Charting a Resilient Path
Wise leaders take risk into account. Many businesses and communities are not yet addressing the current and future risks they face from consequences of climate change. Flooding, drought, subsidence, heat, severe wildfires, storms and sea level rise are examples. Minerva helps our clients evaluate these risks, identify opportunities, prepare plans and take action to protect their assets and strengthen resilience.
We work with companies, cities and other agencies to align their plans, strategies, operations, products and services to reduce risks and to adapt to a changing climate, at the scale of the challenge. We identify clean tech solutions and assist growing companies in achieving success.
Our goal is to help businesses and agencies lead and thrive in a rapidly changing world.
Our Focus
To help our clients become resilient to an uncertain future through innovation for sustainability;
circular economy; reducing GHG emissions, water and carbon; and, pro-active climate adaptation and restoration actions.
What We Have Achieved
Carried out a comprehensive assessment of the Lithium-ion battery market and strategic implications for a client.
Introduced promising clean tech startups to potential customers, partners and investors.
Built organizational systems from strategy and finance and from human resources to project management for a research and policy based climate restoration non-profit, poising it for rapid scaling and impact.
Contributed a chapter on Silicon Valley Innovation with case studies on Google, Facebook, Stanford, HP and VMware for EPRI’s book: Sustainable Electricity Volume II to be published Summer 2018.
Served on California Governor Brown’s Technical Advisory Group for Climate Adaptation strategy in 2016.
Educated property owners about holistic green and healthy building solutions, upgrades and financing.
Provided symposia on advanced technology for water, holistic building upgrades and other climate and resilience solutions.
Assisted clean tech start-ups with strategic planning and business development.
Reviewed sustainability plans and recommended next steps for major cities in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Created dynamic Climate Leaders dinners series which brings together diverse executives and other innovators to address the shared challenge of climate consequences.
Our Team
Minerva Ventures Team brings a wide range of experience, skills and insights to serve you.
Marianna Grossman
Founder and Managing Partner
Marianna Grossman is founder and managing partner of Minerva Ventures, a consultancy focused on solutions for a resilient future. Minerva advises companies and communities on climate risk, adaptation and resilience, and guides clean tech startups in water, energy, remediation, finance and climate analytics. She specializes in bringing people and institutions together across sectors to collaborate, invent and implement solutions that enhance sustainability, build resilience and address the consequences of climate change. Previously, she led Sustainable Silicon Valley for seven years, working to create a more resilient region. Before that she had corporate roles in the automotive, computer and semiconductor industries. She served on the 2016 California Climate Adaptation and Resilience Action Plan Technical Advisory Group for Governor Brown, and the Sustainability Committee of the SF Bay Area Super Bowl 50 Host Committee for the 2015 season. She serves on the board or is a member of: Transportation Choices for Sustainable Communities; California Congress of the International Living Future Institute; the federal Sustainable Water Resources Roundtable; the Balaton Group; the ClimateMusic Project; and, the advisory councils for climate action for the Cities of Palo Alto and Mountain View. She earned a BA cum laude, with distinction in Policy Studies from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Yale School of Management.
Karl Van Orsdol
Global Energy and Sustainability Advisor
Karl advises municipalities and global corporations on energy data management systems, energy markets and risk management, climate action planning and climate mitigation projects. Karl served as a Principal Consultant in DNV GL’s Sustainable Buildings and Communities group where he focused on energy data management systems, energy markets and risk management, climate action planning and climate mitigation projects. His clients included the cities of Boston, Metro Vancouver, and Palo Alto. Among other projects, he prepared strategic management reviews of energy consumption. Karl served Global Strategist for Energy and Sustainability at Hewlett Packard implementing energy management practices across 1,200 HP facilities in 170 countries. Prior to HP, he spent 10 years as energy risk manager for the City of Palo Alto where he led the development of the City’s Climate Action Plan and Roadmap; managed the financial and operational risks associated with the City’s electricity and natural gas procurement portfolio; and, led the negotiations with renewable energy providers for PPA’s for electricity and NAESB gas contracts. Karl’s international experience includes living and conducting research on human impacts on ecosystems in Uganda. He earned a Ph.D. in Environmental Science from Cambridge University, an MBA from UCLA and a BA in Biology from Grinnell College.
Raka Gupta
Design Consultant
Raka’s forte is creating and developing concepts to communicate ideas accurately. As a Graphic Designer, she has been creating designs for both print and online mediums that include brochures, flyers, posters, concept-based diagrams, logos, icons, e-newsletters, e-brochures, and responsive websites. She is proficient in Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator; HTML 5, CSS 3, Squarespace, and Bootstrap 3; Content Management Systems – Pyro and WordPress. Raka loves to indulge in oil painting whenever she gets a break. Her past experience as a Technical Writer helps her organize the content and layout in such a way that the content is displayed accurately and aesthetically.
Kristen Ingalz
Associate
Kristen is an Industrial-Organizational psychologist with more than 25 years of experience across start-up, corporate, and consulting roles. Originally hailing from Rhode Island, Kristen lived in Japan for many years and is professionally fluent in Japanese; she holds the N1 certification for the globally recognized Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT), the highest level awarded to non-native speakers of the language. Living abroad imbued Kristen with cultural awareness, sensitivity, and curiosity, leading her to focus her career on building successful relationships between Japanese and American companies. Indeed, her skills enabled her to negotiate the rapport and close communication that resulted in Panasonic entrusting a US start-up to build, design, and use their logo on a consumer electronics product - a historical first. In a signal of confidence, Panasonic later hired her. During her more than 15-year tenure at Panasonic in a strategic marketing role, Kristen expanded her international business experience and cultural acumen to Europe. She also gained considerable experience in primary and secondary research. Her demonstrated abilities in these areas were instrumental in helping Panasonic shift its business focus to the medical field, culminating in establishing the Panasonic Healthcare Corporation in 2014. Kristen holds a BA summa cum laude in Japanese from Mount Holyoke College and an MA in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology.