About Us

Ramya Swaminathan

Board Member, Chief Executive Officer

Ramya Swaminathan led the corporate independence of Malta from X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory (formerly Google X) in 2018 and has served as the company’s CEO since its founding. Through multiple rounds of corporate venture funding and the recruitment of a multi-disciplinary team, she has developed Malta from concept to commercialization.

She was named one of Business Insider’s “21 Rising Stars in Clean Energy” in 2020 and currently advises the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Department of Commerce as a member of the DOE Electricity Advisory Committee (EAC), the DOC Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Committee (REEAC), and as a DOE Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Ambassador.

Before founding Malta as an independent company, Ms. Swaminathan was the CEO of Rye Development, a hydropower development firm that she grew to be the leading developer of new hydropower and pumped hydro storage projects in the United States. She holds a master’s in public policy from the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor’s in anthropology from Amherst College.

Albert Morales

Chief Financial Officer

Albert “Al” Morales is an energy industry veteran with more than two decades of experience leading management, finance, and legal teams in the energy, manufacturing, and infrastructure sectors.

His record of company-building includes prior roles as President of PurEnergy, Managing Director of Energy Management, Inc. (EMI), CFO of the Gainesville Renewable Energy Center, CFO of American Renewables, and COO of Environmental Power Corporation/Microgy. Earlier in his career, Al was an investment banker at Furman Selz / ING Barings, and a corporate attorney in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Mr. Morales received a JD from Columbia Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Editors of the Columbia Law Review. He earned his MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s in Economics from Cornell University.

Phil Delleville

Managing Director - Product Development, Strategy and Operations

Philippe "Phil" Delleville is an experienced energy executive with extensive global business development acumen, having served in management positions with major national and international corporations.

Prior to joining Malta, Inc., Mr. Delleville held multiple roles with Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy S.A., culminating in his leadership as the Global Head of Siemens Gamesa’s Project and Development Finance group. In this position, he oversaw over $4 billion in project financing and supported approximately 4 gigawatts worth of wind energy projects. Under his leadership, Siemens Gamesa became a leader in wind energy project repowering.

Mr. Delleville holds dual French and American citizenship and is multi-lingual, with fluency in English, French, German and Spanish. He earned a bachelor’s degree in international business and finance from the European School of Business, Germany, a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Reims Management School, France, and his MBA from Temple University.

Alex Hernandez

General Counsel & Senior Vice President of Corporate Development

Alex joined Malta as a seasoned energy executive, with broad experience in the legal and business sectors. He most recently served as Senior Vice President at Macquarie Capital, where he was tasked with sourcing and executing energy investments throughout the Americas in a range of sectors, technologies, and asset classes. Prior to Macquarie, Alex served at Sempra Energy, where he held a number of legal and commercial roles in the family of companies, from Senior Counsel to Director of Project Development to interim Director of Project Finance. In his positions with Sempra Energy, Alex was responsible for identifying, developing, structuring, and financing of major energy infrastructure projects.

Hernandez began his career at Latham & Watkins LLP and Mayer Brown LLP, where he focused his practice on energy project finance, leveraged finance, and mergers & acquisitions. He holds a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. from the University of California, San Diego. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York, the State of California, and Washington, D.C.

Michael Geyer , Ph.D.

Managing Director, Malta European Affiliates

Dr. Michael Geyer directs Malta’s operations in Europe, with a focus on Malta’s multiple concurrent energy storage projects in the Iberian Peninsula and Germany. He has nearly forty years of experience in the international energy and telecommunications sectors, having led the installation of projects spanning the continents of Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Dr. Geyer successfully developed six large international CSP projects with 450 megawatts of total capacity and over $2.2 billion in total investment. For a decade, he expanded and led Abengoa’s international solar business and project developments in the key solar markets of Algeria, Egypt, Chile, China, India, Morocco, South Africa, and the United Arab Emirates. Between 2000 and 2008 he served as the Executive Secretary of the IEA SolarPACES Implementing Agreement. He has served as Vice-President of the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association ESTELA and was selected as the Co-President of the Board of Directors of the Long Duration Energy Storage Council In 2022.

He is author or co-author of more than 60 publications in his field, including technical books, journals, conference papers, studies, and reports. Dr. Geyer earned his Doctor of Engineering from the University of Duisberg-Essen, and his Physik-Diplom in physics from the University of Tübingen. He has also done graduate studies at the University of Stuttgart and the University of Oregon.

