Tooraj is the founder of Perl Street, a data-powered capital raising engine for urban-tech startups with physical assets. Tooraj has 15+ years of global experience in origination, financing, implementation and operation of $1B+ clean-technology projects in energy, water and waste management, manufacturing and built environment. Tooraj holds an MS in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo and has an Executive MBA from Columbia Business School.

Leads Greenworks in the organization's efforts to scale nationally by making clean and renewable energy a smart business decision for commercial property owners.

Prior to co-founding Greenworks Lending in 2015, Jessica led the design, management, and implementation of the nation’s first successful C-PACE program at the CT Green Bank. In its first two years, the program financed $75 million in clean energy projects and executed the first securitization of commercial efficiency assets – more than doubling the volume of C-PACE transactions between 2013 and 2014. From 2004-2012, Bailey worked at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), an $800 million foundation based in New York. As the Fund’s program officer for sustainable development, she co-managed a $7 million portfolio of grants focused on mitigating climate change and promoting clean energy.

Jessica has received numerous awards and positive recognition for her work. Most recently, she was selected for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women of 2019 program. In 2014, Bailey was named a “Champion of Change” by the White House for solar deployment. For her work designing the successful Connecticut C-PACE program, The Hartford Business Journal dubbed her a “Green Warrior;” and after co-founding Greenworks Lending and scaling C-PACE nationally, Jessica was named to Connecticut Magazine’s 2018 list of “40 under 40.”

Jessica received her graduate degree from Yale University and undergraduate from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of YPO and sits on the board of PACENation, the League of Conservation Voters, CT and CTNext.

Profile 

Raj manages a business development team at Constellation that works with a diverse group of customers assisting them in implementing solutions to help them address the major shifts going on in our industry including sustainability, demand reduction, data analytics and overall cost optimization.

Professional History 

Raj has worked in the chemical and energy industry across a wide range of roles. He began his career in the chemical industry working with multi-national companies Bayer, Cytec Industries and American Cyanamid. Roles included R&D, marketing and sales before being promoted to the Director of Marketing for NAFTA where he also managed the Export and Resale sales channels. Responsibilities included managing the P&L and developing short- and long-term strategy including production of chemicals manufactured in the U.S for export overseas.

Raj started his energy career with WPS Energy Services (later Integrys) in 2005 as the Managing Director for retail power and gas sales. The business was acquired by Constellation in 2014. Most recently Raj led the effort to develop a multi-year partnership agreement with the Johnson Controls Hall of Fame Village. The agreement recognizes Constellation as the official energy provider and provides exclusive naming rights for the Constellation Center for Excellence, a key component of the development project under way in Canton, OH.

As a member of the White House Initiative on Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPI), Raj has attended Leadership summits at the White House under both the Obama and Trump administration. The initiative focuses on several key areas including education, career development, business, jobs, immigration, heath care, housing and workforce leadership.

Education 

Raj holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arizona and an Executive MBA from the University of Connecticut.

