OxiCool - Team

Team

RAVIKANT BAROT - Founder and CEO

Ravikant Barot is the founder and CEO of OxiCool, Inc. Ravi is a former merchant marine, oil-tanker captain and chief financial officer of Ford Motor Credit Co.s JV's in India. During his over ten years of sailing career, Ravi served as an Officer on many different types of ocean-going ships including as chief officer on modern fully refrigerated ships. He has sailed to over hundred countries around the globe. Prior to founding OxiCool, Ravi held various finance positions at Ford's Detroit headquarters, and at Cologne, Germany in product development finance on the first joint platform between Ford, Volvo, and Mazda. Ravi was posted in India as the Ford representative and the chief financial officer for Ford Motor Credit Company owned joint ventures in India ($650 million business) where he managed 25%+ growth in dealer and consumer loan assets while maintaining best-in-class performance ratios.

Ravi holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, a Pre-MBA from the University of Dallas, and a Master Mariner’s license (B.Sc) from LBS College of Advanced Maritime Research and Studies, Mumbai, India.

Board of Directors

Ravikant Barot - Founder and CEO

Ravi holds an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, a Pre-MBA from the University of Dallas, and a Master Mariner's license (B.Sc) from LBS College of Advanced Maritime Research and Studies, Mumbai, India.

JOHN ENGELS - Director

John Engels is Co-Founder of AxoGen, a venture backed medical device company based in Alachua, Florida. He provides operational and financial leadership for AxoGen, currently managing AxoGen's business development negotiations and corporate partnerships, including its Fortune 500 distribution partner. Mr. Engels has extensive experience in entrepreneurial finance and product development, both raising and managing venture capital for emerging companies and as a consultant to private equity firms and the University of Florida's technology licensing office. He started his career working in boutique investment banking firm CACM pioneering, a multi-billion dollar emissions trading market and helped launch Power Navigator, a high-speed electricity transmission exchange.

John holds an MBA in Management and Operations from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Advisory Board

JONATHAN KAUFMAN, Ph.D. - Chief Scientific Advisor

Dr. Kaufman is the Defense Threat Reduction Agency - Chemical Biological Directorate (DTRA-CB) Agent Characterization and Simulant Development Thrust Area Manager, a senior research physiologist for the U.S. Navy, a Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Fellow, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept of Textile Engineering, Chemistry & Science, North Carolina State University. He has over 23 years experience leading research efforts in thermal and respiratory physiology, individual protective equipment (IPE), personal cooling systems, bio-instrumentation, and combustion toxicology for various governmental agencies. Dr. Kaufman serves as the official US Navy representative in various bilateral agreements and multilateral organizations involving data exchange and collaboration related to environmental physiology research (including microclimate cooling systems) involving Australia, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United Kingdom. He has published 4 book chapters and over 100 publications and presentations and has been awarded 2 patents with 1 patent pending and 4 additional invention disclosures under review.

Dr. Kaufman holds a Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Drexel University, and a B.Ch.E. in Chemical Engineering from Cleveland State University.

LEONARD M. LODISH, Ph.D. – Marketing Advisor

Dr. Lodish is the Samuel R. Harrell Professor in the Marketing Department of the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Wharton’s Vice Dean for the Program for Social Impact, and Leader of the Wharton Global Consulting Practicum (GCP) that has subsidiary partnerships with leading business schools in Israel, Chile, Peru, China, Taiwan, India, and Spain. Dr. Lodish was the initial Vice Dean for Wharton’s San Francisco campus from 2001-2009 and is currently Senior Advisor in San Francisco. Dr. Lodish's primary research and consulting areas are in entrepreneurial marketing, strategic and tactical marketing resource planning, marketing decision support systems, and applications in firm/marketing strategy, sales force, advertising, and promotion planning. Dr. Lodish is a Corporate Director of J&J Snack Foods, Inc (NASDAQ) and also is a director or advisory board member of private companies – DVtel, Diapers.com, Milo.com, Powergetics, and First Flavor, as well as an advisor to the Jerusalem Global Venture Funds and First Round Capital. Dr. Lodish was the first outside director of Diapers.com which has become the fastest growing Internet retailer for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Dr. Lodish has consulted with many major firms worldwide.

Dr. Lodish holds a Ph.D. in Marketing and Operations Research from Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management and an A.B. in Mathematics from Kenyon College.

