The FirstFuel Software Team
We're proud of the team we've assembled thus far, bringing together the right combination of analytical prowess, IT capabilities and real-world building energy experience.
Management
Swapnil Shah
CEO, Co-Founder
Swap has built his career building winning IT companies. He is a seasoned entrepreneurial leader with 20 years of experience leading software companies into innovative markets. He was a key founder of three companies that went on to an IPO or acquisition, including Open Environment (IPO), WebSpective Software (acquired by Inktomi ) and mValent (acquired by Oracle). Swap holds a BS from Cornell University.
Ken Kolkebeck
SVP, Products and Buildings, Co-Founder
Ken is an entrepreneur and seasoned building energy veteran. He was a co-founder of Tek-Air Systems, Inc, which he led to become the leading US manufacturer of building airflow measurement and control systems. He also founded Facility Diagnostics, a consultancy that provided energy analysis, energy conservation measure definition and design, project management, commissioning, and measurement and verification services for buildings ranging from the simplest office buildings to complex laboratories. Ken has also worked with industry leaders Johnson Controls and Rosemount, and holds several patents for airflow measuring devices and fume hood control.
Ken is an ISA Certified Automation Professional and an AEE Certified Building Commissioning Professional, and holds a BS from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Badri Raghavan
CTO
Badri is a technology leader specializing in transformative business analytics and optimization applications. His career has spanned many verticals including Energy & Utilities, Banking & Financial Services, Retail, Telecom and Healthcare. Prior to FirstFuel, Badri led the development and implementation of a global analytics framework for Energy & Utilities at IBM Research. He co-founded and led Prediction Machines, an analytics startup in the Smart Grid space with proprietary Analytic software. Badri has also held leadership positions at FICO and SAS Institute, including co-founding and building out FICO's Bangalore, India, offices.
Badri holds a Ph.D. from Northeastern University, MS degrees from IIT Kanpur and Carnegie Mellon University and BS from St Stephens College (Delhi, India).
Indran Ratnathicam
Director of Marketing
Indy is a technology executive focused on strategy, marketing and sales of new technologies. Prior to joining FirstFuel, he was a Principal at The Boston Consulting Group, where he drove efforts to launch and grow businesses in energy, software, security and semiconductors with several Fortune 100 clients. Through his work at BCG, Indy led teams that devised new technology strategies, developed IP portfolios, oversaw new acquisitions and re-aligned sales forces to optimize growth and capitalize new markets. In addition, Indy has worked with two technology-based startups and a venture capital firm.
Indy holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Scientific Advisors
Nalin Kulatilaka
Scientist, Co-Founder
Nalin has applied his deep mathematical background in econometrics and real options to the challenge of understanding building data. Nalin is the Wing Tat Lee Family Professor of Management and Professor of Finance at Boston University. His research includes the role of financial markets in directing investments to clean energy technologies and he has been published in over 75 journals on topics ranging from real options to startup valuation to the role of energy intermediaries.
His book, Real Options: Managing Strategic Investment in an Uncertain World has received wide acclaim from both academic and practitioner worlds. Prior to his work with FirstFuel, Nalin was a co-founder of Glaze Creek Partners LLC and International Internet Services.
Nalin holds a B.Sc. from Imperial College, an MS from Harvard University and a Ph.D from MIT.
Robert Kaufmann
Scientist, Co-Founder
Robert gives our team deep analytical and statistical capabilities, based on his experience in modeling complex systems. He is the Chair of the Department of Geography and Environment and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies at Boston University. His research has centered on world oil markets, global climate change and the global carbon cycle.
He has also done consulting for some of the worlds largest oil companies, the US Department of Energy, and the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Robert holds a BS from Cornell University, an MA from the University of New Hampshire and a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania.
Board
Phil Giudice
Phil Giudice is the CEO of Liquid Metal Battery Corporation. LMB is a technology company creating cost effective, reliable, wide spread grid electricity storage solutions, enabling separation of power demand from power supply for the first time. Giudice has more than 30 years' experience in the energy industry as a geologist, consultant, executive, and state official.
Giudice was appointed by US Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu to US DOE's Energy Efficiency and Renewables Advisory Committee as well as its State Energy Advisory Board. In addition, he is a board member for the energy business leadership trade group Advanced Energy Economy as well as the efficiency start up FirstFuel.
Most recently Giudice served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Undersecretary of Energy and as Commissioner of the Department of Energy Resources, the state agency with primary responsibility for fulfilling Governor Deval Patrick's vision for a clean energy future.
