Amanda Hall is the CEO and Founder of Summit Nanotech. Amanda spent years in the oil and gas industry and identified the opportunity to make a significant impact with clean energy.

She is a graduate from University of Toronto - Trinity College with a BSc Biology major and a double minor in Physics and English. She later graduated from the University of Calgary with a BSc Geophysics and has a passion for the environment.

Amanda is on the Advisory Board for Canadian Energy & Climate Nexus (CECN) and sits on the Board of the Chilean Clean Technology Institute. She is a mentor for Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG) and contributes to the arts as a member of the Board of Directors for the Calgary Opera.

She is a mother to three daughters and loves getting lost in the mountains.

Joe Arencibia has over 25 years of experience in the design, implementation, and commercialization of gas recycling plants, bulk API and vaccine systems, and novel green technologies. He's developed and deployed scaled process systems for the world's largest manufacturers in aerospace, specialty materials, pharmaceuticals, automotive, and chemicals.

Joe has previously served as CTO at a green hydrogen startup and CEO of Arencibia, Inc., a family-founded technology company focused on industrial gas recycling and novel cryogenic applications. He started his career at Procter & Gamble, supporting paper-making operations as a technical engineer at P&G’s largest global manufacturing site. Joe holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and speaks English and Spanish.

He co-founded the Colorado Harriers running club and is a certified distance running coach. When he's not shuffling around Denver, he enjoys traveling and hitting the slopes and trails of Colorado with his family and friends.

Dr. Jeremy Patt has 20 years of experience in the chemical industry at Fortune 500 companies and venture-backed start-ups. In the last 15 years, he has held global leadership positions in building and advancing research programs, pilot plants, and first-of-kind manufacturing plants. Jeremy has led and developed successful commercialization processes across a broad range of technologies, including high-volume chemical production, catalysis, adsorption, extraction, membranes, solids handling, and water treatment. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering at the University of Michigan and is an inventor on 17 U.S. patents.  

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After work, Jeremy enjoys chasing his family on bike tracks, ski slopes, ice rinks, hiking trails, and bouldering walls.    

Vivian Farris is a people and culture expert with over 20 years of experience building high-performance teams with offices dispersed across Canada, the US and Europe. She has held senior leadership roles at some of Calgary’s first and fastest growing tech companies including Veer, Benevity and Symend. Vivian has been a passionate advocate for people and culture throughout her career and has been responsible for driving and developing the organic growth of these companies, and others, through hiring, development, engagement, go-to-market strategies, acquisitions and opening offices internationally. She is committed to developing professionals and taking action to improve diversity at the highest levels of business, with a strong track record of delivering initiatives to support gender diversity in particular.

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Outside of work, Vivian loves spending time with her husband and sons on the golf course, and trying new sports with Calgary's 'Superjocks'.

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Lori Evans has over 20 years of experience in executive and board roles with private equity, renewables and industrial services businesses operating across the Americas and Europe. She has lead strategy, corporate development, finance and legal functions and has spent the last 10 years in climate tech businesses, advancing the development and commercialization of best-in-class technologies. Lori has deep expertise in strategic and private equity M&A, including post-closing integration and cultural alignment.  

Lori earned her MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and her Juris Doctor at the University of Victoria, and holds the Institute of Corporate Directors ICD.D designation. She has been selected as one of the 25 most influential lawyers in Canada and named to the Pembina Institute’s 100 Women in Energy Transformation Series.

Outside of work, Lori sits on the board and audit committee and chairs the governance and nominating committee of Plan International Canada, an international NGO that supports children’s rights and equality for girls. She also likes to travel to surf and ski destinations with her family.  

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Sean Nelson is a Chartered Accountant with over 13 years of diverse finance experience working with both public and private companies. Sean joined Summit in 2021 as the Controller and assumed responsibility for the financial reporting, treasury, tax, corporate planning, and internal control functions. He was appointed Vice President, Finance in October 2023.

Sean began his career at KPMG LLP and previously held a management position with Perpetual Energy Inc., a TSX listed energy company. He is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Calgary.

