SeaAhead’s Innovation in Offshore Wind

With over 20 years of experience in building and scaling startups and driving business line and capability development within large organizations, Nadir oversees the growth and development of SeaAhead’s programs and platform, developing relationships with new and existing partners, and building out SeaAhead’s operational infrastructure.

Nadir's sector experience spans banking & financial services, construction & real estate, proptech, urbantech and climatetech. His functional experience spans sales & business development, operations, and strategy, continually leveraging data & analytics. Prior to joining SeaAhead, Nadir served as Chief Strategy & Sustainability Officer for a UK Proptech Startup, Global Research Manager of Geospatial Analytics for McKinsey & Company, Vice President of Marketing for Citizens Financial Group, and founder/advisor to several startups in data, analytics, iot/sensors, sustainability, and cities.

Nadir holds a Master of Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), a Master of Landscape Architecture from Harvard GSD, and a BS in Natural Resources Management from the University of Michigan.

Elizabeth Turnbull Henry is currently the President of the Environmental League of Massachusetts. Prior to that, she served as the Director of Energy, Environment and ISO at Adidas. There, she was responsible for managing the Green Company Program, overseeing energy & environmental strategy & targets for adidas Group 'owned operations' globally, including offices, distribution centers and retail stores. She also designed, built and managed adidas Group's 3 project venture capital funds: greenENERGY Fund, lowWASTE Fund, and lowWATER Fund. She holds an MBA/MEM from Yale University and a B.A. from Colby.

An Army veteran and graduate of the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, Reaves is a seasoned diversity practitioner with more than 18 years of experience. In his development and oversight role with the Boston Planning and Development Agency, he was charged with leading racial, equity and diversity priorities while working to establish collaborative partnerships with internal and external stakeholders. He has also worked for the City of Boston and Naval Air Systems Command.

Lauren Farnsworth is the Senior Program Manager for Offshore Wind at MassCEC. After graduating from Northeastern with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Environmental Science and the University of Rhode Island with a Master of Arts in Marine Affairs, Lauren worked with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management as a Policy Intern. She then moved on to Save The Bay, a non-profit working towards ecological restoration of Narragansett Bay as a Marine Educator and Specialist. She also worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant back at URI before moving to MassCEC as a Program Manager for Offshore Wind.

Robert F. (Bob) Chen is a Professor and Interim Dean of the School for the Environment at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He received his AB from Harvard University in Chemistry and Physics in 1986 and his PhD in Oceanography from Scripps Institution of Oceanography in 1992. After an NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, he has remained at UMass Boston since 1993, serving as Graduate Program Director, Director of the Center for Coastal Environmental Sensing Networks (CESN), and presently Interim Dean. His research interests include the cycling of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), carbon biogeochemistry in coastal systems, and the development of sensor networks in shallow water systems. He has explored dissolved organic carbon (DOC) outwelling from salt marshes, remote sensing of coastal water quality, and indicators of estuarine health. He is also dedicated to ocean and environmental science education and outreach at the local, national, and international levels and transforming K-12, undergraduate and graduate environmental and aquatic science education. He was the Principal Investigator of the Watershed-Integrated Sciences Partnership (wisp.umb.edu), COSEE OCEAN (coseeocean.net), the Boston Energy in Science Teaching (BEST) (bostonscience.net), and Coasts and Communities IGERT projects, and he has been involved in Ocean Literacy and Energy Literacy efforts. He was Chair of the COSEE Council from 2013-2014. He has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and is an active researcher in the area of coastal observations, carbon cycling, and contaminant distribution and fate.

Jennifer Menard, Vice President of Economic and Business Development, oversees the National Offshore Wind Institute (NOWI), a state-of-the-art industry training and educational center, partnered with Maersk Training. The NOWI, located in the city of New Bedford, is a one-stop location with a diverse training portfolio that meets the needs of the offshore wind industry and its related certifications and competencies as well as hosts proprietary and customized training opportunities. The NOWI offers Global Wind Organisation (GWO) trainings, an industry standard, including Basic Safety Training, Basic Technical Training, Advanced Rescue, Slinger Signaler, and Blade Repair. The NOWI is developing for the spring specialized programs such as Helicopter Underwater Escape Training or HUET, and customized private sector training.

