Jochen Wermuth is the Founder of the “Greater Europe” investment funds which have invested over $1 bn in Russia, and CIO and Managing Partner of Wermuth Asset Management GmbH (WAM), the Funds’ exclusive investment adviser and a member of The World Economic Forum’s Community of Global Growth Companies (GGC). Delivering value in an ethical and sustainable fashion in greater Europe, WAM pursues a strategy of activist value-investing in long/short listed equity and debt, private equity, venture capital, real estate, infrastructure, agribusiness and forestry. From 1997 to 1998, Mr. Wermuth was Director for Russian Debt Capital Markets Origination in Deutsche Bank's Global Markets Division, London, seconded to Moscow as a member of the management committee responsible for setting up its fully licensed subsidiary. In this capacity he raised some $8 bn in financing for Russia. Between 1993 and 1997, he participated as an EU and World Bank finance adviser to the Russian Ministry of Finance in negotiations with the IMF and World Bank for $17 bn in budget financing. He also co-founded and headed the Ministry’s Economic Expert Group (www.eeg.ru). In this capacity he prepared economic policy plans, debt restructuring negotiations, the country's first credit rating and its debut Eurobond issue. Mr. Wermuth is a frequent presenter for CNBC’s Squawk Box, where he provides commentary on various economic issues in Russia. He is a member of German Association for Foreign Policy (DGAP), Eurosolar, Rotary Club Moscow International, Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) Greater Europe and Russian chapters and a supporter of Greenpeace. He holds a Master's degree in Economics and a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Mathematics, awarded magna cum laude and with honors, from Brown University and passed his qualifying exams for a Doctorate in Economics at Oxford University’s Balliol College. Jochen’s native language is German and he is also fluent in English, Russian and French.

Ms. Polina Burnos is a Principal at Wermuth Asset Management, and advises on investment opportunities in the cleantech space. Polina first joined WAM in 2010 as a Private Equity Adviser and was in charge of the dealflow and portfolio investments in the consumer and high technology sectors. Ms. Burnos has played an important role in the firm’s capital raising activities, and is now a part of WAM’s cleantech team. Polina has 4-year international experience in private equity & venture capital. Prior to joining WAM Ms. Burnos worked as a project manager for Proventus Capital Management AG, a Swiss-based private equity & venture capital firm with the focus on clean technologies, where she originated and executed a few deals in renewable energy and water treatment in Russia. Upon graduation from the university, Ms. Burnos worked as an analyst in KIT Finance Private Equity Division, where she actively participated in the execution of deals in financial services and media, and thoroughly monitored four companies in the portfolio. She also had an internship with the headquarters of Julius Baer Bank in Zurich, Switzerland. Polina Burnos graduated from St. Petersburg State University for Engineering and Economics with a specialization in Finance and Banking (diploma with honors), and was conferred the title “The best graduate of the year”.

Roman Samsonov joined the WAM to advise on Private Equity investments in 2007. He is responsible for transactions execution on investments and exits (advised on investment in the pulp and paper sector). Roman also engaged in post-investment supervision of Fund’s portfolio company in financial sector. Previously, Mr. Samsonov worked for Valuation and Business Modeling Division of Ernst & Young where he lead and participated in more than 10 local and international projects. His sector expertise includes the financial, telecom, food retail, machinery, mining, oil & gas and chemical sectors. Mr. Samsonov started his career in the Audit and Accounts Department of local advisory boutique Energy Consulting assisting financial and tax audits for local mid-sized oil&gas and petrochemical businesses. Mr. Samsonov graduated from Moscow State University of Management with specialization on financial risk management and corporate finance. 

Casper Heijsteeg, a Dutch citizen, born in 1970, has been active in private equity/venture capital and corporate finance for 17 years. He is one of the founders of and the investors in e2 Cleantech1.  He has full-cycle private equity experience from deal sourcing, due diligence, deal structuring, building and monitoring to exiting of investees. He led more than 30 investment and exit transactions. Mr Heijsteeg is hands-on involved in key managerial issues of investees, including strategic, financial and organisational subjects. He is member of the supervisory boards of Tocardo and Femtogrid, two portfolio companies of e2 Cleantech1. Further, Casper Heijsteeg is a managing director and a member of the board of Eagle Capital Partners, a subsidiary of Gimv founded in 2008 and focusing on investments in Russian growth stage companies. He is also a managing partner and a member of the investment committee of Eagle Russia Fund, with a focus on high growth Russian companies. Prior to that, Mr Heijsteeg managed a sub-portfolio of 9 companies (US $33 million) of Eagle Venture Partners. These companies have been exited with an average overall gross IRR of 34% or a cash-on-cash ratio of 3 within an average time span of 3.5 years. Exits included IPO, trade sale to international companies and MBO. The deals in which Casper Heijsteeg along with Mr Hendriks played a decisive role showed a gross IRR of 32% and a cash-on-cash ratio of 2.9 (please see section 5.8 hereto for details). From 1995 to 1998, Mr Heijsteeg worked as operational director of EWIC and prior to that he worked for ING Bank. Mr Heijsteeg has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Mr Heijsteeg's native language is Dutch; he is fluent in English and Russian, and also speaks basic German.

