John co-founded Meridian Clean Energy and serves as its CEO. John has 30+ years of experience as an executive in the energy technology sector, including developing, acquiring, and financing multiple clean power and decarbonization projects. John previously served as the VP of Energy at Google, President and CEO of BrightSource Energy, and CEO of Silicon Energy Corp. John has led the completion of world-class clean energy projects, managing complex state and federal policies to achieve climate goals while modernizing the electric grid. In addition to his role at Meridian, John served on the Board of PG&E Corporation, Operating Partner at Activate Capital Partners, and a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute. John is a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and holds an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. in Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Mark Byron focuses on strategy, asset selection and decarbonization. Most recently, Mark was Executive Director for Renewable Energy Programs at the University of California Office of the President. He led UC’s effort to become an Electric Service Provider and launched direct access electricity supply to UC campus accounts in all three IOU service territories. UC achieved carbon neutral retail electric supply in 2019 at electric rates below alternative utility supply. Mark also led the effort for UC to be carbon neutral in its direct energy generation emissions through the origination of biogas crediting. His group managed both a UC owned biomethane facility and contracted 3rd party supply as the largest purchaser of RNG in the country.
Gabriel Kra co-founded Prelude Ventures in 2013, after almost 25 years as an investor, entrepreneur, scientist, and activist. He is responsible for overseeing the firm’s investments in advanced energy, food and agriculture, transportation and logistics, advanced materials and manufacturing, and advanced computing. Gabriel serves on the Board of Directors for Ebb Carbon, Electric Hydrogen, Form Energy, Lightship, Meridian Clean Energy, PostScript Media, Renew Financial, Ripple Foods, Sense, and Trove and he has oversight for Prelude’s investments in Catalog NDA, Koloma, Metalenz, Mill Industries, Natron Energy, Nyriad, Scoop, Spark Thermionics and Thrilling. Gabriel also serves on the Board of Directors of Activate and The CREO Syndicate, and on advisory boards for Prime Coalition, and Carbon180.
Arlen is a member of Meridian’s Advisory Board. Arlen Orchard was the CEO of the Sacramental Municipal Utility District, a leading US public power utility. In his two decades of leadership at SMUD, he helped set the path for the most progressive utility decarbonization goal of zero carbon by 2030. Arlen also serves on the board of the California Mobility council, which focuses on innovations in low carbon transportation.
John co-founded Meridian Clean Energy and serves as its CEO. John is responsible for Meridian’s strategy, vision and team leadership. He has 30+ years of experience as an executive in the energy technology sector, including developing, building, acquiring, and financing multiple clean power and decarbonization focused projects and companies. John previously served as the VP of Energy at Google (now Alphabet), President and CEO of BrightSource Energy, and CEO of Silicon Energy Corp. John has led the completion of world-class clean energy projects, applying technical leadership and managing complex state and federal policies to achieve climate goals while modernizing the electric grid.
In addition to his role at Meridian, John also serves on the Board of Directors of PG&E Corporation, as well as an advisory role at Activate Capital Partners. Previously, John was on the advisory board of the University of California, Berkeley’s Energy and Climate Initiative, a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute, and served on the Board of the California Clean Energy Fund. John is a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and holds an M.B.A. from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley, an M.A. in Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia. John is an avid whitewater kayaker, kiteboarder, and loves to spend time with his family, ideally playing outdoors.
Peter co-founded Meridian with John after 20 years of collaboration. Peter leads Meridian’s investment and financing execution. Peter has 30+ years of energy sector experience and has been a founder of catalytic companies. As the co-founder of Clean Energy Advantage Partners, he advised global companies such as Apple, Facebook, Chanel and Unilever on investing in over 2 GW of renewable energy projects to achieve financial and RE100 goals. He was also the founder of New Resource Bank, the first green commercial bank in the US, which executed vanguard credit financings with sector leaders such as SunRun and SunPower. Previously at the global energy groups of Credit Suisse and JP Morgan Chase, he co-founded CS’ Energy Technology Group and completed over $8 Billion in energy project financing along with pioneering M&A advisories such as the MidAmerican Energy acquisition.
Peter has also invested in and supported other entrepreneurs, with successful outcomes & exits that include Cowgirl Creamery and PA Semi. He serves on the investment committee and the board of the Christensen Fund and the Regional Parks Foundation and was on CalPERS and CalSTRS’ Clean Technology Advisory Boards. Peter holds a M.P.A from Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs and has a B.S. in the double majors of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Peter road bikes regularly and has logged over 28,000 miles.
