Avila

Dr. Addison Killean Stark is CEO and co-founder of AtmosZero, an industrial decarbonization startup, and works across research, business, and policy on low-, zero-, and negative-carbon energy technologies. He previously served as Associate Director for Energy Innovation at the Bipartisan Policy Center and as a Fellow and Acting Program Director at the US Department of Energy's ARPA-E. He holds bachelor's degrees in mathematics and chemistry from the University of Iowa and master's and PhD degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT.

Alicia Seiger is a Director of Climate at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and previously lectured at Stanford Law School, leading sustainability and energy finance initiatives across Stanford Law, the Graduate School of Business, and the Precourt Institute for Energy. She served as Managing Director of both the Stanford Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance and the Sustainable Finance Initiative, and has worked on climate and energy strategy for businesses, foundations, investors, and NGOs since 2004, including roles at startups TerraPass and Flycast Communications. She holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Environmental Policy and Cultural Anthropology from Duke University.

Ally Yost is an SVP of Business Development at Commonwealth Fusion Systems, where she leads business development, company financing strategy, and investor engagement, with over a decade of experience commercializing scientific and engineering breakthroughs. Previously she was a founder and Principal at The Engine, the MIT-affiliated venture fund, investing in climate, human health, and hardware infrastructure, and earlier led R&D and manufacturing work at Accion Systems and worked as a research scientist at GoogleX and on spacecraft propulsion at NASA. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Hampshire and an MS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT.

Arturo Elizondo is the founder and CEO of The EVERY Company (formerly Clara Foods), a Silicon Valley biotech food company producing animal-free proteins, including an animal-free egg. Before founding the company in 2014, he worked with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Credit Suisse. He holds a degree in Government & Comparative Politics from Harvard University.

Carlos Araque is Co-Founder and CEO of Quaise Energy, a company developing a millimeter wave drilling system for geothermal energy. He previously spent 15 years at Schlumberger and served as technical director at The Engine, MIT's fund for commercializing breakthrough technologies. He holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and is originally from Medellin, Colombia.

Claudia Sender Ramirez is a business leader and board member who serves as a non-executive director on the boards of publicly traded companies including Telefonica S.A., LafargeHolcim, Gerdau, and Embraer. She previously was CEO and President of LATAM Airlines Brazil and Clients Vice President for LATAM Airlines, and earlier worked at Whirlpool and as a consultant at Bain & Company. She holds a chemical engineering degree from the University of São Paulo and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Daniel Betts is the founder and CEO of Blue Frontier, which develops energy-efficient, sustainable air conditioning technology. He has more than 20 years of experience in advanced energy technology across product development, industrial R&D, and academic research. Betts holds a PhD and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida and an MBA from George Washington University, with expertise in thermal systems, energy economics, power generation, and HVAC.

Gilberto Perez is the founder of Grupo Perplast, a Mexican packaging company serving the cosmetics, merchandising, and automotive sectors. He previously spent years at building materials multinational CEMEX, including serving as President of CEMEX USA from 1998 to 2011, where he oversaw operations and financial performance of the company's largest international subsidiary. He holds a master's degree in Management and completed Board Executive Training, both from Stanford University.

Hugo Bolio is a technical and operations executive with a background in the cement, minerals, and construction industries. He founded and directs the consulting agency Orchestrating Expertise and serves as Project Director and Materials Scientist at Energy Vault, a gravity-based energy storage company. He previously spent over 30 years at CEMEX in roles including VP of Global Operations & Technology, EVP of Cement Operations & Technical, and Senior VP of Technology, and holds a PhD and MSc in Solid State Chemistry from the University of Aberdeen.

Javier Villamizar is an Operating Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, where he provides operational support to portfolio companies on growth and global expansion. He began his career building software platforms for telecom companies in Colombia, and later held roles at Motorola, Motorola Ventures, Brightstar (as Chief Growth Officer), and Greensill. His background centers on technology and telecom ventures, and he has served as an advisor and board member for several companies.

Lexi Reese is co-founder and CEO of Lanai, a generative AI platform for large employers and their employees. She previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Gusto, where she helped grow the customer base from 10,000 to 200,000 businesses, and held roles at Google and American Express, where she launched the Make Mine a Million program. She holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and ran for the U.S. Senate in California.

Malcolm Handley worked as a software engineer at Google for four years and was the first employee at Asana before shifting his focus to climate change. Concluding that nuclear fusion held significant promise but was underfunded, he founded Strong Atomics in 2017 to invest in fusion companies pursuing commercially competitive reactors. He also served roughly a year (around 2021) as the tech-to-market advisor for fusion at ARPA-E before returning to private fusion investing.

Matt Haggman works in economic development and entrepreneurship, currently serving as Chief Strategic Initiatives Officer at Right to Start. He previously served as Miami Director at the Knight Foundation and led Opportunity Miami at The Beacon Council, and earlier worked as a journalist at The Miami Herald, where he received the Gerald Loeb Award. He is a founding board member of Endeavor Miami and co-founder of TEDxMiami.

Mika Wong joined Avila VC in 2025 as Head of Operations, focusing on the firm's operational infrastructure, systems development, and financial operations. She previously managed operations at Falcon Bridge Capital and held administrative leadership roles at Kaiser Permanente, gaining experience in organizational systems, cross-functional operations, and healthcare administration. She holds a B.S. in Nursing.

Richard Wang is an entrepreneur focused on battery technologies. He founded and served as CEO of Cuberg, which he led through an acquisition by Northvolt and grew to 225 employees, overseeing development of its lithium metal cell and pack technologies as well as its go-to-market strategy. He now advises Inlyte Energy, a company developing iron and sodium grid batteries, and holds a PhD in materials science from Stanford and a BS from Caltech.

Roger McNamee started his investment career in 1982 at T. Rowe Price Associates, where he managed the Science & Technology Fund and co-managed the New Horizons Fund. He later launched Integral Capital Partners, co-founded Silver Lake Partners, and co-founded Elevation Partners, an investment partnership focused on the intersection of media and technology. Since 2017 he has campaigned about the negative effects of social media and authored the book Zucked; he holds a B.A. from Yale University and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.

Tessa Clarke is Co-Founder and CEO of OLIO, an app that reduces food waste by connecting neighbors and local businesses to redistribute surplus food; the app has grown to more than 4 million users. She also serves as a Venture Partner at Mustard Seed MAZE (MSM Fund), an early-stage generalist impact fund, and mentors founders through Virgin StartUp. She holds a BS in Social and Political Sciences from the University of Cambridge and an MBA from Stanford.

Venkat Viswanathan is an Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan and a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Aionics Inc (AI-driven materials design), Chement (zero-carbon cement process), and And Battery Aero (aviation batteries). He has received the MIT Technology Review Innovators Under 35 recognition and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship. He has advised 20 PhD students and 10 postdoctoral scholars and is a named inventor on more than 50 patent applications.