Executive Leadership Team (2022 - 2023)
Vineet J Nair
Co-President
Vineet is a PhD candidate in the Computational Science & Engineering program. He conducts research in the Active-Adaptive Control Lab in the Mechanical Engineering department - applying tools from optimization, control theory, and machine learning to model smart grids & transportation networks. Prior to MIT, Vineet completed an MPhil in Energy Technologies at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar and received his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering & Economics from UC Berkeley. Previously, he served as Co-Managing Director for the 2022 MIT Energy Conference and has also been involved with the Climate & Energy Prize and Global Startup Workshop. In addition to research, he has industry experience through internships at Siemens, NREL and Applied Materials. In his spare time, he enjoys hiking, tennis, working out and singing.
Arina Khotimsky
Co-President
Arina is an 2023 undergrad majoring in Materials Science and Engineering with a concentration in Sustainable Energy Entrepreneurship and Policy. Since coming coming to MIT, Arina knew she wanted to be involved in energy, which has lead her from doing research in carbon capture, to interning with Iberdrola and Chevron. Most recently, in Summer 2022, Arina will be interning at the Denver office of McKinsey & Co. Previously, Arina was involved in the MIT EnergyHack, serving as a Communications Director (2020) and a Managing Director (2021). Arina is excited to be leading MITEC along with Evan and Vineet this year! In her free time, you can find Arina rowing on the Charles at 6am with the women's openweight crew team.
Evan Gao
Co-President
Evan is a 2023 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan with interests in climate tech, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University. Prior to MIT, he worked in power and infrastructure investing with Starwood Energy Group and Citigroup. During his 2022 summer, Evan interned as an investment associate at Fifth Wall, a climate tech VC fund focused on decarbonizing the built environment. He is excited about the role that cleantech innovation will play in order to achieve net-zero, promote climate justice, and spur the energy transition. In his spare time, he lights up the dance floor as a DJ, and hopes to generate good vibes at club events!
Prim Rattanathumawat
Vice President, Marketing
Prim is a 2023 SMArchS candidate in Architecture and Urbanism Program. She currently work as a Researcher at the MIT Urban Risk Lab and MIT Office of Sustainability as part of the MIT Climate Grand Challenges team. Prior to MIT, Prim worked as an architectural designer in Bangkok, New York and Chicago. Her interest lies in the global issues of sustainability in the AEC industry, the integration of sustainable development and climate change adaptation in cities. Prim holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, sailing and cooking.
Angeles Elias
Vice President, Marketing
Angeles is a 2nd year MBA student at MIT Sloan where she is focusing in sustainability. Before Sloan she worked at Strategy& Mexico specializing in power and utilities projects. She holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Iberoamericana.
Shomik Verma
Vice President, Community & Education
Shomik is a MechE PhD student in the Atomistic Simulation and Energy lab with Prof. Asegun Henry. He is working on developing a carbon-free power plant featuring hydrogen combustion coupled with thermophotovoltaic electricity generation. Prior to MIT, Shomik completed 2 MPhil's in the UK as a Marshall Scholar, working on computational design of novel spectral conversion materials and 3D printing polymer hosts for these materials. He previously earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Duke. In his free time he enjoys playing tabla, basketball, and badminton.
Alexandra Steckmest
Vice President, Community & Education
Alexandra Steckmest is a 2023 MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management where she is focusing on sustainability renewable energy. Alexandra’s background is in consulting and corporate development, and prior to Sloan she worked as an Associate at Santander Bank, defining and driving strategic and transformational initiatives. Alexandra has also served MITEC as a Content and Operations Director for the MIT Energy Night 2021 as well as the Director of Sponsorship for CEP. Alexandra is a nature-lover and enjoys hiking, cross-country skiing, and spending time in or on the ocean.
Jim Owens
Vice President, External Relations
Jim is a graduate student pursuing a joint PhD/MBA between MIT’s department of Chemical Engineering (2023) and the Sloan School of Management (2025). With experiences spanning oil and gas and electrochemical carbon capture, Jim is broadly interested in addressing the challenges of bringing sustainable energy technologies to market. He works within the MIT Energy Initiative and his current research serves to understand interactions between electric vehicles and the power grid in high-renewable futures.
Youssef Shaker
Vice President, External Relations
Youssef is an S.M. Candidate in the MIT Technology and Policy program, focusing on energy transition issues and transportation decarbonization. Prior to MIT, Youssef spent 4 years at ICF Consulting as part of the Demand-Side Management Analytics team, working on a range of projects for U.S. and international utilities and government entities. These projects explored topics such as ToU tariff design, demand-side management potential studies, energy efficiency program planning, and electrification potential studies. Youssef also worked at Ontario’s Independent Electricity Systems Operator as a Market Analyst, where he wrote reports on the state of the Ontario wholesale electricity market.
Hugh Satterthwaite
Vice President, Budget & Finance
Hugh is a current MBA '23 candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and holds Bachelor's degrees in Economics and Law from the University of Sydney. Prior to Sloan, he worked at Boston Consulting Group, primarily with the Energy and Private Equity practice areas. Hugh enjoys all aspects of the MIT energy ecosystem: he is a Co-President of the Sloan Energy Club, has completed extensive energy-related coursework, and and is pursuing the Sustainability Certificate as part of his MBA.
Ross Phillips
Vice President, Budget & Finance
Ross is an MBA candidate (’24) at MIT Sloan. Prior to joining MIT, he was an associate in Mercer’s Infrastructure Boutique, covering investments in sectors like renewable and convention energy and power. Prior to Mercer, Ross worked at Hatch, a global multidisciplinary engineering consultancy, focusing on integrating renewable power into conventional power systems and the decarbonization in industrial processes. Ross holds a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Toronto and is a CFA Charterholder.
