Justin Lemmon, Partner
Justin has 10 years of investment experience primarily in real estate and early stage companies. He has built, acquired, or managed over $1Bn in commercial real estate since 2006 with an emphasis on integrating energy and material technologies. In 2011, he co-founded 2120 Partners, a real estate and private equity investment and advisory firm focused on public and private markets targeting value-add turnarounds. Prior to 2120, Justin was an Investment Manager at LNR Property Corporation acquiring, developing and managing investments ranging from $15-125 million.
Justin was also a U.S. Naval Officer from 1997 to 2004 specializing in surface warfare. While in the Navy, he lived in the U.S., Japan and the Middle East. In addition to sea duty he served as a Chief of Naval Operations Fellow at the Center for Naval Analyses and a Special Assistant to the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in the Pentagon. His last duty station was as the Special Assistant to the Presidential Envoy to Iraq and the Private Sector Development Office of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
Justin has a BS in Engineering and Economics from the United States Naval Academy and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Mark Huang, Partner
Mark has over 15 years of venture capital investment experience in sustainable-related technologies. In 2007, he co-founded Novus Energy Partners, a 2008 vintage $150M US-Norwegian Cleantech Fund that focused on LED Lighting, Energy Storage, Solar, Energy Efficiency and Wind. Prior to Novus, Mark was a Senior Vice President at GE Energy Financial Services where he was focused on strategic and financial investments in sustainable related sectors.
Mark was also a US Army Reserves officer for 14 years. He was mobilized to Iraq from 2003-2004 and served in a tactical nation-building capacity in E. Baghdad before being transferred to the Coalition Provisional Authority to focus on stabilizing Iraq’s State Owned Enterprises and nascent private sector.
Mark was recently appointed as the City of Providence’s Economic Development Director. He is focused on building on the City’s core competency in such sectors as Food, Marine, Technology and Real Estate. He currently is also a Director at Tern, an urban mobility company, and Alfanar USA, a venture philanthropy non-profit focused on the Arab world.
Mark has a BS in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute and an MBA and Masters of International Affairs from Columbia University. He enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his two toddler sons.
Venture Partners
Dr. Konrad Jarausch , Venture Partner
Konrad is an Entrepreneur In Residence and portfolio analyst at Capricorn Investment Group. Prior to Capricorn, Konrad led Passport Capital's public market (long-short) and venture investments in clean-tech/energy, materials and nanotechnology. While at Passport Konrad has developed a deep understanding of markets, supply chains, and business models which has informed his approach to generating risk-adjusted investment returns. Konrad has been investing across the technology life-cycle, from experimental early-stage companies to mature commodity markets, while working closely with other investors to share perspectives and build deal-leading syndicates.
Prior to joining Passport Capital in 2008, Konrad led product development and marketing efforts for Hitachi’s analytical instrumentation division where he worked with semiconductor, materials, solar, battery and nanotechnology researchers and companies. Konrad started his Silicon Valley career in the late 90s working on a development line at Intel Corporation. At Intel he managed the failure analysis group in the yield organization, and led cross-functional teams to drive manufacturing, process, product and materials improvements. Prior to joining Intel, Konrad worked at Sandia National Laboratory where he focused on the characterization and synthesis of nanomaterials.
Konrad has a PhD in Materials Science from North Carolina State University where he was trained as a microscopist to study the structure-property relationships of materials. Throughout his career Konrad has sought-out opportunities to integrate skills from different disciplines to solve complex problems and create value.
Aaron Enz, Venture Partner
Aaron serves as Vice President, Business Development at Alta Energy, Inc., a commercial renewable energy company. He oversees strategic relationships, financing partnerships, client engagements, and new product development.
Aaron brings over 18 years of experience in investment banking, corporate finance and private capital markets spanning more than 50 transaction engagements and over $1BN in financing assignments across a wide variety of transaction types and industries. Most recently, he served as Partner at Watershed Capital Group, an investment banking firm focused on advising fund managers and companies focused on sustainable business models and investment themes. At his prior firm, Wood Warren & Co., he conceived and developed the firm’s boutique investment bank cleantech practice.
Aaron has extensive experience and domain knowledge in numerous sustainable business sectors, which include: water, energy efficiency, alternative energy, LED lighting, sustainable food, agricutlture and seafood. In the food sector, Aaron has advised numerous early-stage and growth-stage companies, such as Grace Baking and Vital Farms – the largest pasture-raised chicken egg company. In sustainable seafood, Aaron continues to have an active role in speaking on the topic and advising wild-catch seafood and aquaculture start-ups. He has worked with sustainable aquaculture companies utilizing new technologies, such as recirculating aquaculture systems, developing new brood stock for fish species, and fishmeal replacement technologies. Aaron is also an advisor and judge for Fish 2.0, a business competition to catalyze investment in and growth of sustainable seafood companies.