Director of Commercialization, NYSERDA

Steve joined the clean energy industry in 2013 through General Electric's Junior Officer Leadership Program (JOLP) as part of their power business, currently known as GE Vernova. While at GE, he spent seven years as part of their Onshore wind business and two years as part of their battery energy storage business, all in product development roles. After GE he moved onto the energy storage integrator Fluence, where he helped standup up their product development team following their IPO in November of 2021. In late 2024 he joined NYSERDA as their Director of Commercialization focusing on supporting clean energy startups for the NY market. Steve has BS in engineering from US Naval Academy and MS in engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park.

President, The Alliance for Climate Transition (ACT)

Before stepping into the role of ACT President, Joseph A. Curtatone forged a reputation for being one of the most innovative mayors in the United States as the nine-term Mayor of Somerville, MA. That includes Somerville being named one of only 95 cities in the world to make the CDP Cities A-List for climate planning and action. He also spearheaded a comprehensive net-zero action plan for his city with a strong focus on equity.  During his tenure, Curtatone embraced data-driven decision making, employed systems-based solutions to community issues and was an innovator in healthy city initiatives. He has forged regional coalitions to tackle issues around transportation, housing and COVID-19 pandemic response. He also worked to establish Somerville as a leader in climate technology, recruiting Greentown Labs to the city, where it has been steadily growing since 2013. Thanks to his pursuit of cutting edge industries, Somerville saw its workforce increase by more than 40% during his tenure as the city became the home to billions of dollars of new economic activity. Curtatone also did significant work to reshape the city. In 2014, Somerville opened the first new station in Greater Boston's core light rail transit system in 27 years, and soon it will open six more new stations as part of the first major expansion of that system since the 1980s. In addition, during his time in office Somerville built a network of more than 40 miles of bicycle lanes inside a city of just 4.1 square miles. He is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, the New England School of Law and Boston College. A father of four, Curtatone also has been a longtime high school and youth sports coach.

Principal, HRTO

Mike has spent the past 20 years forging partnerships to accelerate deep-tech innovation. He has worked with corporate innovation teams, startups, university labs, and government policymakers on growth strategies, with a focus on building the right ecosystems to address global challenges. At HRTO, he advises innovation leaders, publishes independent research, and serves as a mentor and judge with leading startup programs.

Technical Program Manager, Newlab

Farès Kammourieh is a Technical Program Manager at Newlab, where he leads innovation programs with startups, industry, and government to accelerate and scale critical technology. He previously worked in Schneider Electric’s global R&D center in France, and at the Energy Futures Initiative (EFI) Foundation in Washington, D.C. Farès’s professional background combines technical and policy knowledge with a passion for energy and climate, driving industry transformation, and supporting emerging technology development. He holds an MS in Energy Science, Technology & Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and a MEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Bristol in the UK.