Mark Byron focuses on strategy, asset selection and decarbonization. Most recently, Mark was Executive Director for Renewable Energy Programs at the University of California Office of the President. He led UC’s effort to become an Electric Service Provider and launched direct access electricity supply to UC campus accounts in all three IOU service territories. UC achieved carbon neutral retail electric supply in 2019 at electric rates below alternative utility supply. Mark also led the effort for UC to be carbon neutral in its direct energy generation emissions through the origination of biogas crediting. His group managed both a UC owned biomethane facility and contracted 3rd party supply as the largest purchaser of RNG in the country.
Mr. Byron has more than 20 years of experience in the power sector in construction, financial analysis, asset management and origination. Mr. Byron represented independent power producers on the boards of both the Western Power Trading Forum (WPTF) and the Independent Energy Producers Association (IEP). He has a Mechanical Engineering degree from Boston University and an MBA from University of California, Irvine. When not working Mr. Byron enjoys time with his family and playing in his two bands.
Arlen Orchard was the CEO of the Sacramental Municipal Utility District, a leading US public power utility. In his two decades of leadership at SMUD, he helped set the path for the most progressive utility decarbonization goal of zero carbon by 2030. Arlen also serves on the board of the California Mobility council, which focuses on innovations in low carbon transportation.
Bill Hammarstrom was the President and General Manager Air Products HyCO Americas. At Air Products, Bill helped advance the strategy for carbon solutions and hydrogen for mobility and Significantly expanded HyCO’s hydrogen production capacity and increased its profitability. Bill has deep experience with hydrogen and syngas transportation and logistics. Bill serves on the advisory board of Tulane University’s Energy Institute and is also on the boards of Utility Global and Fluitron.
Eric Hall has been a CFO for over 3 decades for high growth and entrepreneurial companies. Eric has served as CFO for CM Capital, a family office with over $1 BN in assets investing across real assets and private equity. Eric was also the CFO of Peninsula Clean Energy, a CCA that serves customers in San Mateo County, CA which focuses on delivering clean energy at economic prices.
Peter co-founded Meridian with John after 20 years of collaboration. Peter leads Meridian’s investment and financing strategy execution. Peter has 30+ years of energy sector experience and has been a founder of catalytic companies such as New Resource Bank and Clean Energy Advantage Partners. He has worked with global leaders such as Apple and Facebook to invest in over 2 GW of new renewable energy projects and has completed $8 Billion in energy project financing at JP Morgan Chase and Credit Suisse. He co-founded the Energy Technology Group at CS and completed pioneering M&A advisories such as the MidAmerican Energy acquisition. He serves as a trustee or is an investment committee member for Bay Area based foundations with more than $1.6 Billion in combined assets. Prior to investment and finance, He was an engineer at Chevron with hydrogen process engineering experience and was a California Air Resources Board engineer focusing on fuels related emissions regulation. Peter is a graduate from UC Berkeley and Princeton.
Tom has worked with John and Peter for over five years on the strategy of repurposing critical existing generation assets for the future power grid. Tom has a 30 year proven track record across numerous business disciplines, including commercial operations and commodity risk management, power plant dispatch and operations, fuel procurement, structured transaction execution, strategic planning, energy market forecasting, transmission system operations and power plant asset acquisitions and sales. Tom managed a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of unregulated generation assets at Alleghany Energy along with the commodity contracts which supplied the plants. He launched profitable wholesale and retail power marketing businesses and helped turn around a severely distressed commodity trading business segment to profitability.
Brian Farrell has over 20 years of experience across accounting, finance, internal audit, public accounting and financial consulting, including audit and tax support, M&A support, financial reporting, general accounting and payroll, control review and assessment ,and overall process improvement. Brian previously served as VP Accounting for Acciona as well as prior roles at Sirva, KPMG, and Arthur Andersen. Brian received his BS and Master of Accounting from University of Denver.
Bill is a member of Meridian’s Advisory Board. Bill Hammarstrom was the President and General Manager Air Products HyCO Americas. At Air Products, Bill helped advance the strategy for carbon solutions and hydrogen for mobility and Significantly expanded HyCO’s hydrogen production capacity and increased its profitability. Bill has deep experience with hydrogen and syngas transportation and logistics. Bill also serves on the advisory board of Tulane University’s Energy Institute and is also on the boards of Utility Global and Fluitron.
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Meridian Clean Energy
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