Our Mission:Transforming the battery experience.
Leadership
Nadim Maluf
CEO
Dania Ghantous
VP, Technology
Fred Berkowitz
VP, Engineering
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Vanessa Forbes
VP, Marketing Communications
Christina Teng
VP, Finance & Administration
Al Chami
VP, Sales
Sam Kanakamedala
VP, Product
Nadim Maluf
CEO
Nadim Maluf is the CEO and co-founder of Qnovo with over 30 years dedicated to engineering better experiences and products for others. Nadim’s vision for Qnovo is to enable the electrification revolution for people around the world by paving the way for a more intelligent and resilient technology future. He has brought together a world-class team passionate about battery intelligence, blending chemistry with software and systems expertise for electric vehicles, energy storage systems and consumer electronics. Together, they bring the transformative science, intellectual capital and industry insight to power a rapidly changing world.
From his initial work as an entrepreneur-in-residence at U.S. Venture Partners to co-founding Qnovo, Nadim has nurtured adaptive charging from concepting to shipping products to customers. He has held various other leadership roles at LumaSense, Bookham, Stanford University, New Focus and TRW Automotive.
Nadim holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University, a B.E. from American University of Beirut and an M.S. from California Institute of Technology. When he is not consumed in battery chemistry, he can be found putting miles on his road bike through the California hills.
Dania Ghantous
VP Technology
Dania Ghantous, a Qnovo co-founder, is Vice President of Technology with more than 25 years of experience in technology development related to materials, batteries and computation algorithms. A battery scientist at heart, Dania’s innovations and unique understanding of lithium-ion batteries enables her to recognize the theoretical promise of new materials and technology yet distill it into practical implementations that can be readily commercialized. Dania’s team develops the core battery science behind Qnovo’s battery management algorithms. Prior to Qnovo, Dania served in leadership roles developing advanced materials and batteries at Imara, Greatbatch and NanoGram Devices. Dania is an inventor on more than 50 patents on battery technology. She is recognized as one of the Top 100 Women of Influence in Silicon Valley and is a recipient of the Women’s World Awards for Excellence in Industry Women of the Year in Engineering and Technology.
Dania holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Chemical Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology. Dania enjoys traveling when she can, watching the Golden State Warriors and solving all types of puzzles.
Fred Berkowitz
VP Engineering
Fred Berkowitz, a Qnovo co-founder, is Vice President of Product Development at Qnovo with more than 40 years of experience in advanced technology product development. Technically conversant across system, software and silicon domains, he sweats the details that ultimately lead to success. Fred’s team develops our test systems and core software products, along with supporting implementation of Qnovo's software into end products.
Prior to Qnovo, Fred developed leading edge products at Apple, Silicon Graphics, Fujitsu, and Sun Microsystems. Fred holds over 20 patents in the areas of Battery Management, Mass Storage, Wireless Networking, and Product Design. Fred holds a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Union College, and an M.S.E. degree in Computer Information and Control Engineering from University of Michigan. Fred enjoys anything having to do with cars and listening to music (especially in cars).
Vanessa Forbes
VP, Marketing Communications
Vanessa Roscoe Forbes is VP of Marketing Communications at Qnovo with nearly 20 years of experience leading environmental and purpose-driven marketing and communication strategies. At Qnovo, she heads strategic programming, campaigns and initiatives at a worldwide level to drive shared success and sustainability for the industrial ecosystem.
Vanessa has directed sustainable marketing and communication strategies from startups to Fortune 100 companies in technology, consumer goods, the built environment and renewables. Previously, Vanessa has worked for HP Inc., Edelman, Apple and Coca-Cola, as well trading commodities in the organic food industry.
Vanessa Forbes holds an MBA in Sustainable Management from Presidio Graduate School and a BS in Marketing from Fairfield University. Her passion for the environment extends deeply into outdoor activities, especially skiing and fly fishing. Her cattle dog, Mocha, joins in the wilderness adventures.
David Coakley
VP Operations
David Coakley is the vice president of operations for Qnovo, managing operations and IT functions. While building Qnovo’s internal infrastructure, he is a leading proponent of an asset light strategy. Dave’s role can be summarized succinctly as solving problems and removing barriers to sales. Dave has extensive international experience in the outsourced supply chain, engaging with the leading Asian and European foundries and a worldwide customer base.
