2026–2027 Leadership Team

Managing Directors

**Akshat Goel**
CO-MANAGING DIRECTOR | LinkedIn
Akshat is a 2027 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, with a background in entrepreneurship and product management. He is originally from India and spent the last 8 years in Singapore, working as a product manager at fast-growing technology companies in eCommerce, FinTech and Consumer Electronics. He is passionate about building innovative technology-driven ventures, and is currently exploring new startup ideas in software/SaaS and AI.

**Zara Inam**
CO-MANAGING DIRECTOR | LinkedIn
Zara is a 2027 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, pursuing the Business Analytics Certificate. Prior to Sloan, she worked in sustainability consulting at Schneider Electric, helping companies measure and reduce their carbon footprints and navigate sustainability strategies. More recently, she worked at Patagonia, focusing on supply chain social impact, and conducted research on emerging energy solutions through OpenMinds NextGen. Passionate about environmental justice, Zara hopes to bridge sustainability, innovation, and business to develop scalable solutions that empower marginalized communities and address climate change inequities at a systems level.

**Kayla Spigelman**
CO-MANAGING DIRECTOR | LinkedIn
Kayla is a 2027 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, pursuing certificates in Finance and Entrepreneurship & Innovation. Before Sloan, she was a Senior Consultant at Deloitte, where she developed data visualization tools to help public sector clients track climate progress and advanced the Department of Navy's energy performance contracting program to strengthen long-term energy security and resiliency. As a leader of the Sponsorship & Mentorship and Judging teams, Kayla is excited to help CEP connect climate startups with the resources, mentors, and judges they need to scale impactful solutions. She is also passionate about broadening the geographic diversity of CEP’s mentor and judge network to better reflect the teams participating in the prize. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring new cities (most recently Lisbon and Jaipur) and baking macarons.

**Julia Zou**
CO-MANAGING DIRECTOR | LinkedIn
Julia is a 2027 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan pursuing the Sustainability Certificate. She is overseeing Startup Relationships and Curriculum Development for CEP. Prior to Sloan, Julia worked as manager at OC&C Strategy Consultants in the Boston office, doing corporate strategy and private equity diligence for Business Services firms. This summer, she worked at MacroCycle Technologies, a polyester textile to textile recycling startup (born out of MIT!). She is interning at Clean Energy Ventures (VC) this fall. In her free time, Julia enjoys skiing, doing pottery, making cocktails, and hanging out with her dog Tank.

**Eshika Arora**
Alumni & Global Partnerships LinkedIn
Eshika is a MBA 2028 candidate at MIT Sloan. Prior to Sloan, Eshika worked at an economics consulting firm, primarily on strategic and regulatory matters for energy utilities. Eshika is excited to help CEP grow its global presence and prestige through the Alumni and Global Partnerships team.

**Thejas Rajah**
Curriculum & Resources LinkedIn
Thejas is a 2028 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan. He arrives from Khazanah, the sovereign wealth fund of Malaysia, where he was Assistant Vice President on the investments team. His work there spanned some of the country's largest national infrastructure assets — its principal power utility, its airports and its toll road networks. He began his career in private equity and holds a First Class honors degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester. Outside of work and school, he follows cosmology and plays soccer, pickleball, and cricket.

**Sophia Yan**
Marketing & Outreach LinkedIn
Sophia is an MBA ’28 candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Before Sloan, she worked in McKinsey’s Global Energy Practice, advising electric utilities, renewable developers, and oil majors on capital investment and procurement strategy. The work has taken her to power plants and oil refineries across the US. At Sloan, she is focused on helping legacy energy companies adopt innovative technologies and practices to accelerate the energy transition. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, running, and trying new coffee shops.

Elizabeth Paasche
Mentorships & Judging LinkedIn

Elizabeth Paasche is a 2028 MBA Candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Before Sloan, Elizabeth worked as a Design Engineer at GE Vernova, working on hydrogen combustion projects to decarbonize turbines in GE's Gas Power division. As VP of Mentorship & Judging for CEP, she is excited to help foster connections between founders and experts working on cutting-edge technologies vital to the energy transition. In her free time, she enjoys reading, outdoor activities like snowboarding, running, and soccer, and baking with friends.

**Caitlyn Louzado**
Operations & Events LinkedIn
Caitlyn Louzado is a 2028 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, pursuing the Sustainability certificate with a focus on clean tech and decarbonization. Before Sloan, she spent five years at The Brattle Group working at the intersection of economics, law, and the environment, where she quantified damages emissions fraud and valued ecosystem losses in a large-scale natural resource damage case. Her interest in climate began in college, researching the life-cycle carbon footprints of products on organic farms in rural Japan. As VP of Operations, Caitlyn is excited to help run a global competition that connects early-stage founders with the resources to scale their technologies.

