Our Team

Caroline is a Senior Associate at Activate, where she supports all parts of the investment process.

Prior to joining Activate, Caroline was an investment banker at Nomura Greentech, where she provided M&A and capital raise advisory for companies focused on accelerating the sustainable transition. She has experience working with both early growth stage and public companies across the advanced transportation, energy technology, and environmental services sectors.

Caroline holds a degree in Finance with minors in History and Spanish, with honors, from The Ohio State University. She was a recipient of the Pace Setters Award, given to the top 1% of students in the business school on the basis of academics and leadership. In her free time, Caroline enjoys running, traveling/backpacking, cycling, live music and exploring new coffee shops/cocktail bars in San Francisco.

Anup has been investing for over 20 years in energy, water, and industrial technology businesses.

Prior to co-founding Activate, Anup was a founder and partner at Mubadala Capital, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund; a Managing Partner at Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala focused on sustainable investments; a Co-founder and Partner at Virgin Green Fund, the green investment vehicle for Richard Branson’s Virgin Group; and a Partner at TPG-Aqua where he focused on investments in the water sector.

Anup is on the non-profit board of Grid Alternatives, which aims to bring renewable energy to low-income homeowners, and is a Founding Member of the Advisory Board of the Energy Policy Institute (EPIC) at the University of Chicago.

Anup holds a degree in Economics, with honors, from the University of Chicago.

David has founded and led multiple firms, investing over $1 billion in energy and clean technology.

Prior to co-founding Activate, David was the founder and Managing Partner of Element Partners, an $860 million series of funds dedicated to a broad range of investments in clean technology. David was also a Co-Founder and Managing Director of EnerTech Capital, President and CEO of Deven Resources, Inc., and a partner with CMS Companies.

David has also been a National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) board member, chair of the NVCA Energy & Cleantech Committee, and Chair of the NVCA Growth Equity Group, where he established and benchmarked Growth Equity as a distinct asset class within private equity.

David holds a BA in Geology, with honors, from Colgate University and an MS in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Eric is a Principal at Activate, where he focuses on deal sourcing, due diligence, execution, and supporting portfolio companies post-investment. He is also a Board Observer at portfolio companies Voltus, Omnidian, PosiGen, Fictiv, Parsable, and Element Analytics.

Prior to joining Activate, Eric was an Associate at ValueAct Capital, an activist hedge fund, where he covered investment ideas spanning several sectors including energy and industrials. Eric began his career as a business analyst at McKinsey & Company in their Silicon Valley office.

Eric holds a degree in Chemistry from Yale University and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar.

Emma is a Vice President at Activate, where she focuses on deal sourcing, due diligence, execution and supporting portfolio companies post-investment. She is a Board Observer at portfolio companies Tomorrow.io and PosiGen.

Prior to joining Activate, Emma was a Vice President at Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners (SIP), where she worked closely with portfolio companies and evaluated new technology-enabled infrastructure investments across the energy, mobility and circular economy sectors. Prior to joining SIP, Emma was an Investment Associate on JP Morgan’s Renewable Energy Investments team. Emma began her career at JP Morgan as an Investment Banking Analyst in their New York office.

Emma holds a degree in Operations Research Engineering and a minor in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University. In her free time, Emma enjoys the outdoors, reading books on modern sociology and spending time with family in Chicago.

Evan is a Senior Associate on the Activate team, where he supports all parts of the investment process.

Prior to joining Activate, Evan was an Equity Research Analyst at Barclays in New York City, where he published research on emergent energy transition technologies and public companies across the Power & Utilities sector. Evan also has experience working with music and healthtech startups through the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.

Evan holds degrees in Economics and Human & Organizational Development, with honors, from Vanderbilt University. In his free time, Evan enjoys scuba diving, wildlife photography, cooking and watching nature documentaries.

Anna is the COO and CFO at Activate, where she leads and oversees the firm’s day-to-day and strategic and financial operations. 

