Created by innovators in fields of Clean Tech, Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability, the Sustainability Committee organizes events with high-level individuals who are leading the way in implementing new technologies and practices to business operations.
Beyond the "Green" wave, discover how sustainability not only guarantees long term business performances, but also leads to new market opportunities and cost savings.
On the calendars of events, you will find all the activities organized and supported by the French American Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco.
Committe members and represented companies:
Committee Chair: Chloe Soroquere, Vera Vista Business Solutions
Committee Members:
Antoine Asladines, EDF - International North America
Christian Forthomme, RealChange
Stephane Ndiaye, Accenture
Cedric Christensen, Agrion
Fabienne Arnoud, EDF Innovation
Gregory Vincent, Invest in France
Christophe Bach, ESV Energy Inc
Frederique Benque, US Invest LLC
Paul Bertoni, Paul Bertoni Law
Olivier Delesalle, Bayer
Kamel Ounadjela, Calisolar
Xavier Wartelle, Prime
Jessica Grossman
Gisele Vigneron
Alain Megias, Baker&McKenzie
If you are interested in joining the committee, please contact Morgan Desvignes at morgan@faccsf.com
Members
- Chloe Soroquere - Vera Vista Business Solutions, LLC
Chloe Soroquere is a principal of VeraVista Solutions, LLC, a management consulting firm that provides clients with business strategy, marketing and business development services to start and/or grow their business while implementing sustainable solutions that lead to competitive advantage and expense reductions. Vera Vista Solutions provides clients with winning strategies and effective business solutions that yield growth and returns.
Chloe is a Fortune 500 executive with over 25 years of experience in consumer banking, financial service, data exchange and consumer internet industries. Chloe’s management career includes key senior positions with firms such as Wells Fargo Bank, Fleet Bank and ELM Resources. Chloe also has entrepreneurial, start-up and change management experience, using her marketing and business development expertise to build and grow small and mid-sized businesses.
Chloe is skilled in all areas of executive management, including managing change, creating innovative marketing and advertising campaigns, and helping clients achieve growth goals and expand into new markets while implementing sustainable practices.
- Cedric Christensen - Agrion
Cedric is an Energy & Sustainability Community Manager with AGRION; he leads the Urban Management, Electric Vehicle and Green Business in China Communities. AGRION is a global network for entrepreneurs, investors and corporations involved in energy, Cleantech, corporate sustainability, mobility and urban management (www.agrion.org), with offices in Beijing, Frankfurt, Paris, New York and San Francisco.
Cedric joined the Silicon Valley Cleantech community with the French Embassy Trade Office – Ubifrance in 2009. He was in charge of advising corporations and startups on effective strategies for penetrating environmental markets such as Water, Energy and Waste Management both in California and Nationwide. Cedric started his career as Strategy Consultant for UNESCO in Paris, where he worked with the Decentralization Review Taskforce on issues related to field presence and coverage within the framework of intergovernmental organizations. He worked in Quito, Ecuador with the Global Environmental Fund and the UNDP financing community based projects in the Amazonian related to Biodiversity and Sustainability.
- Fabienne Arnoud - EDF Innovation
Fabienne Arnoud works for EDF's Innovation division. EDF is historically the French utility and now one of the leaders in the European energy market. Based in the Bay Area, she helps local startups establish partnerships with EDF's business units to accelerate the adoption of new energy innovations within the Group.
Fabienne came to the energy industry by way of ICT. As the former global practice head for sustainable development & green IT consulting at Orange Business Services, she promoted the use of Information and Communication Technologies in climate action planning for large multinationals.
- Paul Bertoni - Paul Bertoni Law
Paul Philippe Bertoni is an immigration attorney based in San Francisco. Paul is admitted in New York and New Jersey, and may practice immigration law nationwide under federal law. His immigration practice includes all temporary visas, labor certification, permanent residence applications based on employment or family, student/scholar issues, naturalization, waivers, adoption, I-9 compliance issues and government audits. His practice additionally includes setting up new business entities (primarily for intracompany transferee and investor visa clients), contract drafting and analysis, and ongoing regulatory compliance counseling. His previous legal experience includes positions at: PGuardian Technologies, Inc. as in-house legal counsel; Stroock as an associate representing financial services companies; and McCarter & English as an associate working on corporate, securities, food & beverage, environmental, international trade, non-profit, and political asylum issues. Paul also worked as an international program associate at Environmental Defense in Washington, D.C
Paul holds degrees from Yale (B.A. in Political Science 1993) and UC Berkeley-Boalt Hall (J.D. 1997)
- Olivier Delesalle - Bayer
Olivier Delesalle is a Senior New Business Development Specialist at Bayer MaterialScience LLC. Based in San Francisco since 2008, he is helping innovative companies in the Silicon Valley develop their projects by using Bayer high tech plastic materials. He is building technical partnerships in emerging applications for the Cleantech industry such as LED lighting, Solar, Electric Vehicles and Energy Infrastructure, as well as for Consumer Electronics and Medical Devices.
Before Bayer, Olivier held various Technical and Business positions at DuPont including Technical Marketing and Key Account Management responsibilities in France, Spain, Belgium Portugal, UK and Scandinavia.
Olivier earned a Mechanical Engineering Degree from ESTIT and an Executive MBA from ESCP, University of Paris.
Xavier Wartelle is the General Manager of PRIME a San Francisco-based agency that promotes innovation in the Paris Region.
Xavier is a serial entrepreneur who has started multiple successful high tech ventures. Xavier’s career spans over 25 years of executive leadership in startups and mature companies, in networking, telecommunication, VoIP, wireless, enterprise software, and internet businesses.
He currently serves as President of Shogunmoto.com, board member of Presto Engineering, board member of AFAM ParisTech and advisor of Netdevices. In a recent past, Xavier started three companies that all have been acquired: Ipanto, Brixlogic and NetCentrex. Previously, Xavier was CEO of Thomson-CSF Enterprise Networks and held various international positions within Thomson-CSF. Xavier holds a Master engineering degree from Ecole Nationale des Arts et Métiers, Paris.
Upcoming events: stay tuned…..
The Sustainability Bootcamp has been the first one in a continuing series of focused conferences highlighting the “hands-on” experience of businesses which decided to “go green”. After this general overview, more specialized events will follow such as: defining your green strategy, green operations, green IT, green building, green marketing, …
Events in 2011
Events in 2010
- Monday, February 22nd: VC Trends for Green and Clean Business in 2010, San Francisco
- Tuesday, June 15th: Cleantech Entrepreneurs: Think Global, Think EU
- Monday, July 12th: Energy Efficiency and Opportunities for Business
- Tuesday, November 17th: Atoms and Photons: what energy alterantives can bring to California ?
Events in 2009
Events in 2008
- Thursday, October 9th: Sustainability Bootcamp, San Francisco
