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Meeting Location:
Emerging Enterprise Center at
Foley Hoag the Bay Colony Corporate Center
1000 Winter Street, Suite 4000 (North Entrance)
Waltham, MAMeeting Time: 6:30 - 9:30 pm
Meeting Cost:
$25 public, $10 students
and active military; Promotional Registrations
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
6:30 - 9:30 PM
Location: Emerging Center at Foley Hoag the Bay Colony Corporate Center, Waltham, MAEnergy Storage: Focus on Batteries
The energy storage industry represents one of the fastest innovating segments of the energy industry. Within this segment, battery technology (principally defined as electro-chemical energy storage methods) has tremendous demands being placed on it by industries, utilities and policymakers focused on transportation, portable power and grid reform. The stakes for battery technology are only increasing with the relatively recent focus of the transportation industry on electric and hybrid engine power, and incumbents and new entrants are all focused on optimizing their positioning for the future.
The December 21st EntreTech Forum will explore the latest developments in this rapidly evolving field by bringing together a panel of local leaders on the topic. Some of the key questions to be asked include: How did the industry leaders get where they are today? How can new entrants position best themselves in this industrial ecosystem? What is the role of private funders vs. public sources of funding? What are the current market demands for Li-ion Tech? Where are the advancements going to be made (new chemistries, engineering systems, or utilization/implementation)?Moderator:
Brian Hult - Technical Director at GeoLabs, Inc.
Panelists:
Dr. K.M. Abraham - Lithium Battery Consultant, Former VP of Battery Research at EIC
Brad Harkavy - CEO, Board Member at BPG Inc. and President at Harkador Partners
Martin LaMonica - Senior Writer at CNET, and Editor of Green Tech Blog
Kris Johanessen (Lt Col, Ret.)- Director of Business Development at Yardney Technical Products Inc.
George Cintra - Director of Engineering & Technology at at Electrochem / Greatbatch, Inc.
Matt Koenig – Vice President at Corvus Energy - Americas
Moderator:
Brian Hult - Technical Director at GeoLabs, Inc. http://www.northeastern.edu/nucret/
Brian is a Braintree based Chemist and Entrepreneur. His experience includes 7 years in the environmental analytical testing field, specializing in both organic and inorganic test methods, now focused on operational management and improving product flow throughout the laboratory.
Prior to Brian's most recent stint at GeoLabs, he was a founding partner at HTPerformance, LLC an aftermarket automotive performance component development firm that spawned out of the Northeastern University School of Technological Entrepreneurship's i-Cubator. In other work at Northeastern,. Brian synthesized numerous experimental lithium-ion cathode compounds, in collaboration with Lithion-Yardney and tested using x-ray synchrotron spectroscopy at Brookhaven National Labs, National Sychrotron Light Source, (Upton, NY).
Brian earned his B.S. in Chemistry from Eastern Nazarene College, M.S. in Technological Entrepreneurship and M.S. in Physical/Materials Chemistry from Northeastern University.
Dr. K.M. Abraham
NUCRET and Laboratory for Electrochemical Advanced Power Northeastern University, Boston, MA
kmabraham@comcast.netDr. K. M. Abraham is Research Professor at Northeastern University Center for Renewable Energy Technologies, Northeastern University, Boston, MA. He is also the principal of E-KEM Sciences, a battery consulting company in Needham, MA. He was previously President of Covalent Associates, Inc, Woburn, MA, and, Senior Scientist, Group Leader, Vice President and Director of Battery Research and Development at EIC Laboratories, Inc., Norwood, MA.
KM has over 30 years of experience in lithium battery research and development with major emphasis on rechargeable Lithium and Li-ion batteries. His work in the 1980s on organic liquid electrolytes and the secondary lithium electrode, and in the 1990s on gel polymer electrolytes has contributed significantly to the development of rechargeable lithium and lithium-ion batteries. In early nineteen eighties he and his colleagues at EIC Laboratories, Inc. were among the first to demonstrate practical rechargeable lithium batteries. The work he and his colleagues carried out between 1990 and 1995 on gel polymer electrolytes and those supported on micro-porous polymer membranes form the basis of commercial lithium-ion polymer batteries. Dr. Abraham is the inventor of many new lithium and sodium battery chemical couples including the ultrahigh energy density non-aqueous lithium-air battery. His unique background includes both an in-depth understanding of battery materials science and battery engineering. He has designed and developed a variety of Li-ion batteries including high power batteries for applications such as HEV, PHEV, portable electronics and power tools. His industrial experience includes hands-on laboratory research, supervision of R&D groups, planning and administration of laboratory projects and contracts, management of multi-million dollar research programs, and strategic planning of corporate business.
In his consulting activities KM advises clients on lithium primary and secondary battery technology development and applications, advanced electrode, electrolyte and separator materials for Li-ion batteries, battery design and optimization, battery safety and performance, and industrial applications of Li-ion batteries such as portable power for consumer products, backup power for cable TV and telecom, and batteries for HEV and PHEV. He provides battery technology assessment and due diligence studies, and battery industry analysis to investors, corporate management and government agencies.
