Team

Powerzoa was founded by a team of graduates from the Presidio School of Sustainable Business. The company ethos is based on the principles of sustainability and resilient feedback loops for continual improvement.

Jamie Simon - Chief Executive Officer

Founder of Canopy Strategies solutions firm, Jamie is a motivated, values-driven leader. She started and directed the Sustainability Department at Red Bull, after directing the global energy drink's Sports Marketing for 10 years. As a World Champion Kayaker Jamie knows when to pull out the paddle.

Kendall Laine - Chief Technology Officer

Having developed and launched dozens of successful software, hardware and training products in more than 15 years as product manager and Special R&D Manager at Learning Tree International, Kendall is well versed in managing the integration of technology development streams. As a creative genius, Kendall is able to pull together a diversity of talent in executing Powerzoa's technology development.

Sandra Kwak - Chief Sales and Marketing Officer

CEO of software company, BitJazz, and former Executive Director of an arts non-profit, Sandra runs a Business Development and Sustainability consulting practice working with companies ranging from Mitsubishi to PG&E. As an organizer and activist, she knows how to turn skinny budgets into big changes.

Phil Lembo - VP Hardware

Owner of tech company, CyberData, Phil has over 30 years of electronic design and manufacturing experience. Products that he has brought to market include energy monitoring for solar panels and VoIP technologies. Having brought over 900,000 electronics products to market, Phil knows the mechanics of success.

Jean-François Gauthier - Chief Financial Officer

Technology strategy and finance expert with 20 years experience executing growth strategies, M&A and financing deals, both in the US and Europe, He co-founded Eolica Power, a company currently developing wind and solar farms in Italy, J-F has led several rounds of financing throughout his career; in 2010 alone he led several VC and project financings totaling $70M. He was previously CEO of Iscopia Software, a 15-year-old technology company he turned around from a 5-year decline to 3 consecutive years of 100 to 150% revenue growth. He also founded MyPathology, a non-profit bringing cancer diagnostics to under-served patients around the world. Prior, Mr Gauthier was a partner of TSG Partners/ScientiaAdvisors, providing corporate finance, M&A, and strategic advice to CEOs of startups and public Life Sciences companies. J-F started his career in finance with Royal Bank and CIBC World Markets, then worked in strategy consulting for Booz-Allen & Hamilton and Integral, the firm founded by Kim Clark, the godfather of innovation management and ex-Dean of Harvard Business School. He has a MBA from Harvard Business School and undergraduate degrees (summa cum laude) in both Marketing and Finance from University of Quebec.

Kelly Schwartzof - Software Director

Has scaled several software start-ups including BEA Systems and Talaris. Kelly has over 13 years working in a variety of internet infrastructure projects. He holds a BS and MS in Computer Science from Stanford University; is the recipient of 7 US patents; and was an architect at BEA Systems, a leading Fortune 500 middleware company; and consulted for Edge Ventures, a leading infrastructure Venture Capital firm.

Gilles Gameiro - Design Architect

Previously, Gilles founded Birdland Audio (birdland.com), designing and manufacturing all high-end audio products on catalog. Throughout his career, Gilles designed a variety of embedded products calling on his combined knowledge of Electronics, Software and even 3D Mechanical modeling skill. Prior, Gilles joined Digital Research and Novell where he worked on FlexOS contributing to the real-time kernel and drivers. When Novell acquitted Digital Research, he became a key member of the NEST where he designed and implemented the NEC Protocol (IETF Port 489) which he then applied to the Networked Espresso Maker featured in Dr. Dobbs and USA Today. After being nominated employee of the year he was transferred to the Research and Development Group to work on Novell's advanced distributed Java VM. Gilles holds a BS in EE from University Dorian in Paris XI^ème.

Advisors

Liz Stuart is a Principal Research Associate on utility-sector and state level energy efficiency policy at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Liz has developed strategy and market analysis for Environmental Defense Fund's corporate energy efficiency program and also has over 15 years experience in the public sector in project management of the production of interactive software.

Bonnie Nixon is the former Director of Environmental Sustainability and Director of Ethical Sourcing at Hewlett Packard. She has managed more than 200 public and private sector projects with business, government, community and non-governmental entities. Her 24 years of experience spans across several industries including technology, biotech, financial, water, natural resource protection and utilities, food processing and transportation.

Greg Trimble is the Senior Director of Global Energy Development at Wal-Mart and former Senior Director of Energy Procurement for Wal-Mart. He has over 20 years experience in the power and natural gas industries, both in the regulated and deregulated arenas with commercial orientation and over five years experience with Sustainability and GHG work.

Hunter Lovins, Esq is President and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions, a member of the California Bar, and a co-author of nine books, including Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution. She was named the Millennium TIME Magazine Hero of the Planet.

Rob Poor is a pioneer of Zigbee wireless technology and a former board member of Tendril. He is currently a Principal at NBT Ventures; was a co-founder of Adozu, Inc.; and co-founder as well as CTO of Ember Technologies, a leading supplier of Zigbee compliant software stacks. Rob served as Chair of the 802.15.4b Standard Committee for IEEE and was a founding Chairman of WINA (Wireless Industrial Network Alliance), an organization created at the urging of and with support from the Department of Energy.

C. Shepherd Burton holds a PhD in Chemical Physics. A former President of Systems Applications, Inc., he was also Executive Vice-President of ICF Kaiser International and Chief Scientist for the Rockwell International Science Center. He is a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board, has 30 years experience in business and project management and holds three patents.