Carrie Bellamy

Director of Commercialization

Carrie co-leads Malta Inc.’s commercialization team where she provides a strategic view of long-duration energy storage and its enabling role in accelerating the just transition to a clean energy economy. Carrie joined Malta from National Grid Renewables where she managed the development of a pipeline of over 3 GW of solar, wind and storage assets strategically located to replace/repurpose existing thermal assets and transmission infrastructure. Previously, she worked in the utility-scale solar-PV market with Black and Veatch and in development, origination and strategy with juwi. Prior to joining the energy sector, Carrie worked for Navigant and Deloitte in a finance capacity. She obtained her CFA charter and an undergraduate degree in Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Melissa DeValles

Vice President, North America

Melissa has more than 18 years of experience within the energy industry, spending most of that time developing and acquiring energy assets on behalf of investors focused on North American markets. Melissa has experience working for a large transmission and distribution utility as well as for DNV GL, a global consulting firm. Melissa's experience among asset types includes traditional thermal generation, hydropower, combined heat and power, waste heat as well as demand-side management solutions. In project and business development roles, Melissa worked for FP New Hydro, then Rye Development developing a 200+ MW portfolio. Prior to Rye Development, Melissa worked in a similar role for Recycled Energy Development where she was one of the founders of Greenleaf Power, a 135 MW portfolio of thermal assets and facilitate re-development of a 100 MW tri-generation plant.

Melissa's background was founded in operational engineering in the maritime sector, receiving a BS in Marine Engineering from Massachusetts Maritime Academy, including a license to operate steam and gas turbine vessels of unlimited tonnage. She began her career in the energy space as a field engineer with GE Nuclear, performing plant outage work for US-based utilities.

Martin Parizek

Project Structuring Specialist

Martin has more than 20 years of experience developing, building, and managing energy infrastructure assets in the U.S. and Latin America. His experience includes wind, biomass, hydro, solar, and natural gas-fired electric generation projects as well as natural gas transportation and electric transmission lines.

Before joining Malta, Martin designed the strategy and originated joint development agreements for IGNIS Energia’s expansion into the Americas. As GE MD of Power Markets development, he originated and managed strategic partnerships to develop gas and renewable power generation assets. At top tier development and asset management companies Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) and InterGen, Martin worked managing power plants, structuring and refinancing assets, and leading due diligence and acquisition efforts for the acquisition of power portfolios for Private Equity funds.

Martin is originally from Argentina. He holds a master’s degree in Construction Management from the University of Southern California, and a B.S. in electrical and mechanical engineering from the National University of Córdoba, Argentina. He also completed graduate studies in power markets.

Kurt Waldner

Senior Product Manager

Kurt joined Malta with over twenty years’ experience with General Electric where he held roles in Aviation, Energy and Renewables. His experience ranges from design engineering to GM of a global multi-billion dollar turbine LTSA portfolio and includes leadership roles in risk management, productivity, and business development in GE's heavy duty and aeroderivative gas turbine businesses. His most recent role was as Director, Product Management and Strategic Marketing in GE Renewable Energy's Renewable Hybrids business with a focus on bringing GE's modular, factory-built Lithium-ion system from concept to production.

Kurt received his Masters in Materials Science from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Xavier University following undergraduate degrees in Mechanical and Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Benjamin Bollinger , Ph.D.

Vice President, Strategic Initiatives

Dr. Benjamin "Ben" Bollinger is an industry-leading engineer and innovator with a background in energy storage and business startups. Dr. Bollinger was Chief Engineer and Co-Founder at SustainX, where he led the systems engineering and process design of the company’s Isothermal Compressed Air Energy Storage (ICAES) technology through three development iterations from kilowatt bench-scale to megawatt-scale commercial prototype.

Dr. Bollinger also served as VP of Engineering at Altaeros, a lighter-than-air cell-tower startup developing large autonomous aerostats (tethered balloons) to enable the cost-effective deployment of rural telecommunications infrastructure.

Dr. Bollinger received his doctorate and bachelor’s in engineering from the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth and a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College focusing on mechanical engineering and thermodynamics.