Modular Energy Devices, Inc, the company, he co-founded to manufacture large format Li-ion battery packs from small Li-ion cells with the use of a novel electronic architecture has received investment from EnerSys Inc., the largest lead-acid battery company in the world, and became an EnerSys company through stock acquisition.
Dr. Abraham has authored or co-authored more than 150 publications, of which about two-thirds in peer-reviewed journals, and sixteen US patents, on materials and processes for primary and secondary lithium batteries. His 1990 paper, “Li+-conductive solid polymer electrolytes with liquid-like conductivity”, Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 137 (5) 1657 (1990), has been identified by the Electrochemical Society as one of the one hundred most-cited articles in its flagship journal. He presented many invited lectures at national and international meetings. He organized or co-organized many symposia on Lithium batteries for the Electrochemical Society. He served on the scientific advisory boards of international meetings on lithium batteries, and as lithium battery technology advisor to several lithium-ion battery materials and manufacturing companies.
K.M received the Battery Research Award from the Electrochemical Society in 1995 for outstanding research on primary and secondary lithium batteries. In 2000 he was elected a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society. He was Chair of the Battery Division of the Electrochemical Society and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Power Sources.
Dr. Abraham received his undergraduate education in chemistry, physics and mathematics from St Berchmans’ College of Kerala University, India, where he was a gold medallist and a National Merit Scholarship winner. He received his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry from Tufts University, Medford, MA and conducted post-doctoral research at Vanderbilt University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Additional information and publications can be obtained from the website, www.e-kemsciences.com
Brad Harkavy - CEO, Board Member at BPG Inc. and President at Harkador Partners
Brad Harkavy has over 20 years of technical and management experience bringing new companies and products to life. As the President of Harkador Partners, he set the strategy and took an active role managing and directing multiple start up and emerging companies. He sits on the Board of Directors and Advisory Board of several early stage companies, and is the former CEO of AkiTherm Inc where he wrote the business plan and negotiated university licensing rights for patented mems based explosive detection technology. As the CEO of Vert Inc (www.vert.net), he had full P&L responsibility for a startup, location based display hardware/software media company. Brad has been the Emerging Company Business Manager at Teradyne Inc where he envisioned and developed nontraditional sales channel and managed several product lines. He was also a Product Marketing Manager for GSI Lumonics Inc. (currently GSI group.), where he was responsible for managing applications software, product development, and sales of the company’s major offerings.
Martin LaMonica - Senior Writer at CNET, and Editor of Green Tech Blog
A reporter at CNET News where he writes for and manages the Green Tech blog (www.news.com/greentech). He has been a journalist for over 20 years, covering Web development software and IT for IDG/InfoWorld and CNET. Martin started writing about clean/green tech in 2005 and has been reporting full time on energy and environment since 2008. The Green Tech blog was a finalist for Editor & Publishers Eppy award in 2010 in the Best News or Political blog category. Treehugger in 2010 picked Green Tech as the best green science and technology blog. In 2009, Martin was named one of the top 10 clean-tech journalists in the U.S. by a PR firm.
Kris Johanessen (Lt Col, Ret.)- Director of Business Development at Yardney Technical Products Inc.
Kris has been with Yardney Technical Products Inc. since 2003. He joined Yardney after a successful career in the United States Air Force, where he served in a variety of space and missile operational and program management specialties. He now works as the Director of Business Development.
George Cintra - Director of Engineering & Technology at at Electrochem / Greatbatch, Inc.
http://www.electrochemsolutions.com/George Cintra is currently Director of Engineering & Technology at the Electrochem Div. of Greatbatch Inc., a leader in customized power system solutions for the medical, energy and military categories, where he is responsible for all aspects of product development, R&D, as well as leading the innovation strategy for the business. Previously, George held a variety of technical leadership positions spanning sixteen years at Duracell, part of Procter & Gamble. During his career with Duracell, he led numerous major programs from concept to launch across all major commercial battery systems, including the company’s efforts to manufacture LiIon rechargeables. George has extensive experience in materials research, product and manufacturing development, and strategic partnerships with major multi-national companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia. George earned his BS in chemical engineering from the University of Rhode Island and conducted graduate work at Carnegie Mellon and the University of Virginia. He has authored more than 20 publications and patents and is a member of the Electrochemical Society, American Institute of Chemical Engineers and Tau Beta Pi.
Matt Koenig – Vice President at Corvus Energy - Americas
http://corvus-energy.com/Matt Koenig, Vice President-Americas for Corvus Energy, has more than 25 years of management experience in finance, distribution, manufacturing, and technical and engineering sales and marketing.
He is a graduate of John Carroll University with a BA in Economics.
He most recently served as vice president of Isoflex Technologies Pty., Ltd. America. Earlier, Koenig held several positions in the marine and composites industries, and previous to that as COO and vice president of The Violette Companies. He has also held management roles at State Street Bank and Trust, Fidelity Investments and Bank of Boston.
Matt operates out of Corvus Energy’s U.S. office in Norwell, MA.
