sanjay remains an advocate for sustainable mobility solutions and actively participates in industry forums, sharing his insights and expertise with peers. His collaborative and forward-thinking approach has earned him the respect and admiration of colleagues and industry leaders alike.

Chelsea Sexton is an electric transportation industry pioneer with decades of unrivaled insider experience, from deploying the General Motors EV1 to guiding VantagePoint Capital Partners’ early investment in Tesla Motors, skillfully directing an automotive XPRIZE, and co-founding Plug In America, the nation’s largest consumer advocacy group for electrified transportation.

Chelsea continues to work toward making the movement of people and goods cleaner, safer, and more accessible, primarily as a Senior Advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy Loan Programs Office, which finances the manufacturing and deployment of large-scale advanced technology vehicle and innovative energy projects. She tilts at windmills as a lifestyle choice and excels at friendly conspiring for good.

Maria Buitron serves as Principal at Piva Capital. Before joining Piva Capital, she was a consultant at Accenture Strategy Energy (formerly known as Schlumberger Business Consulting). She holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey, where she graduated with top honors, as well as an MBA from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

Maria came to Piva Capital from Schlumberger Business Consulting (later acquired by Accenture Strategy Energy). There she helped clients address complex problems in the energy industry while working on projects in the Upstream, Midstream, and Downstream sectors. At the energy storage provider, Stem Inc. Maria was part of the Business Development team, she focused on expanding into international markets and new product offerings.

Maria is passionate about technology and diversity in the energy space. She firmly believes in the value of investing as a driver to help address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

Ain McKendrick is the founder and CEO of Faction. He has a track record of developing cutting-edge consumer electronics products and technologies throughout his career at many startups. Before forming Faction, Ain was the VP of Engineering at Starsky Robotics which became the first company to operate completely driverless semi trucks on public roads in North America. He was the Senior Director of Netflix’s partner products team which brought Netflix Instant Streaming to connected consumer products and has co-founded several startup technology ventures. Ain began his technology career as one of the founders of Palm Computing developing the original PalmPilot PDA. Ain holds a degree in Computer Science from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is a Y Combinator alumni, and has several patents issued and pending for handheld computing, user interface, DVR, networked storage, and driverless vehicle technologies.

Peter Gajdoš is a Partner at Fifth Wall where he co-leads the Climate Technology Investment team. Before joining Fifth Wall, Peter was the Head of Venture Capital at IPM Group and Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Presidio Partners, where he focused on climate tech and biotech venture and growth investments. Peter has been involved in several public listings including Cnano Technology, Arcadia Biosciences, Auspex Pharmaceuticals, and others.

Peter started his career at J.P. Morgan’s Energy Group in New York before joining Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Fund in London. Peter is from Slovakia and currently resides in San Francisco. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his BS in Business Administration, and received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a focus on Finance and Entrepreneurial Management.

Holly is Head of North America Tech M&A, Venture, and Partnerships at Mercedes Benz. In the past, she worked as Chief of IR at GrubMarket Inc., Investment Principal at SAIC Capital, Investment Banking Associate at Guggenheim Studios, Equity Research at Gabelli Funds, Investment Banking Analyst at KBW, and Master of Business Administration.

Holly Wu has a (MBA) at Columbia University – Columbia Business School, a MBA Exchange Program at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, and a BS from NYU Stern School of Business.

With a background in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, Rebecca Wolkoff has been involved in numerous large energy projects. These include Parker Hannifin’s hybrid hydraulic trucks, General Compressions’ compressed energy storage system, and Tesla’s electric car production. Before becoming a CTO at ChargeNet, she gained significant expertise in energy storage optimization for both behind-the-meter and front-of-meter use cases at Enel X. As a co-founder of ChargeNet Stations, she leads the development of ChargeNet’s electric car charging application as well as the energy management software. In her spare time, Rebecca facilitates the Battery Brunch JEDI discussions (Justice, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion) and mentors local high school robotics teams.

Jigar Shah was most recently co-founder and President at Generate Capital, where he focused on helping entrepreneurs accelerate decarbonization solutions through the use of low-cost infrastructure-as-a-service financing. Before Generate Capital, Shah founded SunEdison, a company that pioneered “pay as you save” solar financing. After SunEdison, Shah served as the founding CEO of the Carbon War Room, a global non-profit founded by Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Unite to help entrepreneurs address climate change. Originally from Illinois, Shah holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois-UC and an MBA from the University of Maryland College Park.

Shayle Kann is a Partner at Energy Impact Partners, the leading venture capital fund investing in companies shaping the future of energy and infrastructure, where he leads the firm’s investments at the frontier of climate tech. He is also a member of the NYSERDA Investor Advisory Board, the PRIME Investor Advisory Council, and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. Previously, Shayle built and ran GTM Research, the market intelligence arm of Greentech Media, where he led a 30-person team tracking and forecasting the evolution of the electricity sector. Shayle oversaw this business through and beyond GTM’s 2016 acquisition by Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ: VRSK).