Kevin Stone

Vice President, Engineering

Kevin came to Malta with 25 years of experience at GE Gas Power where he held roles in Application Engineering, Field Performance Testing, Quality and Product Management. His most recent role was the Manager of Regional Customer Application Engineers for North and South America. Over the last ten years, Kevin has worked with many customers across the Americas to optimize gas turbine and combined cycle plant configurations and support customers' early-phase development technical decisions, strategies and permitting. He recruited, coached and led a highly effective international team that was recognized by customers and within GE for their knowledge, expertise and support. Kevin and his team directly contributed to the successful development of over 6 GW of simple cycle and combined cycle plants now in operation or under construction, ranging from simple-cycle aeroderivative plants to H-class combined cycle plants >1000 MW.

In addition to his career at GE, Kevin gained experience in the start-up environment at the cellulosic ethanol technology company, Mascoma, leading the development and permitting of their pilot plant in New York and supporting other commercialization and business development opportunities.

Kevin earned his BA from Dartmouth College and his ME from Thayer School of Engineering, with a focus on mechanical engineering and thermodynamics. During his graduate studies, he spent one year taking classes and conducting research at the Rheinische-Westfaelische Technische Hochschule in Aachen, Germany.

Gunnar Marquardt

Director, Project Finance Europe

Gunnar joined Malta with over 15 years of experience in the field of photovoltaic and concentrating solar power plants. He was the Finance Manager at Abengoa where he took an active role in the financial close processes and focused on project due diligences, contract negotiations, finance and risk assessments. He has experience as a development manager for renewable energy projects in Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, Middle East and Australia. He has extensive expertise in financial modelling, economic analysis, risk management and coordination of development and bid proposal management. He has been involved in the Financial Closes of the Shams 1 Solar Power Plant in Abu Dhabi, Kaxu and Khi Solar One Power Plants in South Africa and the Ashalim Plot B Solar Power Plant in Israel with a total installed capacity of over 371 MW and a project volume of over 3 billion USD.

Gunnar holds a double degree in management and engineering from the University of Applied Sciences of Jena (Germany). Additionally, he received a Master in Solar Energy from the University of Almeria and the CIEMAT (Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, Medioambientales y Tecnológicas de España).

Alessio Cacitti

Director, Control Systems Engineering

Alessio joins Malta after 16 years with Baker Hughes (former GE Oil&Gas) where he held different roles in the Digital and Engineering organizations in the Turbomachinery division, ranging from Digital Product Owner for Artificial Intelligence applications on Control Systems, to Digital Solution Architect for turbomachinery Asset Performance Management, to steam turbine and compressor Control Systems Engineering Manager, with international assignments in France and Italy. He led turbocompressor and turbogenerator control systems development projects for refineries and power plants in Europe, North Africa and China, with responsibilities covering control systems software and hardware design, simulation and validation, site activities and start-up.

Prior to that, Alessio worked in Alstom Trasmission & Distribution in UK as Controls Engineer and in GE Intelligent Platforms in Luxembourg as Controls Application Engineer. Alessio brings 20+ years of international experience, in multi-national companies in the Oil&Energy sector, working and leading multi-cultural teams, with a proven record of execution excellence and on-time delivery.

Alessio holds a MSc in Control Systems Software Engineering from the University of Bologna, Italy, with a Master thesis developed at the University of Montpellier, France. Alessio has co-authored 2 patents related to centrifugal compressor’s controls.

Thomas LeRoy

Consulting Engineer, Plant Systems Integration

Tom joins Malta from a thirty-five year career at General Electric, where he was most recently Plant Product Manager. He has extensive technical expertise in plant systems design and interactions, and key product development achievements including delivering best-in-class HA technology to market. He has proven leadership in systems engineering including the ability to lead large teams to achieve goals and set vision for success with experience instituting key strategies that drive improvements to Total Installed Cost including product simplification, standardization, modularization of accessories & constructability concepts to improve product competitiveness.

His team at GE completed multiple plant designs and managed programs related to gas turbine, steam turbine, generator, accessories and controls in combined cycle applications, and completed the 109HA Plant development and validation at Bouchain Power Plant, achieving the most efficient world record. Tom's company and industry recognitions include the World's Most-Efficient CC Plant (2016) and Plant of Year (2017) for Bouchain Power Plant, among others. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University.

