The Wharton Energy Network is led by an alumni board who is passionate and committed to serving their fellow alumni.
Warren Wang (W'00, ENG’00) | President
Warren Wang is an Associate Director in the Energy, Sustainability, and Infrastructure practice of Guidehouse (formerly Navigant Consulting) based in Los Angeles, CA. His areas of expertise and interest include research, development and demonstration (RD&D) management, emerging technologies integration, and strategic partnership and acquisition planning. He is responsible for program management and delivery of services to the California Energy Commission’s RD&D Division and previously supported the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) with pioneering smart grid and distributed energy system demonstrations from 2010-2015 while based in Pittsburgh, PA. He has also led and executed smart cities (and communities) projects with utilities serving major U.S. cities to enhance service delivery to residents and businesses while improving environmental and community resiliency.
Warren began his career with Arthur D. Little’s Technology and Innovation Management practice in Palo Alto, CA. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s dual degree Jerome Fisher Management and Technology (M&T) Program.
Mark Boyadjian (WEMBA'15) | Treasurer
Mark founded Arevia Power in 2015. Mark has led over $500M in solar project fundraising over the last eight years. Mark has direct experience in raising capital throughout a solar project’s lifecycle: from development capital to Tax Equity and permanent financing. Before starting Arevia Power, Mark held corporate and project finance, and M&A roles at Axio Power, SunEdison, and GCL New Energy. Mark was responsible for leading the funding of SunEdison’s first non-recourse $85M development capital loan. In addition to fundraising, Mark has deep experience in tax credit and PPA structuring. Mark was responsible for structuring and closing SunEdison’s 2012 New Markets and Solar Tax Credit twinned project in Massachusetts and for the 2012 CPS Energy 36MW Partial Prepay project.
Lemar Brown (WG'00) | VP, Houston Programming
Lemar Brown is an energy executive with global experience in the upstream, downstream, LNG, and power, who retired after ~25 years with Royal Dutch Shell and Goldman Sachs. She then launched the Negocium Group and provides short-term consulting on strategy and negotiations. Lemar taught the Capstone Project Course to Executive MBA students at Mays Business School at Texas A&M University until 2019.
Lemar’s most recent position at Royal Dutch Shell was Business Opportunity Manager in Upstream Americas, where she negotiated the divestment of Shell’s Eagle Ford Shale to Sanchez Energy Corporation for over $630 million. Lemar was promoted to Global Strategy Manager for Shell Downstream where she worked internationally and developed strategy for a newly created business, which resulted in marketing new products made from an oil and gas production waste product. As the Vice President of the Cove Point LNG terminal, she had P&L responsibility for Shell’s regasification capacity and successfully negotiated a ~$500 million, 4-party expansion settlement agreement.
Lemar interned and worked for Goldman Sachs after business school. She has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Northwestern University, an MBA from the Wharton School, and was the Goldman Sachs Fellow at Wharton.
Kathryn Gardner (WG’20, L’20) | VP, Membership
Kathryn (Katie) Gardner is a Product Manager at Banyan Infrastructure, a SaaS platform that digitizes, automates, and creates transparency through the loan lifecycle of infrastructure projects. She previously worked at one of Newmont Mining Corporation’s northern Nevada operations as an Underground Mine Engineer.
Katie graduated from the Carey JD/MBA program at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and the Wharton School, and holds a BS in Mining Engineering from the University of Kentucky. She is a professionally licensed mining engineer in the state of Nevada.
Sid Radhakrishna (WG’20) | Immediate Past President
Sid Radhakrishna is a Finance & Operations Associate at Form Energy, which is developing long-duration energy storage systems that enable a 100% renewable grid. Sid started his journey to scale climate innovations with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, a $2 billion venture fund launched by Bill Gates to invest in companies scaling innovations that address climate change.
Previously, Sid was a Senior Associate at Illumen Capital, a private equity firm providing investors with access to the world’s top impact investing funds. Sid helped found the firm, raise its first fund, and establish its research partnership with Stanford University. Prior to Illumen, Sid served as Chief of Staff at the Calvert Funds’ private equity program and was an Associate within PwC’s life sciences practice. Sid graduated with an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a BBA in Accounting from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Nic Renard (WG'22) | VP, Campus Engagement
Nic is Chief of Staff at Compact Membrane Systems, a Climate Tech startup based in Wilmington, Delaware, pioneering membranes for deep industrial decarbonization in hard-to-abate sectors. Halfway through his MBA, Nic spent a year at HiiROC, a UK-based clean hydrogen startup, working closely with the CEO as Development Director from pre-series A to series B. In his last year at Penn, Nic co-chaired Climate Leaders @ Penn, the university's association for graduate students interested in climate topics.
