Board of Directors
CalStar’s board of directors includes experienced entrepreneurs and venture capital investors, including Foundation Capital and EnerTech Capital.
Paul Holland
Chairman of the Board
As one of the early advocates of green building materials in Silicon Valley, Paul Holland invested in the CalStar Products, Inc. Series A round in late 2006 and has served on the board since that time. In addition to coordinating the clean-tech practice at Foundation Capital, Paul and his wife are building what will be perhaps the highest-rated LEED Platinum residence in the U.S. At Foundation, Paul’s primary focus is on helping early-stage start-ups go from zero to $100 million in revenue. He helped take public two venture-funded software start-ups, Kana Communications (KANA) and Pure Software (RATL). Paul currently serves on the board of directors for Bella Pictures, CalStar Products, Inc., Coverity, Edge Dynamics (acquired by iMany), Ketera, Serious Materials and TuVox; and previously for Talking Blocks (acquired by Hewlett-Packard) and RouteScience (acquired by Avaya).
Prior to joining Foundation Capital, Paul was senior vice president of worldwide sales at Kana Communications, a leading supplier of Enterprise Relationship Management solutions to strategic e-businesses. Paul went on to build a team of over 350 people that secured more than 900 customers worldwide, helping Kana become one of the top 10 IPOs of 1999. Before Kana, Paul was a vice president and general manager for another highly successful start-up, Pure Software, helping raise their market value from $2 million to over $1 billion in his five-year tenure there. He began his professional career at SRI International (formerly the Stanford Research Institute).
Paul enjoys spending time with his wife, Linda Yates, and their three daughters, Kylie, Devon and Piper. In his spare time he enjoys golf, volleyball, poker and traveling (he has visited over 50 countries to date). Paul has been guest lecturer on entrepreneurship at Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business, Harvard Business School, James Madison University and the Stanford Graduate School of Engineering. He is an active advisor and supporter of Project BUILD in East Palo Alto, the Bing School at Stanford and Sustainable Silicon Valley.
Paul received an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley; an MA in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia; and a BS from James Madison University.
Bill Kingsley
Board Member
EnerTech Capital led CalStar’s Series B round in fall 2008 and Bill joined the board at that time. In addition to promoting green building materials at EnerTech, Bill is a key architect of EnerTech’s smart grid, demand response, energy storage, water and solar investment strategies.
Prior to joining EnerTech and focusing on clean technology venture investing, Bill worked in the high-growth segments of the communications industry. While with Comcast Corporation, Bill was a key member of the team responsible for the IPO and eventual sale of Teleport; he was part of the founding team of Sprint PCS and led the company’s efforts to provide services to the electric utility industry. Earlier in his career, Bill was with GTE Mobile Communications as a director of new business development. He started his career at Contel Corporation serving in a variety of engineering, marketing, financial and management positions.
Bill currently sits on the boards of INVIDI Technologies, IOSIL Energy, PCN Technology and Schema, and is an observer to the boards of Atraverda and CURRENT Group. Previously he was a director of Arbinet (ARBX) and Advent Solar. He is a member of the IBF Clean Technology Investor Summit Advisory Board.
Bill received a BS in Business Administration from Lynchburg College and an MA in Telecommunications from George Washington University.
Bryant J. Tong
Board Member
Bryant Tong joined Nth Power in 2001 as a Managing Director.
Bryant leads Nth Power’s investments in Accelergy, Arxx and Calstar and serves on the board of these companies. He also led Nth Power’s investment in NanoGram Devices (NYSE:GB).
Previously, Bryant was founder, President and CEO of Pacific Venture Capital, LLC (PVC), the venture capital arm of the PG&E Corporation. At PVC, Bryant led investments in the energy and telecommunications sectors.
Prior to joining PVC, Bryant co-founded ReSourcePhoenix, Inc. (RPC) and successfully took the company public. RPC pioneered the use of the Internet to help businesses outsource their IT and accounting operations. As President and COO, he planned business strategy, sales and marketing and was responsible for all day-to-day operations.
Previous to ReSourcePhoenix, Bryant also served as part of the senior management group at Phoenix American, Inc. While at Phoenix American, Bryant worked with Phoenix Growth Capital (PGC). PGC invested in over 200 venture capital-backed companies by providing venture lease financing. PGC was one of the most profitable divisions within Phoenix American.
A native of San Francisco, California, Bryant received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Bryant is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and also serves as a member of several industry advisory boards including the Energy Venture Fair and the Golden Capital Network. Bryant founded and chairs the China-U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance. Bryant also serves on the University of San Francisco Entrepreneurship Program Advisory Board.
Gary Dillabough
Board Member
Mr. Dillabough runs the Clean Building Materials 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 spent four years in corporate real estate and developed his own portfolio of close to 100 apartment units. Mr. Dillabough is one of the few people in this industry with a combination of clean tech and hands on real estate development experience.
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.
Marc Porat, Ph.D.
Founder
Marc has founded and led technology companies since 1983. Since 2002, he has created three companies focused on the built environment, concentrating on sustainable construction materials and methods to help reduce climate change. In addition to CalStar Products, Inc., where he served as CEO since its founding in early 2007 until April 2009, Marc founded Serious Materials and Zeta Communities. Prior to focusing his energies on the built environment, Marc initiated and led several notable ventures in information technology including Perfect Commerce (1998), General Magic (1991), and Private Satellite Network (1983). Previously, Marc was a Senior Economist at the U.S. Department of Commerce and Director of the Program on Communication and Society for the Aspen Institute. Marc graduated from Columbia College and earned a double Masters and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.
Joel Rood
Chief Executive Officer
Joel is a 15-year veteran of the building products and materials industry. His broad experience in the construction products business includes senior executive P&L responsibility with industry leaders in product categories including gypsum wallboard, insulation and fiber-cement. Positions include General Manager for CertainTeed Canada, General Manager of the Southern U.S. Division at James Hardie Corporation and earlier assignments with Hilti, MTS Systems Corporation and Schlumberger in the U.S. and internationally. Joel brings proven skills developing and executing product leadership and organizational competitive advantage strategies. He will focus on scaling CalStar’s delivery of sustainable, innovative products to serve the green building market. Joel holds a bachelor’s of science in Civil Engineering from Princeton University, a masters degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Texas and an masters degree in Management from Stanford University.