About The Event

Meghan Sharp is Global Head and Chief Investment Officer of Decarbonization Partners, a BlackRock and Temasek JV investing in the next generation of innovative decarbonization solutions and businesses to accelerate global efforts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Decarb Partners invests in climate technology companies in the late-VC / early-growth equity stage. In this role, she oversees a global team of 25+ professionals where she leads the overall vision and investment strategy for the business and its funds. Dr. Sharp is responsible for deal origination, investment execution, and value creation activities for Decarbonization Partners’ portfolio companies, along with capital formation efforts and strategic partnerships Decarb Partners Fund I raised $1.40bn in capital and has been actively deploying capital since 2022. Prior to joining Decarb Partners in 2022, Dr. Sharp served as Global Head of BP Ventures, leading BP’s global corporate venture capital activities. During her leadership, the team made investments across the decarbonization sector including advanced mobility, bio and low carbon products, power and storage, and carbon management. Dr. Sharp has significant experience in venture capital and operating experience, which includes her time serving as COO of Beyond Limits, a pioneering artificial intelligence company with applications for the energy transition. 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 University of Chicago and the Carnegie Institute, Stanford.

Tara leads cross sectoral analysis for North America, with a focus on long term decarbonization trends. Tara’s research at BNEF has covered economic, policy and company trends in US solar and renewables, as well as power markets.

Prior to BloombergNEF, Tara was a manufacturing engineer at an international carmaker. Her research experience includes anlyzing consumer preferences for electrification in developing countries and life cycle impacts of agricultural systems.

She is based in Boston.

Robert Stoner is the president of The Kendall Square Project, an energy technology development and investment firm based in Cambridge. He recently stepped down as director of the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI), and founding director of the MIT Tata Center for Technology and Design. A physicist, Rob is the inventor of numerous computational and ultrafast optical measurement techniques who earlier in his career built and led successful technology firms in the semiconductor, IT, and optics industries. He currently chairs the External Advisory Committee of the corporate venture capital firm EniNext, and serves on the Innovation Advisory Committee of Rio Tinto, in addition to the Science and Technology Committee of the Alliance for Sustainable Energy which oversees the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL. Before coming to MIT, Rob lived and worked in Africa and India while serving in a variety of senior roles within the Clinton Foundation, including as the CEO of the Clinton Development Initiative, and director of the Clinton Climate Initiative for Africa.

Dr. Christina Chang is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, the VC firm backing kickass companies that make real money unf**king the planet. Most recently, Christina was a Fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) within the U.S. Department of Energy, where she developed new research directions for sustainable manufacturing of commodities. Prior to ARPA-E, Dr. Chang was founder and CEO of the sustainable steel startup Abraze Engineering. Dr. Chang has a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Harvard, an MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures from Imperial College London, an MPhil in Chemistry from the University of Cambridge, and an A.B. in Chemistry from Princeton.

Dr. Shreya Dave is the Co-Founder & CEO of Via Separations, an MIT spinout dedicated to reducing emissions in industrial manufacturing. Via is a venture-capital-backed company that was recognized as one of C&EN’s 10 startups to watch in 2019, and has received awards from ARPA-E, NSF, and MassCEC. Shreya was awarded Technology Review’s 35 Innovators under 35 in 2018. Shreya holds Bachelors, Masters’ and Doctoral degrees from MIT in Mechanical Engineering and Technology & Policy. She also enjoys serving on MIT’s Corporate Development Committee, formerly the board of directors for Greentown Labs, and teaching in MIT’s product design and development course, 2.009.

Amy Ostermeyer is the Chief Development Officer for Monolith and is responsible for identifying, planning and implementing the organization’s growth strategies. She began her career at Talent Plus before taking on roles as the director of human resources at Bryan Health and the chief operating officer at Tabitha Healthcare. Her passion for growing organizations through people caught the interest of Monolith, and she joined the organization as vice president of human resources in 2017.

Since joining Monolith, Ostermeyer led the transition of the company’s headquarters from California to Nebraska, executed successful strategies around meeting Monolith’s extensive yet specific staffing needs, provided clear guidance for Monolith’s continued growth through the COVID pandemic, and forged strong partnerships with local communities and regulatory entities. In doing so, she created the blueprint for which she is now taking Monolith’s environmentally advantaged technologies to market.

A native Nebraskan, Ostermeyer holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a juris doctorate from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Natalie is a climate investor and finance professional with over 12 years of experience in sustainable infrastructure investing, principal investing, corporate strategy and capital advisory, with expertise in structuring creative financing solutions for climate tech companies.

Raffi Garabedian is CEO and co-founder of Electric Hydrogen Co. Prior to Electric Hydrogen Raffi served as chief technology officer at First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR). Mr. Garabedian joined First Solar in June 2008. Before First Solar, Raffi spent over 15 years developing and commercializing new technologies in industries ranging from automotive to semiconductor. He was the founding CEO of Touchdown Technologies, Inc. which was acquired by Agilent/Verigy, as well as of Micromachines Inc. which was acquired by Kavlico. Mr. Garabedian is named on about 30 issued U.S. patents. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of California Davis.
Raffi Garabedian is the CEO and Co-Founder of Electric Hydrogen. Raffi was most recently with First Solar, the pioneering thin-film solar company, where he served as CTO from 2012-2020. Before joining First Solar in 2008, he was founder and CEO of Touchdown Technologies. He has a long history of innovation and entrepreneurship in “hard-tech” ranging from automotive components to telecommunications subsystems. He holds over 20 issued patents and has learned a lot over the years about strategy, business development, product, manufacturing operations, leadership, and most importantly building great teams.

As Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Ally Yost drives the company’s strategic partnerships and fundraising, including leading its Series B funding, one of the largest private funding rounds in history. In addition to her role at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Yost advises climate tech and deep tech startups on entrepreneurship strategy and capital formation, and also advises on innovation ecosystem development and industry policy.

Prior to joining the company, Yost was a founding team member and Principal at The Engine, the venture capital fund spun out of MIT, focused on early-stage investing in Tough Tech startups. While there, she focused on investments in climate tech, and infrastructure, including leading The Engine’s investment in Commonwealth Fusion Systems. She also co-founded The Engine’s entrepreneurial curriculum focused on Tough Tech commercialization dedicated to scientists transitioning to entrepreneurs.

Yost worked with another MIT spin-out, Accion Systems, leading the R&D and manufacturing of key thruster components for the company’s novel electric propulsion for satellites. She also worked as a research scientist with GoogleX and on spacecraft propulsion for NASA.

Yost earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire, where she was also captain of the Division 1 women’s soccer team, and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Nicolas Sauvage is the President of TDK Ventures. Nicolas Sauvage is committed to invest and serve entrepreneurs – the ultimate Impact Scalers – to build innovative and meaningful solutions in Digital, Energy & Environmental Transformations that will bring positive impact to society and the planet.

Nicolas believes in the value of focusing on what really matters in one’s life and removing the noise around us as much as possible; he created the concept of the “8 words” to capture in just 8 words what matters the most to someone, and prioritize their life’s choices and activities, every day. His 8 words starts with his wife: “Sheila first. Scaling Impact Scalers. Patience and Impatience.” and are engraved on his iPad.

Nicolas is an alumnus of the Stanford GSB, INSEAD, London Business School, and microelectronics ISEN school.

Nicolas Sauvage is the President of TDK Ventures. Nicolas Sauvage is committed to invest and serve entrepreneurs – the ultimate Impact Scalers – to build innovative and meaningful solutions in Digital, Energy & Environmental Transformations that will bring positive impact to society and the planet.

Nicolas believes in the value of focusing on what really matters in one’s life and removing the noise around us as much as possible; he created the concept of the “8 words” to capture in just 8 words what matters the most to someone, and prioritize their life’s choices and activities, every day. His 8 words starts with his wife: “Sheila first. Scaling Impact Scalers. Patience and Impatience.” and are engraved on his iPad.

Nicolas is an alumnus of the Stanford GSB, INSEAD, London Business School, and microelectronics ISEN school.

Geetha Dholakia is a Portfolio Program Manager at TDK Ventures. She is responsible for strategic engagements between Portfolio Companies and global TDK business groups. She is committed to identifying, enabling and nurturing nascent technical ideas to grow into successful business collaborations that improve lives and build a sustainable world.

She brings many years of scientific, technical program management and business development experience. In prior technology management roles, she has worked at NASA Ames Research Center, supporting NASA’s $200 million SBIR/STTR program and in enabling partnerships, business development and technology transfer of NASA Ames’ vast technology landscape. As a scientist, her deep research focus was in two areas, one at the cross-section of physics, materials science and electrical engineering in studying nanoscale systems and another in instrumentation for space missions.

She has a Ph.D. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science and a Masters in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, driven by a lifelong curiosity to understand how nature works.

Nicolas Sauvage is the President of TDK Ventures. Nicolas Sauvage is committed to invest and serve entrepreneurs – the ultimate Impact Scalers – to build innovative and meaningful solutions in Digital, Energy & Environmental Transformations that will bring positive impact to society and the planet.

Nicolas believes in the value of focusing on what really matters in one’s life and removing the noise around us as much as possible; he created the concept of the “8 words” to capture in just 8 words what matters the most to someone, and prioritize their life’s choices and activities, every day. His 8 words starts with his wife: “Sheila first. Scaling Impact Scalers. Patience and Impatience.” and are engraved on his iPad.

Nicolas is an alumnus of the Stanford GSB, INSEAD, London Business School, and microelectronics ISEN school.

Geetha Dholakia is a Portfolio Program Manager at TDK Ventures. She is responsible for strategic engagements between Portfolio Companies and global TDK business groups. She is committed to identifying, enabling and nurturing nascent technical ideas to grow into successful business collaborations that improve lives and build a sustainable world.

She brings many years of scientific, technical program management and business development experience. In prior technology management roles, she has worked at NASA Ames Research Center, supporting NASA’s $200 million SBIR/STTR program and in enabling partnerships, business development and technology transfer of NASA Ames’ vast technology landscape. As a scientist, her deep research focus was in two areas, one at the cross-section of physics, materials science and electrical engineering in studying nanoscale systems and another in instrumentation for space missions.

She has a Ph.D. in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science and a Masters in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, driven by a lifelong curiosity to understand how nature works.

Nicolas Sauvage is the President of TDK Ventures. Nicolas Sauvage is committed to invest and serve entrepreneurs – the ultimate Impact Scalers – to build innovative and meaningful solutions in Digital, Energy & Environmental Transformations that will bring positive impact to society and the planet.

Nicolas believes in the value of focusing on what really matters in one’s life and removing the noise around us as much as possible; he created the concept of the “8 words” to capture in just 8 words what matters the most to someone, and prioritize their life’s choices and activities, every day. His 8 words starts with his wife: “Sheila first. Scaling Impact Scalers. Patience and Impatience.” and are engraved on his iPad.

Nicolas is an alumnus of the Stanford GSB, INSEAD, London Business School, and microelectronics ISEN school.