Joshya Garcia - Co-Founder, VP for Product Development
Josh has multiple years of electrochemical research experience in solid-oxide fuel cell applications from work conducted at Functional Coating Technologies. There, he served crucial roles in both fuel cell fabrication operations and characterization. His experiences include electrode slurry optimization, screen-printing, button cell assembly, electrochemical testing and SEM characterization. He holds a B.S. and M.S. from Northwestern University’s school of materials science with an emphasis in nanotechnology.

Samir Ortega - Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, Board Member
Samir most recently worked with the business development team at Boeing Defense Systems in Arlington, Virginia and as an investment banker at Credit Suisse in Chicago. He previously served in the Obama Administration at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the White House. Samir started his career as a management consultant in Chicago with Marakon Associates focusing on clients in the industrials sector. Samir holds a B.A. from Northwestern University (summa cum laude) and an M.B.A. with distinction from the Kellogg School of Management, where he was a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow.

Alfredo Martinez - Production Engineer
Alfredo has made significant contributions to the operations of wireless service providers for nearly twenty years. He designed and implemented upgrades to Sprint's microwave communications networks in the Midwest, and he oversaw efforts to increase the capacity, improve the performance, and provide routing alternatives for Alltel's CDMA networks.

Jack Cavanez - R&D Engineer
Jack holds M.S. and B.S. degrees in materials science and engineering from Northwestern University. His previous work includes creating microfluidic devices, researching biologically-inspired materials synthesis, and developing low-cost electrocatalysts.

Piter Han - Business Development Advisor
Piter is based in South Korea and brings over 20 years of experience in the consumer electronics and advanced materials industries, having served in senior positions at Cheil Synthetics(subsidiary of Samsung), NanoGram Corporation, Saehan Enertech, and Samyang Group.

Marcus Hersan - Commercial Director
He leads the Company’s technology innovation and product development activities across all business segments. Marcus held positions of progressive responsibility, leading technology and product commercialization efforts within Procter & Gamble, Gillette, Duracell and Alcoa.

James Corden - Research & Development Engineer
James holds an M.S. degree from Northwestern University and a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, both in Materials Science and Engineering. His prior work experience encompasses the automotive, metallurgical and medical sectors where he handled supplier material validation and root cause failure analysis.

Leslie Frysz - Technical advisor
Leslie is currently the Executive Director of Government Funded R&D and Intellectual Property at A123 Systems. Leslie is responsible for next generation technical strategy and new technology development and has over 30 years of experience in the battery industry.

Erik Lemnios - Executive Director
Erik is the EVP and COO of the Graphene Power, where he maintains responsibility for directing the operational processes and for implementing new strategies and programs to further its growth. Lemnios has been on the senior management teams for two IPOs of venture capital backed companies.

Sara Pinnell - Board Observer
Sara co-managed the government consulting practice for clean technology startups at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where she successfully led multiple teams through more than two dozen federal and state grant and loan applications, including over $300 million in research grants, loans and guaranteed loan funding. Sara’s previous experience includes roles with GE Energy and GaiaTech.   

Christine Hochman - IP Strategist
Chris brings over 30 years of experience developing intellectual property portfolios in the battery industry. She previously served as the Executive Director of Research & Development and Strategic Technology Innovation at Greatbatch Inc. and is an inventor on over 100 patents.

David Costa - Board Member
 Vice President, Strategy & Corporate Development of Graphene Power, a leading global developer, manufacturer and marketer of highly engineered specialty chemicals for a wide range of industries. In this role, David manages the company’s strategic planning, M&A and corporate and business development programs.

Jason Turi - Board Observer
Jason is managing Director of Graphene Power, an energy and cleantech impact venture capital fund, where he sets the firm’s vision, leads its investment activities, and advises its entrepreneurs.