OUR TEAM

Investment Team

Johanna Schmidtke, PhD

Managing Partner

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    Johanna Schmidtke's background spans venture capital to private equity investments. She has focused on the energy and industrial sectors throughout - including renewable and conventional energy, circular economy models, materials and chemicals, and industrial digital solutions.  


    Most recently, Johanna served as Senior Consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office. Previously she was an Investment Director with Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, and a Managing Director and member of investment committee at Ara Partners.


    Johanna received her PhD in Physics from the University of Cambridge and her BS in Mathematics and Biochemistry from the University of Arizona. 

Todd Overbergen

Advising Partner

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    Todd Overbergen is an executive with more than 30 years of private investing, finance, restructuring, and accounting experience, including more than 20 years of energy investing and fund management experience. 


    Previously, Todd was a founding partner of Stellus Capital Management (“Stellus”), a multiproduct investment fund which managed $2.9 billion AUM in lower middle market private credit and energy equity.  Todd led Stellus’ Energy Private Equity Strategy and sat on the investment committee for Stellus Capital. Todd began his career at Arthur Andersen LLP’s Global Corporate Finance Group, and has held additional investment roles in the Direct Capital Unit of the D.E. Shaw Group and at Duke Capital Partners LLC, a merchant banking subsidiary of Duke Energy Corporation. 


    Todd received a B.B.A. in accounting and a B.B.A. in finance from Texas A&M University.


Ellen Wilkirson

Principal

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    Ellen has over a decade of experience in accounting, finance, and investing across the energy landscape, including oil and gas, energy transition, infrastructure, industrials, and the circular economy. In previous roles, she has been responsible for originating, conducting due diligence, executing, and monitoring venture and growth equity investments, and she has served as both a board member and a board observer for portfolio companies. Most recently, Ellen was a Managing Director at Freestone, a subsidiary of Tailwater Capital, where she led and executed investments in energy transition and circular economy companies. 


    Ellen received her BBA in Accounting and Master in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a CPA in the State of Texas. 

Rebecca Jaffe

Principal

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    Rebecca Jaffe’s experience includes over a decade in the energy industry focused on scaling low-carbon technology including solar, energy storage, mobility, digital solutions, and waste-to-energy. Her work encompassed strategy, business development, product management, technical sales, project development and deployment. Rebecca played a key role in launching and scaling Tesla's Energy Storage business. Most recently, Rebecca served as Director of Strategy & Innovation at GTI Energy where she helped launch Rev Innovations.


    Rebecca received her BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a minor in Energy & Water Sustainability from Rice University.

ADVISERs

Heather Campbell

ADviser, Rev

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    Heather Campbell brings three decades of leadership across the energy industry working to commercialize innovative low-carbon solutions. Ms. Campbell is an advisory council member of the British Columbia Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy and an advisory board member of the National Research Council of Canada's Industrial Research Assistance Program. Her prior work includes serving as the Executive Director of Clean Technology with Alberta Innovates as well as technical, policy, and business roles at TC Energy, AESO, ARC Resources, and NOVA Chemicals.



    Ms. Campbell has been recognized for her dedicated community work, actively sharing her talents, resources, and time in leading a purposely diverse range of organizations.  She is a board director with Calgary’s performing arts centre Arts Commons, a member of the Advisory Council for Western Engineering and a Commissioner with the Calgary Police Commission.  She is the former co-chair of Alberta’s Anti-Racism Advisory Council and has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal and the Calgary Black Chambers Black Achievement Award in Energy.



    Ms. Campbell holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree in Biochemical and Chemical Engineering from Western University in addition to a Master of Laws in Energy Law and Policy from the University of Dundee. She is a licensed professional engineer practicing in Alberta, Canada. 

Paula Gant

CEO, GTI Energy

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    Dr. Paula Gant is President and CEO of GTI Energy, a leading research and training organization focused on developing and scaling low-carbon, low-cost energy transition solutions. She has a passion for building collaborative teams, aligning innovation with impact, and convening diverse stakeholders to pursue solutions to consequential energy system challenges. With two decades of experience in leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Energy, American Gas Association, and Duke Energy Corporation, Dr. Gant is an established and respected thought leader in energy systems, markets, and security spaces. She is a graduate of McNeese State University in Louisiana and Auburn University in Alabama. Paula currently serves as President of Rev Innovations Inc.

ADVISERs

Heather Campbell

Adviser, Rev

  • READ FULL BIO

    Heather Campbell brings three decades of leadership across the energy industry working to commercialize innovative low-carbon solutions. Ms. Campbell is an advisory council member of the British Columbia Centre for Innovation and Clean Energy and an advisory board member of the National Research Council of Canada's Industrial Research Assistance Program. Her prior work includes serving as the Executive Director of Clean Technology with Alberta Innovates as well as technical, policy, and business roles at TC Energy, AESO, ARC Resources, and NOVA Chemicals.


    Ms. Campbell has been recognized for her dedicated community work, actively sharing her talents, resources, and time in leading a purposely diverse range of organizations.  She is a board director with Calgary’s performing arts centre Arts Commons, a member of the Advisory Council for Western Engineering and a Commissioner with the Calgary Police Commission.  She is the former co-chair of Alberta’s Anti-Racism Advisory Council and has been awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal and the Calgary Black Chambers Black Achievement Award in Energy.


    Ms. Campbell holds a Bachelor of Engineering Science degree in Biochemical and Chemical Engineering from Western University in addition to a Master of Laws in Energy Law and Policy from the University of Dundee. She is a licensed professional engineer practicing in Alberta, Canada. 

Paula Gant

CEO, GTI ENERGY

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    Dr. Paula Gant is President and CEO of GTI Energy, a leading research and training organization focused on developing and scaling low-carbon, low-cost energy transition solutions. She has a passion for building collaborative teams, aligning innovation with impact, and convening diverse stakeholders to pursue solutions to consequential energy system challenges. With two decades of experience in leadership roles at the U.S. Department of Energy, American Gas Association, and Duke Energy Corporation, Dr. Gant is an established and respected thought leader in energy systems, markets, and security spaces. She is a graduate of McNeese State University in Louisiana and Auburn University in Alabama. Paula currently serves as President of Rev Innovations Inc.

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