About BCVD

BCVD Organizing Committee

The Boston Cleantech Venture Day Committee is mainly made up of representatives from non-profit European Business Councils and Chambers of Commerce in New England.

Per Baverstam, Chairman of BCVD

Per Baverstam currently serves as Chairman for the Swedish American Chamber of Commerce of New England. In this position he initiated the first BCVD event in 2008 and is still leading the yearly BCVD conferences.

Dr. Per Baverstam received his Ph.D. from MIT’s Materials Science and Engineering Department and has a consulting career with firms, such as McKinsey and Co. He founded Baverstam Associates in 1990. Baverstam Associates provides market and technology intelligence services to US and European technology firms and manufacturing companies, with offices in Boston, Stockholm, and Geneva. Cleantech is one of the key areas. For more information see www.baverstam.com, and the publications listed on the website.

Maurice Gervais, Co-Chairman of BCVD

Maurice Gervais is President of the French-American Chamber of Commerce of New-England, a non-profit, independent organization. He is a Professor at Simmons College Graduate School of Management and teaches Corporate Strategies, International Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Maurice spent most of his professional career in the computer industry and managed operations in Europe and in the U.S. with American and French firms, among them General Electric, Honeywell and Bull. Maurice participated in Business Seminars in Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Korea, China, and India, and consulted for high-tech start-up companies in Russia and Central Asia. Maurice has an engineering degree from the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers in Paris, an MBA from Boston University and is a graduate of the Advanced Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

Amir Eldad, New-England Israel Business Council and French American Chamber of Commerce to New England

Amir is a “Global Technology Company Builder” – a serial entrepreneur and high-tech executive with 25+ years experience in Global Go-To-Market planning and execution across Israel, France and the US. In 2011, Amir founded A2E Partners, providing his clients – growth stage technology companies – with Executive Search and Go-to-Market consulting.

Based in Cambridge, MA and using Boston / Cambridge as a hub for global outreach, Amir is an active participant in multiple entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives, such as: Connector at Boston World Partnerships and co-chair of its Strategy Session Service; Board Member of NEIBC (New England Israel Business Council) and Chair of the CleanTech committee; Chair of the CleanTech committee of FACCNE (French American Chamber of Commerce New England); Active member of the Boston Chapter of CEN (Clean Economy Network).

Jos Scheffelaar, Business Group of the Netherland-America Foundation, Boston

Jos Scheffelaar is President of the Business Group of the Boston Chapter of the Netherland-America Foundation. He is CEO and Co-Founder of Launch in US Alliance, a company with offices in Boston and Zurich that helps international companies enter the US market. He also is a Connector at Boston World Partnerships, an organization supporting the economic development of Greater Boston.

Jos has 25+ years of international business experience in the high-tech sector, and has been stationed in several countries in Europe, as well as in Asia. He holds a Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering from the Technical University Delft in the Netherlands.

Raymond F. Skoglund, The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of New England

Ray is an international investment banker with 1st Corporate Technologies. Ray works with international technology companies in cross-border mergers and acquisitions, and fundraising through a global network of corporations, entrepreneurs and investors. Ray draws on an extensive background in both investment banking and corporate law, and has a broad range of experience in the technology sector. Ray has a significant focus on Europe and Scandinavia, in particular. Ray previously worked at PMorgan/Hambrecht & Quist and helped start-up and grow a US-based boutique investment bank. Ray received a B.A. from Connecticut College and a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law and is a member of the state bars of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Washington, D.C. Ray holds Series 7, 24 and 63 licenses and relevant licenses under the UK’s FSA.

Per Hjerppe, The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of New England

Per is the Secretary of The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of New England. Originally from Finland and was moved from the Stockholm, Sweden office, to the Boston area in 1974, by a computer manufacturer, Digital Equipment Corp-DEC. Per has extensive international management experience with, sales management, product management, marketing management, hardware and software development management and starting new businesses. Per has lived and worked in Germany, Munich and Singapore, where he was responsible for starting the Internet business in the whole Asia-Pacific region, this in addition to being responsible for the telecom service provider market. Per is a board member of The Scandinavian Charitable Society of Greater Boston. Per also provides consulting about Internet security issues.

