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BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Board of Directors
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Anne Belec
Anne Belec
Navistar
Anne E. Bélec is Vice President – Chief Marketing Officer for Navistar, Inc. Most recently, she had served as CEO of the Mosaic Group, LLC, a business and brand strategy consulting group. Prior to that, Anne served as Director of Global Marketing for Ford Motor Company from March 2008 to January 2009.
Prior to that assignment, Ms. Bélec had been president and chief executive officer of Volvo Cars of North America, overseeing Volvo operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Ms. Bélec also served as vice president of sales operations for the Volvo Car Corporation in Sweden. Prior to coming to Volvo, Ms. Bélec held a variety of leadership positions in brand management, marketing, and sales and service with Ford.
Ms. Bélec holds an MBA from Fuqua School of Business at Duke University with an emphasis on global business and strategy, and earned both a bachelor of commerce, and a bachelor in business administration from the University of Ottawa in Canada.
She serves on the University of California-Irvine Paul Merage School of Business/Graduate School of Management Advisory Board, has been a trustee of the Marketing Science Institute since 1999, and is a member of the Association of National Advertisers. She has been a board member of Industrial Alliance Group, a financial services and insurance company headquartered in Quebec, Canada, since 2006.
Dr. Lon Bell
Dr Lon Bell
BSST LLC
Lon E. Bell Ph.D. has been the President of BSST LLC, Amerigon Inc.'s research and development subsidiary, since September 2000. From Amerigon Inc.’s formation, Dr. Bell served as Director of Technology until 2000, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer until 1999, and President until 1997.
Previously, Dr. Bell co-founded Technar Incorporated, which developed and manufactured automotive components. Dr. Bell served as Technar’s Chairman and President until selling majority ownership to TRW Inc. in 1986.
Dr. Bell is a leading expert in the mass production of thermoelectric products. Dr. Bell continued managing Technar, then known as TRW Technar, as its President until 1991. He served as a Director since founding Amerigon Inc. in 1991, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors since 1999. He has been a Member of Scientific Advisory Board of Nextreme Thermal Solutions, Inc. since June 22, 2006.
He has authored more than 20 publications in the areas of thermodynamics of thermoelectric systems, automotive crash sensors, and other electronic and electromechanical devices. Five of Dr Bell's inventions have gone into mass production, and dominated their target markets.
Dr. Bell received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics in 1962, a Master’s degree in Rocket Propulsion in 1963, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1968 from the California Institute of Technology.
John Boesel
John Boesel
CALSTART
The public/private nature of CALSTART is reflected in John’s background. Upon graduating from the University of California, Davis, in 1982, John worked in the California legislature as a legislative aide to then Assemblyman (now Congressman) Sam Farr. In that position he managed energy and environmental legislation for nearly four years.
He received his MBA from the Haas School at UC Berkeley in 1989. After graduating from business school he worked as a commercial banker in Wells Fargo’s Corporate Headquarters building in San Francisco. In 1993 John joined CALSTART as the Vice President of Technology Programs. In 2001 the Board of Directors promoted him to the position of President and CEO.
John serves on the Advisory Board for the Precourt Energy Efficiency Center at Stanford University and is also a board member of the Clean Vehicle Foundation. John chaired the Vehicle Efficiency Subcommittee of the Western Governor’s Association Alternative Fuels Committee in 2007/2008.
Paul DeMartini
Southern California Edison is currently deciding who will replace retired Paul DeMartini.
John Formisano
John E. Formisano
John Formisano recently retired as Vice President, Global Vehicles of FedEx Express in Memphis, Tennessee. In addition to managing the FedEx vehicle fleet mix, FedEx Global Vehicles is focused on the development of fuel-efficient vehicle models. It pioneered the creation of hybrid vans in partnership with a diverse group of manufacturers such as Eaton Corporation, Isuzu and Iveco in 2003. Since then, the hybrid-electric and electric truck fleet of 325 vehicles around the globe has covered more than five million miles of revenue service. Over his twenty-six year career at FedEx, Mr Formisano held several operations management positions such as Vice President, Regional Operations and Vice President of Worldwide Ground Operations Planning & Support. Prior to these positions, he was the Managing Director, District Operations/AAA; Managing Director, Regional Planning & Administration and managed several engineering divisions. Before FedEx, he worked at Automatic Data Processing, Searle Medical Products, and the United Parcel Service.
