Team
Team
Anupam has been a part of over 20 startups as a founder, investor or founding team member in the materials, energy, manufacturing and technology space. Working with the team at these startups, Anupam has assisted in commercialization of 20+ products across the globe, has secured over $500 million in equity, debt and project financing for early/growth-stage companies and cleantech projects, and has helped set-up manufacturing and sales/distribution operations across the globe. Anupam has a Bachelors in Chemical Engineering from University of Mumbai and a Masters in Engineering Management from Case Western Reserve University.
Douglas Heller is the President and CEO of Sun Specialty Products, a company that specializes in nano-scale dispersion systems and suspension polymerization manufacturing techniques for producing millions of pounds of polymeric beads for a variety of applications. Mr. Heller is also a Partner in the Philadelphia-based private equity investment firm of Heller Hickox & Company. Formed in 1991 with George K. Hickox, Jr., the firm invests partners’ capital by structuring and leading oil and gas equity investments involving recapitalizations, restructurings, start-ups, turn-arounds, workouts, and other special situations.
Robert Sloan is a seasoned oilfield sales, operations and technical professional, providing expertise to major oil and gas companies worldwide for over 35 years. He is recognized as a leading industry specialist in flowback & produced water for shale frac waters reuse as well as bromide completion fluids and has provided technical support to the EEU/Poland shale development as well as Argentina & China shale development. Robert is the founder of two start-up companies, serving in multiple positions including technical director, sales & marketing director, vice president of operations as well as CEO. Robert is the Founding member of the Permian Basin Water Management Council and has been awarded several patents.
John Gravelle was formerly the Global Mining Leader at PwC and led PwC’s Canadian Mining services practice and PwC’s global mining practice, establishing Canada as PwC’s center of excellence in the sector, and led the development of PwC Canada’s China Strategy for mining. John has also held several Board positions, including Brio Gold, Colt Resources, Foremost Lithium Resource & Technology and Century Global. He is a Canadian CPA / CA with a strong financial background and is recognized as a financial expert. His public company board experience includes roles on Audit, Compensation and Strategic Committees.
Over his 30-year career, Vladimir Chernyakov has led product sales for several companies in many countries, evaluated and invested in startups, initiated and negotiated strategic partnerships, and formulated and implemented product/corporate marketing strategy and commercial policy. Vladimir over the past decade has been involved with several early/growth stage companies across variety of industries including audiophile, solar energy, nanomaterials and electron beam metal additive manufacturing. Vladimir was the Managing Director of Solar Avenir, a GaAs solar panel startup, and Texent, an electron-beam based additive manufacturing technology. Vladimir has a Master’s degree from Vladivostok University and a Ph.D. from St. Petersburg State University in Russia.
Dr. Srinivas Bhamidi is an expert in organic synthesis and is supporting the CEC funded project for lithium recovery from geothermal brines. He is responsible for scaling up sorbent manufacturing process, large scale sorbent production, characterization and recycling. Before ExSorbtion, he was Senior Chemist at SRI International where he played a key role in development of and is the inventor of the DLE technology licensed by ExSorbtion. At SRI, Srinivas has also been involved in development of materials and processes to print lithium ion rechargeable batteries, modified electrode formulations and fabrication of batteries, formulating lithium polymer electrode batteries using carbon-based intercalation materials and lithium cobalt oxide, reversed surface texture change, display technology, applying thermally tunable coatings and controlling at pixel level, devised flame-retardant polyurethane foam materials, working on foam recipes, modifying formulations, and reducing density, increasing elasticity, and resisting chemicals and fire, synthesized polymerizable silonic liquids for traction-enhancing systems, utilizing for military use, created testing protocol for polysulfone membranes for high flux and salt rejection rates, purifying sea and brackish water, formulated polybenzimidazole (PBI)-based hollow fibers for CO2 gas separation from flue gases produced at integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants, reducing carbon dioxide emission and synthesized novel composite material for selective recovery of lithium from brines, patenting innovation and taking commercial.
Don Hains is an industrial minerals exploration and economic geologist with more than 30 years of experience in development, use and analysis of industrial minerals properties and materials. He has held product research and business development responsibilities with Fiberglas Canada Inc. and Domtar Construction Materials and has been consulting in the field of industrial minerals markets and economics for the past 30 years. His experience encompasses most of the industrial minerals and several specialty metals, especially antimony, lithium, tantalum, niobium, gallium, germanium and rare earths. Assignments have ranged from valuation reports to feasibility and market studies. He is a registered professional geoscientist in Ontario (#0494) and a Professional Member of the SME (#4175075). Don is the author of the Best Practice Guidelines for Reporting of Lithium Brine Resources and Reserves and a co-author of the Best Practice Guidelines for Reporting on Industrial Minerals Resources and Reserves. These guideline documents provide recommended best practice when reporting resources and reserves under NI 43-101.
John Burns has extensive experience in managing risk and financing resource projects in the exploration, development and production stages, in the Americas and across the globe. Previously, Mr. Burns served as a non-executive, independent director of China Gold International Resources (TSX, HKEX), the affiliate of China National Gold Group. He also previously served as Chairman of Athabasca Potash (TSX.V), as Chairman of Dolly Varden Silver (TSX.V), as a director of Corazon Gold (TSX.V), as Chairman of Titan Goldworx Resources (CNSX), and as Chairman of Northern Orion Explorations (TSX). Mr. Burns is former Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Drexel Burnham Lambert Commodity Group in New York, London and Chicago; former Managing Director and Global Head of the Derivative Trading and Finance Group of Barclays Metals Group, Barclays Bank PLC in London; and former Managing Director of Frontier Risk Management LLC, a grains and livestock focused CTA, in Chicago. Mr. Burns serves as lead director and an audit committee member for a number of private venture focused companies.
