Management
Jim McDermott
Founder (Los Angeles)
Mr. McDermott is a founder of Blue Arrow Biojet Holdings LLC as well as the founder and former Executive Chairman and current member of the Board of Directors of Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc. Mr. McDermott is the managing partner of Rusheen Capital Management, a decarbonization fund and commercialization vehicle. He is a board member of several Special Purpose Acquisition Companies sponsored by Riverstone Capital. Mr. McDermott has founded and run numerous companies including 1PointFive, a Direct Carbon Capture joint venture between Rusheen and Occidental Petroleum; US Renewables Group; Stamps.com; desalination technology leader NanoH2O, Inc.; and solar companies SolarReserve and Common Assets. Mr. McDermott holds a BA in Philosophy from Colorado College and an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA.
Michael Bugdanowitz
Partner (Los Angeles)
Mr. Bugdanowitz is a Fulcrum Board of Directors Observer. He has over twenty-five years of investment and capital markets experience, with an emphasis on emerging markets, structured finance, and project and infrastructure finance. As Managing Director and Head of the Principal Finance and Special Situations Desk at Deutsche Bank in New York, he also served as head of the Debt Private Placement Desk and co-head of the Project Finance and Infrastructure desk. Previously Mr. Bugdanowitz was an Illiquid Credit Trader on Deutsche Bank’s LatAm Credit Trading Desk. Early in his career Mr. Bugdanowitz was a Managing Director at Banco Icatu SA in New York and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He was also CFO and General Counsel of Software.com, Inc, and early Internet infrastructure company that enabled email to scale globally. Mr. Bugdanowitz is a Marshall Memorial Fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States. He holds a B.A. from UCSB, and a joint J.D./ M.A.L.D. from UC Berkeley and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, administered with Harvard University.
Juan Pablo Rico
Partner (Mexico City)
Juan Pablo Rico has more than 25 years of broad experience as an attorney and investor across the construction, power, financial, infrastructure, transportation and oil and gas sectors in Mexico. As managing partner and founder of Rico Robles y Libsonson SC, Mr. Rico represents domestic and foreign financial institutions in the structuring and implementation of large financing transactions, development of new products and regulatory compliance matters. He also represents financial institutions and issuers in equity and debt market transactions and structured financings. Before founding his law firm, Mr. Rico worked for the Mexican National Banking and Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores), practiced law as an associate with a premier law firm in New York, and was a partner in another premier international law firm in Mexico City. Mr. Rico attended Escuela Libre de Derecho, received his LL.M. from Harvard Law School and his M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at NYU.
Santiago Urquiza
(Mexico City)
Santiago Urquiza has over 15 years of experience in project and strategy execution, with an emphasis on implementing strategic goals through organizational management and operational structures. Previously, Mr. Urquiza was a Director and lead in the energy sector in BTS, a global consulting firm and world leader in strategy execution. He led projects for Oil & Gas, Energy, Pharma, Banking and Consumer Goods companies, as well as managing key accounts and diverse international teams to ensure successful project execution. Previously, Mr. Urquiza was an automation engineer designing and implementing automation lines in Germany and Mexico and led key continuous improvement projects for several manufacturing companies. Mr. Urquiza holds a B.A. in Mechatronics Engineering from Tecnologico de Monterrey, a diploma in energy cycles from Ecole des Mines de Nantes, and a M.B.A. from I.E. Business School in Madrid.
Ben Stone
(Los Angeles)
Over the past 10 years, Mr. Stone has invested in, managed and operated various companies in sustainability as a private equity investment professional. As a Principal with Rusheen Capital Management, and earlier as an Associate with U.S. Renewables Group, Mr. Stone's work has included capital raises of over $250mm, senior finance and strategy roles at portfolio companies and originating and executing on multiple new business platforms. Mr. Stone formed an integral part of the investment team responsible for Fulcrum Bioenergy, Inc. Mr. Stone began his career in the leveraged and acquisition finance group at HSBC in London, UK where he executed over $65B in debt raises, including deals for companies across the energy sector. Mr. Stone holds an M.B.A from UCLA and a B.A. in Economics from UCSB.
Salvador Rojas
(Mexico City)
Salvador Rojas has over thirty years of experience in infrastructure and project development, including waste-to-energy. Most recently, Mr. Rojas has been leading the final closing of the Mexico City Landfill Bordo Poniente, including the construction of a power plant based on the landfill gas with offtake to the city. Mr. Rojas was also CFO at National Council for Sciences and Technology; CFO of Bancomext; and Financial Advisor for the Governments of Querétaro, Jalisco and Guanajuato for the development of Infrastructure Projects. Mr. Rojas was also the COO of one the largest housing developers in Mexico City. Mr. Rojas has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA). He holds separate Master’s degree in Economics and Operations Research from the Tecnológico de Monterrey and the Illinois Institute of Technology, respectively. Mr. Rojas also holds a Law Degree from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico.