Dr. Charles Haythornthwaite
Senior Partner
Charlie joined Chrysalix in 2008. He is responsible for leading the opportunity recognition and investment selection process in the Chrysalix RoboValley Fund. Charlie has a passion for anticipating how emerging technology can solve problems that matter and devising marketing strategy to successfully establish new startups.
At Chrysalix, Charlie has led investments in and sat on the boards of MineSense and Primus Power. He is a current board director for GaN Systems, Novamera and VERAI, and a past board director at Axine Water Technologies.
Charlie has a strong technology, sales and marketing background. Prior to joining Chrysalix, he helped found Soliant Energy, a solar energy startup based in California developing new PV modules with leading energy density, where he held the role of VP Business Development and Product Marketing. He was responsible for product-market fit and early customer development. In a previous role, he led business development for BIRAL, which developed new optoelectronic sensors with neural network data analytics for the detection of biological warfare agents.
Charlie has a PhD in optoelectronics and materials science from the University of Southampton. He also has an MBA from Berkeley where he was a Haas Venture Capital Fellow and a Sainsbury Management Fellow, a highly competitive scholarship from the UK Royal Academy of Engineering.
Team
Fred van Beuningen
Managing Partner
Fred is a Managing Partner based in the Netherlands. His industry expertise spans C-level, Executive Board and CEO positions in oil & gas, chemicals, logistics, innovation and sustainability, and scaling up ventures.
Dr. Wal van Lierop
Founding Partner
Wal is a Founding Partner of Chrysalix based in Vancouver. He launched Chrysalix in 2001 and is recognised for his expertise and thought leadership in industrial innovation, energy and cleantech.
Dr. Charles Haythornthwaite
Senior Partner
Charlie is a Senior Partner based in the United Kingdom. He leads the opportunity recognition and investment selection process in the Chrysalix RoboValley Fund and has a special interest in mining innovation.
Dr. Alfred Lam
Partner
Alfred is a Partner based in the Netherlands. He has incubated and launched ventures from academia and is involved in the development of investment theses, deal sourcing and due diligence with a special interest in energy and resource productivity.
Greg Allen
Partner
Greg is a Partner based in Vancouver. He is an experienced CEO, turnaround leader and board member at multinational technology companies. He is responsible for supporting selected portfolio companies in director and observer roles, leads key aspects of Chrysalix operational activities and sits on the Chrysalix investment committee.
Wendy Leong
Chief Financial Officer
Wendy is the Chief Financial Officer based in Vancouver. She has nearly 25 years of experience in private equity investment management and works closely with the investment team on valuation and finance matters.
Alicia Lenis
VICE PRESIDENT
Alicia is a Vice President based in Vancouver. She works on investment theses development, deal sourcing, due diligence and portfolio management. Alicia has close to 15 years of industrial technology sector experience.
Nicholas Andruschak
Vice President
Nicholas is a Vice President based in Vancouver. He is responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, and developing investment theses. Nicholas is particularly interested in companies developing sensor systems and intelligent systems to facilitate Industry 4.0.
Giuliana Unger
Associate
Giuliana is an Associate based in the Netherlands. She has expertise in cleantech innovation and carbon capture and utilization (CCU), and she is responsible for sourcing new deals and due diligence.
ADVISORY BOARD
Matthias Bichsel
Matthias is a former member of the Executive Committee and Director of Projects & Technology at Royal Dutch Shell. His previous roles include Executive VP of Development & Technology, Managing Director of Shell Deepwater Services and Director of Petroleum Development Oman.
Mark Dudzinski
Mark is the former Chief Marketing Officer at GE Energy responsible for $45B in business including thermal & renewable power generation; oil & gas exploration, development & transport; electric transmission & distribution; and industrial controls.
Stefan Heck
Stefan is the CEO at Nauto, an AI platform for urban mobility. Previous roles include consulting Professor at the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University; and Director at McKinsey where he cofounded the Cleantech and Sustainability Transformations practice. Stefan is the co-author of the Resource Revolution.
John Thompson
John is the former VP, Technology and Development at Teck Resources. John left Teck to form PetraScience Consultants Inc., providing exploration and technology services to the mining industry. He is the Wold Professor in Environmental Balance for Human Sustainability at Cornell University.
Peter Bryant
Peter’s expertise is in growth and innovation, natural resources and energy, software, technology commercialization and corporate venture capital. His former senior leadership roles include GE and Computer Associates. Peter is a senior fellow at the Kellogg Innovation Network and a Partner at Clareo.