Prior to Activate, Anna was CFO at Pear VC, where she managed all financial functions of the firm and its funds, LP relations & reporting, and ran the internal operations spanning legal, compliance, and HR matters. Previously, she led finance and operations at Eniac Ventures. Before entering the venture capital world, Anna worked in business operations for over a decade at various startups, using her broad background in finance, operations, human resources, and administration management to help companies scale.

Anna holds a BA in Business Management Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz. She sits on the board of VCBC, a non-profit association of finance professionals in the venture capital industry. She also serves as Treasurer for Let’s Talk Ops, a non-profit organization that brings together the top operational, cross-discipline talent fueling today’s venture capital community. In her free time, Anna enjoys cycling & hiking across the Bay Area with her family and throwing dinner parties for friends.

Susan has nearly two decades of experience leading investor relations in the venture capital and private equity industry. At Activate, she is responsible for leading all investor engagement, executing the firm’s communications, and overseeing sustainability reporting.

Prior to Activate, Susan was an IR and marketing advisor to the private equity and venture capital industry. Previously, she was Principal and Director of Investor Relations and Marketing with Knightsbridge Advisers, Director of the Thunderbird Global Private Equity Center, and Partner & Co-founder at Venture Archetypes, a strategic advisory firm.

Her background also includes a postgraduate fellowship with the Robert Bosch Foundation in Germany, and she served in the US Peace Corps and United Nations in Mongolia. She is a board advisor and frequent speaker at PEI’s NYC IR Forum and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of global exchange nonprofit Cultural Vistas. 

Susan holds a degree, with honors, from Drake University and an MBA in International Management from Thunderbird School of Global Management, where she received the Barton Kyle Yount Award.

Raj has founded three private investment firms focused on sustainability over the last 25 years.

Prior to co-founding Activate, Raj was a founder of Silver Lake Kraftwerk, a private equity fund focused on the energy and resource sectors, and a Managing Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), where he founded the firm’s cleantech and India investment practices. At DFJ, he was an early investor in visionary founders at Baidu, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, Solar City, EnerNOC, Box, Athena Healthcare, Redfin, and Ping Identity.  

In 2005, Raj co-founded DFJ Element with Activate co-founder David Lincoln – the leading dedicated cleantech firm of its vintage. Raj has served on over 25 public, private, and nonprofit boards, including SolarCity (SCTY), Ping Identity (PING), EnerNOC (ENOC), and Parnassus Funds. He is also the founder of the Spotlight Foundation, which focuses on grants to educational entrepreneurs globally.

Raj holds BS and MS degrees in Environmental Engineering and an MBA from Stanford University.

Leila is a Senior Associate at Activate, where she supports all aspects of the investment process and works with the Head of IR & Impact on ESG and impact initiatives, including supporting our portfolio with strategy development, execution, and reporting.

Prior to joining Activate, Leila was a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in Toronto, where she worked on climate and sustainability projects with institutional investors, NGOs, and corporations. She was selected for BCG’s Social Impact Immersion Program, where she focused on decarbonization technologies for hard-to-abate industries, nature-based solutions, carbon markets, and emissions measurement platforms. Prior to BCG, Leila participated in a fellowship program at Cape York Partnership in Australia, where she worked on a project supporting economic development in Indigenous communities.

Leila graduated with high honors from the University of Toronto with a degree in Finance and Economics and a minor in English Literature. While at the University of Toronto, she received the Student Leadership Award and took part in the Creative Destruction Lab startup accelerator. In her free time, Leila enjoys hiking, running, playing Ultimate Frisbee, and maintaining her link to Canada by keeping up with the latest Canadian fiction releases.

Jon has decades of experience in strategy, operations, and corporate development as a company founder and investor.

Most recently, Jon was CEO and co-founder of Dalkia Energy Solutions (formerly Groom Energy), acquired by French multinational utility company EDF. He is also co-founder and chairman of Therm Solutions, and co-founder and board member of Digital Lumens, acquired by Osram.

Jon was a general partner and early-stage investor at Charles River Ventures (CRV), where he was lead investor, board member, and advisor for enterprise software and service companies, including BeFree, eDocs, Vignette (VIGN), Virtusa (VRTU), and Xign Corporation. Prior to CRV, Jon held senior management positions at e-commerce software leader Open Market, Hewlett Packard, and JP Morgan. 