Jennifer’s background in offshore wind goes back to 2008, managing U.S. delegations visiting offshore wind projects in Europe to best understand the opportunities for Massachusetts and the U.S. Jennifer was a part of the team that released the 2018 Massachusetts Offshore Wind Workforce Assessment, funded by the MA Clean Energy Center, identifying critical workforce development and employment data for the offshore wind industry, spurring the development and mission of the NOWI.

Jennifer has been a leader in economic and business development for over 20 years, first serving as the regional point of contact for 14 years, managing industry cluster development, business recruitment, and a focus on the connections to higher education.

Nicole Verdi presently works as Orsted’s New England Head of Government Affairs and Policy. In this role, she is responsible for working with the New England Congressional delegation, governors’ offices and state and local officials to advance Orsted’s vision of a world run entirely on green energy and support successful development of Orsted’s New England project portfolio.

Previously, she worked for Rhode Island Senate President Dominick Ruggerio as his Chief Legal Counsel and Senior Energy Advisor. Before working for the Senate President, she worked for Governor Gina M. Raimondo as her Deputy Chief of Staff. It was her job to support the Governor and lead the Governor’s efforts to combat climate change, ensure Rhode Island’s roads and bridges are safe and reliable, improve transit, and work with the state’s public safety professionals to keep Rhode Islanders safe.

Prior to joining the Governor’s Office, Ms. Verdi worked as an attorney at Adler Pollock & Sheehan (AP&S). Ms. Verdi also clerked for Rhode Island Supreme Court Justice, Maureen McKenna Goldberg.

Nicole currently serves on the New England Women in Energy and Environment (NEWIEE), New England Council, and RENEW Northeast Boards of Directors.

A marine scientist with over 30 years of experience in assessment of the seafloor, Drew Carey leads an integrated team of skilled marine environmental scientists and analysts trained to interpret and contextualize seafloor health at INSPIRE Environmental, an innovative and cost-effective approach to achieve clients' goals by combining state-of-the-art field equipment, focused sampling designs, and data visualization techniques. Before this, Drew acted as the principal scientist for Coastal Vision, to provide marine environmental technical support to government agencies, commercial firms and public interest groups. Drew currently leads the development of offshore wind services in the Americas for the partner companies of the Venterra Group

Fara Courtney is a Principal Consultant for Outer Harbor. She managed an independent consultancy in public policy, research frameworks and strategic partnership-building, including as Principal Strategic Advisor to the Partnership for Offshore Wind Energy Research (POWER-US). She was the Founding Executive Director of the US Offshore Wind Collaborative, applying extensive experience in ocean policy and clean energy market-building to stewarding the transition to a low-carbon economy. She holds a Master's in Science Communications from Boston University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Cornell University.

Fara is expert in coastal and ocean management, planning and regulation, having served as a regional manager for the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program and Principal of Good Harbor Consulting/Gloucester, where she focused on projects linking economic and environmental priorities, and cutting-edge coastal/ocean management initiatives. Projects included stakeholder engagement around port management planning, coastal facilities development, ocean energy policy analysis and ecosystem-based ocean management.

Dr. John Mandelman is the Chief Scientist and a Vice President at the New England Aquarium (NEAq), where he oversees the Institution’s applied ocean scientific research, policy, and blue advising arm – the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life (ACCOL). John has been instrumental in the NEAq/ACCOL’s increased focus and leadership on market based solutions that promote a healthier ocean, as well as the institution’s expanded scientific research efforts on the influences of emerging industries like offshore wind on ocean species and ecosystems. Prior to assuming his present role, John was a Senior Scientist at the NEAq, leading an extramurally funded research program focused on marine fisheries ecology and conservation physiology. He is Adjunct Faculty in the University of Massachusetts (UMass) Boston’s School for the Environment, UMass Dartmouth’s School for Marine Science and Technology, and Tufts University’s School of Veterinary Medicine.

Anthony Dvarskas has over 15 years of experience in environmental-economic accounting and ecosystem services valuation, including with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United Nations Statistics Division, and UNESCAP. He has published peer-reviewed articles linking economics with sustainable development and coastal management policy. He was the Chief Environmental Scientist for the Office of the New York State Attorney General and is now the Biodiversity Lead for Offshore North America for Ørsted.