Michel Hendriks, a Dutch citizen, born in 1967, has 19 years of private equity/venture capital, corporate finance and entrepreneurial experience and has been successfully establishing, assisting, financing and managing growth stage and early stage companies during this period. He is one of the founders of and investors in e2 Cleantech1. Before e2 Cleantech1 started its activities, he executed four clean energy investments for clients as active informal investor. Mr Hendriks holds positions on the board of two e2 Cleantech1 companies: Qwic and GEO-Energie. Since 2002, he has been part-time chief financial officer of the Innax Group, the largest Dutch independent energy services provider. He has been responsible for the buy-and-build strategy of the company, which contributed to Innax Group's growth in revenues from €2 million in 2002 to well over €40 million in 2009, including the Group's expansion into Germany and France. Until 2007, Michel Hendriks was a member of the investment committee of Eagle Venture Partners, which managed US $100 million of investments in early stage and growth opportunities in Russia primarily. The deals in which Mr Hendriks along with Mr Heijsteeg played a decisive role showed a gross IRR of 32% and a cash-on-cash ratio of 2.9. In 1997, Michel Hendriks was the co-founder of and the investor in Rabo Black Earth Fund, a predecessor of Eagle Venture Partners. In 1995 he bought-out EWIC, an advisory subsidiary of ING Bank focused on emerging markets in Eastern Europe. He tripled EWIC in size by 1998 prior to switching his focus to fund management. Prior to that, he worked with ING Bank and Friesland Foods (Hong Kong). Mr Hendriks has degrees in Business Administration and Macroeconomics from the Groningen University, The Netherlands. Mr Hendriks' native language is Dutch; he is fluent in English, and also speaks basic German and Russian.

Eiso Vaandrager, a Dutch citizen, born in 1976, has 10 years of cleantech experience, 6 years of entrepreneurial experience and 2 years of venture capital experience. Mr Vaandrager has worked as an associate of e2 since April 2008, sourcing deals through his network and conducting due diligence. While joining e2, Mr Vaandrager was finalizing his MBA at the Rotterdam School of Management with an exchange to Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. Eiso Vaandrager had 4-month internship at Siderian Ventures in San Francisco. Prior to that, Mr Vaandrager was a shareholder and a commercial director of Formula Zero, a start-up company focussed on developing the first fuel cell powered go-kart competition. He studied at Delft University of Technology and graduated at Shell Global Solutions. During his studies Mr Vaandrager was a part of the core team that built the first Dutch solar car, which won the World Solar Challenge in 2001. Mr Vaandrager's native language is Dutch; he is also fluent in English.

Jeroen Meinders, a Dutch citizen, born in 1967, has 6 years of venture capital experience, including the last 4 years in the cleantech industry. He has been CFO at Tocardo International, a portfolio company of e2 Cleantech1 offering tidal energy turbines. Further, Jeroen has another 10-year experience in information technologies and was involved in the setup of several new ventures as a shareholder. Mr Meinders joined e2 Cleantech1 in August 2009. Prior to joining the e2 Cleantech1's team he was an investment manager at Ecoventures, the venture capital arm of Econcern, one of the most visible clean energy companies in Europe before the economic downturn. Jeroen Meinders was responsible for the identification and market introduction of new ventures and the development of venture networks. He was hands-on involved in several new ventures in solar, wind, biomass, electric vehicles, fuel cells and hybrid grids. After the bankruptcy of Econcern in 2009, Mr Meinders assisted the liquidators in the sale of several Ecoventures' portfolio companies. From 2001 to 2007 he has worked first for Getronics and then for Connexxion with regard to ICT solutions in transport, aviation and logistics. At Getronics Jeroen Meinders has established a corporate venturing unit. Prior to that, he was with SH&E, a leading aviation consultancy firm. Mr Meinders has a degree in Business Administration from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Mr Meinders' native language is Dutch; he is fluent in English, and also speaks basic German and French.

