Atakan Özbek is the investment director responsible for Smart Solar Technologies' operations in the US. Mr Özbek has over two decades of clean energy industry experience building and leading international teams. Prior to joining Smart Solar, he was the Managing Director of an international co-investment venture group and led the development of a 2 billion USD investment project in Turkey. As the Executive Director of the Energy Group, responsible for the EMEA and Asia business development divisions of the Europe-based company, Özbek led the development of an international renewable energy development project portfolio totalling 2,000 MW with 335 MW commissioned and an asset value of 550 million USD. Between 2008 and 2010, as Sanko Holding Turkey Business Development Coordinator, Mr. Özbek assumed responsibility for determining and developing the Holding's business development activities in the fields of mining/natural resources and energy. Between 2005 and 2008, he provided strategic guidance to global companies on emerging technologies with his research and consultancy project studies in the fields of Smart Grids/Smart Cities, Hybrid and Electric Vehicles, Distributed Energy Grids, Fuel Cells, Hydrogen technologies, Carbon Capture, Storage and Emissions with the New York-based Global Energy Strategies and Research. In 2002-2005, he served as the Head of Energy Department at ABI Research, a USbased research organisation, where he led the company's energy policies. He started his career in the emerging clean energy sector as a Senior Energy Analyst at the same company in 2000- 2002. Mr Özbek graduated from Middle East Technical University in Ankara with a BSc degree in Environmental Engineering and holds an MBA degree in Banking and Finance from Hofstra University in New York