Executive Officers

Peter Gajdos, 38
Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Gajdos is a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Presidio Partners Management LLC, a venture capital firm investing in Information Technology, Life Sciences and Energy Technology companies, a position he has held since July 2013. Since June 2019, he has also served as Head of Venture Capital at IPM Group, a global asset and wealth management company. Prior to joining Presidio Partners and IPM Group, Mr. Gajdos held various investment management positions at Silver Lake Kraftwerk Fund, L.P., an investment firm, from September 2012 to December 2012, Warburg Pincus LLC, a leading global private equity firm, from June 2012 to August 2012, and Virgin Green Fund, a private equity fund investing in the renewables and efficiency sectors, from April 2007 to June 2011. He currently serves as a board member of InoBat Auto, a battery production and research and development company, InoBat Energy, a battery production and research and development company, Cosair Pharma, Inc., a biotechnology company, and IPM Chirana, a medical device company, and as a board observer at Wildcat Discovery Technologies, Inc., a battery materials development company, ESS, Inc., a leading long-duration energy storage solutions provider and Exela Pharma Sciences, LLC, a specialty pharmaceutical company. He also served as a board member at Arcadia Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: RKDA), an agricultural biotechnology company, from May 2014 to May 2015, and he previously served as a board member of Jiangsu CNano Technology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai: 688116.SS), a nano-scale carbon materials production and research and development company, from September 2013 to January 2018 and Reel Solar, Inc., a solar manufacturing company, from August 2013 to Feb 2014. Mr. Gajdos began his career as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in the Energy Group in New York, NY. Mr. Gajdos received a B.S. in Business Administration at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Faysal Sohail, 57
Co-Chief Executive Officer and Director

Mr. Sohail is a Managing Director at Presidio Partners Management LLC, a venture capital firm investing in Information Technology, Life Sciences and Energy Technology companies, a position he has held since January 2002. Prior to joining Presidio Partners, Mr. Sohail served as Chief Executive Officer at Cadabra Design Automation, Inc. from 1999 to 2001, a computer software company which was acquired by Numerical Technologies, Inc.. From 1990 to 1999 Mr. Sohail was co-founder of Silicon Architects, a technology company developing structured ASIC methodology, which merged with Synopsys (NASDAQ: SNPS), and from 1986 to 1990, Mr. Sohail was part of the early founding team at Actel Corporation, a non-volatile field-programmable gate array manufacturing company, which was acquired by MicroSemi Corporation (NASDAQ: MSCC). Mr. Sohail is currently the executive chairman of the board of InoBat Auto, a battery production and research and development company. In addition, Mr. Sohail serves on the board of Wildcat Discovery Technologies, Inc., a battery materials development company, FORO Energy, Inc., a high power laser provider for the oil, natural gas, geothermal and mining industries, Our Next Energy, Inc., a high energy hybrid EV battery company, and Altair Capital Management LLC, a hedge fund. He is a member of the board of directors of the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, a non-profit organization providing educational resources. Mr. Sohail holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. We believe Mr. Sohail is qualified to serve as a director due to his significant leadership experience and his extensive experience as a technology investor and operator.

Adam Wilczek, 38
Chief Financial Officer

Since July 2019, Mr. Wilczek has served as Chief Financial Officer at Presidio Partners Management LLC, a venture capital firm investing in Information Technology, Life Sciences and Energy Technology companies, and as Controller from May 2015 to June 2019. Prior to joining Presidio Partners Management LLC, Mr. Wilczek served as Vice President of the Fund Administration Group at Conifer Financial Services LLC, an independent asset services firm, from 2014 to 2015. From 2010 to 2014, Mr. Wilczek served as Fund Manager at Hellman & Friedman LLC, a private equity investment firm. Mr. Wilczek holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Board of Directors