Outside of work, Sean enjoys spending time in the great outdoors, playing ultimate frisbee, and keeping up with his children.

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Katerina Kryst, PhD., is the Vice President of Engineering at Summit Nanotech. She is a licensed chemical engineer with a passion for developing technical solutions to environmental challenges.

She graduated with a BESc in Chemical Engineering from Western University in London, Ontario, where she also pursued a PhD in Chemical Engineering. Prior to Summit Nanotech, Katerina was at Koch Separation Solutions in their Technology Development group managing a suite of development projects that guide commercial industrial equipment design, overseeing lab bench testing, pilot plants, demo units for projects such as direct lithium extraction, and coordinating cross-departmental strategies to optimize in-field issues with no disruption time.  

In her spare time, Katerina likes to spend time with her family travelling, camping, cooking and taking care of the vegetable garden.

Paul Barbaro has more than 40 years of international experience in the mining industry, focussed on engineering and project delivery, with senior technical and management positions in projects in Australia and Latin America. He has led foreign companies to establish new markets in Latin America. 

Paul has all-round managerial, administrative and technical skills across many facets of supplying project and engineering services to the mining industry, starting with planning for process plants, through project management, implementation and commissioning, and into operations and maintenance. 

His inherent leadership skills bring professionals together to form unified project teams and he interfaces with potential customers, establishing trusted solutions for their needs.

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Houston Brown, PhD, is a registered patent agent (CA and US), a patented inventor, and a published researcher. He’s won numerous intellectual property awards and is an active contributor to the profession through his work with Canada’s College of Patent Agents and Trademark Agents.  

Before joining Summit as VP Intellectual Property, Houston practiced at a top-ranked international law firm and then went in-house with a leading global technology provider to deepen his knowledge of the business side of intellectual property.

Houston found his cleantech calling during a post-doctoral fellowship with the US Department of Energy. He also gained first-hand experience of the power that comes from combining interdisciplinary teams, compelling scientific breakthroughs, and sound engineering practices. He’s privileged to have found the same at Summit, and he’s proud to be part of a world-changing cleantech venture.

Outside of work, Houston loves spending time outdoors – the more remote, the better. Wilderness canoeing, back-country hiking, and long-distance cycle touring are at the top of his list.

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Clara M. Vidal, a graduate of the University of Belgrano (UB), is a business-focused lawyer with over 20 years of experience in Northern Argentina’s public and private sectors. Her extensive professional background has given her deep political and social insight into the region, where she has lived for more than 14 years.

She has significant expertise in leading interdisciplinary teams to secure funding for infrastructure, sanitation, and social programs. During the pandemic, Clara shifted her career focus to the mining industry, taking on the role of a legal consultant. She recently earned a degree in Integrated Mining Management with a specialization in lithium from the Catholic University of Salta.

Clara’s strong connections within Argentina’s mining sector have been instrumental in shaping Summit Nanotech's business strategy in the country. Her dedication to environmental, social, and sustainability issues further underscore her value to Summit's team.

Amanda Hall is the CEO and Founder of Summit Nanotech. Amanda spent years in the oil and gas industry and identified the opportunity to make a significant impact with clean energy.

She is a graduate from University of Toronto - Trinity College with a BSc Biology major and a double minor in Physics and English. She later graduated from the University of Calgary with a BSc Geophysics and has a passion for the environment.

Amanda is on the Advisory Board for Canadian Energy & Climate Nexus (CECN) and sits on the Board of the Chilean Clean Technology Institute. She is a mentor for Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists (CSEG) and contributes to the arts as a member of the Board of Directors for the Calgary Opera.

She is a mother to three daughters and loves getting lost in the mountains.

Phil Inagaki is Managing Director at Xora, an early-stage, deep tech investment platform of Temasek. Most recently, he was an Operating Partner with The Engine, a $500M AUM, early stage deep tech venture fund with ties to MIT. Prior to his investor roles, he held Co-Founder, CEO and Executive Chairman roles at venture-backed start-ups in a variety of deep tech fields, including advanced materials, semiconductors, nanotechnology, micro-electronics, energy, 3D printing, robotics and AI. His longest tenure was as Co-Founder and CEO of Polyera, where he took a novel semiconductor technology from Northwestern University to successful commercialization with fab partners in Asia.