Jon holds a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Duke University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Paul leads the firm’s investment strategy around transportation & logistics, also focusing on AI, data, and the space economy.

Prior to Activate, Paul was an investor at Element Partners, a private equity firm with $850m of AUM focused on renewable energy and other sustainable industrial technologies. 

Paul began his career at Piper Jaffray (PIPR), where he advised diversified industrial and applied technology companies on M&A.

Paul holds degrees in Public Policy and Economics from Duke University.

Karina is Activate’s Senior Accountant, where she supports all aspects of financial operations for the firm and the funds.

Prior to Activate, Karina held a variety of accounting roles over the last 20 years at executive search, pharmaceutical, healthcare and non-profit firms with responsibilities including financial analysis, payroll processing, accounts payable/receivable, invoice management and account reconciliation.

Karina holds a degree in Business Administration, with honors, from ​​Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos in Mexico. In her free time, Karina enjoys spending time with her family, exercising, traveling, and listening to health and wellbeing podcasts.

Patti is Chief Administrative Officer at Activate, where she coordinates logistics for the entire team as well as oversees human resources, onboarding and other personnel responsibilities.

Prior to joining Activate, Patti worked with several of Activate’s principals as Office Manager at Element Partners, a leading growth equity fund dedicated to sustainability technology investing. Prior to Element, she worked at Katalyst Securities, a boutique investment bank focused on global TMT opportunities, and TVSM, publisher of the Cable Guide and Total TV, as an Executive Assistant to the President and VP of Sales. Patti also worked at CertainTeed Corporation, a leading manufacturer of building materials, where she was an administrator in the purchasing, relocation/expatriation, transportation and HR functions.

In her free time, Patti enjoys traveling, cooking and spending time with her family.

Jamie is an Executive Assistant who supports the Activate team with administrative functions, communications, and marketing.

Prior to joining Activate, Jamie worked in the non-profit sector at The Glide Foundation in San Francisco as Project Manager and Executive Assistant to the Chief People Officer. While at Glide, she oversaw HR projects for the entire organization. Prior to Glide, Jamie worked at Kirkland & Ellis, a multinational law firm specializing in private equity, M&A and other corporate transactions, where she was an Executive Assistant to multiple Partners. Jamie also worked in higher education at The University of Mississippi teaching courses in Education and Sociology.

Jamie holds a degree in Sociology from the University of Colorado and a MA in Sociology from the University of Mississippi. She enjoys spending her free time with her daughter and husband, trying new restaurants in the Bay Area, and traveling across the country.

Tim has founded two public companies over his thirty-year career in the innovation economy. He co-founded EnerNOC in 2001, led its public offering in 2007 (Mass High Tech’s IPO of the Year), and served as its Chairman and CEO until its sale to Enel in 2017 for over $320 million. Prior to EnerNOC, he worked in the Energy Technology Laboratory for Northern Power Systems and held positions with Merrill Lynch, International Fuel Cells (then a subsidiary of United Technologies Corporation), and venture firm Commonwealth Capital Ventures. Early in his career, he co-founded affinity marketing company Student Advantage, which went public (NASDAQ: STAD) in 1999 and was later acquired by CBORD, an independent business unit of Roper Technologies, Inc. (ROP: NYSE).

Tim was a founding Board member of the Advanced Energy Economy (AEE, now AEU) and the Northeast Clean Energy Council (NECEC), where he served for 14 years, and was appointed to the Mayor of Boston’s Green Ribbon Commission (GRC) in 2015. He spent six years on TechNet’s Executive Committee, helping shape technology and energy policy primarily at the federal level.  He served on the Board of Trustees for the New England Aquarium for four successive terms over 12 years and was recently selected to serve on the board of the Trustees of Reservations, the nation’s first and Massachusetts’ largest preservation and conservation non-profit.

