Accelerating climate solutions to secure a

Livable Planet

Our mission is to provide the capital, expertise and partnerships necessary to produce and scale vital and urgent climate solutions.

Purpose Built for
Systems Change.

We have to accelerate our transition to a clean energy economy because winning slowly is the same as losing. If we do not rapidly cut our emissions, we risk triggering climate tipping points that would have irreversible consequences. Every moment counts.

Galvanize Climate Solutions (“Galvanize”) was founded to be part of the solution. Galvanize combines investment, technical, policy, and communications expertise under one roof. We are organized to create investment strategies across seed, venture, and expansion, to support companies vital to decarbonizing our society. Our investments will be amplified by the Galvanize suite of portfolio services, tailored to be relevant to companies critical to decarbonization.

Galvanize is committed to supporting our partners in the broader climate and climate justice movements, which will include directly contributing a portion of our profits.

Proven Leadership & Experience

Tom Steyer

Co-Chair

Tom Steyer founded and ran Farallon Capital Management, a multi-strategy global investment business based in San Francisco, from 1986 until 2012. During that period, it grew assets from $6mm to $36bn. Over the same time, Tom was also a partner and Investment Committee member at Hellman & Friedman, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm.

After retiring from Farallon, Tom dedicated himself to public service and philanthropy, with a focus on climate action. Tom is the Co-Founder of Beneficial State Bank, a triple bottom line community development financial institution founded in 2007 with over $1 billion in assets. Tom is also the Founder of NextGen America, the largest youth voter mobilization organization in American history. Most recently, Tom was a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate and beginning in April 2020 served as co-chair for Governor Newsom’s Business and Jobs Recovery Task Force. He also co-chaired Vice President Biden’s Climate Engagement Advisory Council to help mobilize climate voters.

Tom Steyer

Co-Chair

Katie Hall

Co-Chair

Katie Hall is the Founder and Co-Chair of Hall Capital Partners (“HCP”), an independent, SEC-registered investment advisory firm. Founded in 1994, HCP manages over $40 billion in investment assets for foundations, endowments, and large pools of family capital. She served as CIO/Co-CIO at HCP from 1994 – 2018. Previously Katie was Founder and General Partner of Laurel Management Partners, General Partner of Laurel Arbitrage Partners. Earlier in her career, she was a Partner at HFS Partners and Hellman & Friedman.

Katie has extensive experience in the philanthropic and non-profit arenas. She is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She is a member of the Board and is Chair of the Investment Committee of SFMOMA. Katie is also a member of the Board of UCSF Foundation and is Chair of the Board for the UCSF Foundation Investment Company. Katie chairs the Investment Committee of the Smithsonian Institution and is a member of the Finance Committee. Previously Katie has served on the boards of a number of civic and educational institutions, including serving as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University from 2011-2019. Katie was a member of the Board of PRINCO from 1998-2011 and Chair from 2008-2011.

Katie also serves on the boards of Ariat International, San Jose Earthquakes, McEvoy Group, and Cohn Robbins Holdings Corp.

Katie Hall

Co-Chair

Cliff Ryan

Co-Head, Innovation & Expansion Fund

Cliff Ryan has spent his career investing in and working with entrepreneurs in the global energy and technology industries. Cliff was previously a Managing Director with Riverstone Holdings, a private equity firm with over $40 billion under management across energy and infrastructure markets, where he worked for over a decade. At Riverstone, Cliff was involved with sourcing, structuring, and negotiating transactions entailing over $25 billion of value and represented Riverstone on the boards of twelve portfolio companies. Cliff started his career in the investment banking division of Credit Suisse focused on M&A and leveraged finance in the global power and renewable sectors.

Throughout his career, Cliff has been an extensive early and growth-stage investor in many leading energy and technology companies as manager of Create Holdings. He was formerly an Advisor to LearnVest, a financial software company founded by his wife, Alexa von Tobel, which was acquired for nearly $400 million in 2015 by Northwestern Mutual. Cliff has also served as an Executive in Residence for Energy Impact Partners.

Cliff is a graduate of Harvard College with an AB in Economics with Honors and has twice been Vice-Chair of his class’s alumni committee. He lives in Greenwich Village in New York City with his wife and three children.

Cliff Ryan

Co-Head, Innovation & Expansion Fund

Veery Maxwell

Co-Head, Innovation & Expansion Fund

Veery Maxwell has spent her career focused on climate change, is a deep believer in the virtuous cycle of markets, technology, and policy reinforcing each other to drive decarbonization. Previously, Veery was a founding partner at Ajax Investment Strategies, where she invested in technology companies solving climate change. She currently sits on the boards of Descartes Labs, Streetlight Data, Sunfolding, Trace Genomics, and Voltus. Additionally, she serves on the nonprofit boards of Clean Energy for America and CREO Syndicate.

Prior to co-founding Ajax, Veery was a director at Energy Innovation managing a large climate philanthropy portfolio focused on supporting regulatory interventions to drive emissions out of the power, transport, and industrial sectors. Veery previously worked at Climateworks Foundation and The Nature Conservancy.

Veery earned a J.D. degree with honors from UC Hastings School of the Law, and a B.A. degree magna cum laude from Georgetown University with a double major in finance and international business. Veery lives in San Francisco with her husband, daughter, and Norwich terrier.

Veery Maxwell

Co-Head, Innovation & Expansion Fund

Saloni Multani

Co-Head, Innovation & Expansion Fund

Saloni Multani has spent 20 years working with, learning from, and investing in growing companies. In recent years, she has focused her efforts on companies and causes aligned with combating climate change, most recently serving as the Chief Financial Officer of the Joe Biden presidential campaign and working to support the administration’s climate efforts.

Prior to her work on the campaign, Saloni was a Venture Partner at Congruent Ventures, an early stage venture firm focused on the sustainability ecosystem; she also worked with Three Cairns Group, a NY-based family office, to help develop and execute a mission-aligned venture investment strategy oriented around climate.

Saloni has previously held investment roles at SPO Partners, a long-only investment manager where she was a Partner (2012-2016); Hellman & Friedman, where she was a Director (2006-2012); and Blackstone, where she began her career as a private equity analyst (2000-2002). Through these positions, Saloni invested across sectors – including software, industrials, distribution, and beyond – enabling a broad perspective she now brings to climate investing with a goal of helping to create a more sustainable economy.

Saloni has served on the boards of Vertafore, Goodman Global, Trove Recommerce, and Thrilling, Inc. She currently sits on the board of Artisan Partners, an investment management firm.

Saloni graduated with an A.B. in Economics from Harvard College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was an Arjay Miller Scholar. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two young daughters.

Saloni Multani

Co-Head, Innovation & Expansion Fund

Nicole Systrom

Chief Impact Officer

Nicole Systrom has spent her entire career partnering with investors, entrepreneurs, and philanthropists to accelerate high-impact climate and clean technology solutions. Prior to Galvanize, Nicole founded Sutro Energy Group to counsel impact investors, philanthropists, and nonprofits on how to direct mission-oriented resources toward innovative clean technologies. With an extensive background in environmental science and a passion for helping entrepreneurs scale breakthrough technologies, Nicole was frequently tapped by nonprofits, foundations and family offices for her counsel on their climate-positive programs. She is a published thought leader on climate innovation, on topics ranging from identifying gaps in the clean tech ecosystem, to building philanthropic tools for investing in climate solutions, to enabling better state energy policy.

Nicole holds a BS in Earth Systems from Stanford University and an MBA/MS in Environment and Resources from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She serves on multiple climate related governing boards and advisory groups, and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family and golden retriever.

Nicole Systrom

Chief Impact Officer