**Nafisah Abdulsalam**
Sponsorships LinkedIn
Nafisah is an MBA '27 candidate at MIT Sloan pursuing the Finance Certificate. Prior to Sloan, she spent three years in Deal Advisory at KPMG, leading valuations, financial due diligence, and capital-raising support across sectors including consumer markets, healthcare, infrastructure, fintech, etc. Nafisah is passionate about using finance to unlock growth and opportunity across emerging markets, and is excited to join as VP of Sponsorships to help CEP connect promising climate and energy startups with the resources they need to scale. In her free time, she enjoys taekwondo, Argentine tango, and exploring villages and cultures.

Alida Monaco
Startup Relations LinkedIn

Alida is a first-year MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, and is pursuing a concurrent Master of Public Policy degree with the Harvard Kennedy School. Alida just wrapped up an internship as a Graduate Summer Fellow with the Chicago Department of Environment, where she helped deploy $5M of bond funds for renewable energy deployment and devised policy options for data center regulations. Prior to her graduate degree, Alida was a Climate Data Advisor with Watershed, a climate software company, where she advised >$1B revenue companies like Paramount, Wayfair, and Sweetgreen on their sustainability planning. Alida also previously worked with governments on their climate regulation development, decarbonization, and climate resiliency planning, as a Sustainability Analyst with ICF International. In her free time, she loves to ballroom dance and read!

**Arthur Schucht**
Startup Relations LinkedIn
Arthur is an incoming MBA student at MIT Sloan with a background spanning engineering, energy, and strategy. Most recently, he worked as a consultant at McKinsey & Company in Berlin, advising energy companies on strategy and growth opportunities. Prior to that, he gained experience across the energy and climate value chain through internships in venture capital, infrastructure investing, and hydrogen vessel manufacturing. He holds a BSc and MS in Mechanical Engineering from RWTH Aachen and KTH Stockholm, and aims to found a start-up at MIT Sloan. Outside of work, he is an avid runner (half marathon PB: 1:21:33), DJs UK Garage, and has recently fallen in love with reading science fiction.

Previous CEP Leadership Teams:

**Alison Gu**
Marketing & Outreach LinkedIn
Alison Gu is an entrepreneur with cross-industry management experience in the renewable energy and fintech investment sectors. She has held leadership roles as board director in the renewable energy industry for many years, where she supported her company in achieving public listing and expanding internationally. Previously, Alison founded a U.S.-based fintech company that successfully enabled multiple international infrastructure projects to raise capital through securities issuance.

**Maxim Komyshan**
Mentorships & Judging LinkedIn
Maxim is a first-year MBA candidate at MIT Sloan. Before Sloan, he was a Project Leader at Boston Consulting Group across the Energy, Climate, Mining, and Private Equity practices, where he advised conventional oil and gas players on decarbonization and energy transition strategy, including hydrogen and CCUS investment approaches and has developed a GTM strategy for a venture that raised $50M+, focused on carbon emissions accounting for O&G players.

**Nicholas Durham**
Operations & Events LinkedIn
Nick is a '28 MBA-Master of City Planning candidate focused on innovative public-private climate partnerships. Prior to MIT, he led public sector business development and expanded access to home electrification and energy efficiency rebate incentives across public health and climate tech startups. Nick is interested in the intersection of circularity, climate finance, and the built environment. He is pursuing the Sustainability Certificate at Sloan and hopes to return to climate tech to advance clean energy infrastructure.

**Nigara Nizamidin**
Sponsorships LinkedIn
Nigara is an MBA candidate at MIT Sloan and a master’s student in Civil and Environmental Engineering through MIT’s Leaders for Global Operations program. Passionate about climate innovation, she previously worked at Kearney, advising clients across the energy and process industries on strategy, operations, and value creation. Before consulting, she supported cleantech startups through ADL Ventures, helping emerging technologies navigate commercialization, and briefly worked at a direct air capture startup in R&D. At MIT, she looks forward to exploring the intersection of climate, entrepreneurship, and business. Outside of work, she enjoys tennis, hiking traveling, and high school mentorship.

**Eric Ma**
Startup Relations LinkedIn
Eric Ma is a 2027 MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to Sloan, he spent six years at EY-Parthenon, where as a Director he advised companies and investors on strategy, operations, and complex transformations across a range of industries. Most recently, Eric worked on Google’s Global Sustainability Team, where he built AI-enabled tools to streamline how the organization gathers and shares sustainability insights. He is interested in the intersection of technology, sustainability, and business strategy, particularly how emerging technologies can help organizations scale climate solutions more effectively. Outside of Sloan, Eric enjoys cycling, cooking, reading, and occasionally performing stand-up comedy (although he is now mostly retired).