He has been recognized with the FedEx Express Five Star Award, which recognizes team members who have enhanced service and profitability and exemplified the spirit of teamwork, in 2006, 2004, 1992, 1990. It is one of the most prestigious FedEx awards. In addition, Mr Formisano was also the recipient of the FedEx Express President’s Award in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998.
He has been on the Board of Directors of CALSTART since 2005 and has held the Vice Chair Board Member role since 2007. He is also on the Board of Safe Kids Worldwide, and he holds an M.B.A from Fairleigh Dickinson University and B.S. from Montclair State College.
Dr. Michael Gallagher
Dr. Mike Gallagher
Westport Innovations
Dr. J. Michael Gallagher is Senior Adviser and Director, and Former President and Chief Operating Officer of Westport Innovations, where he is working to encourage the global adoption of natural gas in transportation systems. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Cummins Westport (CWI) and Vice Chairman of BTIC Westport (BWI).
Prior to joining Westport, Dr. Gallagher served as a Senior Vice-President for Fluor Corp., an international engineering and project management company headquartered in California. He also held senior executive positions with both the London-based multinational engineering firm Kvaerner Group and the Bechtel Group in San Francisco. In addition to his contributions the CALSTART board, Dr. Gallagher is also on the board of several non-profit Alternate Fuel organizations including Montreux Energy, the California Natural Gas Vehicle Partnership (Vice Chairman), and the Canadian Centre for Policy Ingenuity/Climate Change (Chairman).
He obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical/Nuclear Engineering from Stanford University and M.S. degrees in both Engineering Economic Systems and Mechanical Engineering from Stanford. He holds a Bachelor’s degree (A.B.) in Physics and Mathematics from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Indiana.
Dr. Gallagher was also a Visiting Professor (on loan from Bechtel Group) at the MIT School of Engineering where he led the technical direction on a 16-nation global assessment of oil, energy and coal and published two books on the resulting conclusions.
Dr. Chung Liu
Dr. Chung Liu
South Coast Air Quality Management District
Dr. Chung S. Liu is the Chief Scientist and Deputy Executive Officer for Science & Technology Advancement at the South Coast Air Quality Management District. Dr. Liu’s principle responsibilities are to identify, evaluate and stimulate development and commercialization of clean air technology. He provides guidance on air quality planning and strategy development, and also is responsible for programs on ambient monitoring, source testing and laboratory analysis.
Dr. Liu received his B.S. in chemistry at Fu Jen University in Taiwan. He was awarded an M.S. in organic chemistry, an M.B.A. in finance and management science, and a doctorate in environmental science and engineering – all from UCLA.
Before joining AQMD, Dr. Liu had five years of consulting experience in air pollution modeling and impact assessment. He was a member of a UCLA-based interdisciplinary research team that studied electric power generation options and combined-cycle cogeneration processes. He developed the first human exposure model assessing air toxic risks, on behalf of U.S. EPA in 1979, which was applied to over 800 facilities nationwide.
Dr. Liu joined AQMD in 1981. He developed a photochemical and Gaussian computer modeling capability and established an impact assessment procedure for the agency. He also was instrumental in the 1981 and 1991 Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) revisions. During the mid-80s he was responsible for completion of the regional air toxic risk assessment, which identified benzene and chromium VI as the most hazardous air carcinogens in the South Coast Air Basin at that time. Dr. Liu oversaw the AQMD’s source testing and ambient monitoring programs and directed its pollution research and analytical laboratory. He also led AQMD’s certification effort for continuous emissions monitoring systems. In 1995, he took over the function of Director of Planning and Policy, overseeing the 1997 revisions to the AQMP.
His current assignment is to direct the Office of Science & Technology Advancement to bring innovative clean air technology into reality. The office is responsible for the Clean Fuel RD&D Program in advancing technologies related to fuel cells, hydrogen, alternative fueled engines, PM and NOx retrofits, hybrid vehicles, and gas-to-liquid fuel; Technology Deployment Incentive Programs including the Carl Moyer Program, Low-Emitting School Bus Program, State ZEV Incentive Program, Air Quality Investment Program, program support for the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Committee Program (MSRC), and the State Emission Mitigation Program; SCAQMD fleet rule support implementation, source testing, ambient monitoring and chemistry laboratory analyses.
