John Rockwell

John Rockwell General Information

Biography

Mr. John Rockwell serves as Chief Executive Officer, President and Board Member at Accelergy. He is an Angel Investor. John has more than 25 years of experience managing and developing companies commercializing products in numerous CleanTech markets as well as making venture capital investments in these markets. Prior to Accelergy, he has served as the leader of four companies all of which became leaders in their market and realized successful exits for their investors. John has invested, developed and managed companies broadly across the CleanTech sectors including cleaner chemicals and fuels, materials substitution, manufacturing efficiency, supply chain, energy storage, energy efficiency, smart grid, and solar. During his career, he has invested in 22 companies in the CleanTech space, with 14 of those investments having realized an exit. Previously he was a Founder and Managing Director of Element Partners, an $800 million venture capital and private equity firm focused on CleanTech investments. Prior to Element, John was a Partner at Advent International Corporation, now a $30 billion global private equity firm, during which time he managed the firm's California office for 9 years. Before Advent, John spent 7 years at Materia Ventures Associates, investing in and managing early-stage companies that were commercializing applications of advanced materials technologies. He also served as CEO of Luxar Corporation, a manufacturer of CO2 lasers for the medical market and as President of SSC, Inc., a manufacturer of high performance ceramic oxide materials used in superconductors, fuel cells, catalysts and other applications. Both Luxar and SSC had successful exits, the former through a merger with ESC Medical and the latter through a sale to Praxair. John received a BS in Business Administration from Michigan Technological University and an MBA from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. John has served on the boards of more than 25 companies in his career including, among others, the boards of Accelergy Corp., EdeniQ, Inc., FiveCubits, Inc., GarrettCom, Inc., HiQ Solar, Inc., Luxar Corp., OK International, Inc., RedPrairie Corp. and SSC, Inc. John is a member of the Michigan Technological University School of Business and Economics' Dean's Advisory Board, past Chairman of the CleanTech Venture Network Advisory Board and former Chairman of the Michigan Technological University Hockey Enrichment Campaign. He is a member of the Michigan Tech Sports Hall of Fame.