The Westly Group

steve.westly(at)westlygroup.com

Prior to founding The Westly Group, Steve Westly served as the Controller and Chief Fiscal Officer of the state of California – the world’s eighth largest economy. As Controller, he chaired the State Lands Commission and served on 63 other boards and commissions, including CalPERS and CalSTRS, the nation’s two largest public pension funds, which together invest more than $350 billion. During his four-year term, Mr. Westly spearheaded innovative tax programs that helped close the State’s budget deficit and also led an effort to commit more than $1 billion to clean technology investments.

In the 2008 election cycle Mr. Westly served as a California co-chair and a National Finance Committee member of the Obama for America campaign. He currently serves on the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board as a representative for the venture capital industry.

Before running for office, Mr. Westly helped guide the online auction company eBay through its period of most rapid growth, serving as the Senior Vice President of Marketing, Business Development, M&A and International. Mr. Westly helped bring eBay to Europe and Asia and developed the marketing and acquisition strategies that paved the path for the firm’s exponential growth.

Mr. Westly began his career in Washington, D.C., where he worked first on Capitol Hill and later in the Office of Conservation and Solar at the U.S. Department of Energy. Mr. Westly returned to California to become special assistant to the President of the California Public Utilities Commission. While there, he published two books on alternative energy and the utilities.

Mr. Westly holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he served on the faculty for five years. Mr. Westly and his wife, Anita, run the Westly Foundation, which provides education and health care services for children and underserved communities throughout California.

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michael.dorsey(at)westlygroup.com

Prior to joining The Westly Group, Mr. Dorsey co-headed the Bay Area Equity Fund, a $75 million double-bottom line venture capital fund that achieved top quartile returns based mostly on cleantech investments. In this capacity he raised and managed the fund, serving on the investment committee from the fund’s inception. The fund had successful investments in Tesla Motors (NASDAQ), PowerLight (acquired by SunPower), Pandora Media (NASDAQ), BrightSource (S-1 filed), and SolarCity.

Before the Bay Area Equity Fund, Mr. Dorsey worked as an investment banker, primarily to technology companies, for 20 years. He served as Head of Technology Investment Banking of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Cowen & Co. In this capacity he worked with most leading venture capital firms as an agent and made venture capital investments as a principal.

Mr. Dorsey holds a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and an MBA from Yale School of Management. He serves on the Board of Directors of United Way of the Bay Area and advisory boards of Stanford University.

gary.dillabough(at)westlygroup.com

Mr. Dillabough runs the Smart Buildings and Energy Efficiency practice at the Westly Group. Prior to joining the Westly Group, Mr. Dillabough was the General Manager of Corporate Environmental Affairs at eBay. In this capacity he led all of eBay’s environmental efforts and helped design and set specifications for a 200,000 sq ft Gold LEED certified building. In addition he installed San Jose’s largest commercial solar deployment (650 kW) and a 500 kW fuel cell. During these projects, Mr. Dillabough met with and built relationships with numerous green building material suppliers and vendors.

Prior to that, Mr. Dillabough was the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at eBay. This team generated $575 million in revenue through revenue sharing agreements and ad sales over a five year period. Mr. Dillabough negotiated and put in place a number of large partnerships with the US Postal Service, UPS, General Electric, Sun, and Fidelity. He also oversaw the acquisition and integration of FairMarket which at one time was one of eBay’s largest competitors.

Mr. Dillabough has a BS in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic University. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Lucile Packard Hospital Foundation and OneMillionLights, and formerly served as a director of the Internet Advertising Board (IAB) and the One Laptop Per Child Association (OLPC).

Mr. Dillabough recently installed a 5 kW fuel cell at his home. This is one of the first residential installations in the state.

tony.luh(at)westlygroup.com

Tony Luh is General Partner and Greater China President for the Westly Group. Before joining the Westly Group, Tony was one of the founding managing directors at DFJ DragonFund.

Born in Japan, raised in Thailand, and possessing profound knowledge of the Chinese language and culture, Tony spent his professional career in both Asia and the U.S. Tony has over 20 years of experience in capital markets, sales, strategic alliances and business development.

