Our Team
Jonathan Naimon
Managing Partner
Jonathan Naimon
Managing Partner
- 30+ years renewable finance, and sustainable asset management.
- Founded asset management company (LGA) acquired by a hedge fund family.
- Led environmental unit of investor research center acquired by ISS Risk Metrics / MSCI
- Corporate technology partnerships, ABB
- Cooling economics analysis for EPA, ICF
- MSPH, University of North Carolina
- BS, MIT
Boian Spassov
Managing Director
Boian Spassov
Managing Director
- Boian is the founder & CEO of Locbit, an AI-enabled IoT platform.
- He is one of the inventors of a common machine language (CML) that enables any machine (IOT, BMS, meta-data system) to talk to other machines in real time. CML enables real time monitoring through data standardization.
- Locbit software provides device level monitoring & verification of energy systems that is required to verify carbon impact.
- Locbit’s system is hardware-agnostic and Locbit software is embedded inside next generation thermostats and next generation battery-in-a-box systems for edge computing.
- NREL and the California Energy Commission demonstrated Locbit-generated energy savings at a California WalMart
- Panasonic and other strategics have invested in Locbit, Inc.
- Mr. Spassov is a managing director of Sustana Cooling Partners.
Alan Miller
Senior Advisor
Alan Miller
Senior Advisor
- 40+ years experience working on ozone depletion and climate change, 16 years in the World Bank
- Principal author of seminal reports on the cooling crisis including as lead author of “Chilling Prospects,” “Cold Road to Paris.”
- An advisor to Climate Finance Advisors
- Investor in successful climate start-ups including The Climate Service (now part of S&P)
- JD, University of Michigan
- MPP, University of Michigan
Richard Sander
Venture Partner
Richard Sander
Venture Partner
- Richard has 40+ years experience 15 years as CEO.
- Richard has managed organizations of 2,000 employees across 3 continents.
- Founded and scaled Rhombus Energy through its exit to BorgWarner.
- Chairman of Carttronics and led sale to private equity group.
- CEO of ISE, scaled ISE from $5M to $50M in revenue, managed its IPO on Toronto Exchange.
- Raised multiple rounds of growth financing for ISE & Rhombus.
- Raised 90M in growth equity for several companies.
- Board member at Armor Designs.
- Richard has an MBA from San Diego State University, and an BSME from the University of Oregon.
JP Moscarella
Senior Advisor
JP Moscarella
Senior Advisor
- Pioneer in both cleantech and carbon investing in the US, Latin America and the Caribbean.
- Total capital mobilization $1B+ for climate finance
- Managed 2 funds, $65M in AUM in cleantech, clean energy funds in LatAm.
- Co-founded Econergy, IPO on London AIM market @ $100M, Econergy acquired by Engie (global utility)
- Partner at Climate Finance Advisors, sold to WSP (global consultancy)
- MBA Yale School of Organization and Management
- BS Environmental Engineering, Cornell
David Mutisya
Senior Advisor
David Mutisya
Senior Advisor
- David Mutisya represents Sustana in Africa. Mr. Mutisya
previously leveraged his expertise in project management and capital cost
estimation to implement renewables and energy savings
programs, including energy-efficient cooling applications. - Mr Mutisya has 36 years’ work experience, 8 years
focused on renewable energy, energy efficiency and
cooling on behalf of Kenya’s energy department. - Mr. Mutisya served for over 20 years in Kenya’s Agriculture,
Rural Development, Environment, where he worked on
climate change mitigation and adaptation. - Mr. Mutisya has participated in preparation and review of
various policies and strategies, which include the National
Forest Programme (NFP), the Kenya National Energy
Efficiency and Conservation Strategy (KNEECS), the
National Cooling Action Plan (NCAP), review of Energy
Policy 2018, and the 2023 UNFCCC Conference of the
Parties (COP).
Padu Padmanabhan
Senior Advisor
Padu Padmanabhan
Senior Advisor
- Globally recognized development and energy efficiency expert.
- Assisted Climate Finance Advisors in creating the South Asia Regional Initiative for Energy.
- Managed development programs in: India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal
- Worked with: World Bank, US AID, Investment Climate Fund
- Author of: “First Fuel: India’s Energy Efficiency Journey”, “A Radical Vision for Sustainability”
- University of Madras Bachelor of Engineering
Shravan Shankar
Climake (local partner in India)
Shravan Shankar
Climake (local partner in India)
- Shravan is a co-founder at Climake, a platform to improve access to climate finance for startups and enterprises through advisory that helps high growth, high impact businesses access innovative capital, piloting new approaches and structure for climate finance, and strengthening the ecosystem through collaborative research and partnerships to address gaps and opportunities in climate finance. Climake has helped raise over USD 60 million in debt and equity financing for startups.
- Shravan has 15 years of experience working in sustainable development with organisations across Asia and Europe, in advisory, research and policy development roles, and has been involved in developing national policies in India and Sri Lanka. He has previously co-founded AtWorks, an impact entrepreneurship ecosystem builder, that was recognised as a circular economy solution for India by the Ellen Macarthur Foundation. He has also been recognized with a National Award on Smart City Solutions by the Government of India, and has a B.Eng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering with Environmental Engineering from the University of Nottingham, UK.
Simmi Sareen
Climake (local partner in India)
Simmi Sareen
Climake (local partner in India)
- A chartered accountant and an MBA from London Business School with 25+ years of financial services experience, Simmi now works on a series of interventions to support the climate action ecosystem in India. This has included leading the climate and debt advisory business of Unitus Capital, helping social enterprises and climate tech businesses get access to relevant, timely capital from a large network of domestic and international lenders.
- She is currently the co-founder at Climake, a platform to improve access to climate finance for startups and enterprises through advisory that helps high growth, high impact businesses access innovative capital, piloting new approaches and structure for climate finance, and strengthening the ecosystem through collaborative research and partnerships to address gaps and opportunities in climate finance. Climake has helped raise over USD 60 million in debt and equity financing for startups.
- Simmi is recognised as a thought leader for climate finance and impact investing in India, and is an advisor and mentor to several accelerators and startups. She has won multiple accolades including ‘Fintech Entrepreneur of the Year’ and a mention on ‘Top 100 Women in Finance’.
Ramon Olivas-Gastelum
Senior Associate
Ramon Olivas-Gastelum
Senior Associate
- Ramón Olivas-Gastelum has over twenty years of experience in natural resources management, capacity building and infrastructure finance, collaborating for diverse public institutions and private companies such as national government entities, investment funds and development organizations in Europe, United States, Mexico, Middle East and Latin America.
- At DAI, he served as Director of the Mexico Clean Energy Programme of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom. At the Mexican Energy Ministry, (SENER), he was General Director of Strategic Projects at the Undersecretary of Hydrocarbons where he collaborated on cross-cutting initiatives, particularly with the President’s Office, the Finance Ministry, and the Ministry of Economy. Previously as Chief of Staff of the Undersecretary of Electricity, he streamlined the operations for the design and regulation of the electricity market and supervised the governance committees of the state-owned utility, CFE.
- In infrastructure finance, he oversaw the social and environmental strategy for two renewable energy funds at the private equity firm Emerging Energy and Environment, LLC and has collaborated with a range of global financial institutions such as the IFC, IADB, CAF, KfW and the European Investment Bank in different capacities.
- Ramon has a B.Sc. degree in Chemical Engineering from the Universidad de las Americas, Puebla, a Joint Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) and Environmental Management from Yale University, and is a specialist in Governance of Natural Resources from the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford.