Management & Advisors

Management Team

Daniel Yates, CEO & Founder

As CEO, Dan Yates is responsible for the vision, strategy, and leadership of Opower. Under his leadership, Opower has become one of the fastest growing enterprise SaaS companies in the world: Opower has been cited as an example of innovation and success by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron. Dan has been recognized as one of the leading SaaS CEOs through honors such as Washington Business Journal’s Power 100, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year®, Fortune's “40 under 40,” and Washingtonian's “Tech Titans.” Through his work at Opower, he is able to marry his love of the environment with his passion for building world-class software products. Dan co-founded Opower with Alex Laskey in 2007. Prior to Opower, he was founder and CEO of Edusoft, an educational software company that provided assessment platforms to US public school districts. He sold the 150-person, $20M company to publisher Houghton Mifflin in 2004. Dan received his BA in Computer Science, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard.
Alex Laskey, President & Founder

Alex Laskey is responsible for Opower’s business strategy, public profile, and company culture. He leads and develops Opower’s partnerships with utilities and governments, including the company's international expansion on three continents. In his role as Opower’s President, Alex has been invited to the White House to meet with President Obama to discuss innovation and job creation, and to testify before the US Senate. He was featured in Fortune's "40 under 40", has been a Technology Pioneer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and serves as a Commissioner on the Alliance National Commission on Energy Efficiency Policy, chaired by US Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tom King, President of National Grid USA. Alex also serves on the board of the Conservation Lands Foundation. Prior to founding Opower, he enjoyed a career in politics and policy, serving as a campaign manager, strategist, and public-opinion analyst. Alex received his BA in the History of Science from Harvard.
Thomas Kramer, Chief Financial Officer

Thomas Kramer is responsible for financial management, human resources, and administrative stewardship at Opower. Previously, he was CFO at Cvent, the largest event-management technology company in the US, where he helped grow the organization from its founding to profitability and 850 employees, and where he led the largest software financing round in the US since 2007. Prior to joining Cvent, Thomas was a consultant at Boston Consulting Group—where he developed e-commerce strategies and management analyses for North American corporations—and a senior consultant at Accenture. Thomas was recently named one of the 10 best CFOs in Washington, DC by SmartCEO. He earned a Master's at the Norwegian School of Economics, and an MBA at Harvard Business School, with a focus on strategy and finance. While at HBS, Thomas co-authored the Amazon e-commerce strategy case study, which went on to become part of the school's core curriculum.
Nandini Basuthakur, Senior Vice President & Managing Director of Europe, Middle East, and Africa

Nandini has responsibility for Opower’s international expansion efforts and London office. Prior to joining Opower, she was an Executive Director at the Corporate Executive Board, where her assignments included managing the firm’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) and India businesses, serving on its Executive Committee, and overseeing sales, client service, content delivery, and strategic accounts. In this capacity, Nandini was charged with generating $100M+ in annual contract value from new sales, installing a base of international clients across multiple industries and 35 product lines, and heading up operations for 400 staff. Previously, she enjoyed a six-year-long stretch in management consulting with Ernst & Young Asia Pacific, based in Wellington, New Zealand, where she undertook a range of public and private sector client assignments in Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Singapore, and Thailand. Nandini holds a BSc (Econ), specializing in Economics, Management, and Psychology, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland and completed her MSc (Econ) at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Alex Kinnier, Senior Vice President of Product Management

Alex Kinnier heads up Opower's product management, user experience, devices, and real-time services teams. An ardent technologist, investor, entrepreneur, and product developer, he has been developing products with the potential to change the world for 15 years. Prior to joining Opower, Alex was a Partner at New Enterprise Associates, where he focused on consumer and information technology, and at Khosla Ventures, where he focused on clean, information, and consumer internet technology. He was previously a product management executive at Google—where he led key consumer initiatives and the large advertiser advertising platform team, resulting in the $3.1B acquisition of Doubleclick—and co-founder and CEO of Ocular Technologies, a clean-tech company focused on increasing air-cooling system efficiency. Alex received his MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School, and a BS with honors in Chemical Engineering from Lehigh University.
Jeremy Kirsch, Senior Vice President of Client Solutions

