Who We Are
To-date TGC employs over 32 investment professionals, back office and operating personnel that focus on investment origination, due-diligence, transaction execution, financing, risk management, back office operations, and physical asset management.
Leadership Team
PANOS NINIOS, Managing Partner
Prior to TGC, Panos was a Managing Director for four years at Plainfield Asset Management, a special situations hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut with over $5 billion in assets under management. During his tenure, he was responsible for a global $1.5 billion energy portfolio consisting of private equity, high yield debt and bank debt. While at Plainfield, Panos was a pioneer of what has now become known as the “energy transition” movement. He built and managed an approximately $250 million renewable energy private equity portfolio across a variety of technologies. In that context, Panos evaluated and invested in solar, biomass and biofuel production and power generation, bioplastics production and equipment manufacturing, and more mature technologies such as gas power generation and LNG. His experience at Plainfield informed Panos’ focus on distributed, commercial & industrial (“C&I”) solar power generation, as well as batteries and microgrids, as an actionable segment of the market that provides one of the most attractive risk/return profiles within the value chain. These areas have been TGC’s focus since the firm’s founding in 2011.
Earlier in his career, Panos was an Executive Director with the Goldman Sachs commodity business (JAron) in London, where he concentrated on European power and gas markets and distressed debt power markets. Panos also spent eight years with McKinsey & Co, where he eventually became an Associate Partner, serving major US and European energy companies on deregulation, M&A and commodity risk management. While working on his doctoral thesis, Panos acted as a consultant to the UK power sector, principally the Southern Electric PLC, and spent a year as a financial derivatives analyst at Intercapital Brokers in London.
Panos holds a Ph.D. in Electric Power Industry Deregulation Economics from the London Business School. His thesis addressed power industry deregulation in the UK, the first electric power industry to deregulate, globally. Panos’ work toward his Ph.D. laid the foundation for his professional career, providing Panos with the knowledge and skill set that has placed him at the forefront of electricity market innovation.
In addition to his Ph.D., Panos holds an M.Sc. in operations research from the London School of Economics, an M.Sc. in computer science from the University of Dundee, UK and a B.Sc. in pure mathematics from the University of Patras, Greece.
BO WIEGAND, Partner
Prior to True Green Capital, Bo was a principal at Voyage Investment Management, an alternative investment firm. Bo began his career as an analyst in BlackRock’s Proprietary Alpha Group.
Bo received an A.B. from Harvard University and was a member of the varsity tennis team.
A.DONALD LEPORE III, Partner and General Counsel
Previously, Don was a partner in the corporate department of Seyfarth Shaw LLP, a large international law firm, where his practice encompassed advising public and private companies across a broad range of transactions, as well as advising private fund managers and other financial sponsors on fund formations, capital raising, and regulation. Don also served as Vice-Chair of the firm’s Energy and Clean Technologies Group and has significant experience in the renewable energy and clean technology sectors.
Earlier in his career Don served as General Counsel at RNK Capital, an investment management company with peak assets under management in excess of $1 billion that focused on investments in the environmental, clean technology and renewable energy sectors. Prior to this, Don practiced law in the M&A group at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP.
Don holds an AB from Georgetown University and a JD from New York University School of Law, where he was a Notes Editor for the NYU Law Review.
CHRIS KIRKMAN, Partner and CFO
Prior to joining TGC in 2014, Chris spent over a decade in power & utilities investment banking in roles from Associate to Director at Deutsche Bank and WestLB. Earlier in his career, Chris worked in various primarily finance-related positions at the Vanguard Group, Citi, and McKinsey & Company.
Chris holds a MBA in Finance from the Yale School of Management and a BA in English from Kenyon College.
RAMI NABER, Chief Accounting Officer
Rami previously served in roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers from 2010 to 2014 auditing Fortune 500 companies as well as private corporations and performing tax services to private corporations including Private Equity Firms. Prior to PwC, he served as a Staff Accountant at Maier, Markey & Justic, assisting smaller companies with back office reporting and auditing larger companies.
Rami received his Masters of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees with a concentration in Accounting from Pace University. He’s been an active Certified Public Accountant since 2012.
PATRICIA TER HEUN, Partner, Marketing and Investor Relations
Patricia has over twenty years’ experience marketing investments to public and corporate pension plans and foundations and endowments, as well as to financial institutions, corporations, and private investors. From 2014 through 2017 Patricia represented TGC and raised TGCs second and third funds prior to joining TGC as a Partner.
