Experienced Leadership Team

The Element leadership team has deep operating experience across major global industrials and enterprise software companies, including ExxonMobil, BP, ABB, SAP, Oracle, Accenture, and D&B

Leadership

Andy Bane

Andy Bane

CEO

Andy oversees the vision, strategy, and growth of Element, and is a veteran of the Industrial sector. He’s held executive roles at leading enterprise software companies, including EVP & Chief Strategy Officer for ABB Enterprise Software, EVP of Product Management and CMO at Ventyx a Vista Equity Partners company; acquired by ABB for over $1 billion and SVP of Product Management and Marketing at P2 Energy Solutions.

Andy earned his BA at University of Colorado, Boulder. He and his wife Lisa, a veterinarian, enjoy being outdoors biking, golfing, skiing, hiking, and camping with their children.

Laurie Schrager

Laurie Schrager

COO

Laurie brings over 20 years of operational experience, leading data-driven optimization efforts at growth stage organizations.

Prior to Element, Laurie held operational leadership roles at leading SaaS companies including Tealium, MuleSoft and Limelight Networks. Laurie holds an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, a BA in Economics and a BS in Math/Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Sean McCormick

Sean McCormick

CTO

Sean leads the engineering and technical operations teams at Element Analytics. Previously, he worked at Quantcast, where he held various technical leadership roles and was most recently Director of Engineering. During this time, he was responsible for the Quantcast Measure product, more than 10 PB/day of compute, the company website, several machine learning systems, plus the operations for each of these areas.

Before that, he was the Lead Engineer at SonicLiving and ran the Strategic Projects team at AdBrite, prototyping new products for technical feasibility and market fit.

Sean studied Computer Science at San Francisco State University. When he's not at work, he likes to spend his time riding his bicycle around Oakland with his daughter.

Amar Ramakrishnan

Amar Ramakrishnan

VP, Product Management

Amarnath (Amar) brings over 20 years of enterprise software product management and development experience to Element. He has served in product leadership roles at venture funded companies, PE owned companies and public companies. Prior to Element, Amar was VP of product with build.security; an Israeli cyber security startup that was acquired by Elasticsearch. Before build.security he was the product lead for the industry’s first comprehensive SaaS IGA platform - SailPoint IdentityNow (NYSE: SAIL)

Amar holds an Executive MBA from McCombs School of Business at UT Austin, a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Arizona and a Msc(Tech) Information Systems degree from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India. He lives in Austin, TX with his lovely wife and two daughters.

Mark Smith

Mark Smith

SVP, Sales and Alliances

Mark brings over 20 years of experience in building commercial teams and processes for firms ranging from early stage start-ups to large multinational corporations.

At Element, Mark and his team are focused on forming and growing a partner ecosystem to include like minded technology and system integration firms. The specific focus of this ecosystem will be to provide our clients with a roster of best of breed companies to assist them in their data journey.  

Prior to joining Element, Mark held VP and Global leadership positions for firms with diverse technologies and markets such as Very Good Security, Edge Gravity by Ericsson, and Brightcove. Beyond partnerships and alliances, he has extensive experience in direct selling to enterprises, sales training, and sales operations.  Mark has a BS in Business from Northern Arizona University.

Mark lives in the Phoenix suburbs with his wife Renae and their two teenage children.  He enjoys the outdoors and exploring the open spaces of Arizona.

Board of Directors

Andy Bane headshot

Andy Bane

CEO

Andy oversees the vision, strategy, and growth of Element, and is a veteran of the Industrial sector. He’s held executive roles at leading enterprise software companies, including EVP & Chief Strategy Officer for ABB Enterprise Software, EVP of Product Management and CMO at Ventyx a Vista Equity Partners company; acquired by ABB for over $1 billion and SVP of Product Management and Marketing at P2 Energy Solutions.

Andy earned his BA at University of Colorado, Boulder. He and his wife Lisa, a veterinarian, enjoy being outdoors biking, golfing, skiing, hiking, and camping with their children.

