Core Team members have been involved in well over 100 technology startups in energy, cleantech, and environmental as founder, executive, advisor, consultant or board member.
Neal M. Dikeman
Nonexec Chairman and Founder
Neal founded Cleantech.org and is one of the most cited and prolific writers on cleantech and energy technology. He served as chief blogger of Cleantechblog.com, named a 50 Best Business Blog by the London Times, was the anchor blogger on Greentech for CNET.com and News.com, and has been a guest contributor to numerous new and traditional media including AltEnergyStocks.com, Cleantech.com, Sustainable Industry Magazine, as well as spoken at over 100 industry conferences, and cited in 100s of publications on cleantech. Neal is a serial entrepreneur and venture capital investor with experience across energy, power, Cleantech and IT. He has a long track record of launching new ventures to commercialize technology across 9 startups and a number of multinationals on 3 continents, and has held every executive job in a startup. He is currently a venture capitalist at Energy Transition Ventures and Old Growth Ventures, and was formerly the corporate venture capital arm of Royal Dutch Shell, as well as board member of American Electric Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AETI) before its sale to Myers Power and Stabilis Energy.
Prior to Jane Capital he was an Investment Associate and later Director of Business Development at Globalgate, the parent company of internet pioneer Yellowpages.com (later sold to an SBC/Bellsouth JV), and an Associate at private equity fund Doyle & Boissiere. He began his career in the oil & gas investment banking group at Bankers Trust and Deutsche Bank. He holds a BA from Texas A&M in Economics.
Dr. Edward Beardsworth
Associate Director, Research Director and Power Program Lead
Dr. Edward Beardsworth, Ed is a long-time fixture in the energy technology landscape. A physicist who began his career at EPRI and Brookhaven National Laboratory, Ed has advised startups and energy companies on technology for 30 years. He ran a multi-client study, Utility Federal Technology Opportunities, for 15 years, advising 25 of the largest power companies in the US. He has consulted for investment industry leaders including Nth Power and Cleantech Venture Network, and is a Senior Technical Fellow at Jane Capital Partners.
He conducts UFTO, a multi client study on behalf of a select group of energy utilities and vendors, to seek out technologies of interest and to facilitate collaborations among utilities, government and private companies.
In addition, he works with individual utilities, investors and startup companies to help them with technology strategies and business development, with particular emphasis on the dramatic changes taking place in the power industry, in terms of both their business structures and the emerging global attention to the environment. He is a strategic advisor to Nth Power, the leading venture capital fund that specializes in energy utility-related technology.
Prior to entering private consulting in 1992, he was at the Electric Power Research Institute, initially as a Project Manager (1978 – 1984), directing a program of contract research relating to market and business planning needs of the electric utilities. In 1985, he moved to a corporate marketing and R&D technology transfer role, devising and implementing marketing and customer service activities to increase client awareness and use of R&D results.
He worked at the Brookhaven National Lab prior to joining EPRI, first in basic research in physics and later in an applied program of interdisciplinary studies involving energy systems modeling, technology assessment and analysis of developing country energy needs. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Rutgers University.
Dr. William Salathiel
Associate Director and Energy Program Lead
William is a versatile business and technology consultant with education in chemistry, physics, thermodynamics, molecular spectroscopy, finance, accounting, marketing, and management. He has accumlated 25 years of broad experience consulting on technology and business problems, and 20 years of petroleum industry research experience. Recent consulting engagements have included vetting technologies and start-up management teams for clean power production, transmission, and storage; and alternative methods of transportation fuel production. Other consulting spanned venture organization, marketing, personnel selection, search, and compensation, mergers & acquisitions, and technical problem solving. Earlier, he did industrial research in the areas of surface science and surfactant development; and petroleum production related to well completions (fluids, sand consolidation, gravel packing), well stimulation (acidizing, fracturing, diverting), pipeline friction reduction, asphaltene & paraffin deposition, reservoir processes, surfactant enhanced oil recovery, and polymer gel diversion of reservoir floods.
David Niebauer
General Counsel
David Niebauer has over 20 years of domestic and international corporate finance experience, with a particular focus on clean energy and environmental technologies. He has represented numerous companies in complex M&A and financing transactions and acts as General Counsel (including IP strategy, protection and licensing) for innovative cleantech companies, including Smart Wires, Brillouin Energy Corporation, and LumiGrow. David also serves on the Board of Directors of LumiGrow, the New Energy Movement and he is founder and Managing Director of Quantum Heat, a non-profit for the advancement of low energy nuclear reaction (LENR) technology, supporting the Martin Fleischmann Memorial Project.
David brings a wealth of experience, financing contacts and business acumen to his practice and has significant experience in renewable energy project development as well as all aspects of corporate finance and M&A transactions. David received his B.A. from the State University of New York, magna cum laude, his Masters degree from the University of Michigan and his J.D. from the Brooklyn Law School, where he was Articles Editor of the Journal of International Law.
