Board of Directors
Board | Board Member
Chris Neidl
Chris Neidl is the co-founder of OpenAir, a global volunteer collective launched in 2019 to advance carbon dioxide removal (CDR) through member-driven advocacy, research and development. In this role Chris has helped lead CDR focused policy advocacy campaigns at the municipal, state and national levels including the Low Embodied Carbon Concrete Leadership Act (LECCLA), the Carbon Dioxide Removal Leadership Act (CDRLA), the Ireland Carbon Removal Partnership, and the Luxembourg Negative Emissions Tariff (L-NET) Chris came to DAC and CDR from a fifteen year career in solar energy, which spanned diverse research, activist and project management roles in North America, South Asia, Afghanistan and East Africa. Chris is an upstate New York native and long-time Brooklyn resident currently based in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.
Board | Board Member
Sophie Gallois
Sophie has decades of leadership experience in the corporate world, and has transitioned to NGOs as Deputy Executive Director at Unicef UK, then CEO of a growing Ocean charity. Passionate about climate solutions, she has now founded the Climate Agency. Her goal is to harness everything she has learnt in terms of growth strategy and global marketing to support organizations in the climate space.
Board | Co-Founder and Board Member
Nicholas Eisenberger
Nicholas is a climate investor & entrepreneur who has been deeply involved in the development of the DAC sector since 2006 as a Senior Advisor to Global Thermostat. He has founded, funded, and served on the board of multiple prominent efforts to accelerate climate mobilization, including the American Council on Renewable Energy, the Clean Economy Network, the CREO Family Office Syndicate, the Carbon XPRIZE, and the Circular Carbon Network. He is a graduate of Harvard College & Harvard Law School.
Team
Team | Co-Founder and Senior Director
Jason Hochman
Jason helped craft the policy and regulatory construct promoting utility clean energy efforts at Con Edison, and has worked on climate and sustainability issues at the Department of Defense, Acclimatise, and Demos. He earned a B.A. in History and Public Policy from Brown University and a M.S. in Global Energy & Environmental Policy from NYU. He is an advisor to Capture6.
Team | UK and Europe Coalition Lead
Aaron Benjamin
Aaron’s involvement in carbon removal started with helping launch the academic journal Frontiers in Climate. Since then, he has served as Program Manager for the Global Carbon Removal Partnership, drawing attention to promise of DAC in Kenya. To date, he sits on the Executive Committee of the Future Leaders Network (CO2RE initiative in the UK) and is currently helping lead an Open Air Collective mission on “”Envisioning Greenhouse Gas Removal in Teesside”. Aaron’s expertise in science communication, business development and partnerships helps the Coalition build a collaborative and cooperative ecosystem within this emerging space.
Team | Contributor/Project Associate
Jamie Rogers
Jamie is an attorney and entrepreneur specializing in climate risk governance and pathways to net zero. Jamie has co-authored groundbreaking legislation in carbon dioxide removal and low-embodied carbon concrete. He has previously worked in affordable housing development and been a leader in local civic engagement in New York City. He works in Bank of America’s Global Climate Risk group and holds a JD from Cornell Law School.
Team | Contributor/Project Associate
Matheus Miraglia
Matheus is a mechanical engineer passionate about technological approaches to carbon removal. With experience in academic research in a global setting, he hopes to use his engineering expertise to accelerate the development and deployment of DAC alongside this coalition. He is thrilled to be a part of this climate focused coalition.
Team | Contributor/Project Associate
Nick Hammer
Nick is an architect, industrial designer, and founder of an Urban DAC start-up. His passion for solutions stems from the air quality issues plaguing the Intermountain West. His Engineering Bachelors, and Masters of Architecture and Urban Design help him consult on all scales of design from small part manufacturing to regional planning.
Advisors
Advisor
James Mwangi
James Irungu Mwangi is the Executive Director of the Dalberg Group, and a Partner with Dalberg Advisors. James established Dalberg’s presence in Africa, beginning with the Johannesburg office in 2007, and has continued to expand its footprint on the continent, with offices in Nairobi in 2008, and Dakar in 2009. James also served as Global Managing Partner and Chief Executive of Dalberg’s consulting business from 2010 to 2014.
Prior to Dalberg, James worked at McKinsey & Company. He is a 2009 Archbishop Tutu Leadership Fellow of the African Leadership Institute, a 2013 Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum and a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization. He also currently serves as a member of the Global Entrepreneurs Council of the UN Foundation.
James holds an AB Hons Degree in Economics from Harvard University.
Advisor
Klaus Lackner
Dr. Klaus Lackner is the Director of Center for Negative Carbon Emissions and Professor at the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment of the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, Arizona State University. Lackner’s research interests include closing the carbon cycle by capturing carbon dioxide from the air, carbon sequestration, carbon foot-printing, innovative energy and infrastructure systems and their scaling properties, the role of automation, robotics and mass-manufacturing in downscaling infrastructure systems, and energy and environmental policy.