Braemar Energy Ventures: Principals

The Team

Principals

While growing opportunity in the energy sector has attracted interest from traditional venture capital firms, Braemar Energy Ventures is one of the few venture groups with long-term experience financing and operating energy technology companies. Boasting more than 55 years of combined experience, the Braemar principals' extensive relationships with entrepreneurs, industry executives, strategic investors, other venture capital and private equity groups, as well as with various consultants and intermediaries, contributes significantly to the firm's ability to identify structure and exit portfolio company investments.

George S. Reichenbach
Managing Director
George S. Reichenbach has more than 30 years of venture capital and operating experience. Prior to co-founding Braemar Energy Ventures, he worked as a partner at Advent International, a venture capital firm with $4.5 billion under management, where he was in charge of the industrial sector group. While at Advent, Dr. Reichenbach was responsible for the firm's 17 investments in power technology and related areas. Prior to working for Advent, Dr. Reichenbach was an executive at the Norton Company, an industrial products company, where he ran two divisions. Before joining the Norton Company, Dr. Reichenbach was a professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Reichenbach has a Masters and a Ph.D. degree, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering and a Bachelor of Engineering from Yale. He currently serves on the board of directors of Questair Technologies Inc., Auripay Inc., Capital Management Associates, Cerion Corporation and Stion Corporation. He has also served on various committees for the Department of Energy and the National Energy Renewable Laboratory and the Governor of Massachusetts appointed him to the Steering Committee for the Emerging Technology Fund for the State of Massachusetts.

Neil S. Suslak
Managing Director
Neil S. Suslak has almost 20 years of experience in the venture capital and investment banking industries. Prior to co-founding Braemar, he worked in the investment banking business at S.G. Warburg and Co. and Swiss Bank Corporation. While at Swiss Bank, Mr. Suslak was in charge of the bank's equity capital markets business in North America, as well as a director in the corporate finance department. During his career, he has completed numerous financing and advisory assignments for clients in the energy, communications and transportation sectors. Mr. Suslak has a B.A. from The University of Rochester where he was a member of the Varsity Lacrosse Team and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. He is a former Secretary and member of the Executive Committee of the Alumni Board of the Rye Country Day School and is a member of the Steering Committee of the Henry Street Settlement in New York. He is also on the Board of Directors of the Venture Investors Association of New York, Enerkem Technologies Inc., Fractal Systems Inc and Fideris Inc. and is an observer to the Board of Directors of Utility Associates, EnerNOC and of PowerGenix.

William D. Lese
Managing Director
William D. Lese has more than 24 years of research, operating and venture capital experience in the energy and environmental businesses. Prior to co-founding Braemar, Mr. Lese was a partner with Mantis Holdings, Inc., a venture capital firm focused on investing in environmental and energy efficiency companies where he concentrated on emerging technologies for converting industrial waste streams into value added products. Prior to Mantis Holdings, he was the Director of Business Development for NPS Industries, Inc., an international manufacturer of engineered equipment for the power industry. Mr. Lese’s business development activities included managing a joint venture with Consolidated Edison Co., and managing other key customer relationships. Prior to joining NPS Industries, he was one of the original employees of Sithe Energies, Inc. (an affiliate of Vivendi, SA), which became one of the world's largest independent power producers. At Sithe Energies, Mr. Lese had project and technical oversight responsibilities, including managing several power projects.

Mr. Lese has both chaired and participated on numerous panels focusing on energy technology investment opportunities and major energy issues. He currently serves on the board of directors of EnerNOC, Celunol, Coaltek, Utility Associates and is Chairman of the Board of Solicore and serves as a board observer for Stion, Enerkem and Fractal Systems. Mr. Lese has both a B.A. in Physics and an M.S. in Energy Science from New York University.