Samar Shah

Director, Product and Design Development

Samar Shah joined Malta from Lockheed Martin Energy, where he worked as IPT lead, managed Power Module development for commercial application, managed external resources, and led a multi-disciplinary team of engineers focused on developing a long-duration flow battery. He brings with him a rich range of experience in the energy industry, including more than ten years of diversified experience across large organizations like Lockheed Martin and start-ups such as Gradiant and SustainX. At Gradiant, Samar implemented several key design changes and applied innovative engineering solutions that were instrumental to Gradiant’s growth from start-up to a company valued at over $100M.

Samar holds a MS in mechanical engineering from University of Texas at Arlington, a BE in Mechanical Engineering from GCET, India, patents in energy storage and water treatment space, and a range of journal publications. He believes in bringing innovation through simplicity to deliver effective, efficient, and economical solutions.

Tian Ong

Technical Lead, Process

Tian joined Malta with a background in chemical process design and development, scale-up, and commercialization of new technologies. Her industrial experience includes polysilicon, oleochemicals, polymers, compact gas-to-liquids, and biofuels, among others. She learned the ins and outs of designing safe, reliable, and efficient chemical facilities at Cambridge Chemical Technologies, Inc. (CCTI)—a startup-like technology-based process engineering firm, and at TechnipFMC.

In her 7+ years at CCTI, she contributed to developing over 15 Basic Engineering Packages (BEPs) for technology transfer of plant designs with capacities up to 250 kTA. As a Senior Process Engineer, her work encompassed all aspects of process engineering: simulations, process optimization, equipment design, safety and risk assessments, project management, and operations support.

Tian has also advised domestic and international clients, providing engineering assistance from preliminary design phases through commissioning and start-up. While at TechnipFMC, she worked on the design of cumene and HCl oxidation facilities. Tian brings with her a wide range of experience and perspectives accumulated from tackling technical challenges, leading small engineering teams, and collaborating with multidisciplinary groups. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT.

Escarlata Muñoz

Technical Lead, Electrical Systems Engineering

Escarlata joined Malta with a background in electrical power plant design and construction execution. With over 7 years of experience in the design of electrical systems, main electrical equipment, defining technical specifications, purchasing of electrical equipment, performing factory acceptance tests and inspections of power plants. Escarlata was responsible for the engineering supervision of the concentrated solar tower power plant, Cerro Dominator 110 MW in Chile and worked in the engineering and construction of Khi Solar 50 MW in South Africa. Her work experience includes the definition of the technical specification, the supervision of the layout, working with technical supplier documentation of electrical equipment for big combined cycle power plants in projects and countries, like Latvia, Algeria, Spain and Greece. In her time with Abeinsa EPC, she was responsible for the electrical engineers’ team, coordinating a budget of more than 20M€, reviewing the detailed engineering and was in charge of the negotiations with the suppliers and handled the relative technical documentation.

Escarlata started her career as an electrical equipment expert for EA (Empresarios Agrupados) in 2009 developing detailed engineering for combined cycle power plants. During her career she has collaborated in the engineering design of more than 3000MW of installed power plant capacity.

Escarlata has a Master of Science degree as Industrial Engineer with specialization in Electricity from the UPM (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain).

Janina Hippler-Nettlau

Manager, Project Execution

Janina Hippler-Nettlau joined Malta from Abengoa, where she was the Engineering Manager of the Mojave Solar Project, two solar thermal power plants with a combined gross capacity of 280MW, in Hinkley, California. In her position she managed various projects from conception to purchasing to installation to improve plant performance and reliability. Janina’s experience also covers the supervision of engineering, construction, and commissioning of the Mojave Solar Project, setting up the operation and maintenance company, and transitioning to commercial operation. Prior to the Mojave Solar Project Janina worked in the R&D department of Abengoa Solar, where she developed, tested, and later commercialized parabolic trough collectors for solar thermal power plants.

Janina holds a Diploma (equivalent to a bachelor’s and a master’s degree) in Mechanical Engineering from the Universität Stuttgart in Germany, where she specialized in Energy Systems and Rational Use of Energy. She developed her diploma thesis, “Design of a Flux Density Measurement System for Solar Thermal Power Tower Plants,” at the Plataforma Solar de Almería in Spain in collaboration with the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Finn Runkel

Senior Engineer, Performance

Finn joined Malta with extensive energy industry experience in business development and performance engineering, including eleven years spent at the Spanish energy and environmental technology company Abengoa. He started his career as a performance engineer designing, simulating and optimizing concentrated solar power (CSP) plants for Abengoa Solar´s worldwide project development. He later worked in the CSP plants "Shams 1" in Abu Dhabi, UAE and "Kaxu Solar One”, a 100 MW parabolic trough plant with 3 hours molten salt storage in South Africa as performance engineer and engineering manager.