Emma Strand is currently a postdoctoral candidate at the Gloucester Marine Genomics Institute (GMGI) working towards tools that may aid in fisheries management and ecological monitoring. Emma received a Bachelor of Science in Biology from Loyola Marymount University and a PhD from the University of Rhode Island in Marine and Evolutionary Biology. She has extensive research experience, ranging from coral reef research in Honduras to being awarded a National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Fellowship with the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences in a coral ecophysiology and reproduction laboratory.

Donna joined SeaAhead’s Board of Directors in 2019 and SeaAhead’s staff in 2020. She leads the company’s bluetech investor network, the Blue Angels. As a member of SeaAhead's executive team, Donna is also engaged in raising SeaAhead’s first fund, SeaAhead Ventures and several strategic partnerships. Donna served as Interim President & CEO of the New England Aquarium while continuing as Chair of the Board. As Board Chair and Interim CEO, Donna led the institution to update and implement its strategic plan, restructure its development department, exceed its fundraising goal (30% increase year to year), and generate an operating surplus. She received a Governor’s Citation, Resolution of Honor from the MA House of Representatives, Official Citation from the MA State Senate, and Certificates of Recognition from US Senators Warren and Markey, US Congresswoman Clark, and Mayor Walsh. In the corporate sector Donna also Co-Founded and served as Vice President of Business Development for venture-backed biotech diagnostics company Exact Sciences (NASDAQ: EXAS).

Yvonne Hao is the Secretary of the Executive Office of Economic Development. She has had more than 25 years of executive business experience as a senior executive, including as Co-founder, Advisor, and Managing Director at investment firm Cove Hill Partners and as an Operating Partner at Pillar Ventures. Previously, she was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of PillPack, an online pharmacy that was acquired by Amazon in 2018. She is also a former Operating Partner at Bain Capital. In addition, Hao has been a Board Director of companies such as CarGurus, Flywire, Gentherm, ZipRecruiter, and Bose. She also has been involved in the community, is the Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Beth Israel Lahey Health, and a Trustee Emeriti of her alma mater, Williams College.

Rebecca Tepper is the Secretary of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). She was most recently the Chief of the Energy and Environment Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, where she served as Attorney General Healey’s chief advisor on energy and environmental policy. She was responsible for the office’s three environmental and energy divisions, including executing the statutory duties of the Commonwealth’s ratepayer advocate. She worked in the Attorney General’s Office from 2015-2023, and previously served as General Counsel for the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities and Director of the Massachusetts Energy Facilities Siting Board. Before entering state government in 2009, Tepper worked in the private sector for 15 years as a Partner at Rubin and Rudman LLP. She is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin/Madison and Boston University Law School.

Dr. Emily Reichert served as CEO of Greentown Labs, the largest climatetech startup incubator in North America, for nearly a decade. As the organization’s first employee and Chief Executive Officer, Emily spearheaded the rapid growth of Greentown Labs into a global center for climate technology innovation, based in Somerville, Massachusetts. Under her leadership, the organization grew from a grassroots group of startups sharing space in a warehouse in South Boston to a nationally and internationally recognized organization with operations in Massachusetts and Texas.

Emily started her career at Arthur D. Little as a Ph.D. scientist and progressed into R&D, business development and general management roles. Prior to Greentown Labs, she was the Director of Business Operations at the Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry where she helped grow the angel-funded startup into a sustainable contract R&D business with a mission to minimize environmental impact of chemical products.

Reichert has been appointed to the Massachusetts Governor’s Economic Development Planning Council, the Massachusetts Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Advanced Energy Technologies. She currently serves as an Ambassador for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) Initiative focused on promoting women leaders in the clean energy field.

She holds a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management.

Julia Pangan runs SeaAhead’s BlueSwell Incubator in partnership with the New England Aquarium. First joining the team as an intern, Julia has a year of experience supporting the program she now runs. She coordinates mentorship, program activities, networking events, and resources to support BlueSwell’s cohort members as they scale their businesses. Julia spent the spring of 2022 in Switzerland examining the effects of pollutants and climate change on Lake Geneva, its fish populations, and the health and livelihoods of local small-scale fishermen. She also has research experience with environmental regulatory frameworks and climate resilience in island states. She graduated from Boston College with a BA in Political Science and a double minor in Global Public Health and English.

