CleanTech
Ramesh Venugopal
AssociateRamesh joined VantagePoint most recently from Accenture where he was a management consultant helping clients develop financial models to value and integrate acquisition targets and mitigate risk. Prior to Accenture he was a team leader in research and development at Texas Instruments, where he worked for eight years, contributing in a number of strategic areas including medical electronics, communications, energy, and automotive. Earlier Ramesh worked at Motorola and the Los Alamos National Labs. He holds 6 patents and has published numerous, widely cited, journal articles. Ramesh has an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University (where he received an Intel Ph.D. fellowship) and an MS in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the University of Utah.
“VantagePoint, and its diverse team, provides me with a unique opportunity to partner with talented entrepreneurs who strive to create a more sustainable, cleaner, and safer world by enabling wiser energy choices.”
—Ramesh Venugopal
Associate
Asia
Ye Xuan
AnalystXuan Ye joined VantagePoint Asia Team as an Analyst in 2011. She is responsible for analyzing the financial services and information technology sector including Cloud Computing, E-commerce and E payments. Prior to joining the company, she practices as a Supervisor of Volunteer at the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games in 2008 and has internship experienceat several institutions such as ZTE and Fix Data Recovery Center. She has a Bachelor degree from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications together with Queen Mary, University of London (dual degree program) in e-Commerce Engineering with Law and a Master of Science degree from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in e-Commerce & Logistics Technology.
CleanTech
Josh Silber
AssociateJosh joined the VantagePoint team as an Associate in 2011. His career began at Credit Suisse in New York where he worked as an investment banker in the Global Energy Group focusing on traditional power and alternative energy technologies. In this role he advised financial and strategic clients across M&A and capital markets transactions representing upwards of $5 billion of capital. Subsequently, he joined Good Energies as an investment professional, supporting the team in making cleantech investments. Joshua received his BA in Economics and in History with general and departmental honors from The University of Chicago.
CleanTech
Kal Patel
PartnerKal leads VantagePoint’s global Strategic Partner initiatives and helps grow the Firm’s investment presence globally. He joins VantagePoint following an extensive career at retailer Best Buy where he most recently served as Executive Vice President and President of the Asia Region. Joining Best Buy in 2003, he helped shape and lead many of the company's growth and transformation efforts including customer centricity strategy; acquisition of the Five Star Business in China; emerging growth platforms such as transportation, mobility, health and home energy management, and the Best Buy Capital Alpha Fund. Prior to Best Buy, Kal served as Senior Partner at Strategos, a leading strategy and consulting firm and has worked extensively on major strategy and innovation sustainability programs for a number of Fortune 500 companies. Prior to Strategos, he worked for KPMG Consulting and Courtaulds PLC in the UK. Kal has an MBA from the London Business School, UK and a B.Eng (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from the University of Leeds, UK.
“The team at VantagePoint understands what it takes to incubate and build sustainable global business models.”
—Kal Patel
Partner
CleanTech, Operations
Stephen D. Gray
Partner, Investor RelationsStephen comes to VantagePoint most recently from Jefferies & Co. where he was the Managing Director and Global Head of the Fund Placement Group. Prior to Jefferies, Steve was at Henniker River Advisors as a Managing Director, Private Equity fundraising for venture capital partnerships. He was the Owner/Director at Gateway Global Partners Limited and a Managing Director and Head of Private Equity at Salomon Smith Barney where he focused on fund raising and early stage equity. Stephen has been a board level participant in emerging growth technology companies with a focus on business and market development. He has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Connecticut School of Business.
“VantagePoint provides investors a compelling proposition through impact investing across a broad spectrum of the global economy.”
—Stephen D. Gray
Partner, Investor Relations
CleanTech, Operations
Stephen D. Gray
Partner, Investor RelationsStephen comes to VantagePoint most recently from Jefferies & Co. where he was the Managing Director and Global Head of the Fund Placement Group. Prior to Jefferies, Steve was at Henniker River Advisors as a Managing Director, Private Equity fundraising for venture capital partnerships. He was the Owner/Director at Gateway Global Partners Limited and a Managing Director and Head of Private Equity at Salomon Smith Barney where he focused on fund raising and early stage equity. Stephen has been a board level participant in emerging growth technology companies with a focus on business and market development. He has a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of Connecticut School of Business.
“VantagePoint provides investors a compelling proposition through impact investing across a broad spectrum of the global economy.”
—Stephen D. Gray
Partner, Investor Relations
Operations
Thomas R. Ley
Partner, Investor RelationsTom comes to VantagePoint from Guggenheim Partners. As a Managing Director at Guggenheim, he opened the San Francisco office and represented alternative investment general partners in fund-raising efforts to institutional investors in the western United States and western Canada. Tom marketed private equity, buyout, real asset and hedge funds to employee retirement systems, endowments and institutional money managers. Prior to Guggenheim, Tom spent 12 years in private equity as the Managing Director opening and running the San Francisco office of HIG Capital and the West Coast office of Lincolnshire Management. Tom received his BA from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.
“As the leading CleanTech investor, VantagePoint is investing in transformational companies which have significant impact on the world's largest industries.”
—Thomas R. Ley
Partner, Investor Relations
CleanTech
Thomas R. Ley
Partner, Investor RelationsTom comes to VantagePoint from Guggenheim Partners. As a Managing Director at Guggenheim, he opened the San Francisco office and represented alternative investment general partners in fund-raising efforts to institutional investors in the western United States and western Canada. Tom marketed private equity, buyout, real asset and hedge funds to employee retirement systems, endowments and institutional money managers. Prior to Guggenheim, Tom spent 12 years in private equity as the Managing Director opening and running the San Francisco office of HIG Capital and the West Coast office of Lincolnshire Management. Tom received his BA from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business.
“As the leading CleanTech investor, VantagePoint is investing in transformational companies which have significant impact on the world's largest industries. ”
—Thomas R. Ley
Partner, Investor Relations
Asia
Han Zhang
AssociateHan co-founded AISpace where he worked on domestic and overseas business development. Under his guidance, AISpace won partnership with the $150 million Japanese government project Information Grand Voyage and developed a key relationship with the largest Chinese water industry portal, China-H2O. Han also has work experience at Nikken as a Software Engineer. He has an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management, a Masters in Civil Engineering from the University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering and a Bachelors in Hydraulic Engineering from Tsinghua University.
Asia
Yanyan Gong
PartnerYanyan comes to VantagePoint most recently from Deutsche Bank in Hong Kong where she worked as a Vice President of Corporate Finance. Prior to Deutsche, she worked at Boshi Fund Management as an Investment Manager, and has extensive experience in both mergers and acquisitions and initial public offerings. Yanyan has a Bachelors Degree in Finance from Peking University, Guanghua School of Management, a Masters in Economics from The Graduate School of People's Bank of China and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She also qualifies as a CPA and CFA and is fluent in Mandarin and English.
