Ty Mitchell, Ph.D. is a leader in the fields of GaN and SiC materials, optoelectronics, and LED lighting with a long background in technology development, business development, and business leadership. He co-founded Akash Systems in January 2016 with Felix Ejeckam and serves as the Board Director.

Ty has grown and led public-company technology businesses from $10M to $500M+ in revenues. Ty started his career as an engineer at GE and IBM, before working as a management consultant at McKinsey and Company, a global management consulting firm, from 1993 to 1999.

Prior to founding Akash, Ty was an executive with Cree, Inc., a $1.6B manufacturer of LED lights, LED components, and GaN and SiC RF and power devices and materials. Ty held several business leadership roles at Cree, including VP/GM of Cree’s Optoelectronic device and GaN/SiC materials businesses, and EVP/GM of Cree’s LED lighting business.

Ty holds a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Rob has over 30 years of experience working with advanced materials in crystal growth, non-destructive evaluation, and interface chemistry, for applications ranging from power and RF devices to solid state lighting. Rob has held numerous leadership positions including GM, VP, CTO and EVP in which his responsibilities included business unit P&L, corporate-wide operations and advanced technology development. 

Rob’s early career experience included an overseas assignment in Sweden with the Department of Physics and Measurement Technology at Linköping University and several years in corporate R&D at Westinghouse Electric. He then spent 25 years with Cree, Inc. helping the semiconductor and device manufacturer grow from a startup of 60 people with approximately $10M in revenue to a global leader with over 6,000 employees and an annual revenue over $1.5B. 

Rob retired from his full-time position at Cree in June 2018 but continues to consult and work as an advisory scientist for Wolfspeed (formerly, Cree). He is co-author on over 50 publications and co-inventor on 11 U.S. patents. Rob received a bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Science and Mechanics from Virginia Tech, a Master's in Materials Science and Engineering from the University of Virginia and his Doctorate from North Carolina State University.

R. Scott Spellmeyer is a Managing Director at Cerberus Capital Management. He retired from the CIA with nearly 30 years of government service. As a Paramilitary Operations Officer, he served in multiple senior assignments, including Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs and Senior Director for Intelligence Programs at the White House/National Security Council, Chief of CIA’s largest overseas Station, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Director of Operations, and Chief of Operations for the Special Activities Center. Prior to joining the CIA, he served eight years in the U.S. Army, including assignments with the 75th Ranger Regiment. He earned a BA in History from the Virginia Military Institute and a MS in National Security Strategy from the National Defense University’s National War College. His awards include the Intelligence Star, Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart.

Clinton is the President of Grove Climate Group, LLC. He has nearly 15 years of public policy experience at the federal and state levels. Most recently, Clinton spent 12 years working for Congressman Paul D. Tonko (NY-20), the majority of which were as his Chief of Staff. In that role, Clinton managed a large team, overseeing policy, communication, constituent service, and other operations. In addition, he served as chief liaison with the Energy and Commerce Committee, and specifically with Chairman Tonko’s subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change. He routinely interacted with the White House, federal agencies, CEOs, trade groups, business, nonprofits, and other Members of Congress and staff.

Laws that Clinton helped enact include wind and gas turbine R&D, HFC phase-down, energy efficiency, battery recycling, TSCA, other drinking water related measures, nuclear waste, and more. He co-led the effort with his committee colleagues in January 2020 to write the CLEAN Future Act, the first comprehensive legislative text to address climate change in the House of Representatives in a decade.

As a Stennis fellow and mentor, Clinton works with colleagues from both parties and both sides of the Capitol developing leadership skills and tackling challenges facing Congress. He received his MA in Government from Johns Hopkins University, where he earned an honors designation for his thesis, and his BA in Political Science from NYU. Clinton lives in North Carolina.

Ted began his career as a strategy consultant for Accenture in Munich and Berlin, focused on the automotive/energy sectors.  He joined the Institute for Defense Analyses in 2004, supporting the Pentagon's counter-insurgency strategy, then transitioned to the U.S. Department of State in 2006, serving as a diplomat in Afghanistan, the Philippines, and Austria. Ted graduated from Boston College with a B.A. in International Affairs and completed a Fulbright Scholarship in Duesseldorf, where he analyzed the German and Chinese energy markets. Ted later earned a M.A. from Johns Hopkins in National Security Strategy. 

Elliot Karathanasis serves on boards in the defense, biotech, and technology sectors. Elliot has served in a leadership capacity in multiple private equity, venture and investment firms. He has also been a serial entrepreneur and a hands-on operator building and managing teams in multiple industries.

Most recently, Elliot was the CEO of Tregan Energy, a private equity firm focused on the acquisition and management of oil and gas interests throughout the United States. He successfully led the sale of those assets to a publicly traded company in 2021. Prior to his role at Tregan, Elliot was a Managing Director at Commonwealth Opportunity Capital, a global macro hedge fund with over $2B in assets under management which delivered mid-teens returns to its investors for nearly a decade. In addition to his role at Commonwealth, Elliot was the founder and managing partner in SPK Capital, a private equity firm that focused its investment efforts on providing growth capital to firms in the technology, media and consumer products industries securing multiple nine-figure exits in its portfolio. Prior to that, he was a partner in a real estate development firm which partnered with Starwood and managed the development of properties under the St. Regis, W, Plaza New York and Four Seasons brands.

Elliot is a graduate of New York University (J.D.) and Binghamton University (BS in Accounting). He began his career as an M&A lawyer at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughters.

Jeff is Founder and Managing Partner of Marquis Private Wealth with MassMutual and focuses his practice as a Generational Wealth Planner. Prior to Marquis Private Wealth, Jeff worked as Managing Associate with MassMutual North Carolina and as Managing Sales Director with NSC Financial, member of MassMutual Financial Group.

MassMutual acquired MetLife Premier Client Group in June 2017. Jeff received Top GDC Advisor of the Year - 2021. Jeff also received Philanthropist of the Year - 2020 by the Triangle Business Journal. Currently, Jeff’s a member of Society 1851 for Top Advisors of MassMutual.

Prior to serving NSC Financial, Jeff worked with MetLife Premier Client Group of the Carolinas as a Managing Sales Director and has earlier experience with Merrill Lynch, Practice Management Development and Fidelity Investments, Health and Insurance, Defined Benefits and Defined Contributions. While with Fidelity Investments, Jeff received two “Certificate of Excellence” awards and a “Client Recognition” award during 2012.

Jeff’s education includes: Financial Planning Association (FPA) Philanthropic Solutions in Financial Planning; Duke University, Chapel Hill, North Carolina - Executive Certificate in Financial Planning; Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – Business Administration and Nyenrode, The Netherlands School of Business, Breukelen, The Netherlands - International Business Program.