Adam’s career has spanned over three decades advancing new battery and fuel cell products for energy storage, consumer electronics, military and industrial markets. Adam led Duracell’s OEM sales and consulting group. He was president of Millennium Cell and CEO of Acumentrics, fuel cell technology developers and manufacturers. Most recently as the Chief Commercial Officer of NEC Energy Solutions, he led the capture of grid scale energy storage projects for that leading energy storage integrator for a four year period.

Adam’s experience in the introduction of new battery products has been instrumental in guiding Ambri towards energy storage markets and partnerships.

Dr. Carlos Muñoz-Royo is an MIT PhD Ocean Engineer, and co-founder and CEO of atdepth MRV. For the past 8 years Carlos has been working on the integration of large-scale ocean monitoring operations with ocean numerical simulations both as a researcher at MIT, and as an industry consultant. In 2020 Carlos co-founded a consulting company to bring the novel ocean simulation and monitoring tools he was working with at MIT to different offshore industries with clients raging from very large corporations to government entities, research institutions, and small startups. Carlos is now working on making digital twins of ocean operations and infrastructure a reality for the first time to quantify their performance and better understand their impacts. This is now possible thanks to the breakthrough performance of the numerical codes developed at MIT that atdepth MRV is using.

Maor Bezner is an industrial designer with expertise in harmonizing environmental and technical needs for marine infrastructure. He has a proven track record in developing and refining technologies to enable mass production. Maor joined ECOncrete in 2019, and leads the R&D and project assimilation teams.

Cara Hogan is a marketing expert and startup consultant with a primary focus on the synergy between hardware and SaaS technology within the B2B sector. Her experience spans various industries, including weather satellites, computer vision, air quality, and analytics. Cara holds a journalism degree from Boston University and has spent five years working in newspapers and magazines, including the Boston Globe.

Since then, she transitioned to roles in rapidly growing startups and currently serves as the VP of Marketing at ShipIn Systems, contributing to the transformation of the global shipping sector through AI advancements. In addition, Cara also advises startups on how to build a brand identity alongside a strong demand generation strategy to engage audiences and drive sales. Outside of her professional endeavors, she is a surfer, a rock climber, and a mom.

Rory has been with Tagup since 2017 where he has led project and product management activities across all verticals. He is responsible for overall project execution, technical requirements documentation for new applications and value creation of our ML-based technology as it is deployed on customer data. Rory came to Tagup from the Energy sector where he previously worked as a field engineer, product support manager and researcher. He has 15 years’ experience in a technical capacity (engineering, field services, quality/manufacturing) in the water, Oil & Gas and power generation industries.

Meadhbh Ní Chléirigh started at Ørsted as an Innovation Business Developer and has held many roles leading to her current position as the Bid Development Director. Meadhbh has also worked at QVARTZ as a Management Consultant and as a Concept Developer at Energy Crossroads Denmark. She has held many other engineering roles since her graduation from University College Dublin, where she earned a diploma in Electrical Engineering. She continued on to achieve a Master of Science in Innovative Sustainable Energy Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She also completed a Master of Science in Innovative Sustainable Energy from the Technical University of Denmark.

Alissa co-founded and leads SeaAhead, a venture studio platform for startups with technologies that enhance ocean health or sustainable ocean industries. From offshore renewable energy to sustainable seafood and a decarbonized maritime industry, cutting-edge ventures in the blue economy come to SeaAhead for investment, resources, and community. Prior to SeaAhead, Alissa was in leadership roles at two venture-backed startups, NanoSteel, an advanced materials company creating solutions for vehicle lightweighting and 3D printing, and Primus Power, a grid-scale energy storage company. Through her work, she has managed business development, strategic planning, product marketing, communications, government relations and M&A. Prior to her startup experience, Alissa was a consultant in McKinsey’s Global Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice where she served clients on cleantech growth strategy. Alissa holds a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and a BS in Civil Engineering from Duke University.