I-Corps Energy and Transportation

Jean Redfield is President and CEO at NextEnergy. Redfield previously served as the company’s Vice President, Public Policy Programs, leading public-sector initiatives. Her experience includes multiple leadership roles at DTE Energy as well as consulting roles at McKinsey and Company. Her work has primarily involved strategy development, leading major change initiatives and supporting companies as they transform through major dislocations in their respective industries. She has worked in various industries (investment banking, chemicals, aerospace/defense, pharmaceutical and biotech start-ups, and energy) in the United States, Europe, Brazil, India, and China. She has also served as co-owner and CFO of Fordsell Machine Products, a precision machine products company, from 1994 to the present. Redfield holds a B.A. in biology from Washington University, St. Louis, a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Memphis, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

David Anderson is Director, Venture Services at NextEnergy. In this role, he provides venture support services to early-stage and established small businesses, and manages NextEnergy’s participation in the National Incubator Initiative for Clean Energy (NIICE), a national network of leading clean tech incubators. Prior to joining NextEnergy, Anderson was a co-founder of Bamboo Detroit, Detroit’s first co-working space for entrepreneurs. Anderson is an electrical engineer with experience in advanced battery systems with Fortune 500 companies Bosch Battery Systems and General Dynamics Land Systems. In 2015 he was named as one of Crain’s Detroit Business 20 in their 20s. In addition to his role with NextEnergy, Anderson serves as technology chair on the Board of Trustees for the Detroit Historical Society, strategic advisor to Detroit-based, tech company LavLabs Inc. and as a technology strategist for Healthy Detroit. Anderson holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

Clay Phillips’ professional career in the automotive industry concentrated on strategic intelligence, due diligence, alliance management and new business development. As an executive at GM’s R&D group, he started and led a technology intelligence team and a new business development team focused on commercialization and partnering strategies for internal startups. He was a founding member of GM’s corporate venture capital arm, GM Ventures. Since 2014, Clay has been advising startups and larger firms working through disruptive innovation challenges. He runs a Michigan-based consulting firm, serves as a Vice President with San Francisco-based LaunchPad Central, and is an adjunct instructor for the Innovation Corps program. He holds a B.A. degree from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut and an M.B.A. from Columbia University in New York.

Aaron Crumm is the co-founder of Adaptive Materials Incorporated (AMI), a start-up that sold for $23 million in 2010 to Ultra Electronics. Crumm’s work attracted more than $50 million in contracts to support the growth of AMI, and AMI has been recognized for its dynamic growth with Ann Arbor SPARK FastTrack, Inc. 500, and Inc. 100 Energy Company awards. Prior to founding AMI, Crumm earned his B.S. in nuclear engineering from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in material science from the University of Michigan.