Our Team

Raj is currently involved in developing energy storage technologies as a co-founder and head of engineering, at Automatiks Inc, a Sunnyvale, CA based startup delivering Hybrid micro grid and off grid power systems in product form for off-grid and poor grid regions. The innovative distributed generation and storage technologies being perfected here will serve the emerging storage revolution in first world grids as we seek higher and higher renewable reliance and will fuel the transformation of the current power grid into a cascade of self reliant micro-grids powered mainly by renewables.

Automatiks today builds hybrid off grid micro-grids that enable adoption of solar and other renewables in remote and island locations where the first world model of grid tied solar does not make sense. Raj fervently believes in the role of renewable energy as a means for people to gain some control of their own destiny.

Recent experiences include Solar PV, Energy storage, off grid renewable power and distributed generation. Past experiences include Semiconductors, High performance computing systems, Wireless communications, CPU architecture, Systems software, Software defined networking, and Utility energy grid security and analytics and Secure semiconductors.

He serves as a technology consultant and subject matter expert to Capricorn Investment Group, a large fund investing in clean energy technologies, power, water and health care, where he works closely with the portfolio’s energy related companies on technology and product strategy. Elsewhere, he is a technology and market consultant in the domains of secure semiconductors and utility and grid security. He also serves on a select number of boards.

Zach is the leading expert in distributed/decentralized systems architecture and innovative conceptualization. He has been involved with design and implementation projects across a spectrum of sectors (renewable energy companies, government agencies) including renewable energy microgrids, mobile web and database integration projects, and product design and engineering. He has consulted in the areas of public policy and sustainability, product innovation, and strategic applications of renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Zach began honing his expertise in the mid-1990s at Frogdesign in San Francisco, a global design firm specializing in the fusion of product development, brand, and digital technology. The company is renowned for delivering inter-connceted experiences that span multiple technologies, platforms, and media. As a serial entrepreneur, he founded ZeroBase Energy and developed the ReGenerator Energy platform, a flexible distributed architecture that has fundamentally re-imagined the way nodal renewable energy is delivered. ZeroBase Energy is an extension of one of his first ventures, Innovative Charitable Solutions (ICS), where he was a co-founder.

He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Cynthia Muller is the program and portfolio officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation based out of Battle Creek, Michigan.

She is part of the Mission Driven Investments team at the foundation.  In this role, she is responsible for developing and managing strategic impact investment activities that address systemic barriers that create vulnerable conditions for historically marginalized communities and children. Her work includes sourcing and deploying market rate investments to increase social change impact; ongoing analysis of solutions and trends; developing relationships within the field; fostering alliances with community, corporate, government and philanthropic partners; and supporting the overall direction and implementation of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s strategic framework. 

Prior to joining the foundation, Muller developed and managed Arabella Advisors impact investing practice  where  she  helped  foundations  and  individuals  understand  the  field  of  impact  investing;  develop  strategies  and structure  investments  to  accomplish  their  social  and  environmental  goals. During her tenure she oversaw deal sourcing and structuring of investments in health, education, microfinance, housing, and green technology—both domestically and internationally. Muller also led several evaluations of impact investment portfolios, and she regularly presented and blogged about trends and practices within the field.

Muller  previously  led  strategic  initiatives  at Capital  Impact  Partners,  where  she  developed  and  managed impact investments and worked on nationally focused investment funds and initiatives targeting health, food, education, energy efficiency, and economic development. Cynthia serves on the boards of Groundswell and Enterprise Community Loan Fund. 

Muller  holds  a  Master  of  Business  Administration  from  the  Foster  School  of  Business  at  the  University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Stanford University.

Prior to joining Arabella Advisors, Cynthia worked strategic initiatives in mission-driven organizations. As director of strategic investments at Capital Impact Partners, where she managed over $80 million impact investments and worked on nationally focused investment funds and initiatives targeting health food, education, energy efficiency, health and economic development. Cynthia serves on the board of UHAMBO USA and has also served on the board of the CIRI Foundation. Cynthia has a bachelor's degree from Stanford University and an MBA from the University of Washington.

Christopher Murray is a founding partner of Thompson Coburn's Lobbying & Policy group. Chris's practice focuses on the political and regulatory issues affecting the education sector. Chris is a frequent speaker and author on various education policy topics, most often on the intersection of technology and education. Chris received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School, where he was an editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review, and his B.A. in Government and Theology from Georgetown University.

Ruth Ann Norton serves as President & CEO of Green & Healthy Homes Initiative. A dedicated advocate for healthy housing, she broadened the mission of the organization, formerly known as the Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, by designing a groundbreaking national program built on a framework of cross-sector collaboration to efficiently deliver green, healthy and safe homes in communities throughout the U.S. A founding member of the Maryland Lead Poisoning Prevention Commission, she led the efforts in Maryland to reduce childhood lead poisoning by 98% and helped develop 27 pieces of state and local legislation to prevent lead poisoning and create healthier homes. She is a member of Maryland's Workgroup for Workforce Development for Community Health Workers, the National Resources Defense Council's Energy Efficiency for All and serves on the steering committee for Network Energy Water and Health in Affordable Housing.

Bryce is an assistant professor of accounting at the University of Rochester's Simon School of Business. He received his PhD in accounting from the University of Southern California with a dissertation focusing on financial reporting for asset impairments. His research interests focus on financial reporting and include earnings quality, debt-holder uses of accounting information, and the effect of accounting information on asset prices. Bryce's undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder are also in accounting, and he currently holds an active CPA license. In 2007, he received an Elijah Watt Sells award for obtaining one of the top ten scores on the complete CPA exam. Before starting his PhD program, Bryce spent two years working in the electronic audit support group at PricewaterhouseCoopers. A volunteer with a number of community service organizations, Bryce worked for several years with CCEO Youthbuild Charter School, a Los Angeles-based organization that provides alternative education and construction training to youth from disadvantaged communities. Bryce lives in Rochester, NY. In his free time, he enjoys yoga, hiking, backpacking, and reading accounting research and post-modern literature.

Stockton leads strategy, staff, and budgeting for ULI research, analysis, and advocacy on the global priority issues for ULI members: affordable housing, real estate finance, sustainability and economic performance, innovation in development practice, and shaping successful cities and regions. He concurrently runs the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing, which provides analysis and advice nationally to housing industry leaders and local communities on housing policy design and implementation, emerging trends in residential demand and demographics, and innovations in design and development that expand housing affordability.

Stockton is author of recent industry leading ULI research on demographic drivers of housing demand, suburban housing futures, the economics of inclusionary development, and emerging strategies for affordable preservation. He serves as principal advocate for ULI priorities with national industry organizations and public officials and primary spokesperson with the media.

Stockton was previously Managing Principal of the Washington, D.C. office of HR&A Advisors. He also served as Senior Advisor in two Federal Cabinet agencies: the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the U.S. Department of Energy. He has been Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Enterprise Community Partners; a Senior Advisor at Living Cities; and a developer of affordable housing. Stockton is Chairman of the Board of Groundswell, a clean energy social enterprise. He holds an M.S. from Columbia University and a B.A. from Princeton University.