Baris Guzel, 37
Director Nominee

Mr. Guzel has served as Principal at BMW i Ventures, LLC, a hybrid venture capital firm, and in various other capacities since March 2017. From September 2016 to February 2017, Mr. Guzel worked at Presidio Partners, a venture capital firm investing in Information Technology, Life Sciences and Energy Technology companies as a Venture Capital Associate. Prior to joining Presidio Partners Management LLC, Mr. Guzel worked in the Technology Investment Banking group at Deutsche Bank AG from July 2015 to August 2016 and at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2014. Mr. Guzel currently serves as a board advisor to AutoFi, Inc., a financial technology company, Tekion Corp., an automotive software solution provider, and Xometry, Inc., an on-demand manufacturing provider. Mr. Guzel holds a M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School and a Master of Engineering Management from Duke University Pratt School of Engineering.

Stacey Lawson, 50
Director Nominee

Since October 2012, Ms. Lawson has served as Vice Chairman of Ygrene Energy Fund, Inc., which provides clean energy financing, and from October 2012 to December 2016, she was Chief Executive Officer and President of Ygrene Energy Fund, Inc. She currently serves as a member of the board of directors of CDS Visual, Inc., The Shift Network, Inc., Institute of Noetic Sciences and Tripura Foundation, Inc. She is also the Co-Founder, lecturer, and Industry Fellow of the Pantas and Ting Sutardja Foundation at the University of California, Berkeley. From 2004 to 2010 she served as Chairman of the Board at Chelsey Henry Co., a designer of consumer travel and lifestyle products and from 2004 to 2006 as a member of the board of directors of Dragonfly Media, LLC, a family of socially conscious media properties, as well as Social Fusion Group Inc., a sustainability and social venture incubator advising for-profit and non-profit social enterprises. Between 1998 and 2004, Ms. Lawson served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing at PTC Inc. and as the Vice President and General Manager at Siebel Systems, Inc. In 1995, Ms. Lawson co-founded InPart Design, Inc. and served as the company’s President until 1998 when it was acquired by PTC Inc. She began her career as a Chemical Engineer at International Business Machines Corporation in 1992. Ms. Lawson holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington, as well as an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

Michael Niggli, 71
Director Nominee

Mr. Niggli currently serves as Chairman at ESS, Inc., a leading long-duration energy storage solutions provider, and has served as a Board Member of ESS, Inc. since June 2015. For nearly 30 years of his career, Mr. Niggli served in a variety of roles at Sempra Energy, a leading North American energy infrastructure company, including President and Chief Operating Officer of San Diego Gas & Electric Company and President of Sempra Energy Generation. He also served as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Nevada Power Co.; and Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of Sierra Pacific Resources. Mr. Niggli currently serves on the board of directors of Pacific Gas & Electric Company, American Transmission Company, LLC, and ESVAL S.A. and ESSBIO S.A., both of which are Chilean water companies. Mr. Niggli holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from California State University, Long Beach and a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from San Diego State University.

Andrew Palmer, PhD, 57
Director Nominee

Dr. Palmer has 41 years of automotive experience. He is the founder of Palmer Automotive Ltd., an automotive company, and, since June 2020, has served as its Chief Executive Officer. From October 2014 to May 2020, Dr. Palmer served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., a luxury car manufacturing company. From 1991 to 2014, Dr. Palmer held a variety of positions at Nissan Motor Company, Ltd., including Program Director for Light Commercial Vehicles, Senior Vice President and Executive Vice President before being appointed Chief Operating Officer in 2013. While at Nissan, Dr. Palmer also served as Chairman of Infiniti, a luxury vehicle division of Nissan and head of the Zero Emissions business unit which created the Nissan LEAF EV. He is also Chairman of Optare plc, an English bus manufacturing company, a Director of Ashok Leyland Ltd, an Indian multinational automotive company, a Director of Hilo EV Ltd., an electric vehicle scooter company, a Director of SBD Automotive, Ltd., an automotive company, and Vice Chairman of InoBat Auto, a battery production and research and development company. Dr. Palmer holds a Master of Science in Engineering from Warwick University, United Kingdom and a PhD in Engineering from Cranfield University, United Kingdom, and completed the Accelerated Development Program in Management from the London Business School.