Kristin Barbato bio Founder & CEO, Build Edison Co-Founder, Dynamo Energy Hub With 25 years in energy and sustainability, Kristin Barbato has served in executive roles spanning utilities, government, energy services, and consulting. With her experience running large operations along with her tenure as both a provider and buyer of energy services for utilities, commercial/industrial companies, and municipalities, she engages a broad network of experts and provides valuable energy market insight to move strategies into commercial action. In 2017, she founded a company to help cleantech and energy infrastructure get to scaled commercialization faster. Build Edison provides advisory services, demonstration project implementation partners, go-to-market planning strategies, and a unique investment vehicle for cleantechs, facilities owners, and energy investors. Build Edison advises several cleantechs as well as large entities such as NYSERDA ($5B Clean Energy Fund), Murata ($17B annual revenue), and Generate Capital ($1B+ AUM). In 2019, she co-founded Dynamo Energy Hub, a unique global network of innovative energy companies, investors, individuals, and governments that provides a platform to accelerate the clean energy economy. Dynamo cultivates energy innovation communities in key cities around the world in a state-of-the-art office environment along with in-person and virtual monthly networking and thought leadership events. In her previous executive roles, she helped cities and corporations optimize their capital planning, commodity supply, efficiency projects, renewable investments, and smart operations performance. She served as Managing Director of Enterprise Development at Edison Energy, Vice President of Customer Energy Solutions at the New York Power Authority (NYPA), and was appointed to Deputy Commissioner / Chief Energy Management Officer for New York City during Mayor Bloomberg’s Administration to manage the long-term sustainability plan (PlaNYC) for the country’s largest municipal energy infrastructure and operations with an annual budget of $1.3 Billion. Ms. Barbato also worked for Veolia Environnement, Con Edison, and Florida Power & Light in various technical and strategic leadership roles. Ms. Barbato graduated Cornell University with a B.S. in Civil Engineering. She also holds an M.S. in Organizational Leadership from Mercy College and completed her MBA in Finance and Economics from Columbia University in May 2008. For the last five years, she has been a Professor of energy management for international graduate policy schools at Columbia and NYU. Among other endeavors, she is an avid squash player and serves on several non-profit Advisory Boards such as The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund to support families of children with cancer.

Mr. Blum has spent 28 years as an investment banker and an investor in private equity and venture capital opportunities. Before joining G.C. Andersen Partners in 2006, Mr. Blum ran Channel Capital LLC, a firm he founded in 2001 to provide venture capital and financial advisory services to emerging companies. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Blum was a Managing Director in the private equity firm, Columbia Financial Partners, during which time he helped manage the reorganization and liquidation of ContiFinancial Corp. Previously, Mr. Blum was a banker with Salomon Brothers Inc. and Bear Stearns & Co. where he was actively involved in mergers & acquisitions, IPO’s, high-yield and investment grade debt and corporate advisory transactions for a wide range of banks, insurance and specialty finance companies. From 1989 to 1992, he was based in Tokyo and oversaw the Salomon Brothers’ Japanese and Asian Financial Institutions activities. 

Mr. Blum received a BS in Engineering from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Nick founded UGE with a focus on distributed renewables to address the world’s energy and environmental challenges, and has led the company for the ten years since its inception. Raised on a Canadian nature reserve, Nick is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries with previous experience at JPMorgan and AIG.  Over the past decade his leadership has focused on a productive and enjoyable company culture, forging new paths for the company in solar and renewable energies, both in the US and abroad.  

Don Bubar is a geologist with 40 years of experience in mineral exploration and development in Canada. Mr. Bubar is a graduate of McGill University (B.Sc., 1977) and Queen’s University (M.Sc., 1981). From 1984 to 1994, he worked for Aur Resources Inc. as Exploration Manager and later VP, Exploration. Mr. Bubar has been President and CEO of Avalon since 1995.

Mr. Bubar served as a Director of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada (PDAC) for nine years and Chair of its Aboriginal Affairs Committee from its creation in December, 2004 until retiring from the PDAC Board in March, 2013. Throughout his career, Mr. Bubar has been an advocate for increased Aboriginal participation in the mineral industry, first through the PDAC and later through the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines. Mr. Bubar serves on the Advisory Board to the Faculty of Science of McGill University and on the Board of Directors of Mining Matters.

Noah Shaw is Co-Chair of the Renewable Energy Practice at Hodgson Russ LLP, a New York-based mulitdisciplinary firm where Noah and his colleagues represent a board range of renewable energy and energy efficiency market participants inclluding developers, lenders, government entities, and others. Prior to joining Hodgson Russ in September 2019, Noah was General Counsel at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) where he had a hand in the New York State 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, its 2016 Clean Energy Standard, large-scale renewable energy procurements, design and implementation of the offshore wind program, including all the legal and regulatory work concerning contract design and compliance, and state's electric vehicles, community solar, energy storage, Property Assessed Clean Energy, building efficiency and related initiatives. Before joining NYSERDA, Noah was Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Energy, and he began his career at the law firm Mintz Levin in Boston.