Board of Directors

Sanjay also serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Trade Capital Corporation. He is an expert in strategic finance, supply chain finance, international finance and M&A and corporate development. During his career leading senior-level business roles, he has helped companies develop innovative financial and corporate development strategies driving business growth, globally. He has been CEO of Wintec, a technology-led, semiconductor and supply chain business. His prior experience includes founding of an electric vehicle company for the Mahindra group, Genze. He was Vice President & General Manager at Bristlecone Inc, a Mountain View, California-based inventory and supply chain optimization company catering to global semiconductor and high-tech industries. Called upon for his expertise in both finance and technology, Sanjay has provided strategic advice to varied technology companies in Silicon Valley. Sanjay lives in Menlo Park, Silicon Valley and is a Board/CEO Advisor and Board Member. In his personal time, he mentors and teaches entrepreneurs, and has taught Business Strategy at the Presidio Graduate MBA School in San Francisco for disruptive businesses. He received executive leadership training at Harvard Business School and the London School of Economics after earning his MBA/MMS from the University of Mumbai and BE in Electronics and Electrical Power Engineering.

Hendrik Van Asbroeck joined Astanor Ventures as a Partner in 2020, and has two decades of business and board management in the energy sector where he has held multiple line management roles. He has extensive investment experience from his time at Engie New Ventures, a corporate venture capital fund that he founded in 2014 to invest globally in cleantech start-ups. Having worked since 2000 on clean energy that has disrupted the traditional energy sector, Hendrik believes that it is now time to enable a new era for the food and agricultural sector, which has an even bigger impact on our climate and local environment than the energy sector.

Ryo Shima represents Musashi Seimitsu and is the CEO of Global Tech Partners, a boutique management consulting firm, which he founded in 2018. His firm provides strategic advice to CEOs of global companies, including TSE listed Japanese companies, a fast- growing Indian gaming company, and a growth stage AI company. Prior, Ryo served as the COO of GREE International, one of the premier Japanese mobile gaming companies. Earlier in his career, Ryo spent 3 years at Merrill Lynch Tokyo as an investment banker and 4 years at Carlyle Japan as an investor managing a $1.2 billion buyout fund. Ryo holds a law degree from Kyoto University and an MBA from Stanford GSB.

Praveen Penmetsa has nearly two decades of hands-on experience in translating creative visions into products for startups to Fortune 50 companies alike. He founded Motivo Engineering, a product-engineering firm with clients in the Mobility, Energy, AgTech, and Aerospace sectors. Since 2016, Praveen has focused his efforts in AgTech solutions, building teams to develop and scale the next-generation robotic solutions for mobility, food and automation. Praveen holds an MSME in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati.

Mark Schwager has over a decade of experience leading manufacturing organizations and has developed over 16 million square feet of manufacturing space. Mark previously served as head of the Tesla Gigafactory, leading the project from concept phase to construction. He also led the operations planning team and built the business systems for Tesla's Fremont factory and led the manufacturing program for Tesla's collaboration with Toyota for the Rav4 EV. In his career, Mark has also served as head of manufacturing and supply chain at Zoox and Chief Production Officer for Romeo Power Technology. Mark holds a BS in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and an MBA from the Washington University in St. Louis Olin Business School.

George Powlick joined Astanor as a partner in 2020 after spending 21 years as a co-founder and Managing Director at Doughty Hanson & Co., where he was focused on early stage venture investing across Western Europe and the US. George also co-led the initial formation of the Intel investment group that later became Intel Capital EMEA. George received his MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and his BS in Materials Science & Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

Michele Lombardi is the SVP of Corporate Development and Venture Capital at CNHi. He has spent over 20 years at the company and has served in a variety of roles such as CEO of Australia and New Zealand, Head of IVECO APAC, President of IVECO China, and other senior BD roles. Michele was a management consultant at BCG as well as a process engineer at Pirelli Tyres. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.