Governance

The Board of Directors has overall responsibility for the governance of the network. It is comprised of representatives from NESTNet’s member organizations as well as independent experts from academia, industry and government.

Chaired by Neetika Sathe, the Board of Directors provides strategic guidance, counsel and foresight, and administrative and financial guidance. The board oversees NESTNet activities and approves the annual budget. The network director also sits on the board.

As the network director, Bala Venkatesh coordinates network affairs and leads the overall implementation of project activities through his participation in research, dissemination and training of highly qualified personnel (HQP).

As the network manager, Karen Ho-Cespedes ensures the day-to-day operations of the network and supports the network director and the Research Steering Committee (RSC) in all responsibilities related to the network, including strategic planning and managing relationships.

The research activities of the network are organized into four themes and led by F. Handan Tezel, Liuchen Chang, Claudio Cañizares and Miguel Anjos. The theme leaders are responsible for overseeing each theme’s research projects and evaluating HQP research activities. New this year are two cross-themes: Internationalization led by Ian Rowlands and Commercialization led by Jennifer MacInnis. The cross-theme leaders are responsible for developing and implementing strategies for the network’s growth.

The RSC is comprised of the network director, theme leaders, partner representatives, and external academic experts to provide leadership and vision on the review and assessment of ongoing NESTNet research projects.

The purpose of the Commercialization and Outreach Committee (COC) is to identify potential technologies and intellectual property (IP) developed by network researchers for commercialization opportunities. The COC will be managing the technologies, focusing on technology transfer and commercialization, enabling and expediting demonstration opportunities, and promoting energy storage to the public.