KATHLEEN LIGOCKI – Strategy Advisor

Kathleen Ligocki is the Chief Executive Officer of Next Autoworks. Over her executive career, Kathleen has served as CEO of two companies: GS Motors, the auto business of Grupo Salinas, a large Mexican conglomerate with strengths in retail and banking, and as President and Chief Executive Officer of Tower Automotive, a global Fortune 1000 automotive supplier where she led the company through a successful restructuring process that culminated in the confirmation of an uncontested Plan of Reorganization and the sale of the company for $1 billion to a new investor, Cerberus Capital Management. Previously, as a corporate officer with Ford Motor Company, Kathleen led the global Customer Service Division, Ford of Mexico, Ford of Canada, Worldwide Export Operations, Consumer Connect, and Worldwide Marketing. She joined Ford as the Director of Business Strategy in 1998. Early in her career, Kathleen also worked for United Technologies Corporation and Delco Electronics, a division of General Motors.

Kathleen holds an MBA from The Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with highest distinction from Indiana University with a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies focusing on Chinese History and Renaissance Art. She has been awarded two honorary doctorates, in 2008 from Central Michigan University (Commercial Science) and in 2002 from Indiana University (Human Letters). In 2009, she was the recipient of Indiana University’s DASA award, their most prestigious honor.

She has an extensive and varied governance background, including two public boards, three university boards, a non-profit healthcare board, and seven joint venture boards. Kathleen is also an active community volunteer in various organizations supporting women and children and is a frequent speaker on topics related to the automotive industry, restructuring, and leadership.

JAMES KLETT, Ph.D. - Technology Advisor

Dr. Klett is a Senior Research Staff Member at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He is an expert in the application of carbon-based structures in a wide range of fields, from biomedical implants to aerospace heat shields to nuclear reactor materials. Dr. Klett is successful at commercializing basic research technologies, as demonstrated by two recent examples. The first, a patented low-cost fabrication method for carbon/carbon composites that has been licensed to a major brake manufacturer. The second, the worlds first flexible heat pipe, licensed to a company to produce cooling for soldiers - several hundred units were deployed to Iraq for preliminary testing. Recently, the discovery of a process to produce high thermal conductivity graphite foam has led to a focus on thermal management solutions. Dr. Klett has spent over 5 years developing cooling systems for the NAVY and the ARMY and has developed man wearable systems tested by the NAVY for helicopter pilots. His present research involves using novel methods and materials for thermal management of computers, aerospace heat exchangers, automobiles and heavy trucks, personal cooling, and weapons. Currently, he holds more than 25 US patents on carbon materials, and more than 40 foreign patents. Dr. Klett has more than 20 publications in journals as the lead author, and more than 40 in other journals and proceedings.

Dr. Klett holds a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Clemson University.

STEPHEN COLEMAN - Advisor

Stephen Coleman is a Laboratory Operations Manager for the Human Performance and Environmental Physiology Laboratory for the Naval Air Systems Command, Human Systems Department. He has over 20 years experience in Aviation Medicine and aircrew personal protective systems. For the past 10 years he has been deeply involved in research efforts in thermal and respiratory physiology, individual protective equipment (IPE), personal cooling systems and the development, testing and evaluation of bio-instrumentation for numerous governmental agencies. Stephen has been awarded one patent, has one patent pending and 2 invention disclosures under review.

Stephen holds a B.S. in Health Sciences from Excelsior College, Albany NY.

ERIK CHUANG - Project Management Advisor

Erik Chuang has an extensive background in new business development in the corporate environment, encompassing everything from initial strategy, hiring, incentive plans, sales management to full rollout and implementation. With McKinsey & Company, Erik helped a major financial services provider identify where and how to enter the health insurance and retirement plan markets for small businesses, a $65 million opportunity. At Chase, he has helped build and restructure several divisions from end-to-end, including a 40-person Retail Sales Wholesalers team and a 200-person Workplace Financial Services group. He also lead a newly formed team responsible for launching new Chase branches. Key functions included hiring and staffing, incentive payouts, grand opening launches and sales management. Today, he manages the United Nations business for Chase Business Banking, a $500 million portfolio.

Erik holds an MBA in Marketing, Finance and Operations from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Harvard, and is a former Chartered Financial Analyst.