Essinova advisors are a special breed of individuals: doers who think, and thinkers who can do. We rely on our advisors for both expertise and wisdom.
Nicholas Parker Nicholas Parker is Chairman of the Cleantech Group – the market-leading research company that introduced the cleantech concept to the investment and business community in 2002, including China in 2006, and Parker Venture Management, his private investment and advisory business. Previously Nicholas accumulated over 15 years experience starting and investing venture funds worldwide through limited partnerships, family offices, corporate funds and endowments. During this time, he pioneered the first “sustainability” driven private equity funds and participated in one of the first solar IPOs. In the 1990s, he also founded, built and sold an environmental finance firm. He’s advised economic development agencies, major corporations and institutional investors, spoken at nearly all major industry events and been quoted by most of the leading media publications. Nicholas has authored or edited more than ten publications related to cleantech, finance and international business, starting with Investing in Emerging Economies in 1993. He’s currently Chairman of Corporate Knights and the Blue Economy Initiative, as well as on several boards, including: Government of Singapore Cleantech Advisory Board, Canadian Centre of Excellence for Commercialization of Research and the Green Jobs Award. From 2003-08, he was Chairman of E+Co, a public purpose investment company for clean energy enterprises in developing countries. He earned a BA Hons. in Technology Studies (Carleton University, Ottawa), an MBA (City University, London), and is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA). Nicholas has lived and worked in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America while currently residing in Toronto..
Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, M.D., Ph.D.In 2002, Rusty Williams founded FivePrime, and currently serves as its Executive Chairman and leads its research and development efforts. Prior to founding FivePrime, Dr. Williams was Chief Scientific Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of Chiron Corporation and President of Chiron Technologies. Prior to joining Chiron, Dr. Williams was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of California, San Francisco. Earlier in his career he was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and was a staff cardiologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Williams is a co-founder of COR Therapeutics, Inc., and served as a member of its Board of Directors. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. Dr. Williams previously served on the Duke University Board of Trustees. He presently serves on the Boards of Juvaris BioTherapeutics, Beckman Coulter, Inc. and The Berklee College of Music. Dr. Williams received his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Duke University and trained in Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Thomas J. ToyA twenty-four year venture capitalist, Thomas J. Toy is Co-founder and Managing Director of PacRim Venture Partners (www.pacrimpartners.com), a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm specializing in diversified information technology and clean technology companies in the U.S. and China. Mr. Toy is also a Venture Partner/Advisor for ICCP Ventures. Mr. Toy is currently on the boards of directors of UTStarcom (NASDAQ: UTSI), Hanwha SolarOne (NASDAQ: HSOL) and several private companies in the U.S. and China. Mr. Toy’s past companies also include SunPower (NASDAQ: SPWRA), Catalina Marketing (NYSE: POS), LifeCell (NASDAQ: LIFC, then acquired by Kinetic Concepts), White Electronic Designs (NASDAQ: WEDC, then acquired by Microsemi), SyStemix (NASDAQ: STMX, then acquired by Novartis) and CafePress. Mr. Toy graduated from Northwestern University with B.A. and MBA degrees.