Andy Bane headshot

David Lincoln

Partner, Managing Director, Activate Ventures

David has been a prominent investor in growth equity for almost 20 years and has over 25 years of experience operating and investing in energy and technology companies.

Prior to forming Activate, David founded and built Element Partners, an $860 million broadly diversified cleantech investment firm, and was a co-founder and Managing Director of EnerTech Capital Partners, an energy technology venture firm formed in 1996. David began his career at UGI Corporation, a diversified energy and utility holding company.

David holds a BA with honors in Geology from Colgate University and an MS in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Andy Bane headshot

David Mount

Founder, Element, Partner KPCB’s Green Growth Fund

David Mount is a partner in G2VP, which supports young companies leading new markets in sustainable ways. Previously, David was a Partner at Kleiner Perkins’ $1B Green Growth Fund, where he invested in OSIsoft (shares sold to SoftBank), ServiceMax (acquired by GE), Opower (acquired by Oracle), SilverSpring Networks (SSNI), UpWind Solutions (acquired by Vestas) and Choose Energy (acquired by Red Ventures).

Prior to Kleiner Perkins, David worked at Bain Capital Credit, where he helped manage a traditional energy portfolio. David holds a B.A. from Yale University, an M.S. in environment and resources, and an M.B.A. from Stanford University, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.

Andy Bane headshot

Louis Rajczi

Partner, Forte Ventures

Louis Rajczi is a Partner and member of Forté Venture’s Investment Committee. Previously, Louis was Vice President and Investment Partner with Siemens Venture Capital, the $850 million venture capital arm of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI).

Prior to Siemens Venture Capital, Louis was a Director in the Chief Technology Office of Siemens in the Information and Communications Mobile division in Munich, Germany. Louis received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.

Andy Bane headshot

Ming Chow

Partner, Ajax Strategies

Ming is a Wall Street investor turned startup operator and advisor, Ming brings financial, operational and public readiness expertise to both Ajax and its portfolio companies.

Before joining Ajax, Ming led Strategic Finance and Operations at Lime Micromobility, with a focus on preparing Lime to go public. Prior to Lime, Ming spent 5 years at Bocage Capital and 2 years at Sensato Investors, a $2.2Bn Asia focused quantitative hedge fund where she launched the commodity trading strategy.

Ming also spent 10 years at BlackRock, where she was responsible for implementing large scale structural portfolio shifts for a wide platform of institutional clients. She started her career as one of very few female traders at Lehman Brothers and then at Banc of America Securities. Ming received a B.S. in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Andy Bane headshot

Vasu Jakkal

Corporate Vice President, CMO Security, Compliance & Identity, Microsoft

Vasu is a passionate champion of building a better, safer, more resilient world for all. She brings nearly 20 years of technology industry experience to Microsoft, and is responsible for crafting the strategy, defining the go-to-market motions that help customers simplify and fortify their security posture, and guiding the execution of all aspects of SCI marketing.

She works closely with engineering to shape product strategy and roadmaps. Her previous roles include EVP & CMO of FireEye, VP Marketing at Brocade, and a variety of leadership roles in marketing, engineering, strategy, and management at Intel.

Vasu holds a MS in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from College of Engineering, Pune. Vasu is a dedicated advocate for diversity, and for expanding the opportunities for women in all fields of technology.

Andy Bane headshot

Nancy Avila

EVP, Chief Information and Technology Officer, McKesson Corporation

In Nancy's current role at McKesson she is responsible for the company’s technology initiatives. She also guides the overall direction for the company’s healthcare technology products and data and analytics.

Prior to McKesson, Avila served as CIO at Johnson Controls (JCI). Previously, she spent 22 years at Abbott in several leadership roles including CIO. She also led Global Business Services, Abbott’s back office services, through an extensive transformation.

The Greater Milwaukee Women’s Fund recognized Avila as a 2019 Futurist Leader for her strong commitment to diversity and inclusion. She also serves on the board of the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and is a member of the CIO Strategy Exchange (CIOSE)s.

Avila earned bachelor’s degrees in Mathematics and Computer Information Systems from Regis University and a master’s degree in Mathematics from the Colorado School of Mines

Investors