Speakers

Jack is a founder and Managing Director of Pantek Partners, Pantek is a boutique investment banking firm focused on the hard science sectors with deep networks in the North American, European and Asian technology centers. Strong expertise in advanced materials, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, batteries, alternative energy platforms, computer vision systems and biotechnology. Our mission is to provide our clients with unique insight and access to strategic investment, M&A and business development channels globally coupled with seasoned execution capabilities. Founded in 2007, Pantek has advised over a 300+ clients with regards to their global capital raising, strategic business development and M&A initiatives.

Douglas Bush is an accomplished corporate strategist with deep expertise in the energy sector, including natural gas marketing, power plant asset management, and development of distributed energy resources. As Director of Strategy & Corporate Development, he leads initiatives that shape organizational direction, identify emerging market opportunities, and execute strategic partnerships and acquisitions.

With a proven track record in business transformation and competitive analysis, Douglas combines analytical rigor with a forward-thinking approach to deliver actionable insights and sustainable results. His work spans strategic planning, M&A, and operational optimization, enabling companies to thrive in dynamic and evolving energy markets.

Douglas is passionate about advancing the transition to cleaner, more resilient energy systems by aligning corporate vision with measurable outcomes, fostering collaboration across teams, and leveraging data-driven strategies to achieve business objectives.

At Caterpillar Ventures, Mike Mahan is an Investment Director overseeing all investment and portfolio activities tied to the Construction & Mining business units. Mike also carries investment responsibilities for Manufacturing technology and all interests from our innovation team, Cat Technology. Caterpillar Ventures is a strategic CVC, investing the Series A & B stages with initial checks in the $2-5M range.

Prior to Caterpillar, Mike was a Managing Director at Stanley Ventures responsible for investment activities in the Construction space and a focus on power tools, hand tools, storage solutions, and more. Mike closed over 20 deals for Stanley Ventures and invested on behalf of several business units including Hydraulics, Healthcare, Security, Oil & Gas, and more.

Before his tenure in CVC, Mike worked at startups in the Healthcare and Banking sectors for over 9 years in Boston and Nashville. Mike is currently based out of Atlanta, GA.

George Skoptsov is the Founder and CEO of H Quest Vanguard, Inc: Pittsburgh-based clean energy start-up developing a novel emissions-free methane pyrolysis technology. H Quest's transformational process promises to generate emission-free hydrogen directly at the point of use: anywhere natural gas is used today. As the electrically powered process removes the carbon contents of the natural gas in the form of a valuable commodity, the hydrogen can be priced competitively with natural gas. This innovative approach side-steps the need for costly and potentially hazardous hydrogen transportation and would naturally displace the conventional carbon- or energy-intensive hydrogen production methods.

George has more than two decades of experience leading development and commercialization of breakthrough technologies across various sectors including industrial automation, clean energy, sustainable chemistry, and nanomaterials. In his work, he assembled and led diverse teams of business leaders, academic researchers, and industry experts. Under his leadership H Quest won multiple research projects supported by the Department of Energy and National Science Foundation, amassing more than $3.5M in non-dilutive funding.

Thirteen years prior to establishing H Quest, George started his career at the Carnegie Mellon's National Robotics Engineering Center where he developed and field-deployed technology solutions for the leading companies in the energy, mining, and aerospace sectors. George holds a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. As an inventor, he holds more than ten granted patents.