Finn has also worked in business development to identify business opportunities in the fields of combined cycle, waste-to-energy, cogeneration, biomass, wind & PV power plants in much of central & northern Europe, build client and partner relationships in those fields, and coordinate bid preparation for potential power plant projects. In 2019 he founded the transportation start-up City Hitcher. Finn holds a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Berlin Technical University in Germany, where he graduated with honors.

Ahmed Kherati

Director, Finance & Administration

Ahmed joined Malta from Candela Medical, where he was a Finance Manager. At Candela Medical, Ahmed was responsible for board reporting, global budgeting & forecasting, private equity investor reporting, R&D business partnering and other corporate finance responsibilities. Ahmed has 14 plus years of in-depth experience in Accounting, Finance and Auditing working with both public and private companies including KPMG, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street Corporation.

Ahmed has a BS in Accounting from Oxford Brookes University and a Master’s in Management and Finance from Harvard University.

David Martin

Business Development

David joins Malta from Nalcor Energy, where he spent eight years in various roles within the energy marketing and trading team. He has experience in both regulated and deregulated electricity markets and has provided strategic recommendations for an extensive assortment of short- and long-term market opportunities in New York, New England, and eastern Canada. In addition, he has developed and executed risk mitigation strategies for both market price and congestion risk, and he has demonstrated profitability in trading renewable energy credits.

At Malta, David provides considerable leverage for the company’s commercialization efforts, and he supports the team on substantial customer and partner engagements across the energy value chain. David has an MBA from Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he was a Dean’s List recipient in the graduating class. In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics, also from Memorial.

Todd Bates

Manager, Finance

Todd joined Malta from ScottMadden Management Consultants, where he was an Associate in the energy practice. At ScottMadden, Todd worked with electric utilities across North America on topics including financial analysis of novel technologies, capital and O&M planning, net-zero carbon strategy, and grid operations. Todd was a member of the internal energy storage group, where he primarily focused on long-duration storage.

Todd graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2018 with a BA in Economics and a Certificate in Engineering for Energy Sustainability. He was also a Business Plan team member of WiscWind, which competed in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Collegiate Wind Competition.

Madeline Frierson

Business Development

Madeline joins Malta from GE Gas Power, where she spent the past 5 years in a variety of commercial roles. She started with GE’s Commercial Leadership Program, an accelerated program where she completed five, six-month commercial and technical rotations including roles such as Field Engineer, Sales Operations, and Sales Manager. For the past several years, she has supported a variety of customers as a Commercial Manager, where she worked closely with customers to develop proposals for solutions to meet their complex problems.

Madeline has a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Villanova University in Pennsylvania and is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She will be bringing a knowledge of commercial excellence, contract negotiation, and customer partnership to Malta. 

Alexandra Pruner

Alexandra "Alie" Pruner is a powerhouse in the fields of energy and finance, with extensive leadership experience and business expertise. Her 2022 appointment as Malta’s Board Chair set Malta apart as the only long-duration energy storage company with women serving as Board Chair, CEO, and the majority of voting board members. In addition to chairing the Malta board, Ms. Pruner serves as the Independent Director of the boards of NRG Energy, Inc. and Plains All American and as the Board Chair of Encino Acquisition Partners. She is a founding partner of the energy investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co., serving as a senior advisor to that investment bank and its parent company, Perella Weinberg Partners.

As the founder of the Women's Global Leadership Conference in Energy, Ms. Pruner is a frequent speaker on the energy transformation and ESG-related topics. She holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brown University.

Ramya Swaminathan

Ramya Swaminathan led the spin-out of Malta from X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory (formerly Google X) in 2018 and has been the company’s CEO since its founding. She has led Malta through multiple rounds of corporate venture funding and has recruited a multi-disciplinary team focused on commercializing Malta’s thermal storage technology. She currently serves as a US Department of Energy Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Ambassador and was appointed by the US Secretary of Commerce to the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Committee (REEAC) to advise the Commerce Department on US competitiveness in these sectors. She was also named a Business Insider’s 2020 list of 21 Rising Stars in clean energy.