Chairman of the Investment Advisory Council

After retiring in 2005 from his post as the German Ambassador in Russia, Dr von Ploetz has been advising Deutsche Bank and British Petroleum on their business strategy in Russia. He is a senior advisor to Wermuth Asset Management since 2009, a member of the supervisory board of Robert Bosch GmbH in Stuttgart since 2008 and of other German companies that are focused on energy efficiency and high tech developments and engaged in the Russian market. During his foreign service career he held a number of senior posts where he dealt with international cooperation in the field of economy and high tech. He served as head of the private office of the German Foreign Minister (1982-85), deputy political director (1985-88), German Permanent Representative on the NATO-Council (1989 – 1993), Director General for European Integration (1993-94) and State Secretary (1994-99) in the Foreign Office in Bonn and Berlin and then, before his appointment to Russia in 2002, as Ambassador of Germany to the United Kingdom. From 2009-2010 he was a member of the Group of Experts on NATO’s new strategic concept which was approved by the NATO Summit in November 2010.

Fred van Beuningen is a Principal at Wermuth Asset Management. He is experienced executive with over 25 years of international management/board experience in industry and logistics, turnaround transformation experience in logistics, shipping and consultancy, as well as extensive venture experience in clean technologies. Currently Fred is an Advisor on sustainability to the Board of AkzoNobel working on corporate sustainability strategy, innovation agenda and technology roadmap, including nano technology and bio mimicry. Fred is a co-founder of Business4Life Holding, a group of ventures in health promotion and distributed energy solutions. Fred was CEO of Pentascope (Dutch-based change & implementation company with 300fte/€32M sales), Ahlers Maritime Services (Belgian-based services & logistics company with 1000 fte/€200M sales/23 countries), HN CAR logistics (Belgian-based automobile logistics company), member of the Executive Board of Hoek Loos NV (now Linde Gas, industrial gasses company with 2000 fte/€500M sales), general manager of GSF packaging (now Kappa, a packaging company with 250 fte/€65M sales/14 countries), and occupied different management positions at Royal Dutch Shell.Fred is a member of the President Circle of the European Leadership Platform, Executive Board member of Young President's Organization Environmental Network, Member of Insead alumni network, Board member of Public School Foundation, Advisor to cleantech funds.Fred holds Msc degree in Business from Erasmus University (Rotterdam, the Netherlands) and completed Advanced Management Program in Insead (Fontainebleau, France).

Mr Schell is currently a Managing Director at Associated Partners LP, a private equity with two primary areas of focus: energy and telecommunications infrastructure including smart grid technologies; and, all aspects of media, internet and telecommunications, both technology and services. Mr. Schell is  a member of the Intel Capital Advisory Board and the New York University (NYU) Venture Investment Review Board.   He is a director of several public and private companies and a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Mr Schell is also a founder and Chairman of Enforta, Russia’s largest and fastest growing WiMax Operator providing broadband access in approximately 100 cities across Russia. Prior to joining Associated, he was a General Partner at Apax Partners (approximately $30B under management) where he oversaw U.S. investments in telecommunications, wireless and related technology companies and was a member of the firm’s U.S. investment committee. Prior to joining Apax, Mr Schell served for 11 years at Sprint Corporation as its Senior Vice President for Strategy and Corporate development and as a member of the Management Committee. Before joining Sprint, Mr Schell was the founder, President and CEO of Realcom Communications Corporation, established in 1983 (acquired by IBM in 1987). Mr Schell served as the Counselor and Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 1978-1981, and for the prior two years directed a Presidential Policy Review assessing the impact of federal programs and policies on technological innovation in the private sector. In these capacities, Mr Schell also accomplished such as the following: (a) establishment, by the governments of the U.S. and Israel of  the U.S.-Israeli Bin-National R&D Foundation the BIRD Foundation) which provided seed, venture and growth capital to innovative technology based start-ups in Israel – a foundation, still flourishing,  that played a critical role in the development of Israel’s technology sector; b) negotiation of the first technology exchange agreements between the U.S. and China addressing such matters as technology standards, exchanges in the areas of oceanic and atmospheric sciences and cooperation between the U.S. and Chinese patent offices;  c)  the establishment of China’s first business school in Dalien.

Ms Shah has been actively involved with venture capital and angel investing in technology and medical companies for over 15 years. She has invested in over 50 companies, appointed to over 30 boards in a non-executive capacity, and has realised over 20 investments with an IRR of over 60%.  Shimi currently sits on a number of non-executive and advisory boards in several countries, these include Robrady Capital, Spengler Fox International, Carousel Solutions, and several others. Until recently, Ms Shah was the Managing Director of FORSA, a US $200 million investment company owned by the Dubai government and focussed on women in the Gulf Cooperative Council Region (GCC). Under the stewardship of Shimi, Forsa returned capital plus a general IRR of over 45% to investors. Prior to FORSA, Ms Shah was a partner at Porton Capital, a US $250 million venture capital fund investing in nano-technology, medical and security related technologies in the UK. Shimi established the equity business for Partnerships UK, a public private partnership between the UK Government and a number of financial institutions investing over US $100 million in commercialising technologies out of UK universities, the UK Ministry of Defence, and other Government Departments. Prior to which Ms Shah was the Chief Investment Officer for Hanson Capital, the family office of the Hanson family and responsible for a US $75 million technology fund investing in the UK and Silicon Valley. Shimi began her venture capital career with 3i, where she was one of the founding team to start the 3i technology business in Cambridge, London, and Scotland. Ms Shah began her career with Citicorp in infrastructure finance after graduating from Cambridge University with an MPhil in Management Studies and a 1st Class Hons. from King’s College, London in Management and Economics.

