Propelling clean technologies on the path to profitability
  


Partner Bios

Anjali Varma
Ron Quick | Pengfei Shen | Lou McGuire |
Alison Obenauf | Natalie Katsarava

 


Managing Partners

Anjali Varma, Managing Partner

Anjali Varma is a co-founder of Sustainable Ventures Inc. Anjali brings more than 8 years of practical experience in promoting sustainability to increase profitability in business. Prior to starting the company, Anjali was involved in placing investments into early stage environmental technology demonstration projects. During her tenure, she was involved in placing over $100M of funds into more than 50 projects. Her responsibilities included conducting due diligence on 100 deals, building an expert reviewer network and most importantly, performed a preliminary assessment on over 1300 environmental technology companies.

Anjali started her career with Union Gas, an Ontario based natural gas utility, where she was responsible for increasing the utility's profitability in the $400M core customer base. To achieve this end, Anjali was responsible for development and implementation of innovative marketing and sales strategies to promote the safe and efficient use of natural gas. Union Gas was part of the Duke Energy family, and as such, Anjali was involved in several strategic projects in the areas of rates, corporate re-structuring, storage and transmission developments, large power projects, performance management systems and process improvements.

Anjali holds an MSc. (DIC) in Environmental Technologies from Imperial College, University of London. She also obtained a BSc. in Environmental Sciences as a Canada scholar from Carleton University.                                                                                                                        

 

 


Key Team Members

Ron Quick

Ron Quick brings 25 years of experience in energy conversion technology design, development, testing and product development. Most recently, Ron worked as a Screening and Evaluation manager recommending project funding for clean technology demonstration projects, with principle areas of responsibility in hydrogen and transportation systems. His responsibilities included evaluating approximately 500 submissions of ‘project statements of interest’ and conducted in-depth due diligence of over 40 companies, working closely with these applicants to identify and address gaps in their business and product development plans.

Ron also spent 2 years as an independent energy consultant working on a variety of energy projects and plans, as well as the development of a protection and controls course curriculum for the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).

Ron has worked with a variety of organizations and institutions including Global Thermoelectric where he applied his skills as a product development manager, Ontario Hydro, and Kinetrics where he was engaged in design, development and testing of various energy conversion technologies, and distributed generation technologies. Ron was involved in the development of Alternative Energy plans and was a key technical reviewer for Ontario Hydro’s Renewable Energy Technology (RET) program.

Ron graduated from Queen’s University with a B.A.Sc. in Engineering Physics, and completed an M.Eng, in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Toronto. He is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicist of Alberta (APEGGA), the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE).

 

Pengfei Shen

Pengfei Shen has 9 years of experiences in performing business process improvements in three multi-million dollar manufacturing companies. Pengfei has implemented ISO-9001 for two of these companies and QS-9000 for one of them. He is a Microsoft certified Excel expert with extraordinary skills in developing automation tools. Among his accomplishments, Pengfei solely designed and implanted an ERP database to manage Pathway Design and Manufacturing Inc, a specialized fuel-cell components manufacturer.                                                                                                         

He joins Sustainable Venture Inc. to lead the development and provision of online process improvement, measurement and monitoring tools and resources for SVI clients. Pengfei graduated from British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) with a Bachelor degree in Business Administration.

 

Lou McGuire

Lou McGuire brings more than 20 years of experience and expertise serving Canadian Cabinet Ministers in policy areas which span energy, oil and gas, mining, forestry, fisheries, aboriginal interests and sustainable development. His depth and breath of policy acumen are fortified by his extensive business and political networks across federal and provincial jurisdictions, and extend to the international arena.

Lou will be responsible for business development with SVI, specifically the cultivation of strategic alliances and networks which advance the movement of sustainable development technologies to market. Lou’s reputation for candour and his capacity to optimally balance stakeholder interests enables him to offer SVI clients superior advice in promoting their interests.

 

Alison Obenauf

Alison has over eight years of experience as an environmental technologist.  She has vast experience in bench-scale and laboratory-scale remediation technology R&D work covering a full range of environmental contaminants in both water and soil. She has participated in the full range of activities surrounding R&D including: research, performing experiments (bench and pilot scale), data analysis, report writing, collection and preparation of samples, and the maintenance and operation of research equipment. She has extensive experience in writing technical reports, work plans, standard operating procedures (CAEAL and ISO documentation), quality manuals, training programs, proposals, and experimental and analytical methods.

Alison has prepared and performed several audits (water, environmental compliance, energy, and waste audits) for numerous government clients including Environment Canada, Public Works and Government Services, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Alison graduated from Georgian College with a diploma in Environmental Engineering Technology and is currently completing her bachelor of science through part time studies. Alison is a member of OACETT (associate CET) and is in the process of becoming a certified environmental practitioner.

 

Natalie Katsarava

Natalie Katsarava provides financial and accounting services for SVI. She has provided her skills to a number of Canadian companies and associations, bringing a strong knowledge and understanding of Canadian taxation, GAAP and financial reporting, Canadian employment standards and financial software.

Natalie’s academic training in mathematics and statistics ensures a robust level of analysis and support to SVI’s financial administration.

 

 

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