Phil holds an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University magna cum laude and 12 US patents.

Dipender Saluja is a Partner of Capricorn Investment Group, and a Managing Director of Capricorn’s Technology Impact Fund. Prior to Capricorn, Dipender was Chief of Staff at Cadence, a global market leader in electronic design. Prior to Cadence, he worked at Data General (EMC), Honeywell, ROLM (IBM), and the GF Energy Research Center. He is an electrical engineer by training, and attended UND, University of Minnesota and Stanford University. Dipender serves on the boards of AST, Automatiks, Encell, GotIt, Innovium, Joby Aviation, Navitas, QuantumScape, RayVio, Saildrone, Sense and Sunpreme, is a member of the Leadership Council of Cyclotron Road, and is on the Investment Committee of PRIME.

Joe Lowry has worked in the lithium industry since 1990 beginning with FMC Lithium where he spent over two decades in executive positions with commercial and operational responsibilities in the US, Japan and China. While living in Asia for eleven years, he served as President of two Japanese Joint Ventures: Asia Lithium and Honjo FMC Energy Systems. Mr. Lowry was also President of FMC’s wholly owned foreign enterprise (WHOFE) FMC Zhangjiagang Specialty Chemicals, LTD in China and Venture Manager for the construction of the the world’s largest organo-lithium plant.

After leaving FMC in 2012, Mr. Lowry founded Global Lithium LLC. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Global Lithium provides consulting and advisory services to lithium suppliers, purchasers, investors, and governments on five continents.

Mr. Lowry hosts the popular Global Lithium Podcast, heard in over 140 countries. It can be found on all major podcast outlets

An experienced energy project finance, private equity, and venture capital professional, with cross-sector expertise in early and late stage hard-tech companies, Naynika most recently managed a portfolio of deep tech VC investments at a private family office.

Previously, Naynika helped manage a portfolio of clean power and infrastructure investments at US Renewables Group. She is also a proven company builder and was on the founding team of two startups in the energy project development and finance space: SoCore Energy, a solar project developer acquired by Edison International in 2013, and Common Assets, a renewable energy bond platform acquired by SolarCity in 2014

Naynika has actively served on boards of companies in the power generation, advanced materials, telecom, AI hardware, biotech, energy storage and biofuels spaces, helping advance several toward private and public exits.

Naynika earned an A.B. in Physics from Princeton University.

David is a Lead Principal at BHP Ventures.

Prior to joining BHP Ventures, David was investing at Avanta Ventures, where he helped build the firm as the first investment team member. Before Avanta, David was a venture investor at Longitude Capital, where he invested in and partnered with growth-stage companies. David also spent time at Pivotal Software, where he was part of the product operations team for the Pivotal Cloud Foundry platform. He started his career in investment banking at Lazard, where David advised companies from early-stage startups to multinational corporations on M&A transactions.

David received his MBA from The Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania and holds a BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley. In his free time, he enjoys rooting for the “San Diego” Chargers and exploring the great outdoors.

Cheri Corbett is Director of Cleantech Practice at BDC. With over 15 years of experience in corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions and financing transactions, Cheri is dedicated to helping early-stage, high-potential, growth-oriented Canadian cleantech companies scale and expand.

Prior to joining BDC, Cheri spent two years at Ernst & Young Orenda Corporate Finance, where she advised private companies on acquisition, divestiture and financing transactions. Cheri began her career in Brisbane, Australia, in business development and investment banking roles at InterFinancial and Deloitte Australia.

Cheri holds a Bachelor of Business Management and a Master of Commerce from the University of Queensland, Australia. She is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand and CPA Alberta. A committed leader, Cheri is passionate about taking Canada’s cleantech industry to the next level in the global marketplace.