Before founding Malta as an independent company, Ramya was the CEO of Rye Development, a hydropower development firm that she grew to be the leading developer of new hydropower projects in the United States. She was responsible for the expansion of Rye’s platform into energy storage, with the addition of two sizable pumped storage hydro development projects in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Prior to her work in the hydropower space, she was a public finance banker, most recently as a Director at UBS where she focused on public power clients and senior managed more than $10 billion in financings. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government and a BA in Anthropology from Amherst College.

Jeannine Sargent

Jeannine Sargent has over three decades of experience in international operating management, business strategy, and mergers and acquisitions. She has served as CEO and board member in the energy, manufacturing, and semiconductor industries, successfully building and expanding venture-backed and global public technology companies.

In addition to her membership on Malta’s Board of Directors, Ms. Sargent serves on the boards of Synopsis Inc., Fortive, and Proterra Inc. She is an advisor to Breakthrough Energy Ventures and a member of the Board of Trustees for Northeastern University, from which she earned her bachelor’s magna cum laude in chemical engineering

Alex Syed

Alex Syed is an experienced corporate executive with extensive leadership and business development expertise developed in various senior positions during his four-decade career with Alfa Laval. He currently serves as a strategic advisor for Alfa Laval, having previously held a variety of executive roles with Alfa Laval’s operations on three continents, including Vice President of Corporate Development, Managing Director of U.K. Operations, President of the Equipment Division (U.S.), and General Manager of Thermal Operation in the Asia/Pacific region. He has overseen major projects advancing Alfa Laval’s core technologies of centrifugation and heat transfer .

Steven Hirsh

Steve Hirsh is a business leader with C-suite executive experience focusing on business development, project development, and commercialization. In addition to serving on Malta’s Board of Directors, he is the Managing Director of Business Development for Proman.

Mr. Hirsh held prior roles as SVP and Chief Commercial Officer of G2X Energy, Inc. and Senior Director of Business Development of AEI Services LLC. He earned his MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a bachelor’s degree in commerce and finance from McGill University.

Ricardo Angel

Ricardo Angel, MALTA Board Observer, is CEO and Managing Partner at PIVA Capital and brings more than 25 years of operational and investing experience in the energy and industrial sectors. Prior to starting PIVA in 2019, Ricardo was a founding Managing Director at GE Ventures, where he led origination and investments in energy, oil and gas, industry, and natural resources. While at GE, he also served as the Managing Director for Energy Technology Ventures (ETV), a $300 million joint venture formed by GE, NRG Energy, Inc. and ConocoPhillips. Ricardo joined GE from Chevron’s Venture Capital group and before that worked in investment banking at Goldman Sachs and at the CNA Corporation.

Ricardo holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and Bachelor, Master, and PhD degrees in Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Raj Apte , Ph.D.

Dr. Raj Apte is an inventor and veteran engineer who initiated and led the team incubating Malta’s electro-thermal “heat battery” energy storage technology at X, Alphabet's Moonshot Factory (formerly Google X).

Prior to joining X in 2015, Raj managed a research team and clean room at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), where he worked on polysilicon circuitry for ultrasonic and x-ray imaging, the internet of things (IoT), novel microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) displays, electronic paper, organic and printed transistors, and amorphous-silicon x-ray cameras. Five start-up companies have licensed his inventions, and he played a significant role in bringing five new technologies to market: thermal energy storage, ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, printed organic electronics, digital x-ray sensors, and micromachined diffractive displays.

Raj holds MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University and BS with Distinction from UC Berkeley, all in Electrical Engineering. He has 75 publications and 64 issued patents.

Michael Idelchik

Michael Idelchik is an innovator and thought leader who has had a distinguished career developing new technologies across a broad range of markets. During his nearly forty-years with GE, Mr. Idelchik directed five divisions, grew sales by $3 billion with the expansion of the company’s global competitive footprint to China, and led the development of products that revolutionized a variety of fields including healthcare and aviation. As Vice President of Advanced Technology at GE Global Research, he led a team of 1,200 scientists, engineers, and technicians to develop and mature products and services in vital technological areas. As a result of his success with the company, he was awarded GE’s highest honor recognizing lifetime achievement.

He currently holds 18 patents in the fields of aviation, healthcare, oil and gas, and power. He earned his master’s degree in mechanical and electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s from Columbia University.