Jeremy Kirsch has been leading high-performance teams, working with customers and partners, and building businesses for over 12 years. Prior to joining Opower, he was an executive in the Viisage Secure Credentialing business at L-1 Identity Solutions (NYSE:ID). While there, Jeremy held a series of positions including VP Sales and Business Development and VP Marketing and Strategy. Jeremy’s team was critical in the division's rapid growth to more than $100M in annual revenue through expanded direct sales. Jeremy has also held a leadership role at Art Technology Group (NASD: ARTG), and was a founder of InvestTree.com: both companies developed Jeremy’s experience in bringing new products and services to the market. Earlier in his career, Jeremy was a Special Operations Officer in the U.S. Navy, where he served as a member of elite Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two. He completed his service with the rank of Lieutenant. Jeremy received his BA in Economics from Stanford University and his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Rick McPhee, Senior Vice President of Engineering

Rick McPhee has more than 10 years of experience leading engineering teams in building complex enterprise software systems and is a widely respected technology leader in the security industry. Prior to joining Opower, he served as vice president of engineering at Fortify, an HP company that provides Software Security Assurance products and services. While there, Rick was responsible for research and development for their flagship Fortify 360 product suite as well as the Fortify On Demand SaaS product, and led Fortify’s research and development team through the company’s acquisition by HP. Prior to his work at Fortify, Rick was Vice President of Engineering at Vormetric—which develops encryption and key management products to protect sensitive data wherever it is stored—and at Sychron, where he was responsible for building the company's datacenter automation platform and virtual desktop application. Rick holds a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Glasgow, and a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Oxford.
Roderick Morris, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Operations

Roderick is Opower's chief marketing officer and global leader of the company's client operations P&L. His accountability spans all enterprise Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) Marketing, Consumer Marketing on the Opower platform, Retail Operations, Analytics, Engagement Management, as well as Technology Services and SaaS Operations; he also runs Talent Acquisition company-wide. Previously, Roderick was VP, Marketing at Vovici, a leading SaaS provider of customer feedback solutions, where he led marketing, product management, and public and analyst relations. Prior to joining Vovici, Roderick was general manager for LexisNexis US Business Information Solutions, where he built high-growth businesses and consistently raised growth and renewal rates for the P&Ls he managed. He has also worked for Bain & Company, Microsoft, Simmons & Company, and the Corporate Executive Board. He holds an MBA from Stanford and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.
Ogi Kavazovic, Vice President of Strategy & Marketing

Ogi Kavazovic is responsible for Opower's corporate marketing and strategy, including our corporate brand, messaging, media relations, and overall marketing approach. He works closely with our sales and product teams to help guide the company's product strategy, competitive positioning, and go-to-market strategy, and promotes Opower's products at industry events and conferences. Prior to joining Opower, Ogi was a management consultant at Katzenbach Partners, where he advised Fortune 500 clients on corporate strategy development, with particular focus on the utility sector and Smart Grid industry. Ogi began his career as a software engineer, developing risk and asset management systems for major financial institutions, such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Ogi was also one of the lead architects of a "smart field" data management platform for Schlumberger Information Systems. Ogi received his BA and MS degrees in Computer Science from Harvard.
Michael Sachse, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel

Michael Sachse leads Opower's legal and regulatory teams. An experienced negotiator and strategist, Michael's efforts have been instrumental to Opower's success closing deals with eight of the ten largest utilities in the United States as well as developing the regulatory strategy that has led to the widespread acceptance of information-based efficiency by public utility commissions. Prior to joining Opower, Michael was a litigator at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. Michael received his BA in History from Amherst College and his law degree from Harvard Law School. He lives in Washington DC with his wife Erin, his daughter Nora, son Teddy, and dog Lucy.