Dennis R. Costello
Managing Director
Dennis R. Costello has more than 30 years of experience in the energy and venture capital industries. Mr. Costello was previously a partner with Advent International, an international private equity firm where he rose to be Chief Investment Officer for North America. He was personally responsible for 23 investments, 10 of which were in the energy area. Mr. Costello was also a managing director in Rock Maple Ventures an early stage technology venture fund in Boston and started in the venture capital industry as a general partner of Zero Stage Capital of Pennsylvania. Before embarking on a career in venture capital, Mr. Costello was the first Executive Director of the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute ("CATI") in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Costello began his career in alternative energy, with positions as a project manager at Midwest Research Institute and a member of the original staff of the National Solar Energy Research Institute ("SERI"), which is now the National Renewable energy Laboratory (NREL). During that period, Mr. Costello published numerous papers and articles on the economic and market issues of solar energy commercialization. He is also the author of the Dow-Jones Irwin book, New Venture Analysis: Research, Planning and Finance and served on the Board of Directors of the New England Venture Capital Association from 1997-1999. He was a founder and Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Colorado and he remains active with the national MIT Enterprise Forum. Mr. Costello holds a Master of Science degree in business from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow. He also holds a M.A. in economics from Ohio State University and a B.A. in economics from the State University of New York (SUNY), College at Fredonia.

Jiong MA
Principal
Jiong Ma has more than 10 years of research, operating and venture capital experience in the technology industry. Prior to joining Braemar, she was with 3i, a global private equity firm with $11B in assets. At 3i, Jiong was responsible for investment in the information technology and cleantech sectors. Prior to 3i, Jiong held several senior positions at Lucent Technologies and Bell Labs. Her responsibilities included lead roles in product portfolio strategy, new product launches for Optical and Data Networking, and research and product development, where she led projects in defining product features, system architecture, network design and operations. Jiong was also a founding team member of Onetta, a fiber networks start-up company which was backed by venture capital firms Sequoia and Matrix. Earlier, Jiong worked as a member of Nortel Networks' technical staff.

Jiong received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, and a BS in Physics from Lanzhou University, China. She is a graduate of the Kauffman Fellows Program. Jiong has published or co-authored 15 technical papers, and holds one U.S. patent.

Michel J. Maloof III
Senior Associate
M.J. Maloof is an associate on the investment team. Prior to joining Braemar in 2006, M.J. was an associate consultant with Bain & Company. While at Bain, he advised clients in a variety of industries on technology, IP strategy and other internal and customer-driven solutions. M.J. graduated from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in both Economics and Environmental Studies. While at Dartmouth, he spent a semester in Pretoria, South Africa studying resource use and conservation. He was also a member of the Varsity Sailing Team.

Matthew A. Cook
Senior Associate
Matthew A. Cook is a senior associate on the investment team. Prior to joining Braemar, Mr. Cook was a vice president in the investment banking division at Canaccord Adams. While at Canaccord Adams, Mr. Cook completed numerous public and private financing and advisory assignments for emerging growth companies focused on energy technology, pollution control, alternative fuels, and water management. Prior to Canaccord Adams, Mr. Cook advised public and private corporations in the consumer and industrial products sectors as a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers. Mr. Cook received an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management as well as a B.S. in Accounting and a B.S. in Business Administration from Villanova University.

Elizabeth K. Williams
Associate
Elizabeth Williams is an associate on the investment team. Prior to joining Braemar, Elizabeth was a business advisor in Swaziland with TechnoServe, a non-profit that assists developing countries in Africa and Latin America achieve economic growth. While at TechnoServe, Elizabeth worked with farmers, processors, government, and other NGOs to develop Swaziland’s organic cotton and sugar value chains, including bio-ethanol production. Prior to TechnoServe, Elizabeth advised clients primarily in the industrial sector as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company. Elizabeth graduated with a B.S. in Physics from Stanford University, where she conducted research in optics and quantum physics and worked at the Stanford Office of Technology Licensing to commercialize technologies in photonics, nanotechnology, and semi-conductors.

Eric A. Schultz,CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Eric Schultz has more than 15 years of accounting and control experience including eight years of experience providing financial services to the private equity sector. Mr. Schultz is a founder of EAS Accounting Services, CPA LLC, which provides outsourced CFO and Controller services primarily to private equity firms. Previously, he was a partner at Berson & Corrado, a New York City-based accounting firm. Mr. Schultz has a B.S. in Economics from the State University of New York at Oneonta.