Shiv Bhakta
Vice President, Sponsorships
Shiv is currently pursuing his MS in Environmental Engineering and MBA from MIT Sloan with a focus on sustainability and climate tech innovation. Shiv comes from ExxonMobil and the US Department of Energy, where he worked to estimate the costs of various brownfield projects in refineries and nuclear facilities. Before MIT Sloan, he worked with the DOE Office of Technology Transition to highlight success stories from past lab-to-market TCF awards and develop strategies to improve DOE's commercialization efforts. In his free time, Shiv enjoys spending time with his fiancee and exploring the beautiful experiences our planet has to offer.
Oscar Turner
Vice President, Sponsorships
Oscar is a 2023 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan and holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University. Last year he was the MITEC Director of Alumni Engagement. Prior to Sloan, Oscar worked as a facilities engineer for Occidental Petroleum and Anadarko Petroleum in capital allocation and operations engineering roles. More recently he worked in business development roles for cleantech startups including Osmoses, Soluna, and Quaise. Oscar is excited about cleantech innovation and entrepreneurship, especially as they relate to the decarbonization of industrial processes. His personal interests include music, coffee, and anything that allows him to be outside.
Stwart Pena Feliz
Vice President, Sponsor Relations
Stwart is a 2023 MBA candidate at MIT Sloan. He obtained his Bachelor Degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University, and proceed to start his career in Houston, the world’s energy capital, with ExxonMobil. After few years and various roles with ExxonMobil, he shifted to renewables, where he became the Senior Process Engineer and Vice President of Business Development for Utility Global, a startup looking to disrupt the global hydrogen market. Stwart is passionate about all aspects of energy, but has concentrated his interest in how to overcome the challenges of the energy shift from Oil & Gas to renewables, and the role clean energy entrepreneurship will have in this change.
Jenny Yao
Vice President, Sponsor Relations
Jenny is pursuing her MBA and MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering at MIT. She previously studied Industrial Engineering at the University of Toronto. Upon graduation, Jenny worked in engineering, management, and analytics consulting for five years, where she collaborated with several energy and utilities organizations. Jenny enjoys watching musicals, playing basketball, and finding innovative ways to improve global sustainability.
Andrew Lydon
Vice President, Social
Andrew is a 2024 MBA candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Miami. Prior to Sloan, Andrew worked at BlackRock in New York City on both the technology and portfolio management side of the firm. Andrew is interested in ClimateTech and how innovations in the space can help achieve net zero targets moving forward. Outside of the classroom, you will find Andrew on the golf course in the spring and summer and on a mountain snowboarding in the winter.
Jianna Liu
Vice President, Social
Jianna is a 2023 Bachelor Candidate for Computer Science. Outside of the club, Jianna has an interest in climate tech, in particular the use of machine learning in CCUS technologies. She is excited to take a bigger role in this club through this role and develop a close community of people interested in energy. She is also involved in MIT Mocha Moves and HackMIT.
Flagship Event Managing Directors
Nicole Shi
Nicole Shi is an S.M. candidate in the MIT Technology and Policy Program researching decarbonization modeling at the MIT Energy Initiative. She has materials and supply chain research experience on energy storage and solar energy technologies in the U.S., Japan, Switzerland, and Hong Kong. She currently serves as an Outreach Liaison for the International Partnership for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells in the Economy Early Career Chapter. Nicole is passionate about energy storage policy and equitable decarbonization. She holds a B.S. degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Materials Science and Engineering with an additional major in Engineering and Public Policy.
Anna Cybulsky
Anna is an engineer from Montreal and a graduate student at MIT in the System Design and Management Program, MSc. Before coming to MIT, she worked with Airbus in France in systems modelling and simulation, as well as propulsion testing. Her main interest in the energy space is the decarbonization of transportation, and particularly how society can use hydrogen in tough-to-decarbonize sectors like aviation. She is also curious to explore entrepreneurship and the clean tech start-up community in the Boston area.
Alexa Thompson
Alexa is a 2024 MBA Candidate at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Prior to Sloan, Alexa was a manager at RMI, where she led RMI’s US federal policy engagement on industrial decarbonization; head of strategy for Australian cleantech startup RayGen, a developer of solar power and long-duration storage technologies; and started her career as a consultant at McKinsey & Company. Alexa holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Melbourne. In her free time, you can find Alexa going to live music, reading, and playing Australian rules football.
Rebecca Hutman
Rebecca (she/her) is pursuing her MBA at MIT Sloan, focusing on building decarbonization. She spent the last four years launching the San Francisco Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), a public-private fund that delivers innovative financial solutions to the region's affordable housing challenge. She was hire three, which meant she wore a lot of hats, and she loved all of them -- from financing and managing project construction to supporting the fund's programs and strategy. Before HAF, she had a winding path through policy and politics, including stints at the White House, U.S. Senate, City Halls (Los Angeles and San Francisco), the Rockefeller Foundation, and the 2012 Obama Campaign. She's excited to translate her experience in housing finance and policy to the incredible building decarbonization ecosystem at MIT. In her free time, she loves hosting dinner parties with her partner, going on long runs in new places, and dusting off her tap shoes.
Shreyaa Raghavan
Shreyaa is a third year undergraduate student majoring in Computer Science & Brain and Cognitive Sciences. She is interested in studying computational and deep learning techniques to accelerate sustainable energy technologies and improve large-scale energy infrastructure. In the past, she has worked on research projects related to optimizing/predicting solar cell output at the MIT Photovoltaic Research Lab and EPFL. She was previously on the organizing team for the 2022 MIT Energy Conference and is excited to continuing driving the conference as an MD!