Dave has over 40 years of experience in high technology fields including semiconductors, thin films and media. He has built and scaled manufacturing operations from ground zero to volume production. Starting his career as a process engineer, Dave’s organizational skills and attention to detail resulted in broader responsibilities managing production, engineering, quality, finance and IT functions. Adopting best known practices, Dave’s operations excelled in new product introductions, driving down cost and accelerating cycles of learning through JIT and six-sigma based manufacturing.
Dave received his bachelor of science in physical electronics from Northumbria University. Personal creativity includes developing the Silicon Shuttle (MPW) and methods for hillock suppression, used widely in the semiconductor industry today.
Outside of work, Dave spends time with family and friends. His interests include hiking, camping, kayaking, photography, theatre and opera.
Christina Teng
VP, Finance & Administration
Christina Teng is VP of Finance and Administration at Qnovo with more than 20 years of experience in finance operations and HR management for start-ups to multinational companies. Christina has a track record of growing companies from R&D to commercialization stages. As the leader for both the finance and administration departments, she serves as the hub to the interdisciplinary spokes of the business. Prior to Qnovo, Christina served in leadership roles at Innovalight, acquired by DuPont and New Focus, acquired by Bookham. Earlier in her career, she worked as an auditor at KPMG and is a California certified public accountant.
Christina holds a BS in Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Christina loves hiking and travel and finds gardening a most therapeutic activity.
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Al Chami
VP, Sales
Al Chami is a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience in the technology industry. As the Vice President of Global Sales at Qnovo, he leverages his expertise to drive strategic initiatives and foster growth.
Prior to his current role, Al held leadership positions at Rensair and AirLabs, where he spearheaded sales and business development efforts. He was also a key member of the executive team at ACTIA Group, holding multiple roles and contributing to the establishment of two significant business units in North America: a large-format battery pack assembly facility in Indiana and a circuit board manufacturing plant in Michigan.
Al holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Wayne State University and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science with a specialization in Artificial Intelligence from the same institution. Al enjoys playing and coaching soccer and basketball, as well as weightlifting.
Sam Kanakamedala
VP, Product
Sam Kanakamedala is the Vice President of Product at Qnovo. He has over 15 years of experience in product management spanning across the technology sector through networking, cloud, intelligent transportation and IoT industries.
Sam joined Qnovo to bring transformative products to market that help scale sustainable solutions globally. He believes possibilities for next gen mobility, energy system transformation and consumer device enhancement can only be enabled though untethered design. At Qnovo, he is responsible for defining battery management solutions that unlock this potential.
Prior to Qnovo, Sam held various product management and marketing roles at Cisco Systems, Packet Design and LiLee Systems. His experience spans launching and scaling hardware, software and cloud to provide vehicle connectivity at high speeds.
Sam holds an MBA from Berkeley Haas, an MS in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh and a bachelor’s in computer engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology(BHU).
Sam loves to read and race cars of all sizes in his free time.
Jennifer Wahnschaff
Vice President, Sales
Jen Wahnschaff is Vice President of Sales at Qnovo with more than 20 years of experience in Automotive Products and Software (SaaS).She has worked with all the major OEMs and Tier 1 companies and brings a wealth of experience in the automotive industry.
Jen supports Qnovo to build upon relationships with key industry partners, advance market knowledge and expand the sales opportunity pipeline. She brings with her experience in both start-ups and traditional automotive business and how they can work together to complement each other. Jennifer was recognized in 2016 by DBusiness as one of Detroit's most powerful women, by Automotive News in 2020 as one of the top 100 women in Automotive and featured by SAE in “the Road Ahead.” She is passionate about the intersection of the connected vehicle, software defined vehicle and electrification. Jen is an accomplished global executive and is an active mentor and coach.
Prior to Qnovo, Jen led the Product and Strategy team at Clearmotion to transition from innovation to first award business. At Continental, Jen was the Senior Vice President of Intelligent Transportation Systems based out of San Jose, CA. There, she launched multiple global SaaS business opportunities for products such as Key as a Service, eHorizon and Telematic Fleet Services.
Jen holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering from Michigan State University.
Jen loves to garden, dance and cook and is affectionately referred to as “Jen One Chef.”
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