In 1998 Patricia founded Strategic Marketing Solutions (SMS) a full-service broker dealer specializing in private equity and private real assets fundraising with a focus in the energy sector, while at SMS she raised over $2.8 billion in capital for private equity and energy infrastructure funds. From 1995 to 1998 she was Director of Marketing and Investor Relations for Energy Investors Funds (EIF) assisting EIF in designing and implementing their fundraising and marketing strategy. From 1991 to 1995 she was Vice President of Marketing for CMA Capital Management, a boutique investment bank specializing in asset-based structured financings for utilities and independent power companies. Earlier in her career, she was Manager of Special Products for Phoenix Leasing, responsible for marketing venture leasing financial transactions on a direct basis.
Patricia has an Associate of Arts Degree from Columbus College in Seville, Spain.
ILIAS GARIDIS, Operating Partner
Prior to joining TGC Ilias was for five years director of Thyssenkrupp Steel USA where he was responsible for plant wide operations at a 5 million ton flat steel mill in Alabama. The twenty years prior to Thyssenkrupp, Ilias held various positions in manufacturing and technology companies in Europe including most recently the roles of Chief Operating Officer in Heliosphera SA (a solar panel manufacturer) and Larco SA (the largest European ferronickel producer).
Ilias hold a Licentiate of Technology (Ph.D. equivalent) from the Helsinki University of Technology in Metallurgy and Corrosion Engineering, an M.Sc. from the National Technical University of Athens and the Helsinki University of Technology and a Diploma in Business Administration from ALBA University
BETH ADAMSON, Chief Human Resources Officer
Beth brings a multi-decade wealth of experience in Human Resources to TGC. Previously, Beth founded Lanirock Consulting, LLC., a full-service HR consulting firm and has advised chief executives and senior business leaders across several industries. Prior to Lanirock, for a fifteen year period, Beth led the Human Resource initiatives for Rothschild North America. Earlier in her career, for a decade, Beth held a variety of human resource positions at Credit Suisse and Bankers Trust.
Beth received her B.A. in Economics from Fordham University and is a certified executive coach.
Investment Team
ADAM RASKEN, Managing Director
Prior to starting at TGC in 2013, Adam spent 10 plus years in the commercial real estate industry with the last 8 years from 2004-2011 overseeing acquisitions for a family commercial real estate fund in Miami, FL focusing on of income producing office and industrial acquisitions.
Adam holds a Master’s in Real Estate from the Chapman Graduate School of Business and B.Sc. in Finance from Indiana University.
SAM SALISBURY, Director
Prior to starting at TGC in 2022, Sam was the Managing Director of Kinectrics UK Ltd. where he led a European wide business providing services to the electricity transmission and distribution industry. He also spent ten years at Centrica, one of the UK’s largest energy companies, where he held various roles including VP of The Innovation Labs, Investment Principal of the Ignite Impact Investment Fund, and Group Strategy Manager. Sam started his career as a consultant at Arthur D. Little’s London office, advising clients on business strategy, innovation, and operations.
Sam holds a DPhil in Engineering Science from the University of Oxford and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Queens University, Canada.
CHRIS METCALF, Director
Chris brings to TGC over 15 years of experience in the environmental commodity and deregulated electricity markets. Most recently he led origination for solar tax equity investments at GAF Energy, and built out the company’s commercial solar rooftop channel supporting GAF Materials. Prior to GAF, Chris served as VP of Environmental Markets at Skystream Markets, where he brokered all classes of RECs (Renewable Energy Credits).
Chris holds a B.A. in Government & Legal Studies and Environmental Studies from Bowdoin College.
MATTHEW DESORBO, Vice President
Matt brings to True Green Capital over 15 years of experience in conventional and renewable energy development, construction, and operation. Matt has extensive experience in land use, water resource, cultural and natural resource, and air resource permitting.
Prior to joining True Green Capital, Matt was instrumental in the development, finance, construction, and commissioning of a 1000MW gas fired combined cycle power plant located in the PJM regional transmission organization.
Matt holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is very active in his community.
ETHAN SIDEROWICZ, Vice President
Prior to joining TGC, Ethan was a Vice President at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC where he was a member of the Structured Solutions Team within the Investment Bank. In this role, Ethan originated, structured and executed credit-oriented principal investments. Ethan was instrumental in closing 18 distributed generation solar transactions with a combined fair market value of ~$4.6 billion. Ethan began his career in the Project Finance Group at UniCredit Bank AG.
Ethan holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from The George Washington University.