Prior to the Westly Group and DFJ DragonFund, Tony was a managing director with DragonVenture which he co-founded in 1999. Before DragonVenture, Tony was a senior executive at InfoWave Communications, an early-stage, first-generation Chinese Internet company. At the time, Infowave was one of the pioneers in the internet portal business. His position at Infowave brought Tony in close contact with Yahoo! and EBay, communicating closely with both companies on strategic direction in the international markets. In many ways, Tony influenced the early developments of Internet in Taiwan and China. In the mid- to late-1980s in Taiwan as the corporate fund manager for Kosheng Enterprises, Tony accumulated public investment expertise in sectors ranging from information technology to high volume manufacturing in Asia. In 1999 Tony and his partner Bobby Chao co-founded DragonVenture, an investment advisory and seed fund management firm specializing in Greater China regions. Tony later became the seed investor and advisor of OSA Technologies and InphoMatch (a.k.a. Mobile365). Both companies were very successful with OSA acquired by Avocent (Nasdaq: AVCT) and Mobile365 acquired by Sybase (NYSE: SY). With his partner Bobby, Tony also advised on eFriendsNet – one of the first social networking companies in China later acquired by French SNS Giant Meetic.

Tony attended three different high schools in three different countries. Tony also attended three different universities in three different states (Washington, Texas and California) in the U.S.

david.coglizer(at)westlygroup.com

Mr. Coglizer began his career by gaining over six years of deal experience at CB Richard Ellis, the world’s largest commercial real estate company. Following completion of his MBA at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and upon the passage of NAFTA, David “cut his teeth” in corporate debt finance for Grupo Bancomer in Mexico City (now BBVA Bancomer) during a severe economic crisis.

Mr. Coglizer has also served as senior category manager at eBay, including the launch and growth of various eBay verticals (eBay Real Estate, eBay Travel, eBay Premium) and in seller scalability and integration of eBay acquisitions.

Mr. Coglizer holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, where he was student body president at both institutions. He is a lifelong environmentalist, and has held leadership positions with the Sierra Club and the League to Save Lake Tahoe, and was a candidate for the California State Assembly.

michael.kaufman(at)westlygroup.com

Mr. Kaufman manages the due diligence process for The Westly Group, performing financial analysis, interviewing references and evaluating potential investments against industry comparables. He also focuses on strengthening the group’s deal flow channels and deal identification process.

Mr. Kaufman has worked for Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut and was Special Assistant to the Controller at the California State Controller’s Office from 2004 to 2006. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University.

mike.jackson(at)westlygroup.com

Mr. Jackson is a principal at The Westly Group. Prior to joining, he was founder and CEO of Village Green Energy, a retailer of renewable electricity production to households and businesses. Previously, he managed research in India and China at the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University, where he wrote on the impact of global coal, oil, and natural gas markets on energy choices in the developing world.

In addition to his work in energy, Mr. Jackson chairs an internal board for Variety Children’s Charity of Northern California, where he leads efforts to bring young professionals into the charity as volunteers and future donors. Mr. Jackson holds a master’s degree in Energy Engineering and a bachelor’s degree in Biology and Earth Systems, all from Stanford University.

shawn.chen(at)westlygroup.com

Shawn Chen is an associate at The Westly Group. He is responsible for sourcing and due diligence on potential investment opportunities and working with existing portfolio companies. Prior to joining The Westly Group, Mr. Chen worked for several years in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in San Francisco. Mr. Chen has also worked for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Beijing, China and the U.S. Treasury Department in Washington, DC.

Mr. Chen holds an M.S. in Management Science & Engineering and a B.A in Public Policy, both from
Stanford University.

justin.allamano(at)westlygroup.com

Mr. Allamano manages the fundraising process of The Westly Group, working as a conduit between current and potential investors and the investment team. Justin also utilizes his legal background as a free consultant to our portfolio companies needing help with internal legal questions.

Mr. Allamano joins the Westly Group from his previous role as a practicing attorney at Luce Forward Hamilton & Scripps. He holds a JD from UC Davis and a bachelor’s degree from UC San Diego.

benjamin.abram(at)westlygroup.com

Ben is an Associate-in-Residence at The Westly Group; he is concurrently building a venture leasing fund, Wylan Capital, to enable business owners to save on energy bills and “go green” with best-in-class energy efficiency technologies. Ben continues to source investment opportunities for The Westly Group, and attend partner meetings. As an Analyst and then Associate at The Westly Group, Ben was responsible for generating investment opportunities, analyzing prospective companies, and assisting Mr. Westly in preparation for public presentations. Ben served as an observer on the boards of Glacier Bay and CleanWell.

