Gregory L. Bafalis
Chief Executive Officer, Aurora Algae
As CEO, Greg Bafalis oversees the Company’s strategy, operations, and relationships. Greg brings more than 25 years of global experience in the energy sector where he has successfully closed, financed and operated over $3 billion worth of projects. Prior to joining Aurora Algae, Greg founded and served as CEO of Green Earth Fuels, LLC, where he was responsible for all aspects of the company and the management of four subsidiaries. He successfully raised $168 million in capital and grew the company from zero to $250 million in revenue in under three years. While at Green Earth Fuels, he directed the construction of a 90 million gallon per year biodiesel production facility and the development and implementation of an 8,000 acre palm oil plantation in Guatemala to supply the biodiesel production facility with feedstock. Previously, Greg was with El Paso Corporation, where he last held the position of Senior Managing Director – Americas and Europe Region, having overall responsibility for 14 power plants and two pipelines in eleven countries including the Dominican Republic. He lived in Brazil for seven years building and managing El Paso’s South and Central American business, and before that role served as Vice President of Business Development, European Region. Prior to El Paso, he served Mission Energy as the Executive Director for Brooklyn Navy Yard Cogen, successfully developing a 380 MW gas fired power generation facility in New York City. Before Mission Energy, Greg spent eight years developing waste-to-energy and waste wood fired power projects for Waste Management Co.
Bandel Carano
Managing Partner, Oak Investment Partners
Bandel L. Carano joined Oak as a General Partner in 1985. Bandel has invested in companies with emphasis on Wireless and Rich–Media communications, Advanced Software, Advanced Semiconductors; Design Automation and Clean Energy Technologies. Bandel received BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. He currently serves on the Investment Advisory Board of the Stanford Engineering Venture Fund.
Brian Hinman
Venture Partner, Oak Investment Partners
Brian L. Hinman joined Oak as a Venture Partner in 2006. Brian is currently chairman for Aurora Algae and serves on the board of directors of Oak portfolio companies focused on breakthrough “clean” technologies including Aurora Algae, eSolar, GreenVolts, NanoH2O, Phononic Devices, and Sundrop Fuels. Brian is the co-founder, and formerly the President and CEO, of 2Wire, a provider of broadband service platforms for the DSL market. Brian is also the co-founder, and formerly the CEO, of Polycom, Inc. (NASD: PLCM), the world’s leading teleconferencing company. He is the also the co-founder and former VP Engineering of PictureTel Corporation (formerly NASD: PCTL). Brian has received multiple awards for entrepreneurship, including being named an Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2005. To catalyze entrepreneurship at his alma mater, he sponsors the Hinman CEO (Campus Entrepreneurship Opportunities) Program at the University of Maryland. Brian holds a B.S.E.E. summa cum laude from the University of Maryland, and an S.M.E.E. from M.I.T.
Paul Maass
President of Commercial Foods, ConAgra Foods
Paul Maass was named President of the Commercial Foods business for ConAgra Foods in 2010. The Commercial Foods segment accounts for about 35 percent of ConAgra Foods’ revenue and includes the Lamb Weston, ConAgra Mills, Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings and J.M. Swank businesses. Paul joined ConAgra Foods in 1988 as a commodity merchandiser in the trading business. He quickly progressed in several roles at the company and, in 2003, was named president and general manager of ConAgra Mills. He assumed responsibility for J.M. Swank in 2007 and for Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings in 2010. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Business from Iowa State University. He provides industry leadership as Chairman of North American Millers’ Association and Grain Food Foundation’s board of directors. He also serves on Nebraska’s March of Dimes board of directors.
Craig Lang
Vice President, Legal Affairs, Oak Investment Partners
Craig Lang joined Oak in 2007 as Vice President, Legal Affairs. In this role, Craig is responsible for day-to-day legal issues relating to Oak’s West Coast office portfolio company investments. Prior to joining Oak, Craig was a corporate securities attorney for over nine years with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C., where he worked on a wide variety of transactions, including venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, and public offerings, as well as general corporate representation of a number of public and private companies in the technology industry. He graduated with honors from the Georgetown University Law Center with a JD and Washington & Lee University with a BA in political science. He is a member of the California State Bar.
Mostafa Ronaghi
Vice President & Chief Technology Officer, Illumina
Mostafa Ronaghi, Ph.D., is the Senior Vice President & Chief Technology Officer of Illumina, and is responsible for leading internal research programs and evaluating new technologies for the Company. He is an experienced entrepreneur and was involved in the start-up of four life sciences companies, including Avantome, NextBio, ParAllele Bioscience, and Pyrosequencing AB. Mostafa was a principal investigator at Stanford University from 2002–2008 and focused on the development of novel tools for molecular diagnostic applications. He earned his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, holds more than 20 pending and issued patents and has written more than 50 peer-reviewed publications in journals and books.