RYAN DOWD, Associate
Prior to joining TGC, Ryan was a Senior Analyst at Clearway Energy Group as transaction execution lead for a 100 MW utility scale solar portfolio and 63 MW portfolio of community solar projects. His key responsibilities included managing financial models, coordinating CPs for fundings and construction debt term conversions as well as engagement with third party consultants and independent engineers. Earlier in his career Ryan spent two years with Exxon Mobil in its Finance MBA rotational program. At Exxon, he spent the majority of his tenure in the capital markets group and was responsible for corporate cash forecasting, debt issuance and administration and competitor analysis.
Ryan holds a Master of Business Administration degree from University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from University of Iowa.
ALEX NYALUSI, Associate
Alex is also involved in supporting Fund marketing & investor relations and coordinating project development among internal functions.
Prior to joining True Green Capital, Alex worked for a year as a Project Financial Analyst at Brightcore Energy, supporting origination of clean energy solutions for commercial customers.
Alex holds a B.A in Economics from Yale University.
NOAH SIEGEL, Associate
Prior to joining TGC in 2018, Noah spent three years as the Business Development and Project Manager for SunTegra Solar where he launched a unique building-integrated solar roofing product through a network of roofing and solar contractors in the East Coast residential market. During his time at SunTegra Solar, he earned a solar energy technical certification from the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners.
Noah holds a B.S. in Management from Tulane University and graduated Summa Cum Laude with Honors.
CHARLIE ROBSON, Analyst
Prior to joining True Green Capital, Charlie completed an internship program with Greencoat Capital, a specialist renewables manager based in the UK.
Charlie holds a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering from Newcastle University.
CONNOR MEDLAND, Analyst
Prior to joining True Green Capital, Connor was obtaining a BA in Environmental Sciences and Policy at Duke University.
Operations & Legal
KATHRYN VENGEROVSKIY, Chief Compliance Officer & Vice President of Legal
Prior to joining TGC in 2016, Kathryn worked for three years as the Managing Paralegal in the asset management group of Credit Suisse. Before that, Kathryn began her career in New York in 2004 at Watson, Farley & Williams LLP, a large international firm, where she worked in the project finance group concentrating on shipping and marine assets and then, later, completed a year at BBAM US LP, a San Francisco based asset management firm focused on the commercial aviation industry.
Kathryn holds a B.A. in Political Science from Northeastern University.
KELSEY HINE, Vice President
Prior to joining TGC in 2016, Kelsey began her career at public accounting firm BlumShapiro, where she held the position of Senior Accountant and served four years specializing in the audit of private companies.
Kelsey holds a B.S. in Business with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Connecticut.
ZHANNA GALATAS, Associate & Accountant
Prior to joining TGC in 2021, Zhanna began her career in New York City, working at Deloitte. She provided tax compliance and consulting services for Private Equity Firms for three years.
Zhanna holds a B.B.A. in Finance from Baruch College.
VANESSA BARROSO, Analyst
Prior to joining TGC in 2019, Vanessa worked for three years as an A/P & A/R specialist in property management, supporting day-to-day management of payments and collections.
Vanessa holds an A.S. in business management, with a B.S in Accounting, in progress, at Sacred Heart University.
DANIEL LADORE, Vice President IT
Previously, Dan served as Director of IT at Breitling USA, managing all aspects of IT infrastructure and security for wholesale, retail, and repairs for the US and Canada operations for 11 years.
Prior to Breitling, Dan spent 12 years at IBM, first managing relationships with external clients and then running a small research lab helping to demonstrate IBM’s Advanced Internet Technologies to IBM employees and external customers.
Dan studied Computer Science at Pace University and has held certifications from Microsoft and Novell.
Senior Advisors
JOHN BERTUZZI
Before Goldman, John was a Senior Vice President in the commodity trading group at Lehman Brothers for seven years.
John has also worked in commodities trading for Mitsui & Co., Metallgesellschaft Corp., and also in auditing for Ernst & Ernst (now Ernst&Young).
HENRI TALERMAN
Prior to forming WR , Henri was Partner of Lehman Brothers Merchant Banking Partners and Managing Director of Lehman Brothers Inc. Henri was a member of Lehman’s Investment Committee and IB Operating Committee.
Henri has invested across a wide range of industries. He sits on boards of portfolio companies and plays an active role in capital allocation and strategy decisions.
FRANK E. “TED” WALSH III
Prior to forming WR, Frank worked at Kidder, Peabody, Inc., in New York City in the equity syndicate department.
Frank has extensive private equity and capital markets experience across a wide range of industries. In addition to sitting on the board of TGC and other portfolio companies, he currently serves as a director to several corporations including First Constitution Bancorp (NASDAQ: FCCY)