Shayle is a renowned writer and speaker on the future of energy. He has spoken at conferences around the world, testified in front of U.S. Congress, and is regularly cited in outlets including the New York Times, Wall St. Journal, Washington Post, Economist, and Bloomberg. He is co-host of the popular energy podcast The Interchange.

Before GTM, Shayle was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, researching renewable energy project finance in Australia. He also worked at Conservation Services Group (acquired by ClearResult) and the California Public Utilities Commission. He graduated cum laude, phi beta kappa from Pomona College.

Yen Yeh is a talented and experienced Materials Scientist with a passion for clean energy and innovation. Their career began at Apple in hardware engineering before moving to Enovix Corp as a Senior Cycle Life Engineer. Yen then co-founded Batterybits and served as Editor-In-Chief before joining the Clean Energy Leadership Institute as a Fellow. In 2016, Yen took on the role of Senior Applications Engineer at Voltaiq, an energy analytics company that helps businesses develop efficient battery solutions. Through their extensive work in renewable energy and materials science, Yen was appointed Venture Partner at Outliers Fund. With an undergraduate degree from the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yen Yeh has garnered a wealth of expertise in the delivery of clean energy services, publishing, and the development of advanced batteries.

Joe Lowry is the founder of Global Lithium, which has clients on five continents providing lithium advisory services. Clients include lithium producers, major lithium users, cathode and battery producers, investors, hedge funds, and governments.

With over two decades of “Big 3” lithium experience living and working in the United States, Japan, and China, Joe has been dubbed by industry players as “Mr. Lithium”. He is considered one of the world’s leading lithium experts.

Involved in supplying raw materials to the lithium-ion battery space since the beginning of the industry in Japan, few have the depth of knowledge and contacts. In addition to his role as MD of Asia Pacific for FMC Lithium (now Livent); Joe also served as President of a Japanese-based battery materials JV and President of FMC Zhangjiagang Specialty Chemicals, LTD in China.

Dr. Deng has 15 years of experience developing cathode products, including NMC, High Ni NMC, Co-free cathodes, NCA, and LCO. Most recently, she held the position of Sr. Director of Battery Materials Development at eJoule, Inc. Before that, she served in roles at Enevate Corp, Envia Systems/Zenlab, and Argonne National Laboratory. She has significant expertise in lithium-ion battery development with a focus on NCA, Li-rich cathode, and 4.6V LCO, including Si-based anode materials development. She has successfully developed both PCAM and CAM products that are used by a variety of companies around the world today.

Dr. Deng joined Ascend Elements in 2022. Previously, she was Sr. Director of Battery Materials Development at eJoule. Haixia has authored over 30 publications and patents. She received the 47th R&D 100 Awards for her accomplishment in Li-ion cathode materials. Her past roles include Sr. Director of Battery Materials Development and Director of Battery Technology at eJoule Inc., Staff Scientist at Enevate Corp., Staff Scientist at Envia Systems/Zenlab, and Postdoctoral Scholar at Argonne National Laboratory. She earned her Ph.D. at the City University of Hong Kong.

Tem is the Co-founder and Managing Partner of Nomadic Venture Partners, where he focuses on fund strategy, fundraising, portfolio construction, valuation, and financial analysis.
Before co-founding NVP, Tem was an investment professional at Resource Capital Funds (RCF), a mining-focused private equity investment firm, managing early to late-stage investments. He de-risked companies, commercialized their businesses and completed M&As that delivered hundreds of millions of dollars to investors.

Before RCF, Tem worked for Newmont Mining Corporation as a mining engineer and then project engineer. Tem also co-founded MNG Summit, a non-profit organization supporting Mongolian students and early career professionals.

He started his professional career as an entrepreneur where he started and operated a transportation company in college to help pay for college tuition and support extended family.

He served as a board member and treasurer of the Colorado Chapter of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) as well as a board member of the Ulaanbaatar-Denver Committee for the Denver Sister Cities. Tem received his B.S. in Mining Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines. During his free time, he likes to golf, hike, cycle, and spend time with his wife and two kids.

Steven is an experienced chemical engineer specializing in process scale-up and commercialization of novel technologies. Steven has worked with several clean tech start-ups to develop their novel technologies including the Hazer Group, AquaAerem, and Sicona Battery Technologies.

Steven is also a Director of Kemplant, a global chemical engineering & process plant provider. Kemplant specializes in the design & supply of process plants and equipment, including equipment for the lithium and battery chemicals industries.

Emilie Bodoin is the founder and CEO of Pure Lithium a start-up focused on changing the way lithium metal is made and greatly enhancing the quality vs. the current state of the art. The original patent for rechargeable lithium batteries goes back to the 1970s and was based on using lithium metal. Technical/safety issues forced a compromise to the current lithium-ion design using metal oxides rather than lithium metal.