Brenden Millstein — CEO

In 2010, Brenden co-founded Carbon Lighthouse, where he is responsible for corporate growth, engineering, and long-term planning. Under Brenden’s leadership, Carbon Lighthouse became profitable and began reducing emissions within 6 months of operations. Brenden Millstein previously worked for NYSERDA, the State agency charged with addressing New York’s largest energy and environmental issues. Working with a small team comprised of leading energy experts, Brenden co-administered a budget of $87 million, executing energy efficiency and demand response projects at 250+ manufacturing plants and high-rise office buildings in New York City. Brenden’s clients included Citigroup, J.P. Morgan Chase, CBRE, and many other banks and property management companies. Additionally, he also worked as a research fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, investigating both Li-ion batteries and advanced building materials.

Brenden obtained an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business and an MS in Renewable Energy Engineering, also from Stanford. He holds a B.A. in Physics, cum laude, from Harvard University.

Raphael Rosen — President

In 2010, Raphael co-founded Carbon Lighthouse, where he is responsible for corporate finance, long-term planning, and operations strategy. Raphael streamlined Carbon Lighthouse’s operational processes for medium-sized commercial and industrial facilities, making it possible to deliver high-quality, custom, and profitable projects to those markets. Previously, Raphael served as Vice President of Corporate Development at Safari Energy, a leading commercial-scale solar energy developer in New York. Raphael launched and managed multiple divisions and grew Safari’s operational capacity from two small projects annually to more than 25 solar projects worth $24 million. Raphael also evaluated cleantech investments at venture capital firm Lux Capital, developed high-frequency trading strategies at hedge fund Tower Research Capital, and conducted fundamental research on super-conducting magnets at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Raphael holds a Masters in Physics from the University of Cambridge, England, and a B.A from Harvard University, summa cum laude, in History and Science (Physics).

Francisco Isenberg — Director of Operations

Francisco joined Carbon Lighthouse in August 2011, taking responsibility for the development of engineering and internal operations as well as playing a key role in project management. Before moving to California to join Carbon Lighthouse, Francisco worked as a design engineer and project manager at H2M, an architectural and engineering firm in Melville, NY. There, he managed over $30 million of HVAC and plumbing design and construction projects. Some of his designs include a library for Suffolk County Community College, a geothermal heating system for the City of Manorville, and industrial process water system design for Estée Lauder.

Francisco holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Harvard University and is a LEED Accredited Professional. He also studied at Ewha Univeristy in Seoul, South Korea on a Harvard-Yenching Fellowship.

Emma Bassein — Director of Impact

Emma joined Carbon Lighthouse in early 2012, where she is responsible for ensuring the organization’s mission-driven growth through the evaluation of implemented engineering outcomes, strategic partnerships, and the identification of new technologies and solutions. Previously, Emma worked with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority where she designed energy efficiency programs for large commercial and industrial properties. She also served as the first Executive Director of Wave One, a Palo Alto-based not-for-profit that developed innovative solutions to deliever energy efficiency solutions for small commercial and retail buildings.

Emma holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Earth, Atmosphere and Planetary Science and an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Princeton.

Matthew Ganser — Director of Engineering

Matthew is the Director of Engineering for Carbon Lighthouse, where he is responsible for helping plan and execute energy projects at industrial, commercial, and other facilities. Before joining Carbon Lighthouse, Matthew was a drilling engineer for Royal Dutch Shell, where he designed tight formation gas wells and lived on rigs in remote locations. In conjunction, Matthew developed a unique NOx emissions reduction technology for Shell’s land rigs, an achievement recognized by the federal government with the BLM’s Annual Environmental “Best Management Practices” award. Matthew left Shell to become a National Science Foundation fellow at Stanford University, studying alternative energy technologies and modeling long term energy demands.

Matthew holds a Masters in Science from Stanford University, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas.

Eric Brown — Director of Business Development

In 2012, Eric joined Carbon Lighthouse, where he is responsible for sales and new business development. Previously, Eric served as Director of US Sales at Cogenra Solar, a venture backed, photovoltaic-thermal solar hybrid technology company in Mountain View, CA. Eric oversaw the commercialization of Cogenra’s distributed rooftop platform as the company grew to more than 30 commercial installations in a 2-year period serving food processors, university housing, and corporate office space. Eric also was on the engineering sales team at The Lee Company, a specialized miniature hydraulic component supplier for aerospace, on-highway engine manufacturers, and down hole oil tool companies including Boeing, Caterpillar, Cummins, and Halliburton.

Eric holds a B.S. from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in Mechanical Engineering.

Board of Advisors

Rohit T. Aggarwala — Bloomberg Philanthropies

Rohit T. “Rit” Aggarwala is Special Advisor to the Chair of the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, and Environmental Program Lead at Bloomberg Philanthropies. He was the Director of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability for New York City from 2006 to 2010. He has also worked as a consultant with McKinsey & Company, and served as Special Assistant to the Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. Rit holds a BA, MBA, and PhD (U.S. History) from Columbia University, and an MA in History from Queen’s University in Canada.

Jay Borenstein — Stanford University Professor

Jay Borenstein is a Professor in the Computer Science department at Stanford University. Before joining Stanford, Jay was the founder and CEO of Integration Appliance (www.intapp.com) and Chief Technology Officer for LeaseExchange. From 1994 to 1999, Jay was the President and CEO of Digital Empyre, a software consulting company that provided application integration and data communication solutions to clients including Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, LGC Wireless and the San Francisco Giants. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Economics and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Gil Masters — Stanford University Professor (Emeritus)

Gil Masters is one of the Fathers of the academic approach to energy efficiency, demand response, and renewable energy. Gil has trained more than 12,000 Stanford engineers, is the author of eight books, and is a world renowned thought-leader on renewable energy. Gil provides an incredible wealth of technical knowledge and insight into all of Carbon Lighthouse’s project types.

Moshael Straus — Former Chairman of the Board and co-CEO of MultiCare Companies

Moshael took charge of Multicare Companies Inc. when it was only four facilities. Just four years after taking the company public, he sold it for $1.04 billion. Moshael provides an experienced perspective on large stage corporate management and growth.

Michael Schwartz — CEO New Wave Energy Capital Partners

Michael brings decades of experience from across the US energy industry in the management of project-based energy businesses including project development, commercial structuring, project financing, strategy, technology commercialization and energy & environmental policy.  Until recently, he served as Senior Vice President at Duke Energy where he was responsible for policy, strategy and strategic initiatives. He had a key role in creating Duke’s renewable energy business as well as a Duke carbon business which included investments in high quality carbon offsets as well as carbon capture and storage.