Nic is a Chartered Engineer and began his career in Defense & Aerospace. He has a Mechanical Engineering MEng degree from Imperial College London and spent 8+ years at Rolls-Royce, working on both military and civil projects in the UK and in India.
In his spare time, Nic likes travelling and enjoying the great outdoors with his wife and two children.
Rishika Ghosh (WG'21) | VP, Campus Engagement
Rishika Ghosh is a Senior Associate at the Philadelphia Green Capital Corp. (PGCC), the green bank affiliate of the Philadelphia Energy Authority (PEA) focused on driving a robust & equitable clean energy market in Philadelphia. She has over a decade of academic & professional experience in wind engineering and sustainable development. Rishika is a board member of the Clean Air Council. She holds an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she served as a co-President of the Wharton Energy Club, and holds a BS and an M.Eng in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University.
Dan Sheehan (WG'22) | VP, Campus Engagement
Dan is an Associate in Morgan Stanley's Project and Infrastructure Finance group in New York. Dan previously was at Deloitte in their Audit & Assurance practice focused on banking and capital markets. Dan is an MBA graduate of Wharton, he was co-president of the Wharton Energy Club, and earned a B.A. from Holy Cross.
Gautam Suresh (MSE'21) | VP, Europe
Gautam is an Analyst at Andurand Capital, a London/Malta based investment fund, where he works for Andurand's Climate and Energy Transition Fund, a thematic fund focused on equity, carbon, and commodity expressions of the energy transition.
While pursuing his masters at Penn, Gautam worked at Bloomberg New Energy Finance as an Energy Storage Analyst, publishing reports on disruptive battery technologies and startups. Gautam also worked as a policy researcher at the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, working on projects ranging from the European Hydrogen Economy to Green Bonds. Before Penn, Gautam researched thin film solid-state batteries at the Laboratory of Energy Storage & Conversion in University of California, San Diego, under the tutelage of Professor Shirley Meng.
Gautam holds a B.S. in Nanoengineering from the University of California, San Diego, a M.S.E. in Nanotechnology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Certificate in Energy Management & Policy from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at Penn.
Emeritus Board Members
We are grateful to our past board members for their service to the Wharton Energy Network community.
Zachary N. Goldstein (WG’18) | VP, Programming
Zachary Goldstein is Vice President of Nature-Based Solutions Investments at Carbon Direct Capital, an investment fund focused on carbon management, and chairs the Advisory Board of Bison Fuels, a green hydrogen developer + integrator. Prior to this role, Goldstein served as Head of Investments at Aspiration Partners (now Catona Climate), focused on carbon removal investments. Previously, Goldstein worked as a Vice President at Goldman Sachs Renewable Power (now MN8 Energy) with fellow Advisor Michael Conti. Prior to Goldman, Goldstein worked at True Green Capital Management LLC, an asset manager in the distributed energy space, and as a Project Finance attorney at Latham & Watkins, Baker Botts, and Sidley Austin LLP. Zach received an A.B. summa cum laude from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, a J.D. from Columbia Law School and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School. He lives in New York City.
Hayley Nystrom (McCurdy) (MES’20) | VP, Programming
Hayley Nystrom is an Investment Associate at Blue Bear Capital, a venture capital firm that invests in the digital layer o the energy transition seeking high growth companies across the energy, infrastructure, and climate industries. Hayley was previously an Equity Research Analyst at Terra Alpha Investments, a public equity manager. Hayley is knowledgeable about corporate environmental disclosure, combining financial and environmental data to inform investment decisions, and sustainable investment strategies.
While pursuing her masters degree at Penn, Hayley joined Energy Impact Partners, a venture capital fund focused on the future of energy, where she sourced potential investments in climate tech and co-authored the firm’s inaugural environmental metrics report. At Penn, Hayley served as a co-chair for the Wharton Energy Conference and worked for Wharton Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL).
Hayley holds a BA in Political Science from Texas Christian University, a Masters of Environmental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Certificate in Energy Management and Policy from the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.