Our success is the result of the exceptional talent and unwavering dedication of our outstanding team.

Our diverse team includes industry-leading scientific researchers, exceptional process operators, and innovative leaders. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, our reach and impact extend globally.

LEADERSHIP

Dr. Francis Wang

Francis Wang is the Chief Executive Officer for NanoGraf Technologies, an advanced silicon-anode materials manufacturer at the forefront of the lithium-ion battery industry. Under his leadership, NanoGraf raised $65 million in venture funding in 2023, one of the year’s 10 largest battery venture capital rounds.
Francis has over 25 years of experience in energy storage and clean energy innovation, commercialization, and manufacturing. Francis’s work experience in energy storage spans a range of magnitudes from very small (uW-mW) forms of storage for portable electronics & medical applications to very large (kW-MW) for transportation and the grid. His achievements extend the energy storage value chain from upstream design of novel cathode & anode materials technologies to downstream development of commercial manufacturing facilities. He has held positions in some of the world’s largest battery, consumer products, and energy companies, including Duracell, Procter & Gamble, Gillette, and Boston Scientific. In addition to his work at NanoGraf, Francis is a board director for The Sunlight Group Energy Storage Systems. He holds over 50 U.S. and international patents, has authored over 20 scientific publications, was named to the Forbes Next 1000 in 2021 and is among Axios’s 2023 Power Players. Francis holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook where he studied under Professor Clare P. Grey.

Erik Birkerts

Erik Birkerts is the President & COO at NanoGraf, working alongside the leadership team to help guide the company into its next phase of growth and commercialization. He brings more than 25 years of experience across climate tech, advanced energy, and manufacturing, with a track record spanning company building, capital formation, and governance. Erik has led and advised organizations through scale, IPOs, and strategic acquisitions, and is a seasoned board director. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BA from Tufts University.

Dr. Nigel Becknell

Nigel leads the Technology Development team, coordinating materials R&D to improve key performance metrics that translate to system level improvements for customers.

Nigel has over ten years experience in developing materials and electrochemical interfaces that solve challenges in a wide range of battery and fuel cell technologies. He completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Argonne National Laboratory where he synthesized novel materials for electrochemical systems and applied advanced characterization techniques. Nigel received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Jia (Chow) He

Jia is the VP of Manufacturing for NanoGraf, focusing on production strategies and process scale-up to achieve world-class commercial manufacturing.

Chow brings many years of experience in chemical manufacturing and scaling up new products with DuPont, Kuraray, and Zymergen. Throughout his various roles, Chow has demonstrated success leading operations teams and has attained skills in the areas of production, supply chain, process, projects, and quality management systems. Chow holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech.

Kara Rodby is the Chief Strategy Officer for NanoGraf Technologies. Kara brings a strong background in hard-tech investing and clean energy commercialization to NanoGraf, having served as a Technical Principal at a battery-focused venture capital firm called Volta Energy Technologies for nearly five years. There, she led technical diligence and investment analysis across advanced energy technologies, developed chemistry-informed techno-economic models, managed key corporate relationships, and supported battery and materials companies through board and observer roles. She is also a known thought leader across the climate and energy ecosystem. Kara holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT, where her research focused on techno-economic analyses of redox flow batteries, and she was also named a winner of the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Energy in 2024.