Top Gun

Blackstone Accelerates Growth was launched in October, with the announcement of the approval of a $3 million grant by the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. The initiative aims to help Maine transition to an innovation economy that supports sustained economic growth for years to come. With a goal of helping Maine companies add an additional 10,000 skilled jobs over the next 10 years, this initiative will establish regional hubs of innovation and entrepreneurship which will serve as catalysts to propel new and existing businesses to greater levels of profitability and job growth.

Mr. Voltz has over 20 years of international business experience, with more than a decade on the forefront of clean technology investment. He has worked closely with businesses of all sizes, from start-ups to large public companies in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany.

He was principal and part of founding team at Jane Capital Partners, a leading cleantech corporate advisor & merchant bank based in San Francisco. He managed engagements large energy firms including Meridian Energy, New Zealand’s largest power producer. He was instrumental in developing Meridian’s $100 million solar strategy and orchestrated its 2009 entry into the U.S. with its acquisition of a solar developer with a pipeline of 385 MW in solar projects. At Jane Capital, he helped start SC Power, a U.S. superconductor company which later merged with Trithor GmbH to become Zenergy Power PLC. He advised on the subsequent public listing of Zenergy on the AIM exchange in London and served on the board of directors from 2006 through 2010.

As an advisor and founding team member for start-up and growth stage businesses, he has helped raise over $50 million in financing. Also from 2003 - 2011, he worked with the Cleantech Venture Forum, to prepare presenting cleantech companies. He has recently turned his attention to New England and is currently working with some of Maine's most promising start-ups.

He holds a B.A in Biology from Grinnell College and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from UCLA Anderson School of Management.