An electrical engineer from IIT Madras, with a Masters in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and an MBA from the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, Vignesh has significant experience in technology development and renewable energy, in initiating, sustaining and building new businesses across India, Thailand, and South Africa. He currently is a Partner with Aspada Investments, an impact fund focused on the impact on environment and livelihoods and leads the energy, environment and supply chain investments, including into electric vehicles.

Venkat is the Founder and CEO of Cygni and an Advisory Committee member of National Center for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), India. He has over 20 years of experience in Product Design and Engineering Management. Prior to that, he was the CEO of Solarsis and Su-Kam Power Systems, a leading power back-up and RE solution provider from India. Earlier to moving to renewable energy space, he was the Vice President of Engineering at Portal Player, a company that was acquired by NVIDIA Corp in Jan 2007. He worked at Sun Microsystems, USA.

U Aung Myint was a teaching staff and research scholar/leader at Departments of Botany, Marine Biology and Marine Science at Mawlamyine University between 1972 and 1989. In 1995, he founded the Renewable Energy Association of Myanmar (REAM), a local environmental NGO which works to educate the public and increase awareness of environmental and renewable energy resources.

Thomas Reindl is the Deputy CEO of the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) and Principal Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He started with photovoltaics (PV) in 1992 at the SIEMENS Corporate R&D Labs. After holding several management positions at SIEMENS and running one of the leading German PV systems integration companies as Chief Operating Officer, he joined SERIS in 2010 and soon became Director of the Solar Energy System cluster.

Suwon Rim completed her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Sydney, and received her Master’s degree in International Cooperation (Global Affairs & Policy) at the Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies. She is mainly engaged in the management of renewable energy and energy efficiency cooperation programs in Southeast Asia, supporting the implementation and organization of various demonstration projects, feasibility studies, energy audits and capacity building workshops.

Dr. Supawan Saelim is currently a Renewable Energy Policy Specialist for USAID Clean Power Asia program, which encourages power sector investments in environmentally-friendly, grid-connected renewable energy sources. Dr. Saelim has focused primarily on activities to provide technical assistance to Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines related to renewable energy auctions and the impact of distributed PV policies on key stakeholders.

Somesh has been involved in managing large-scale power and utilities transformation programs for over 20 years. Prior to EY, Somesh was associated with Tata Power Company Limited and Accenture. He has been extensively associated with the development of smart/ digital grids (IoT) including business case development, policy enablement, architecture design, supply chain strategy, customer engagement, and project management.

Shishir Seth is currently working with International Solar Alliance Secretariat as Senior Consultant and primarily assisting in partnerships, coordination, program implementation, and strategy. He supported the preparation of briefs and inputs on the issues relating to solar energy, innovative policies, projects, programs, capacity building measures, and financial instruments to mobilize resources.

Sherzad Ali Khan is working as Coordinator of Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) for Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral (GBC). He is responsible to ensure coordination amongst AKDN agencies in Pakistan for integrated community-driven development programs with multiple themes including renewable energy, agriculture, employment generation, physical productive infrastructure, and communication. He also manages GBC strategy with a large component of energy development by encouraging community-based micro and mini hydro projects with AKDN own resources and donor funds.