Ben holds a BSE with honors from Duke University, completing dual majors in environmental engineering and public policy studies. After graduating, Ben served as Duke’s “Young Trustee” for a three-year term on the Board of Trustees. He currently serves as a director of the Chordoma Foundation and FACE AIDS, and is a member of Class XIV of the Society of Kauffman Fellows.

Mr. Goldman served as Senior Vice President, Finance and Administration, and Chief Financial Officer of Siebel Systems from August 2000 until the close of Oracle Corporation’s acquisition of Siebel Systems in January 2006. Prior to working at Siebel Systems, he served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Excite@Home. From 1992 to 1996, Mr. Goldman served as Senior Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Sybase, Inc. Other Chief Financial Officer positions that Mr. Goldman has held were with Cypress Semiconductor and VLSI Technology. Mr. Goldman was involved in taking public both VLSI Technology (1983) and Excite@Home Network (1997) as Chief Financial Officer.

Mr. Goldman earned his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University in 1971 and received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1974.

He is a member and the former president of the Santa Clara chapter of The Financial Executive Institute, and was formerly a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board Advisory Council (FASAC) (2000 – 2004). He is an advisory board member for the Harvard Business School California Research Center, a member of the West Coast Chief Financial Officer Roundtable, a member of the FEI Committee for Financial and Information Technology and a former member of the NASDAQ’s Issuer Affairs Committee.

Mr. Applbaum is a Special Limited Partner with The Westly Group. He will be responsible for the team’s activities in Israel and for sourcing and performing due diligence on water companies.

Mr. Applbaum was a founding General Partner of Opus Capital, a two hundred and eighty million dollar early stage venture fund, focusing his efforts on finding Israeli-based investments for the firm. Previously, Isaac was a Partner and Managing Director for Israel at Lightspeed Venture Partners, an early stage venture capital firm with over two billion dollars under management.

Prior to joining Lightspeed, Mr. Applbaum was the founder and CEO of Concorde Solutions Inc. (CSI). In 1998 Mr. Applbaum sold CSI to Bank of America, becoming a Senior Vice President at the bank with responsibility for running the bank’s E-ventures group and an advising the strategic investments group.

Before founding Concorde Solutions, Mr. Applbaum was responsible for running US operations for Advanced Technology International, a large Israeli software development company.

Mr. Applbaum served as a Special Advisor for Economic Development to the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert. Mr. Applbaum is President of the Board of the California Israel Chamber of Commerce, Vector Intersect Acquisition Corporation (VTRQ), The Modern Bank Corporation, and is Chairman of The Western Wall Heritage Foundation. Mr. Applbaum is a member of the Young Presidents Organization.

Michael Kahn is the senior partner of Folger Levin & Kahn LLP. Mr. Kahn’s practice involves federal and state court proceedings throughout the United States. Mr. Kahn has tried over twenty cases to verdict with a success rate of over ninety percent. Mr. Kahn has also argued over a dozen appeals in State Supreme Court and Federal and State Courts of Appeal and has arbitrated over a dozen cases to decision (with over a 90% success rate). Mr. Kahn has been involved in numerous landmark cases including PeopleSoft v. Oracle in which he represented PeopleSoft; U.S. v. Stringfellow in which he was lead trial counsel and City of Atascadero v. Merrill Lynch in which he represented the “Killer Bs”. He was appointed by the California Supreme Court to represent the defendants in a landmark search and seizure case and a death penalty case.

As a co-founder of The CAPROCK Group, a multi-family office, Richard works with an exclusive list of wealthy, entrepreneurial families to assist in the strategic deployment of family capital. Richard also founded XIAN Advisors which specialized in early stage corporate advisory services and private wealth management. As an early employee at eBay, he played a key role in the growth and success of the company in the areas of marketing, business development and real estate. Richard received his MBA from Stanford University and a his degree in Finance from the University of Idaho.

Craig Tighe is a partner in the Silicon Valley office of DLA Piper US LLP. Craig focuses his practice in commercial finance, private equity and mezzanine investments, venture and angel investing, venture debt and leasing, workouts and restructurings, and mergers and acquisitions. He serves as counsel to corporations in a number of industries, including early stage technology companies, telecommunication businesses, beverage and food companies and consumer product manufacturers. He is also counsel to a number of banks and other financial institutions, as well as to equity investors and private equity funds. Craig is a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Zoological Society.