Start-Ups & Sustainability: Scaling Impact in Clean Tech
Join us on Monday, November 10, 2025 from 6:00 – 7:30 PM for an evening exploring how innovative startups scale in the rapidly evolving climate and technology sectors. The program will begin with a wine and cheese reception, followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A moderated by James P. Gerkis, Esq. (Partner, Proskauer Rose). He’ll lead a conversation with distinguished leaders driving impact across clean energy, climate tech, and sustainable innovation: Roya Moadel Obedian, Esq. (Attorney and Expert in Residence, Columbia Technology Ventures), Tim Hoffman (Program Director for Climate Initiatives, Columbia Technology Ventures), and John Santoleri (Partner, Clean Energy Venture Group and CFO, Dimensional Energy). Together, they’ll share strategic insights from decades of experience advising, financing, and growing companies at the intersection of technology, sustainability, and high-growth entrepreneurship.
Monday, November 10, 2025 | 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Evening Schedule
- 6:00 – 6:30 PM Wine & Cheese Reception
- 6:30 – 7:15 PM Panel Discussion
- 7:15 – 7:30 PM Audience Q&A
Moderator
James P. Gerkis, Esq.
James P. Gerkis is a partner at Proskauer Rose with extensive experience in sophisticated U.S. and global corporate transactions, including mergers & acquisitions, restructuring transactions, venture capital, media, real estate and capital markets,. He has represented a wide variety of financial institutions and funds, Fortune 500 companies and growth companies. James focuses on matters for clients in various industries, including technology, media, health care and real estate.
Among other clients, James has represented Morgan Stanley, Redfin Corporation, BlackRock, Olshan Properties, Health Catalyst Capital, Beach Point Capital, KKR Credit Advisors, the Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, Central Park Group, Professional Triathlete Organisation, iHeartMedia, Preferred Apartment Communities, Financial Guaranty Insurance Company and Oxford Analytica.
A graduate of Columbia Law School and Columbia College, James is the President of the Columbia University Club of New York.
Panelists
Roya Moadel Obedian, Esq.
Attorney | Counsel to GreenGear Supply Company, Inc. | Expert in Residence, Columbia Technology Ventures
Roya Moadel Obedian is an attorney and entrepreneur whose career bridges law, sustainability, and innovation. She currently serves as Expert in Residence at Columbia Technology Ventures, where she mentors founders and early-stage companies advancing climate-tech and sustainable-manufacturing solutions. Roya also serves as counsel to GreenGear Supply Company, Inc., a materials-innovation start-up producing eco-friendly rain ponchos and clear bags made from renewable sugar-based materials.
Previously, Roya was General Counsel at BTS North America, an international anaerobic-digestion facility that converted commercial food waste into clean energy gas. Before that, she served as General Counsel at Sagewind Capital, a New York-based private-equity firm, where she oversaw corporate governance, portfolio operations, and investment structuring. Earlier in her legal career, Roya practiced at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, representing Fortune 500 corporations and private-equity clients in complex transactions and regulatory matters.
A graduate of Columbia Law School and Barnard College, Roya has advised organizations across the sustainability, energy, and impact-investing sectors. Her work reflects a lifelong commitment to advancing environmentally responsible business and bridging legal expertise with clean-technology innovation.
Tim Hoffman
Program Director for Climate Initiatives, Columbia Technology Ventures
Tim is currently Program Director for Climate Initiatives at Columbia Technology Ventures, including the ClimateTech Expertise Network, NYSERDA Climate Justice Fellows Support Program, and Verizon Climate-related programs. The ClimateTech Expertise Network offers mentoring services, talent matching and related support services to promising early-stage clean energy and climate-tech companies pursuing business in the State of New York. The NYSERDA Climate Justice Support Program provides peer group facilitation, educational workshops and Skills Labs to support Climate Justice Fellows in NYSERDA’s workforce development program. Tim currently also serves as New York Director of the Cleantech Open Northeast and as an Advisory Board Member to Scale for ClimateTech.
For over 22 years Tim provided strategic and M&A advisory, capital raising, and financial modeling services for large corporations, family-run firms, renewable energy developers, middle market companies and early-stage enterprises. Previously, Tim served as Managing Director with Karbone Capital Markets (formerly Watts Capital, LLC), Scott-Macon, Ltd. and Natixis Bleichroeder, Inc. Tim also served as Co-Chairman of the Cleantech Open Board and a Board Member of ACT (formerly NECECi), Advisory Board member to the Global Sourcing Council, and was an Entrepreneur in Residence for NYSERDA. Tim is a graduate of Indiana University, where he earned two B.A. degrees and spent one year studying at Universität Hamburg. He later earned an M.A.E. with a concentration in Finance from the University of Michigan. Tim is fluent in German, proficient in Japanese and learning Korean and Swahili.
John Santoleri
Partner, Clean Energy Venture Group | CFO, Dimensional Energy | University of Pennsylvania Alumnus
John Santoleri has over 30 years of finance, strategy, and business development expertise. He currently serves as Chief Financial Officer of Dimensional Energy, a developer of technology to produce sustainable hydrocarbons. Since 2016, he has focused exclusively on early and growth-stage investments in climate technology as a Venture Partner with Clean Energy Ventures, a $400 million institutional venture fund. His previous roles include Innovation Advisor for NYSERDA and director positions on various for-profit and nonprofit boards. As a Managing Director at Warburg Pincus, John invested over $800 million in equity and raised an additional $1 billion in financing for portfolio companies across multiple sectors. He also co-founded and managed StoneWork Partners, an ethically-oriented long/short public equity fund. John holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.