Rasmus Goksor, The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce of New England

Rasmus Goksor is the President of The Swedish American Chamber of Commerce of New England. He has previous experience as a corporate and securities associate at Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP, where he specialized in the representation of emerging growth companies throughout their lifecycles as well as a number of leading venture capital firms. Rasmus has been involved in a number of web start-ups. Rasmus has a LL.B. and LL.M. from Gothenburg University School of Law, an LL.M. from Boston University School of Law, and is currently an S.J.D. Candidate at Duke Law School. He has been a Visiting Researcher at the European Law Research Center at Harvard Law School.

Nina E. Andersson , The Finnish American Chamber of Commerce and Brown Rudnick LLP

Nina Andersson-Willard, originally from Finland, moved to Boston in 2000 to join Brown Rudnick LLP, one of Boston’s leading law firms, with offices in Boston, New York, Washington DC, London, Hartford, and Providence. At Brown Rudnick, Nina assists US companies, as well as European companies entering the US market, in a broad range of matters including corporate formation, venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, securities law compliance and other commercial and financial transactions. Nina works closely with companies in all stages of development, both emerging growth and public. Prior to joining Brown Rudnick, Nina worked at one of Finland’s largest law firms, Castren & Snellman. Nina is a member of the board of the New York chapter of the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce. In addition to her law degree from the University of Helsinki, Nina has J.D. from Suffolk University Law School and a L.L.M. from Boston University School of Law.

Urszula Wojciechowska, British American Business Council of New England, Inc.

Urszula is an experienced executive with over twenty years of professional activity in leadership and management, event and strategic planning, marketing, business development and project coordination in national and international arenas. She has a background in education, public relations, marketing and international affairs. Urszula founded the Global Business Alliance of New England, Inc. in 1997 to bring together international business associations in the New England area. The Alliance has facilitated collaborations between member organizations and holds an annual flagship event, the Annual International Business Forum and Networking Evening. She is actively involved in the business and non-profit community including the Massachusetts State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Trustee, the Junior League of Boston, Inc., Board member, Luxury Marketing Council and the Boston Committee for Foreign Relations.

Arne Hessenbruch, Boston Denmark Partnerships

Arne Hessenbruch has a PhD in History of Science from Cambridge University in England. He is affiliated with MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where he helps teach a course on commercialization of research. He is in the process of starting Boston Denmark Partnerships, in order to provide a beachhead for Danish companies entering the US market. Arne is the Boston City Manager for Danes Abroad Business Group Online, the New England Representative of Danes Worldwide, a Connector for Boston World Partnerships, and an organizer of many events in the Boston area.

Albert L. Sokol, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP

Al is a partner at Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP, and his cleantech work includes venture capital financings, PIPEs, registered direct offerings, venture loans, an IPO, and state and federal government loan programs, licensing, executive compensation, strategic alliances, M&A, litigation, intellectual property issues, and project finance. With 32 years of experience, his legal work has involved inbound and outbound matters relating to approximately 30 countries. Al frequently speaks/publishes on various legal topics, and has been recognized in several editions of the Practical Law Counsel’s Global Counsel 3000 as a Recommended practitioner in Boston in M&A and Company/Corporate Transactions, and by Law & Politics and Boston Magazine as a Securities & Venture Finance Super Lawyer.

Gregg Griner, Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP

Gregg Griner is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Group of Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP. Gregg’s practice encompasses all areas of general corporate and securities law, with extensive experience in corporate finance, including public offerings (representing issuers, selling stockholders and underwriters) and private placements of equity and debt (representing issuers, investors and lenders); mergers and acquisitions; and venture capital fund formation. Gregg received his A.B. from Stanford University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago. Gregg is a member of the State Bars of Massachusetts and Colorado.

Hosting Organization

Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP

Albert Sokol, Jill Hanson and Eric Carlson are members of the Energy, Infrastructure and CleanTech Practice Group of Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP. They provide comprehensive legal advice to their energy and clean technology industry clients in areas such as venture capital financings, PIPEs, registered direct offerings, venture loans, IPOs, state and federal government loan programs, licensing, executive compensation, strategic alliances, mergers and acquisitions, litigation, intellectual property issues and project finance. They represent both domestic and international entities such as independent power producers, investor-owned utilities and other energy providers, developers, lenders, underwriters, private equity funds, lease equity and other financial organizations, governments and agencies involved in energy and infrastructure projects, as well as manufacturers of cleantech and other energy-related products and services. In addition to being part of the organizing committee, Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP is the host and a proud sponsor of BCVD and SPCD.