Imagine H2O at SF Climate Week

Felicia Marcus (Stanford University) is the Landreth Visiting Fellow at the Water in the West Program. Her leadership spans government roles (Chair of California Water Resources Control Board, EPA Region IX Administrator, LA Public Works Director) and NGOs (Trust for Public Land, NRDC). She serves on the Water Policy Group, North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation, and Western Electricity Coordinating Council. A Harvard College graduate (cum laude) with NYU Law degree, she’s a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and American College of Environmental Lawyers.

Dan Reicher (Climate Adaptation Infrastructure) brings decades of expertise as an investor, entrepreneur, policymaker, lawyer, and lecturer focused on clean energy and climate change. His distinguished career includes serving three U.S. presidents, testifying before Congress over 50 times, pioneering Google’s energy initiatives, and accelerating wind deployment as Assistant Secretary of Energy. Reicher’s expertise bridges policy knowledge and practical implementation in developing sustainable infrastructure solutions for the evolving climate challenges.

Ida Hempel (Galvanize) is the VP and Head of Market Development and specializes in climate solution investments. Her experience includes Generation (founding Just Climate), Emerson Collective’s venture investing, and Tesla’s product development. She contributed to the Climate-Related Financial Disclosures Taskforce and COP26 Private Finance Hub. Currently on the US Earth Sciences Organization board, Ida hosts “Solving Climate, Naturally” podcast. She holds an MBA/MS from Stanford and a BA from Harvard in Applied Math/Economics. San Francisco-based, she lives with her husband.

David Henderson (XPV Water Partners) is a thought leader in water innovation, policy, and investing. He scales water-related companies while contributing to Bloomberg, BBC, EPA, Global Water Intelligence, MIT, UN, Wharton, and Brookings. Previously, David was Vice President at Kinghaven Capital Corporation. The Ryerson University business graduate received Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Award, Ontario Premier’s Award of Excellence, and multiple Enactus awards. He’s a Young Presidents Organization member and former Brookfield Institute Senior Fellow.

Mike Werner (Google) recently led all non-energy sustainability programs for Google inclusive of circular economy, water stewardship, and nature & biodiversity from the central sustainability teams. However, as of this week, he has taken on a new leadership role within the consumer hardware division leading all product sustainability and responsible supply chain efforts. Over the last 20 years, Mike has led teams to advance sustainability across many domain areas including water, nature, circular economy, sustainable design, supply chain, green chemistry, and deploying technology solutions for a range of sectors including IT, consumer electronics, building and construction, and primary materials.

Sophie Purdom (Planeteer Capital) is the Managing Partner of a $55M Fund I investing in early-stage climate tech hardware-enabled software founders. She co-founded CTVC and Sightline Climate, a newsletter and data platform with 70,000+ subscribers recognized as climate tech’s source of record in major publications. Previously, Sophie launched an ESG investment fund, published a sustainable investing book, worked at Bain & Company, and helped found Kula Bio, raising $65M for carbon-negative fertilizer development.

Tom Ferguson (Burnt Island Ventures) is the Managing Partner of an early stage venture fund focused exclusively on the water sector. They manage $80m across three funds and have invested in 28 companies, supporting founders building solutions across the water value chain. Tom holds an MA (Hons) from the University of Edinburgh and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Tamin Pechet (Imagine H2O) is Founder and Chairman of Imagine H2O and CEO of Upwell, a holding company for purpose-driven businesses, including a major water finance company. He founded Banyan Water, a PE-backed software business remotely operating water systems nationwide. Previously, Tamin was a principal investor at Goldman Sachs, helping launch two firm subsidiaries. He serves on multiple PE-backed technology company boards.

Carley Phillips (Greycroft) joined the firm in 2022 and is based in San Francisco, focusing on climate tech investing for the CCS Sustainability Fund. Previously, she served as an Investment Associate at Decent Capital, Tencent co-founder Jason Zeng’s family office, investing in early-stage consumer internet and enterprise software companies. Carley also worked in Product Management at BrainCo, assisting with go-to-market strategy. She holds a BA in Chinese Language and Culture with a minor in Economics from Wellesley College, where she played NCAA soccer and lacrosse.

Bri Nakamura (Xylem) is a second-generation water engineer with over a decade of industry experience. As Open Innovation Manager for Xylem’s Innovation Lab, she oversees ecosystem partnerships, assists with the Xylem Accelerator cohort, and manages communications. Previously, she was Practice Leader of Innovation at Water Environment Federation and received the 2022 Outstanding Young Professional award. Her background includes municipal wastewater design engineering in the DC metro area. Bri holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Syracuse University and is a licensed Professional Engineer in DC.

Lafe Vittitoe (Silicon Valley Bank), Vice President, focuses on early-stage venture-backed companies in energy, transportation, and agriculture sectors. His work supports innovative clean energy companies including Sunrun, Soltage, Plus Power, AES, Leeward Renewable Energy, and Bloom Energy. At SVB, he has helped commit billions in financing for sustainability projects, with funding that has supported approximately 62% of community solar developments. Previously, Vittitoe held positions at Square 1 Bank and Comerica Bank, providing specialized banking solutions to technology companies.