Prior to his service in the Patrick-Murray Administration, Giudice was senior vice president and board member at EnerNOC, a start-up providing electricity demand-management services to businesses, institutions, utilities, and grid operators that became a public company in 2007. He was previously a senior partner and leader of Mercer Management Consulting's global energy utilities practice for 20 years. He started his career as a metals exploration geologist with Freeport-McMoRan and with Chevron.
Giudice is also active in the nonprofit realm, having help found the Center for Effective Philanthropy and serving as Board Chair for 8 years as well as currently serving on the President's Council of ACCION. In addition, he completed full terms on the boards of the City Year Boston, First Parish Church of Wayland, and Haitian Health Foundation. He was also the founding chair of Boston Cares.
Giudice is a geologist (B.S. from University of New Hampshire and M.S. in Economic Geology from the University of Arizona) and a management professional (M.B.A. from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth)
Jason Matlof
Jason is a Partner at Battery Ventures, where he focuses on investments in the clean technology sector. Before joining Battery, Jason spent more than a decade in management roles at leading technology companies. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Neoteris (acquired by NetScreen/Juniper Networks). Jason also spent five years at Cisco Systems, where he led product management for the company’s multi-billion dollar family of fixed-configuration Catalyst switches.
Jason has also held positions with Ford Motor Company, Ericsson Raynet Corporation and MPR Associates. In addition to FirstFuel, Jason serves on the boards of Clean Urban Energy, Redwood Systems, SolarBridge Technologies, Qteros and SkyFoundry.
Jason holds a BA from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Rodrigo Prudencio
Rodrigo Prudencio is a Partner and is responsible for leading the firm's investments in Synapsense, FirstFuel Software, Hara Software, Topanga Technologies and Terrapass. He also oversees the firm's investment in Thetus. Prior to his promotion to Partner, Rodrigo led business development within and among the Nth Power limited partners and portfolio companies and managed investor relations and fundraising.
Prior to joining Nth Power, Rodrigo was Director of Business Development at Utility.com, a retail electricity provider backed by internet incubator Idealab!. While there, Rodrigo worked with the executive team to pursue company partnerships, develop new lines of business, and raised $25 million from venture capital and corporate investors.
Earlier in his career, Rodrigo worked for the U.S. Department of State as a senior aide to the Undersecretary of State for Global Affairs where he focused on a variety of global environmental negotiations, including preparations for the Kyoto round of the Climate Change Convention. Before that, Rodrigo was a Director in the International Programs at the National Wildlife Federation.
Rodrigo received his MBA from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley where he served as President of his class and focused his studies on energy markets and technologies. During his time at Haas, Rodrigo worked at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and co-authored a paper on retail electricity services in the commercial and industrial sector. His bachelor's degree in international relations was earned from Middlebury College in Vermont.
Todd Wilson
Todd Wilson is a General Partner at RockPort Capital, a leading venture capital firm that partners with cleantech entrepreneurs around the world. Todd began his operating career in small businesses following two years with AT&T during which he held both technical and sales and marketing positions. As the Director of External Affairs at Wilbraham & Monson Academy, he managed the revenue generating departments resulting in the successful turnaround of this private secondary school.
He later served as a general manager in a manufacturing business where he was responsible for multiple aspects of a growth stage company. Todd began to focus on a range of technologies in the energy and environmental sectors upon joining RockPort in 1998. He earned a degree in Economics and History from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Todd currently serves on the boards of RockPort Capital’s portfolio companies EcoSMART Technologies, Enphase Energy, FirstFuel and HydroPoint Data System.
Battery Ventures
Battery Ventures was founded on a set of principles that remain the pillars of our investment philosophy: a concentration on technology and related sectors; a research-centric methodology for identifying and understanding large, emerging market opportunities; a proactive approach to finding driven entrepreneurs and compelling businesses; and daily involvement with every portfolio company.
Nth Power
Nth Power is a venture capital firm based in San Francisco and is the first venture capital firm funding promising startup companies in Cleantech industries. With $420 million under management and an investment record that begins in 1997, Nth Power is widely known and well regarded as the driving force behind many of the most successful Cleantech companies. The firm’s leading history in Cleantech-related venture capital is the result of a deep network of entrepreneurs, universities and research institutions and unmatched corporate relationships. For more information, visit www.nthpower.com.
RockPort Capital
RockPort Capital is a leading venture capital firm partnering with cleantech entrepreneurs around the world to build innovative companies and bring cutting-edge technologies and products to the 21st century. With nearly $850 million in assets under management RockPort is one of the largest venture capital firms focused on clean technology. RockPort’s investment approach is distinguished by collaboration with management teams to foster growth and create value. Since its founding in 2000, RockPort Capital, with offices in Boston, Massachusetts and Menlo Park, California, has invested in more than 50 cleantech companies.