Mr. N. J. Nicholas Jr., Chairman, Board of Environmental Defense. Nicholas, who joined Time Inc. in 1964, held a number of executive positions during his thirty year career with the company. He was named president of Time Inc. in 1986 and served as co-chief executive officer of Time Warner Inc. until February 1992. Nicholas is a director of the Boston Scientific Corporation, Xerox Corporation and Time Warner Cable. He has served as a member of the board of Turner Broadcasting, Bankers Trust Company, Priceline and of the President's Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations and the President's Commission on Environmental Quality. Nicholas is also Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Environmental Defense and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Nicholas attended Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., received an A.B. degree magna cum laude in economics from Princeton University and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.

Mr. Victor Sprenger, CEO Accelergy Corporation. Sprenger's career spans over 37 years in the electronics, refining and chemical industries. Prior to joining  Accelergy, he spent over ten years in various management positions at Engelhard Corporation (acquired by BASF in June 2006).  Most recently, he was Group Vice President and General Manager for Engelhard's Process Technologies Group.  Prior to joining Englehard, Mr. Sprenger was Vice President of Electronic Materials at Macdermid, Inc. and also served as Vice President of Electronics at both Hercules, Inc., and Colight/Cugher.  He began his career with AT&T's (Western Electric) blue circle management training program. 

Dr. Bernie Bulkin, Former Chief Scientist at BP (British Petroleum). Bernie spent 19 years at BP and its predecessor, The Standard Oil Company, holding various positions in technology and business, including Chief Technology Officer and Director of Manufacturing, Supply, and Distribution. As BP's Vice President for Environmental Affairs, Bernie developed BP's clean fuels strategy and led BP's strategy and action plan on climate change. He helped to develop BP's thinking about sustainability, what it means in an extractive company, and the organizational demands of sustainability in a large company. He is the author of many papers on sustainability, climate change, transport, and the future of technology in the energy industry. Prior to BP, Bernie was an academic scientist and Professor at City University of New York and Polytechnic Institute for 18 years.

Bernie has published more than 100 papers and two books on such subjects as Raman spectroscopy, polymers, and liquid crystals. Bernie was Honorary Professor at the University of York from 1992-2003, and has been elected as a Fellow of New Hall, University of Cambridge. Bernie currently serves as Chairman of the Energy Advisory Board of SAIC, and is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of World ORT, the Board of Governors of Argonne National Laboratory, Board of Directors of UK CEED, the UK Government Sustainable Energy Policy Advisory Board, Vice Chair for Energy and Transport of the Sustainable Development Commission, and is a Trustee of the Charles Darwin Trust. Bernie is Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry; Fellow, Institute of Petroleum; Fellow, Royal Society of the Arts; and Fellow of New Hall, Cambridge. He has received the Coblentz Award, the Oscar Foster Award in Science Education, Sigma Xi Distinguished Research Citation, and Gold Medal of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.

Mr. John Rockwell, Managing Director, DFJ Element. John has more than 15 years of experience investing in venture capital and developing companies commercializing applications of advanced materials and over 20 years of financial investment experience. Prior to joining DFJ Element, John was a Partner at Advent International and managed the firm's California office. John joined Advent in 1996 and his investments have ranged by stage of company and area of focus. He has invested broadly across the CleanTech sectors with an emphasis on advanced materials, information technology and electronics.

Before Advent, John spent 7 years at Materia Ventures Associates, investing in and managing early-stage companies that were commercializing advanced materials technologies. He also served as CEO of Luxar Corporation, a manufacturer of CO2 lasers for the medical market and as President of SSC, Inc., a manufacturer of high performance ceramic oxide materials used in superconductors, fuel cells, catalysts and other applications.  John also held various positions at 3M Corporation in its Acquisitions and Business Development Department.

John received a BS in Business Administration from Michigan Technological University; and an MBA from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.