Board of Directors

Daniel Yates, CEO & Founder

As CEO, Dan Yates is responsible for the vision, strategy, and leadership of Opower. Under his leadership, Opower has become one of the fastest growing enterprise SaaS companies in the world: Opower has been cited as an example of innovation and success by President Barack Obama and Prime Minister David Cameron. Dan has been recognized as one of the leading SaaS CEOs through honors such as Washington Business Journal’s Power 100, Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year®, Fortune's “40 under 40,” and Washingtonian's “Tech Titans.” Through his work at Opower, he is able to marry his love of the environment with his passion for building world-class software products. Dan co-founded Opower with Alex Laskey in 2007. Prior to Opower, he was founder and CEO of Edusoft, an educational software company that provided assessment platforms to US public school districts; he sold the 150-person, $20M company to publisher Houghton Mifflin in 2004. Dan received his BA in Computer Science, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard.
Alex Laskey, President & Founder

Alex Laskey is responsible for Opower’s business strategy, public profile, and company culture. He leads and develops Opower’s partnerships with utilities and governments, including the company's international expansion on three continents. In his role as Opower’s President, Alex has been invited to the White House to meet with President Obama to discuss innovation and job creation, and to testify before the US Senate. He was featured in Fortune's "40 under 40", has been a Technology Pioneer at the World Economic Forum in Davos, and serves as a Commissioner on the Alliance National Commission on Energy Efficiency Policy, chaired by US Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Tom King, President of National Grid USA. Alex also serves on the board of the Conservation Lands Foundation. Prior to founding Opower, he enjoyed a career in politics and policy, serving as a campaign manager, strategist, and public-opinion analyst. Alex received his BA in the History of Science from Harvard.
Sameer Gandhi, Board Observer

Sameer Gandhi is a partner at Accel Partners, focusing on consumer internet, software, and services investments. He is responsible for investments in Bonobos, Collective Media, Dropbox, Opower, Quidsi (parent of diapers.com and soap.com; acquired by Amazon.com), Sonatype, and StumbleUpon. Prior to joining Accel, Sameer was a partner with Sequoia Capital, where he worked on venture capital and growth equity investments in software, internet, digital media, SaaS, and security companies. He led investments such as Barracuda Networks, Dropbox, eHarmony, Gracenote (acquired by Sony), Sourcefire (NASDAQ: FIRE), and Trulia. Sameer was previously a Principal at Broadview, an investment banking firm specializing in technology mergers and acquisitions, and he also held technical field sales and consulting positions at Oracle. Sameer holds BSEE and MSEE degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Gene Riechers, Director

Gene Riechers has more than 25 years of experience in leadership roles at venture capital firms and technology companies, and was named to the first AlwaysOn list of the Top 100 VCs in 2009. He is the Vice Chairman of EverFi, an educational technology company in Washington, DC. From 2002 to 2011, Gene was a General Partner of Valhalla Partners, a leading venture capital firm in the Mid-Atlantic area. Previously, he founded and was Managing Director of FBR Technology Venture Partners, which produced the most successful software IPO in history. Gene spent 16 years in senior operating roles with technology companies, and joined four early-stage ventures, all of which went public: his roles included COO, CFO, VP of Business Development, and VP of International Sales. He is a Director of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association and a co-founder of The MINDSHARE Program, the leading organization for technology entrepreneurs in the Greater Washington area. Gene holds an MBA from Loyola College and a BS from Penn State.
Jon Sakoda, Director

Jon Sakoda serves as Partner at New Enterprise Associates, where he focuses on technology and renewable energy investments, as well as the firm's investing activities in Latin America. Prior to joining NEA, Jon was an entrepreneur and co-founder of IMlogic, Inc. (acquired by Symantec Corporation) and served as its Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Products. Prior to founding IMlogic, he worked at Goldman Sachs, where he focused on venture capital investments for their Private Equity Group. Jon earned a BA degree from Harvard in Chemistry. In addition to his directorship at Opower, Jon serves as a board member at Suniva, and led NEA’s investments in SunEdison and Spring Wireless. Jon also serves as a board observer to BandGap engineering, Channel Advisor, and JobFox. He serves on the National Venture Capital Association's Clean Technology Advisory Council, where he advises on federal policies to promote investments in US-based energy technology companies.
Mark Sugarman, Director

