Team

Dr. Kuran is an investor, serial entrepreneur, director and a seasoned executive in the semiconductor, power and cleantech sectors.

His efforts are fueled by a vision for a peaceful world with universal access to clean and sustainable sources of energy, food, and water.

He co-founded EV Edison and Power Edison, two companies that are offering innovative stationary and mobile energy storage solutions for the grid. 

Previously served as the President of Strategic Development at NRG, where he developed and ran the storage and water businesses and was responsible for expanding the company's business in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Before joining NRG, he was the President of Advanced Solutions at SunEdison where he established the storage and microgrid businesses. Led the company’s growth strategy in MENA and was the architect of the proposed $6.4B JV with the Saudi government.

In 2006, he founded Petra Solar and served as President, CEO and BOD member. Petra pioneered “smart solar” which combines solar with smart grid. Developed technologies and launched the world’s largest solar electric project in 2009, a 40MW installation in NJ. Internationally, he deployed Smart Solar in Australia, Jordan (1000 homes in 3 months), Bahrain (Smart City with BAPCO) and KSA (Aramco’s HQ). Raised capital and generated sales totaling ~$300M.

He was named by Greentech Media as one of the “100 people you must know in Smart Grid in 2012.” In 2011, was named by NJBIZ as one of “The 100 most powerful people in New Jersey business,” and Petra Solar was awarded the American Technology Award in both Smart Grid and Clean Tech. In 2010, recognized by E&Y as the NJ Green Tech Entrepreneur of the Year, and was named by Fortnightly Magazine as a “top guru” in the solar industry.

Currently serve on the Boards of NN Inc., Vital Energy, Enerknol and New York Energy Week as well as the advisory boards of the Charles Edison Fund, the Edison Innovation Foundation, and at the CEOE at Stevens Institute of Technology. Previously, he served on the board of New Jersey Technology Council, the advisory board of the Rothman Institute of Entrepreneurship at Fairleigh Dickenson University and the external advisory board of Rutgers Innovation Park.

He holds a Ph.D. in EE from CUNY and is an alumnus of Harvard Business School. Dr. Kuran is an inventor and has published over 40 papers. 

David M. Daly has over 38 years of experience in the energy sector and is known as a clean energy leader, strategic thinker, innovator and change manager who combines deep energy industry knowledge and regulatory/public policy expertise. Previously he served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G); President and COO of PSE&G Utilities and Clean Energy Ventures; Chairman of the Board, President and COO of PSE&G Long Island; and an appointee of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to the New Jersey Council on the Green Economy. Mr. Daly prides himself on his strategic and business planning skills, acumen in driving innovation through the use of advanced technologies, internal-external client relationship building, and focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Yazan has over 8 years of experience in the clean energy sector. Yazan is also a Co-Founder of Power Edison, an energy storage developer and provider of mobile energy storage systems. Yazan started his career working at NRG in the strategic development group where he played key roles in the development of the company's energy storage strategy.

His previous work was in the cryogenics and superconductivity fields, performing research and writing modeling software for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) upgrade under the European Organization of Nuclear Research (CERN). Yazan has also worked on rail transportation with Siemens and worked in the UK's Institute of Sound and Vibrations Research. Yazan graduated with First-class honors, receiving a Bachelor's and Master's of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Southampton with a specialization in Sustainable Energy Systems. He was also an honoree in the 2022 Forbes 30 Under 30 class for Energy. 

In addition to his role at EV Edison, Robert O. Gurman is Managing Consultant of Proenergy Consulting LLC, Chief Financial Officer of Green Island EV, a start-up electric micro-transit vehicle manufacturer located in Green Island, NY, CFO of JEMB Astoria Energy Holdings, and CFO of Pocono Manor Investors, where he is co-developer of the ~100 MW (DC) utility-scale Swiftwater Solar project. He provides consulting services to Electrada, LLC, whose mission is to provide the highest-performance, turnkey electric charging infrastructure solutions to commercial and public EV fleets, and to CALSTART & NYSERDA. Mr. Gurman is an experienced commercial & finance professional in the vehicle electrification/clean mobility, clean energy, renewable energy, and project & infrastructure finance space, having been involved in over $34 billion of transactions in his 30+ year career. His latest publication, "Taking Commercial Fleet Electrification to Scale: Financing Barriers and Solutions," was published by CALSTART (https://globaldrivetozero.org/publication/taking-commercial-fleet-electrification-to-scale-financing-barriers-and-solutions/).