Dr. Liu has authored over 75 publications in air quality model simulation, risk assessment, control strategy formulation and technology advancement. Currently Dr. Liu serves on the Board of WestStart/CALSTART, the California Air Resources Board Research Screening Committee, UCLA Supersite Program Advisory Committee, University of California at Davis Institute of Transportation Studies Advisory Board, Department of Energy Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel, and California Air Pollution Control Officers Association Mobile Source & Fuels Committee.
Fred Hansen
Fred Hansen
TriMet
Mr. Hansen is the General Manager of the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet). He has been serving in this position since October 5, 1998. Mr. Hansen has extensive experience in public service. Before coming to Tri-Met, he served for four years as Deputy Administrator for the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Washington, D. C., where he managed EPA’s day-to-day operations and was involved in all major policy issues.
Before joining the EPA, Mr. Hansen directed the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality for more than ten years. He also served as Oregon’s Deputy State Treasurer as well as previous stints in Washington, D. C., where he worked as Executive Officer of the Peace Corps and Chief of Staff to a member of Congress from Oregon.
Mr. Hansen grew up in Beaverton, graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Oregon, has a master’s degree from McMaster University and completed a year of doctoral work at The Johns Hopkins University.
Mr. Hansen likes to practice what he preaches. While working in Washington, D. C. for the EPA, he chose not to bring his car to the nation's capital and instead relied on transit. Now he rides the bus to work from his home in northwest Portland to Tri-Met’s southeast Portland offices. Mr. Hansen is married to the Honorable Joyce E. Cohen, former Oregon senator and now assistant to Governor Kitzhaber on environmental issues and other governmental policies.
Alan Niedzwiecki
Alan Niedzwiecki
QUANTUM Technologies
Mr. Niedzwiecki is President and CEO of QUANTUM Technologies. He was appointed Chief Executive Officer in August of 2002 and has been serving as President since February of 2002. Prior to this, Mr. Niedzwiecki had served as Chief Operating Officer, and also served as the Executive Director of Business Development of QUANTUM Technologies.
Prior to joining QUANTUM in October 0f 1999, Mr. Niedzwiecki was President and CEO of NGV Corporation, an engineering and marketing/commercialization consulting company. In this capacity, he worked with companies and organizations such as Shell, World Bank, EDO Aerospace, Dynetek Industries, and over 100 natural gas utility companies. Mr. Niedzwiecki brings more than 25 years of experience in the alternative fuels industry in product/technology development and commercialization relating to mobile, stationary power generation, and refueling infrastructure solutions.
QUANTUM designs, manufactures and supplies components and integrated fuel systems to original equipment manufacturers for use in alternative fuel vehicles, fuel cell applications, and hydrogen refueling systems. These fuel cell applications include transportation and industrial vehicles, and stationary and portable power generation.
QUANTUM's advanced fuel systems comprise the fuel storage, fuel metering, control, and injection of gaseous fuels to improve efficiency, enhance power output, and optimize emissions from fuel cell applications and internal combustion engines that operate on natural gas, propane, or hydrogen. QUANTUM trades on Nasdaq, ticker symbol QTWW.
Puon Penn
Puon Penn
Wells Fargo
Puon Penn is a senior vice president and head of the National CleanTech & Emerging Tech Markets sector at Wells Fargo within the Technology Banking Group, part of Commercial Banking. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., he manages a team of banking professionals who serve the financial needs of businesses in technology and clean technology nationwide.
Mr Penn began his career with Wells Fargo in 1998 in the International Group. He moved on to become a relationship manager in the Regional Commercial Banking Office (RCBO) in Modesto, Calif., serving the financial needs of middle-market companies. In 2003, he joined the Securities Investment Group as a financial analyst covering the food and beverage, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals, and financial services sectors. In 2006, Mr Penn was promoted to loan team manager for the RCBO in Palo Alto.