Mark Sugarman serves as Managing Partner at MHS Capital, a venture capital fund backed by an extraordinary group of technology executives and entrepreneurs. MHS Capital’s team includes senior executives from every major internet portal, and a deep roster of serial entrepreneurs who have built leading software and internet companies. MHS Capital primarily invests in bootstrapped software and internet companies and sponsors serial entrepreneurs to do small tech buyouts. In addition to his directorship at Opower, Mark’s board memberships include Fonality, iLike, and Magnify 360. Additional portfolio companies include: Adisn, Courttrax, Edusoft (acquired by Houghton Mifflin), Eventmonitor, Giftcertificates.com, Getsmart (acquired by Providian, now part of Lendingtree), Nutrisystem (NTRI), Savi Technology (acquired by Lockheed Martin), Venturebeat, Verticlanet (VERT), and 1stup.com (acquired by CMGI).
Trae Vassallo, Board Observer

Trae Vassallo is a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Since joining the firm in 2002, she has put her technical and entrepreneurial background to work with companies in two main areas of focus: greentech and consumer internet. Trae works closely Opower's management team, as well as those of Stealth Efficiency, RecycleBank, Altarock Energy, Fisker Automotive, and Aggregate Knowledge. Trae helped sell Ausra, a utility-scale solar thermal development company, to Areva in early 2010, and is currently focusing on smart grid and efficiency opportunities. Prior to KPCB, Trae was co-founder of Good Technology, a KPCB portfolio company (acquired by Motorola) that provides an end-to-end wireless corporate email solution. Prior to that, she worked as a design engineer at IDEO Product Development, where she developed a range of products (she holds 13 patents). Trae earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Mechanical Engineering with honors from Stanford, and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Harry Weller, Director

Harry Weller serves as a General Partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), where he focuses on technology and renewable energy investments, as well as NEA's activities in China. He was named one of the "50 Most Powerful People in Networking" by Network magazine and one of the region's "Titans of Technology" in Washingtonian. Harry has been honored numerous times in Forbes magazine’s “Midas List” as one of the most successful venture capitalists in America. Prior to joining NEA, he was a Partner at FBR Technology Venture Partners. Early in his career, Harry managed strategy and technology initiatives in the financial, energy, and telecommunications industries for the Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte & Touche. Prior to his business career, he served as an officer in the US Navy. Harry holds an MBA from Harvard and a BS in Physics from Duke. He also serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA), is a past Chairman of MAVA Capital Connection, and co-founded the Young Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (YAVA).

Advisory Board

Tom Brady, Chairman

Tom Brady is Chairman of the Board of Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) (NYSE:OFC), an S&P 400 office real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on serving the specialized requirements of U.S Government and Defense Information Technology tenants. Prior to becoming COPT’s Chairman, Tom was Chairman of the Board of Baltimore Gas & Electric Company (BGE) and Executive Vice President – Corporate Strategy at Constellation Energy Group (CEG) (formerly NYSE:CEG, now part of Exelon Corporation NYSE: EXC). Tom is a director of ENBALA Power Networks, a Trustee and Treasurer of the Board of Stevenson University, and served as the Chairman of Maryland Public Broadcasting and Maryland Public Television from 2003 to 2007. Tom received a BS in Accounting from University of Baltimore, an MBA from Loyola University, completed an Executive Program at Penn State University and was a certified public accountant.
John Rowe, Advisor

John W. Rowe is Chairman Emeritus of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation. Rowe led Exelon from its formation in 2000 through the completion of its acquisition of Constellation Energy in 2012. Rowe previously held chief executive officer positions at the New England Electric System and Central Maine Power Company, served as general counsel of Consolidated Rail Corporation, and was a partner in the law firm of Isham, Lincoln & Beale. He is the lead independent director of the Northern Trust Company and a member of the board of directors of The Allstate Corporation and SunCoke Energy. Rowe serves as chairman of the Illinois Institute of Technology, New Schools for Chicago and the Field Museum and as president of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Rowe holds undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and the Order of the Coif. He has also received that university’s Distinguished Alumni Award. Rowe and his wife, Jeanne, reside in Chicago.
Dick Kelly, Advisor