Mr. Gurman is a co-founder, and on the Investment Committee, of Newmarket Capital - International Infrastructure Finance Company Funds (approx. $1.75 billion combined). He is also Acting Chairman of the Utility Debt Securitization Authority, a NY State agency restructuring and securitizing ~$5.0 billion of Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) debt. Mr. Gurman has taught project & infrastructure finance for Standard & Poor’s Global Market Intelligence, and has also taught and lectured at Johns Hopkins University – SAIS (adjunct professor), Columbia University Business School, and New York University. He has also served as an Expert Witness in commercial & bankruptcy litigation.

Mr. Gurman started his professional career at Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS), where he worked in investment and commercial banking for 14 years. He then became president of Kamine Intlernational Power, an international IPP. He earned his BA from Union College, and his MA in International Energy Policy and Economics from Johns Hopkins-SAIS.

Kevin Drolet is a certified marketing and sales expert with over 20 year experience in company growth strategies. He has worked with thousands of companies and managed over 100M in marketing campaigns. Highlights include developing a 4 year student recruitment campaign for UC San Diego elevating the school to the number 2 position in the UC system. He has lead and taught hundreds of media sales reps nationally in understanding and positioning digital marketing solutions. 

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Mr. Drolet founded KDRO Consulting, his second marketing agency, in 2019 to provide fractional CMO services, marketing consultation and coaching programs for renewable energy and climate tech companies. Through story telling he helps companies attain business opportunity, talent and investment. His mission is to enable climate impact companies to do what they do best, faster and more effectively. 

Richard Wernsing has extensive experience in distribution and transmission planning and asset strategy/management. Recently retired, He was responsible for Strategic Reliability and Delivery Planning at Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G). The electric distributions system includes planning future infrastructure improvements, rebuilding underground networks for the future, managing Distributed Energy Resources, customer microgrid’s, system expansion for electric vehicles and transportation electrification.

He was responsible for PSE&G’s conversion from reactive to proactive maintenance; he led the team that created the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS). The CMMS uses data to assess the health, criticality and risk of failure for major distribution and transmission assets. 

Dr. Kelli Joseph works across both wholesale and retail electricity markets on regulatory policy, market design, and power system economics throughout the United States and internationally. She led U.S. regulatory and market strategy efforts for several independent power producers in the restructured ISO/RTO wholesale electricity markets and worked in Grid Operations at the New York ISO. In the Global Energy Practice at The World Bank, she focused on renewable, storage, and distributed energy resource integration, and published a chapter in the Bank’s Rethinking Power Sector Reform, a decades long look back at developing country experience with electricity reform.  Dr. Joseph was nominated to the NARUC-NASEO Joint Task Force on Comprehensive Electricity Planning, a DOE-funded effort focusing on the regulatory and policy innovations needed to manage a 21st century power grid. She is also an Advisor with the Future Power Markets Forum at the Columbia SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy, an Adjunct Professor in the Clarkson University Business of Energy Program, and on the Board of Directors with the Energy Storage Association. 

Dr. Joseph speaks Hindi/Urdu, and Spanish, holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Virginia, an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Virginia, and an MBA, with a concentration in Finance, from IE Business School in Spain, where she was a U.S. Fulbright Scholar.

Over 20 years of energy resources, critical infrastructure,  and environment experience focused on building public-private partnerships, as a senior executive in cabinet-level agencies, academia, and as a U.S. Army combat veteran; Former Deputy Assistant to the President for Resilience and Homeland Security and as Florida’s Chief Resilience Officer, as well as former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State building the first Energy Resources Bureau working on energy transformation in the power generation sector. Dr. Nesheiwat is currently serving as a Commissioner on the U.S. Arctic Research Commission.

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Previously, she served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Special Envoy and the Under Secretary for Energy, Environment, and Technology. PhD dissertation from Tokyo Tech, “Post-Disaster Reconstruction in Technology & Resiliency in the age of Climate Change” focused on post disaster reconstruction of coastal towns suffering from lack of power, flooding, and rising sea levels. Managed the resiliency and energy working group on the World Economic Forum’s Council (WEF) Global Advisory Council. Promoted U.S. investment opportunities and advancing U.S. energy technology interests.  A known public speaker advocating for further research and development in critical infrastructure protection, energy storage & efficiency and conservation.  Led initiatives with United Nations, FEMA, EPA, DoD, State, and White House for natural resource programs and innovation projects engaging globally and domestically with foreign ministers, multinational corporation CEOs from Exxon, Chevron, Dutch Royal, GE, NRG, Westinghouse, Cheniere, as well as NGO’s, universities, and local/state governments.

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A former U.S. Army intelligence officer, Dr. Nesheiwat served consecutive tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, and awarded the Bronze Star Medal.  

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Dr. Nesheiwat was an International Affairs Fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations and on the Governing Advisory Council for the World Economic Forum. She earned a Ph.D. from Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan; an M.A. from Georgetown University, and B.A. from Stetson University. She is a proficient Arabic and Japanese speaker.

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