Mr Rosenberg is actively engaged in building a new business model for urban farming to bring local hydroponically grown produce to market. These farms will address the biggest issues in world food production including water use, energy use, agricultural emissions and land stewardship. He has recently transitioned from working with William McDonough (co-auther of Cradle to Cradle) as CEO of The McDonough Group, whose mission was to build businesses seeking to transform the world of human enterprise through leadership in design, innovation and collaboration. Mr Rosenberg is co-founder and Chairman of Hycrete, Inc., a leader in waterproofing and corrosion control solutions for concrete construction. During his seven years as CEO, Hycrete emerged as a pioneer in the sustainable construction space and was named by TimeMagazine as one of four enterprises on the leading edge of the new energy frontier in 2008. David Rosenberg is a member of the Young Presidents Organization and the Young Alumni Association of Columbia Business School. He is an advisor to several organizations including the private equity firm Expansion Capital Partners, the software company AgSquared, and the non-profit organization the Ecologic Sequestration Trust. Mr Rosenberg is a consistent guest lecturer at Columbia Business School and the Stern School of Business at NYU. Mr Rosenberg received his BA from UNC Chapel Hill and holds an MBA from Columbia University. He competed for the US in Fencing for many years and is a three-time US National Fencing Champion.

Dr Newsam is Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, and was previously also Adjunct Professor in the Materials Department of UC Santa Barbara. The author of more than 170 refereed publications and articles on materials chemistry topics, Dr Newsam is co-inventor on seven issued US patents, and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Corday-Morgan Medal of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Sidhu Award, and the New York Award for Excellence in Catalysis.  Dr. Newsam has served as a Venture Partner to investment funds in the US and the UK pursuing investments in the materials, clean technologies and life sciences fields. Dr Newsam is also an innovative entrepreneur, having himself co-founded six companies, in the technology, biotechnology and materials sciences fields, of which to date three have been acquired. Dr Newsam serves on numerous academic advisory boards and has occupied senior and executive positions in such companies as Biosym Technologies, Nuvo Research, hte – the high throughput experimentation company, and Exxon Research and Engineering Company. Dr Newsam has a doctoral degree in Chemistry from Oxford (Great Britain).

Graham Richards CBE, is emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University and author of over 360 scientific articles in the areas of molecular spectroscopy, theoretical chemistry and biophysics, and 18 books with translations into five languages, including 'Spin-outs: creating businesses from university intellectual property'. He is also a Member of the Council of the Royal Society of Chemistry. His current researches cover applications of theoretical chemistry to problems in molecular biophysics and drug design using a wide variety of computing facilities. Prof. Richards also actively participates in outreach activities, in particular, he was an ideological leader, scientific consultant and script writer of the television series entitled “Great Experiments” which appeared on BBC2 and BBC1 in 1985. Prof. Richards is also a Senior Non-executive Director in several technological companies such as IP Group Plc; Chairman Inhibox Ltd; Director TdeltaS Ltd. He founded Oxford Molecular Group Plc which was taken from a £350,000 start-up to a £450 million public company.

Mr Ketting is the director and founder of Lighthouse Russia B.V. which successfully assists over a hundred Western companies yearly from a wide range of sectors with their business development in Russia since 1999. He has been living in Russia for over 17 years giving him fluency in the Russian language and a thorough understanding of the Russian business environment and culture. Mr Ketting sits on the boards of a number of Western-Russian Joint Ventures, is an advisor to the Board of the Prosperity Fund of the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office in Russia, and is a member of the Honorary Council of the Association of European Businesses in Russia. Mr Ketting is also the founder of OOO (LLC) Lighthouse Energy Investments that initiates, funds and manages medium-sized energy efficiency investment projects in Russia. Mr Ketting is an expert in managing energy efficiency projects for financial institutions such as the EBRD, IFC and UNDP. He is also the Chairman of the Energy Efficiency Committee of the Association of European Businesses in Russia and is a member of the Council for Energy Auditors of The Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation. Mr Ketting is an often invited speaker about Doing Business in Russia and Energy Efficiency in Russia at various conferences and on TV. He frequently writes articles about the Russian business environment and energy efficiency for Russian and international publications.