Electrifying together.
We’re building the backbone of our country’s new transportation ecosystem. The challenge is monumental, but it’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity for change.
Our purpose and mission.
Let’s take it back to 2021. The electrification tipping point was underway, and Terawatt’s founders had already begun to anticipate the infrastructural challenges that would accompany large-scale electrification efforts — especially for commercial transportation.
So they started deploying capital to buy up land along major highway corridors and in industrial hubs — areas that would make sense for the businesses that would eventually electrify.
Fast forward a few years and the electric transition is full steam ahead. And sure enough, while companies nationwide are beginning to double down on battery electric vehicle (BEV) fleets, figuring out where, when, and how to charge is proving to be a pain point.
That’s where we come in.
We’re a diverse team with backgrounds in real estate development and construction, data centers, clean energy, and mobility. Playing our part to reduce carbon emissions at scale is what gets us out of bed in the morning, and we’re excited to collaborate with people and companies that share our ambitions.
Our values.
Electrify the customer
Solve the problem behind the problem.
Our customers chose us, and we earn that choice
every day, treating every interaction as a chance
to build something lasting.
Run toward the hard thing
Imperfect action beats perfect inaction.
Leading our fast-moving industry will require us to
be scrappy, resilient, and decisive. We move with
purpose, adapt without ego, and measure
ourselves by progress, not activity.
Own the outcome
Make it better because it's yours.
Rise above the circumstance and own the path
forward. Your name is on the work, the decisions,
and the culture.
Loosen the grip
Let go of being right — and of doing it all
yourself.
The goal of your conversations is never to be to find the best answer, wherever it lives. We
operate in a state of constant change — and we
choose to see it as a source of advantage, staying
curious and open to what it makes possible.
Add to the room
Be the kind of teammate you wish you
had on your hardest day.
The way we treat each other is our culture. We
show up with intention, bringing our best and
creating space for others to do the same.
This work has a heartbeat
The climate doesn't wait, and neither do
we.
This work has stakes beyond the bottom line. We
draw our energy from that, and we hold
ourselves and each other to a standard worthy of
the mission.
Neha Palmer
Neha has spent over two decades developing cutting edge energy supply and energy intensive infrastructure. From her earliest days as an engineer working with natural gas, to the time she spent at Google developing energy intensive data centers, she brings deep expertise in building out rapidly growing fleets of large scale infrastructure to the emerging heavy EV charging asset class.
Neha holds an MBA in Finance from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a BS in Civil Engineering from California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo.
A huge part of her happiness outside of work is being outdoors — whether it's winters spent chasing snow, or time spent with family exploring all California has to offer in the warmer months.
Mike Englhard
Mike graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in Construction Management. He then pursued a career in real estate, developing more than $5B in real estate spanning from retail to industrial to renewable energy.
Joining Terawatt brings together his passion for building new organizations as well as new products.
In his spare time, he enjoys all things in, under, and on the water as well as watching his boys play baseball.
Nadeem Sheikh
Nadeem brings over 20 years of experience at the intersection of mobility, energy, and emerging technology, with a career defined by building businesses that accelerate electrification and the commercialization of autonomous vehicles. Most recently, he co-led PVG, a boutique strategy consultancy helping venture-backed startups and nonprofits scale new businesses in the clean transportation sector. Before that, Nadeem served as Head of Business at Woven, Toyota's software and AI division, overseeing all non-engineering functions for its AV R&D program. Earlier, as VP of Autonomous Vehicle Programs at Lyft, he architected some of the first commercial agreements in the AV industry — including partnerships with Waymo, Motional, Ford, and FCA — and co-led the $550 million sale of Lyft's AV division to Toyota. He also spent seven years as SVP International at Opower, scaling the SaaS company's business across Europe and Asia through its IPO and acquisition by Oracle, and began his career at McKinsey & Company as a founding member of its Sustainability Practice.
Nadeem holds an MBA from UC Berkeley and a BS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. Originally from Wisconsin, he lives in San Francisco with his wife and two children.
Titiaan Palazzi
Titiaan comes from a career spent entirely at the intersection of energy and technology, spanning startups, tech giants, and think tanks. As co-founder and COO of Myst.ai, an AI startup backed by Google's Gradient Ventures, he built and scaled an energy intelligence product from the ground up before successfully exiting to Snowflake. At Snowflake, he served as Global Head of Energy Go-to-Market, where he spearheaded the launch of the Energy Data Cloud and led global revenue and product strategy for the power and utilities sector. Titiaan brings to Terawatt a rare combination of founder instincts, deep energy domain expertise, and the commercial acumen to translate both into platform-scale products. Titiaan holds a graduate degree from MIT.
Originally from the Netherlands, Titiaan lives in San Francisco, where he can be found wingfoiling or sailing on the Bay.
Vanessa Gage
Vanessa Gage is the General Counsel of Terawatt. A strategic legal leader with over 20 years of corporate and capital markets experience. She has worked both in-house and at large law firms. Vanessa is passionate about scaling high growth and regulated businesses.
Prior to joining Terawatt, Vanessa was the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Cedar, an enterprise healthcare patient financial platform, where she built out the legal and compliance function and also served as interim CFO for a period of time. She previously served as Head of Legal and various other roles at Opendoor, where she led the corporate and capital markets legal function, including through the company’s public listing.
Before moving in-house, Vanessa was a Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Reed Smith LLP (where she Co-Chaired the FinTech Practice), and an associate at Mayer Brown, specializing in structured finance.
She holds a B.S. from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law.
Raman Thapar
Raman comes from a background in consumer electronics, delivering transformative products and intuitive experiences. Through his time at Latch, Apple, and Cisco — first as an engineer and then a leader in new product development — he has delivered B2C & B2B products at scale. With over a decade in technology leadership building and scaling teams, Raman brings to Terawatt an excitement for solving tough problems and the experience of delivering impactful and reliable end to end solutions.
Raman holds an MBA from UC Berkeley, MS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and a BE in Electronics from Mumbai University.
Raman enjoys weekend hikes in the Bay Area and traveling to explore diversity of nature and cultures around the world.
Katie Laine
Katie is a SHRM Senior Certified Professional with over twenty years in people and culture leadership. Most recently, Katie led the global people function as Chief People Officer for H5, a pioneer in the application of artificial intelligence in litigation and eDiscovery. She joined H5 as an early-stage startup, scaling the organization to 500+ employees and executing a successful exit in 2021. Earlier in her career, after holding mid-level specialist roles in recruitment, training and people operations, she served in her first senior leadership position as Group HR Manager with Enterprise Holdings.
Katie earned a BS in Business Management from the University of Mississippi. When she’s not working, Katie enjoys hiking, live music, and cheering on her kids in sports.
Tom Jackson
Tom has over 18 years of experience in building and overseeing industry-leading operations teams in the EV charging, renewables, and recycling industries. He started out as a site controller for one of the largest Material Recovery Facilities in the U.S. He then went on to lead operations and engineering teams at Aquion Energy, NRG, and Enel X, developing commercial and industrial battery storage, PV, and electric vehicle charging facilities.
Tom holds a BS in Finance from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. Outside of work he’s exploring new places to fly as an avid general aviation pilot or skiing the most challenging mountains in North America.
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