Mr Penn earned his bachelor’s degree in economics from Reed College in Portland, Ore., and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Active in the community, Mr Penn is involved with several nonprofit organizations including the Khmer Institute and Friends Without a Border.
Sanjay Rishi
Sanjay Rishi
IBM
Sanjay Rishi is Vice President – Global Strategy for IBM. Mr. Rishi has held several leadership roles in the company, and until recently was Vice President responsible for the Global Automotive and Truck Industry where he managed the global portfolio of clients across Automotive and Truck OEMs, Suppliers, and Heavy Equipment manufacturers.
Prior to his current role, Mr. Rishi was a Partner in IBM Global Business Services (and prior to its acquisition, a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers) in the Supply Chain and Manufacturing practice. Mr. Rishi has managed many large-scale business engagements including enterprise-wide supply chain re-engineering, business transformation outsourcing, strategic sourcing, post merger integration, and product management transformation engagements.
With over 20 years of consulting and industry experience, Mr. Rishi is recognized as an automotive industry leader in issues affecting manufacturers, suppliers and retailers. Mr. Rishi is a frequent speaker at industry and academic conferences.
Prior to joining IBM, Mr. Rishi has had leadership roles in Product Engineering and Manufacturing Operations. Mr. Rishi has a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Florida Institute of Technology.
Dipender Saluja
Dipender Saluja
Capricorn Investment Group
Dipender Saluja is Managing Director at Capricorn Investment Group, a private investment firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California, where he oversees investments and helps incubate companies in energy technology, clean tech, and IT. His current areas of interest are solar, electrification of vehicles, energy storage, smart grid, wind and water.
Dipender is also President & CEO of Automatiks Inc, a Capricorn portfolio company that is developing electronic connectivity platforms for electric & hybrid vehicles, storage and smart grids.
Prior to Capricorn & Automatiks, Dipender was Chief of Staff at Cadence, a global market leader in electronic design. Prior roles at Cadence included Corporate Vice President of Technical Field Operations and GM of Worldwide Services, in which he led a 1200 person global organization. He was also GM of Asia Pacific field operations, and Vice President of Applications Engineering, and set up and managed organizations in various regions around the world including North America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific, India and China.
Prior to Cadence, Dipender worked at Data General (now EMC), Honeywell, and ROLM (now IBM). Dipender is an electrical & computer engineer by training, and attended UND, the University of Minnesota, and Stanford. Dipender also serves on the boards of Automatiks Inc., Sunpreme Inc., and Education Frontiers. He currently lives in Los Altos, with his wife and two sons.
Ehtisham Siddiqui
Ehtisham Siddiqui
BAE Systems
Since 2006, Dr. Siddiqui has been responsible for BAE’s strategic planning and business development for Platform Solutions, a $1.5 billion transatlantic line of business within the Electronics and Integrated Solutions (E&IS) Operating Group of BAE Systems. Platform Solutions serves the defense and aerospace communities with capabilities and products that improve operational safety and enhance mission effectiveness. The business supports a wide range of military and commercial platforms — including fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, ground vehicles, and unmanned vehicles—with capabilities in vehicle management, human-machine interface, precision guidance, and power management. Platform Solutions designs and produces fly-by-wire flight controls; full-authority digital engine controls; cockpit, head-up, and helmet-mounted displays; autopilots, pilot sticks, and inceptors; unmanned air vehicles; hybrid electric propulsion systems; vehicle power management systems; data distribution and flight-deck systems; and inertial sensors.
Prior to this appointment, Dr Siddiqui served as vice president of Strategic Development for the same group in New York, where he was in charge of mergers and acquisitions as well as strategic planning.
A registered professional engineer, Dr. Siddiqui began his distinguished career in 1979 at GE Aerospace in Erie, PA, working in a variety of technical positions before being appointed manager of Electrical Systems Engineering in 1984. Transferring to GE Aircraft Engines in 1987, he became manager of Hypersonic Propulsion Marketing and later manager of R&D and Technology Planning. In 1990 he was promoted to director of Business Development for GE Aircraft Controls, which later became part of E&IS. In 1995, Dr. Siddiqui was appointed Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin Sanders’ Avionics Division which provides advanced electronic subsystems for aircraft and space applications.
Paul Smith
Paul Smith
New Flyer Industries, Ltd.