**Deeksha Palepu**
Alumni & Global Partnerships LinkedIn
Deeksha is an economist and MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, with a background in climate economics, macroeconomic modelling, and financial risk analysis. Prior to Sloan, she worked at Oxford Economics (London), where she developed scenarios at the intersection of macro, financial and climate risks, helping clients better understand and incorporate climate-related risks into their risk management and financial planning. With a master’s degree in economics from UCL, she is particularly interested in the intersection of climate policy, finance, and economic decision-making. Her long-term ambition is to help direct capital toward high-impact climate solutions to support the transition to a more sustainable and resilient global economy.

Michaella Schaszberger
Marketing & Outreach LinkedIn

Michaella is a first-year MBA candidate at MIT Sloan with an interest in early stage climate-tech entrepreneurship. Prior to Sloan, she was a software engineer at Segment. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, playing tennis (and pickleball), reading, and trying new restaurants. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University.

Shai Noama
Mentorships & Judging LinkedIn

Shai is a 2027 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan. Prior to Sloan, Shai worked as an Investment Manager for Israel’s largest insurance company, where he led investments and primary fund commitments across Private Equity and Venture Capital. Before that, he worked as a consultant, building pricing and forecasting models for energy transition and infrastructure clients. Focused on backing exceptional founders, Shai is excited to build meaningful connections across CEP and connect founders and mentors across the ecosystem. Outside of Sloan, Shai loves hiking, skiing and scuba-diving.

**Eli Cooper**
Mentorships & Judging LinkedIn
Eli is a second year MBA at MIT Sloan. He is passionate about climate and energy startups, and the venture ecosystem backing the energy transition. Eli previously worked in investment banking helping fund and advise growth-stage clean transportation companies. He has worked at two climate and energy focused venture capital funds while at Sloan. Eli is excited to build relationships with operators and venture partners to provide valuable mentorship and judging for the CEP. He is a graduate of Bates College, a Boston sports enthusiast and an avid skier.

**Antonio Ranieri**
Sponsorships LinkedIn
Antonio is a solar founder and inventor. He is also a fundraiser and partnerships team VP at MITEC.

**Ghadah Alamer**
Sponsorships LinkedIn
Ghadah Alamer is an M.S. candidate in Engineering and Management at MIT, where she is a fellow in the System Design and Management program. Prior to MIT, she worked at Saudi Aramco as an Energy Optimization Engineer, contributing to decarbonization initiatives and developing solutions to improve the efficiency and economics of industrial energy systems. Her interests lie at the intersection of energy, technology, and finance, with a particular focus on investing in and scaling technologies that can accelerate the energy transition. Outside of work, Ghadah enjoys playing squash and exploring venture investing and capital markets.

Chad Visser
Startup Relations LinkedIn

Chad is a 2028 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan. Before business school, he spent five years at Genesys, where he helped shape go-to-market strategy and later led a company-wide effort to bring AI tools into everyday work. Looking ahead, he's excited to help climate and energy companies bring to market the technologies reshaping how we generate, store, and deliver clean power. For CEP, Chad looks forward to connecting talented founders with the mentors and resources they need to grow. In his free time Chad can usually be found snowboarding, golfing, or playing pickleball.

Amber Su
Curriculum & Resources LinkedIn

Amber Su is a graduate student in Building Technology at MIT, where her research focuses on building performance, thermal comfort, and occupant behavior. She received her Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University, where she developed an interest in combining architectural design with building science and computational methods. She is passionate about using simulation and data-driven approaches to improve building energy performance and support decarbonization. Outside of research, Amber enjoys the outdoors, traveling, and making art.

**Esin Akkoca**
Marketing & Outreach LinkedIn
Esin is a 2028 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan, pursuing the Sustainability and Entrepreneurship & Innovation Certificates. Before Sloan, she was a Consultant at BCG Istanbul, where she worked on sustainability & carbon-related projects across various sectors in emerging markets. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring new cities.

Joe Geniesse
Mentorships & Judging LinkedIn

Joe is a PhD candidate at MIT researching next-generation energy storage. He is passionate about enabling a renewable transition through leveraging electrochemistry to achieve advances in energy storage and industrial decarbonization. As a VP of Mentorship and Judging Joe is excited to cultivate great matches between mentors and startup teams. Prior to MIT, Joe received degrees in Chemistry and Environmental & Urban Studies from the University of Chicago. In his free time, Joe loves darkroom photography, gallery hopping, and cooking for friends.