Dick Kelly began his career with Public Service Company of Colorado, filling a variety of finance-related positions. In 1995, the company merged with Southwestern Public Service Company to form New Century Energies (NCE), where Kelly served as Chief Financial Officer. In 2000, New Century Energies (NCE) and Northern States Power Company merged to form Xcel Energy. Kelly served as Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Xcel Energy from 2005 until September 2011. Kelly currently serves as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Regis University, Chairman of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Science Museum of Minnesota. He also serves as a board member of the Capital City Partnership, the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) and Canadian Pacific Railway.
Dian Gruenich, Advisor

Dian Grueneich is a nationally and internationally recognized energy expert, with 35 years’ experience. Dian served as a Commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission from 2005-2010 and led its efforts on energy efficiency, developing the California Long-Term Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan and overseeing a 40% expansion of California’s energy efficiency funding. Dian currently serves on the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Electricity Advisory Committee, the DOE-EPA State Energy Efficiency Action Plan Leadership Group, the Leadership Council of the China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance, the Advisory Council of Stanford University’s Precourt Energy Institute, the Global Cool Cities Alliance, and the Advanced Energy Economy Advisory Board. Dian also serves as a Clean Energy Education & Empowerment U.S. Ambassador. Dian is a graduate of Stanford University and holds a J.D. from Georgetown University.
Fred Butler, Advisor

As a highly recognized and respected industry expert and regulatory leader among state energy commissioners, regulatory commissioners, and utility executives around the world, Fred Butler helps with Opower’s strategic direction and public and private utility partnerships. Fred served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) for seven years, which included three years as an Officer, and culminated in a year as President and Chairman of the Executive Committee and Board in 2008-2009. He worked as NARUC's representative to the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation Energy Regulators' Forum and is one of NARUC's representatives to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Fred also served for 11 years as Commissioner on the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities. He currently serves as Executive Vice President for Salmon Ventures, a New Jersey-based firm that provides national consulting services to utilities, government agencies, school districts, trade organizations, and businesses.

Additional Advisors

Dr. Robert Cialdini, Chief Scientist

Robert Cialdini works exclusively with Opower to define, test, and optimize messaging to increase participation in residential energy conservation programs. Extensive academic work in the psychology of influence and over 30 years of research on the subject have earned him an international reputation in the fields of persuasion, compliance, and negotiation. He spent much of the past decade studying conservation and efficiency, and his books, including Influence: Science & Practice, are the result of years of enquiry into the reasons people comply with requests in business settings. Worldwide, Influence has sold more than two million copies. In the field of influence and persuasion, Robert is the most-cited living social psychologist in the world today. He received his PhD from the University of North Carolina and his post-doctoral training from Columbia. Currently, he is Regents' Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University.
Hadi Partovi, Advisor

As a widely recognized leader in consumer software and Software as a Service businesses, Hadi Partovi helps with the strategic direction and growth of Opower’s software and technology development. Hadi established himself as a technology leader during the browser wars in the 90s as Group Program Manager for Internet Explorer. After the release of IE 5.0, he joined the founding team of Tellme Networks as a Vice President of Products and Professional Services. Hadi then returned to Microsoft as General Manager of the MSN portal, where he helped deliver 30% growth and MSN's only year of profitability. He then joined twin brother Ali Partovi to co-found iLike, the web’s fastest growing social music service, later acquired by MySpace. Hadi is now an active angel investor and has also served in advisory roles for numerous technology companies, including Facebook, Dropbox and Bluekai. A graduate of Harvard University, Hadi enjoys skiing, kayaking, guitar, and grabscrab.
Craig Weissman, Advisor

As a widely recognized leader in Software-as-a-Service businesses, Craig Weissman has a leading role in shaping the direction and development of Opower’s software and technology portfolio. In his most recent role as CTO of Salesforce.com, Craig was integral in the design and development of the Force.com Enterprise Cloud Computing platform, including its scalable, meta-data-driven, multi-tenant design. As CTO, he was responsible for overall software and hardware architecture as well as authored key features such as the multi-tenant query optimizer, row-level sharing model, and stored procedure language. Prior to joining Salesforce.com, Craig served as Vice President of Analytic Services at E.piphany, a pioneer in the data warehousing and enterprise analytics industry. He holds an MS in Computer Science and a BA in Applied Mathematics from Harvard.