Since 2017, Tim has been helping VC and PE firms build companies at the intersection of energy services, clean energy, finance, and innovation, as well as developing energy projects at university, healthcare, and other campuses. He served as CEO of the Blackstone entity, P3 Energy, and as an executive advisor to Blackstone’s private equity energy team from 2018 until January 2021.  From 2018 until 2020, he served on the Board of Veregy, Inc., a private equity-backed energy services company, and, before that, on the Board of Directors of sustainability firms Genability, Inc. and WeSpire, Inc.  He is currently on the board of Amperon, Recurve, Micatu, and Powin, and serves as chairman of Dynamo Energy Hub and executive advisor to Ambient Fuels, Sympower, and several other emerging growth companies in the energy transition sector.

Tim holds multiple domestic and international patents in distributed energy control and management, was an E&Y CEO of the year in 2007, and was voted Mass Technology Leadership Council’s CEO of the Year in 2012.

Tim holds a degree in Political Science and Government from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

Kathleen “Katie” McGinty serves on the Executive Committee of Johnson Controls and helps drive the company’s top tier sustainability performance including recognition as one of the World’s 100 Most Sustainable Corporations. With over 25 years of public and private sector experience, Katie is a recognized innovator in clean energy and environmental protection.

Katie’s public sector career includes being the first woman to serve as Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and as Deputy Assistant to President Clinton (1993-1998), as Pennsylvania Secretary of Environmental Protection (2003-2008), and as Chair of the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority (2004-2008). Katie currently serves on boards including the International Steering Committee of the World Sustainable Development Summit, Alliance to Save Energy, the Keystone Policy Center, the Carnegie Mellon Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, the Energy Futures Initiative, and the Goldman Sachs Renewable Power LLC.

Katie is also recognized for her commitment to the environment, including being named “Woman of the Year” awardee from the Women’s Council on Energy and the Environment, and one of the Top Women in HVAC list of ACHR News, one of the Top 100 Women in Sustainability List by Sustainability Magazine and one of 25 women honored for climate leadership by GreenBiz.

She holds a BS in Chemistry from St. Joseph’s University and a law degree from Columbia University. She served as a Senior Visiting Fellow at TERI in New Delhi, India. Katie has received awards and recognitions, including honorary doctorates from Muhlenberg University, Dickinson College and Clarion State University. 

William (Bill) Reilly has served four US Presidents: Presidents Nixon, George HW Bush, Clinton and Obama. For more than 20 years he was a Senior Advisor to TPG Capital, an international investment partnership. During his tenure with TPG, he was the Founding Partner of Aqua International Partners, a private equity fund dedicated to investing in companies in the water sector. Before joining TPG, Bill was the first Payne Visiting Professor at Stanford University. 

Jacob is a clean economy business builder, investor and thought leader who has been developing and originating renewable energy projects for over 20 years. He is a successful clean energy founder-CEO, having built and led OwnEnergy, a wind energy mid-market leader, from inception to exit. Jacob has also been instrumental in renewable energy investments and projects as an investor at Goldman Sachs and an executive at EDF Renewables.

With Jigar Shah, Jacob co-founded Cleantech Leaders Roundtable (CTLR), a private community of business leaders working to combat climate change and build a thriving clean economy. He currently serves as CTLR’s Board President. He is also a board member of REpowering Schools and previously served on the boards of American Clean Power’s predecessor, AWEA, as well as the American Council on Renewable Energy. Jacob was a founding board member of Clean Energy Buyers’ Alliance’s predecessor, REBA.    

In 2010, Jacob was named to Crain’s New York “40 Under 40,” and in 2012, he was an E&Y Entrepreneur of The Year Finalist. In 2013, Greentech Media named Jacob one of New York’s Top 10 Cleantech Leaders. 

John has 30+ years of experience as an executive in the energy technology sector, including developing, acquiring and financing multiple clean power and decarbonization projects. He previously served as the VP of Energy at Google, President and CEO of BrightSource Energy, and CEO of Silicon Energy Corp. John has led the completion of world-class clean energy projects, managing complex state and federal policies to achieve climate goals while modernizing the electric grid.  

In addition to his role at Meridian, John served on the Board of PG&E Corporation, Operating Partner at Activate Capital Partners, and a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute. John is a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and holds a BA in Economics from the University of Virginia, an MA in Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.