Paul Smith, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, joined New Flyer in 1988 in Engineering and moved into the Sales Department in 1995. He has served in his current capacity since 2000. He is responsible for Sales and Marketing, which includes revenue generation, brand management, advertising and promotion, strategic intelligence and customer relationship management. Prior to New Flyer, he worked in the agriculture industry.
Hal Snyder
Hal Snyder
Sempra
Energy
Hal D. Snyder is Vice President of Customer Solutions for San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), Sempra Energy's regulated California utilities. Sempra Energy is a San Diego-based Fortune 500 energy services holding company whose subsidiaries provide electricity, natural gas and value-added products and services.
SDG&E is a regulated public utility that provides service to 3.4 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and more than 840,000 natural gas meters in San Diego and southern Orange counties.
SoCalGas is the nation's largest natural gas distribution utility serving 20.5 million consumers through 5.7 million gas meters.
As Vice President of Customer Solutions, Snyder is responsible for the utilities' customer programs promoting energy efficiency, sustainability, low-income assistance and the development of new emerging technologies, including clean transportation, distributed energy, in-home services and biofuels.
From 2004 through 2007, Snyder was Vice President of Gas Storage, Transmission and Distribution, managing operations serving more than 6.2 million SDG&E and SoCalGas customers.
From 1998 to 2004, Snyder served in increasingly responsible management positions for Sempra Pipelines & Storage, which develops and operates North American natural gas pipeline and storage facilities. Snyder also led Sempra Pipelines & Storage's development efforts in Canada.
Prior to 1998, Snyder held a variety of management positions in business development, operations, marketing, engineering and project management for SoCalGas.
Snyder serves as a board member of the California Science Center, American Gas Association and the Coalition for Clean Air. He also is actively involved in the Leukemia Lymphoma Society. Snyder holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from California State University, Long Beach, and a master's degree in business administration from Pepperdine University, Los Angeles.
George Survant
George Survant
Florida Power and Light
Mr. Survant is Director of Fleet Services for FP&L, managing the company's 3,600 vehicle fleet. He brings significant real-world expertise in vehicle and fleet operations, certification, testing and maintenance. Mr. Survant has been a leader among fleet managers nationwide in helping to commercialize advanced vehicle technologies. His insights on how to accelerate fleet acceptance of clean and energy efficient vehicles will be extremely valuable to our organization.
For the past four years Mr. Survant has served as the chair of the Utility Working Group of WestStart’s Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF). This HTUF group has launched a comprehensive pilot program to assess the performance of heavy-duty hybrids in some of the nation's largest utility fleets. Mr. Survant played a principal role in recruiting utilities to the HTUF program and guiding the utility effort. In 2004 he was awarded a Blue Sky Leadership Award recognizing his visionary leadership in helping move heavy-duty hybrid technology into the marketplace for utility service truck.
William Zobel
William A. (Bill) Zobel
Trillium USA
Mr Zobel is Senior Vice President of Business Development at Trillium. He leads Trillium's efforts for strategic growth in the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) marketplace. He joined Trillium from Sempra Energy, where he was the manager of Clean Transportation programs.
Mr. Zobel has 22 years of experience in the energy sector ranging from environmental policy, to plant operations, process engineering and design, and directed research. He served as manager of the San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas Company's Clean Transportation programs. In this role, Mr Zobel was responsible for the development and execution of the joint utilities' alternative fuels program which included customer education and outreach, development of alternative transportation fuel policy, external advocacy, and demonstration/ commercialization of natural gas and electric vehicle drive technologies.
Mr Zobel has long history of public service and volunteerism. He is and has served in leadership positions on a variety of non-profit boards, foundations, and trade associations. He currently serves as a board member of NGV America, the California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition, and the California Electric Transportation Coalition. He has served as Chairman of the California Manufacturers and Technology association’s committee on environmental quality, vice-chairman of the Conservation Corps of Long Beach, and vice chairman of the Moonlight Cultural Foundation. He continues to be an active member of both the Pacific International Council and the California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance.
Mr Zobel holds a bachelors of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, and has attended Columbia University’s executive business program. He and his wife, Sylvia, have two children, Kyle and Christopher.