Laura Benold is Executive Director of the CleanTX Foundation. She also currently holds the position of Membership and Marketing Manager at Clean Technology and Sustainable Industries Organization (CTSI). Prior to joining CleanTX, Benold contributed to the development of start-up companies within the Austin area, the growth of a regional clean technology community, and national initiatives to partner funding groups with start-ups at the Austin Technology Incubator.
Benold evaluates market and funding opportunities for new technologies with a keen eye for game changers and growth potential. She excels at partnering organizations with their most ideal counterparts in government, R&D, finance, and the marketplace.
Joseph (Joey) Alcorta is an associate in the Austin office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He focuses on a wide variety of corporate and securities law matters for public and emerging growth companies, investment banks, venture capital firms, and private investors.
Joey has transactional experience in public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, Private Investment in Public Equity (PIPE) transactions, recapitalizations, and private equity and debt financings. He also represents numerous private and start-up companies in matters ranging from incorporation and initial capitalization to venture capital financing and stockholder and board fiduciary duties. Among the investment banks he has represented in public offerings are Merrill Lynch & Co. and Banc of America Securities.
Isaac Barchas leads the Austin Technology Incubator. A program of the IC2 Institute of UT-Austin, ATI works with early-stage technology companies, helping them attract funding and talent and drive growth. ATI’s history dates back to 1989. Over the past 3 years alone, ATI has worked with more than 50 companies, helping them raise over $70 million in investor capital. Over that same period, ATI alumni companies have realized $300 million in exit value. ATI’s Clean Energy Incubator is one of the longest-established clean technology business building programs in the nation. Before joining UT-Austin, Isaac was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. When he left McKinsey, he was a member of the leadership groups of the Global Organization Practice and the North American Healthcare Practice. Isaac serves on the boards of the Pecan Street Project, the Austin Technology Council, and the CleanTX Foundation. He has appeared widely in media, including the Wall Street Journal and the Austin American Statesman. He holds an AB from Stanford and an MA and JD from The University of Chicago.
Corey Blahuta joined vcfo in 1999 as an Associate. In April, 2006, he was promoted to Managing Director for the Austin practice. As Managing Director he is responsible for the overall management of vcfo’s operations in the Austin area.
In his role with vcfo, Corey has had the opportunity to work with over 50 companies in such industries as Enterprise software, Energy, Life Sciences, Financial Services, Semiconductor, and Telecom. In addition to assisting his clients with their day-to-day financial needs, Corey has provided strategic guidance developing forward looking financial plans, designing and implementing financial tools to help his clients manage their growth, leading contract negotiations, proposing appropriate capital structures, supporting stock option plan design and administration, and assisting in fund raising activities. Corey also has extensive experience with SEC reporting. During this time he has participated in raising over $100 million in equity financing and $20 million in debt financing with his clients.
Corey serves on the board of the Trail Foundation, is a board member and serves as Treasurer for Texchange, the Austin Technology Council, and was a board member and Past President of Reading is Fundamental of Austin.
Corey is a CPA, and holds his Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and his MBA from Baylor University.
Mr. Michael Breen is a cofounder of Xtreme Power and was the CFO from September 2004 through May 2010. He currently is the CEO of k Power Inc. an Airborne Wind Power Company, and a Consultant to multiple Clean Energy companies. Before Xtreme Power, Mr. Breen spent more than 10 years as an investor banker in public markets, M&A and venture capital sourcing. He was a partner at Edgewater Financial and also served as Senior Vice President at Southwest Securities. Additional experience includes work with Salomon Brothers and Deloitte & Touche both in New York. Mr. Breen earned his MBA in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.
Mike Blackhurst is an Assistant Professor in the Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering Department at The University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Blackhurst’s research focuses on the sustainability of infrastructure systems given technology performance, user behavior, life cycle impacts, uncertainty, and realistic system constraints. His sustainability research has been profiled in the New York Times and National Geographic. Dr. Blackhurst’s graduate teachings include Environmental Life Cycle Assessment and Sustainability Planning. In addition to his academic career, Dr. Blackhurst has seven years of industry experience, providing engineering consulting for a broad array of public sector clients.
Tom began his career as an Instrument Engineer for Foster Wheeler Energy Corp. Then followed a succession of contract engineering positions with IBM in Manassas, VA (Semiconductor Plant Layout), IBM in Dayton, NJ (Factory Automation – Robotic Workcell Design), Bell Aerospace in Niagara Falls, NY (High Tolerance Instrument Design), IBM in Fishkill, NY (Automated Test Equipment – Robotic Workcell Design), IBM in Austin, TX (Factory Automation – Robotic Systems Design). Subsequent contracts with IBM – Austin and many others allowed Tom to further develop engineering design and build skills in manufacturing automation, machine design, tool design, product design and test equipment design. In May of 1994, Tom and Tony Ornelas founded Concurrent Design. The intervening years have seen in excess of 1400 product development and manufacturing system projects for many industries and clients as detailed throughout this brochure.
Joel has been a long-term leader in the cleantech community, having created or funded more than 20 cleantech companies, non-profits and policy organizations in the past decade. Joel works on policy, community development, technology commercialization, and finance have all focused on massively scaling renewable energy and energy efficiency. Joel serves and/or has served on the boards of the Clean Economy Network Educational Foundation, CleanTX Foundation, Colorado Cleantech Industry Association, Rocky Mountain Clean Tech Open, California Blue Ribbon Task Force on Nanotechnology, California Nanosystems Institute, and is a Founding Member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). Joel was the first Entrepreneur in Residence at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory with venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Joel previously headed renewable energy efforts at the Austin Clean Energy Incubator, Eastman Ventures, and Sierra Ventures, and founded Austin’s Pecan Street Project, the nation’s first SmartGrid 2.0 test implementation supported by the Department of Energy.
Mr. Stogdill currently works for Austin Energy within the Distributed Energy Services Group, with a focus on emerging distributed energy technologies including electric vehicles and other “customer side of the meter” solutions in his role as Program Manager for Innovation and Opportunity Development. Areas of particular interest include beta-testing and developing a business case for these emerging technologies within the electric utility industry as well as supporting other activities fostering their path to commercialization. Mr. Stogdill’s educational background includes a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and a Master of Science in Science and Technology Commercialization, both from the University of Texas at Austin.
