Think Green

Keynote Speakers

Ira Ehrenpreis
General Partner, Technology Partners

Ira Ehrenpreis is a General Partner with Technology Partners. He has been with the firm since 1996. Ira leads Technology Partners' Cleantech investment practice, investing in Energy Technology, Water Technology, and Materials Science opportunities. Ira is a recognized leader in both the venture capital industry and the Cleantech sector, and in 2007, was named one of the "Top 50 Most Influential Men Under 45" by Details Magazine. In the venture community, Ira serves on the Board of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and on the Board of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists (WAVC). He is also the Co-Chairman of both the VCNetwork and the YVCA, two non-profit organizations comprising more than 1,000 venture capitalists. In the Cleantech sector, Ira has served on several industry Boards, including the Clean-Tech Investor Summit (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009 Conference Chairman), Cleantech Venture Network (Past Chairman of Advisory Board), ACORE (American Council on Renewable Energy), Energy Investors Forum (Past Conference Chairman), Energy Venture Fair, and California Climate Change Advisory Board. He has also served on the Advisory Boards of the Southern California Tech Coast Alliance, Forum for Women Entrepreneurs (FWE), and the Comerica Venture Capital Advisory Board. Ira is also an active leader at Stanford University, where his contributions have included teaching the course on Venture Capital and serving on the Board of Visitors of Stanford Law School. Ira is also a Contributor to Nimmer on Copyright, the leading copyright treatise. Ira received his JD/MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, where he was an Associate Editor of Stanford Law Review. He holds a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and Summa Cum Laude.

Technology Partners is a 24 year venture capital firm that has managed more than $750 million of investment capital with current investments being made from Technology Partners Fund VIII. Technology Partners has invested in more than 100 companies in a variety of industries serving principally as a lead investor. The majority of investments are in early stage companies. The firm invests approximately half of its capital into Cleantech (Energy Technology, Water Technology, and Advanced Materials) companies and the other half into companies focused on the Life Sciences. For more information on Technology Partners, go to www.technologypartners.com.

Jennifer Scott Fonstad
Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Jennifer Scott Fonstad is a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. Considered one of the most senior women in venture today, Ms. Fonstad invests broadly in early stage companies, most recently taking an early leadership role in clean energy. Additionally, she has been working to change our country's healthcare system through entrepreneurship. Recent investment successes include Athenahealth (NASDAQ: ATHN), Lumenos (acquired by Wellpoint, NYSE: WLP), and NetZero (NASDAQ: UNTD).

In addition to her investing responsibilities, Jennifer sits on the investment committees for DFJ VinaCapital, DFJ's partner fund in Vietnam, DFJ Tamir Fishman, DFJ's partner fund in Israel, and serves as adviser to the DFJ China team.

Jennifer joined DFJ as a Kauffman Fellow in 1997 becoming a partner in 1998. She began her career with Bain and Company after spending a year teaching math to high school students in sub-Sahara Africa. She graduated Cum Laude from Georgetown University and holds an MBA with Distinction from the Harvard Business School. Jennifer is married with four children.

Mark Mills
Founding Partner, Digital Power Capital
Chairman, CEO, International Battery

Mark P. Mills is a founding partner in Digital Power Capital, the energy-tech affiliate of Wexford Capital. He writes the Energy Intelligence column for Forbes and is co-author of the book, "The Bottomless Well: The Twilight of Fuel, the Virtue of Waste, and Why We Will Never Run Out of Energy" (Basic Books 2005, paperback 2006), and has been published in various popular publications, including the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times Magazine, as well as numerous professional publications. He has testified before the U.S. Congress and briefed many state public service commissions and state legislators. He is currently CEO and Chairman of the Board of International Battery (a DPC portfolio company), and is a member of the Boards of DPC portfolio companies EDSA Micro and Sago Systems. He previously co-founded and served as Chairman and CTO of ICx Technologies (another DPC portfolio company), and was a Board member of EYP Mission Critical Facilities (now a Hewlett Packard company).

Before founding Digital Power Capital with his colleagues, Mark was a technology advisor for Banc of America Securities, and a co-author of the successful energy-tech investment newsletter, the Huber-Mills Digital Power Report, published by Forbes and the Gilder Group. Earlier, Mark founded and ran an energy technology consulting business for 17 years. He served as a staff consultant to The White House Science Office (under President Reagan), a number of the Federal Research Laboratories, the (former) Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, and the U.S. Department of Energy. Mark was an experimental physicist and development engineer in the fields of integrated circuits during the early 1970s, the "Jurassic era" of microprocessors. He also worked in fiber optics, defense and solid-state devices, fields in which he holds several patents. Mark holds a degree in physics from Queen's University, Canada, and is a member of numerous professional societies including the American Physical Society and Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers.

top ↑