Nitride Solutions adds new expertise to its board
Nitride Solutions, a US developer and manufacturer of advanced nitride substrates for LEDs, lasers, and power electronics, announced today that Teresa Esser and Andy Hannah have joined its board of directors.
Nitride Solutions CEO Jeremy Jones said their combined expertise will be a tremendous asset to the board. "It is very exciting to me to have Teresa and Andy join our board," Jones said. "Teresa brings great knowledge of corporate governance, finance, and Asian business, and Andy has an extensive background in starting, growing, and exiting successful businesses. Andy's experience in the electronic materials space will be of immense benefit to us as we scale the business and accelerate growth."
Esser is the managing director of both the Greenpoint Global Mittelstand Fund and Silicon Pastures Angel Investment Network. During her career as an angel investor and venture capitalist, Esser has led investments in BioSystem Development, LLC (now part of Agilent); Genii, Inc. (where she serves on the board of directors); HarQen, Inc.; Intuitive BioSciences, Inc.; and Hardcore Computer (now LiquidCool Solutions, Inc.).
During the past 12 years, Esser has led or participated in 16 other early-stage investments. Beginning in 1999, Esser researched and wrote a book about how MIT students commercialise their ideas and how venture capitalists decide in whom to invest. "The Venture Café: Secrets, Strategies, and Stories from America's High-Tech Entrepreneurs" was published by Warner Business Books in 2002.
The ideas in "The Venture Café" and the brand surrounding the book were turned into a real-world Venture Café in Boston's Kendall Square. The café's Thursday evening networking events include free beer and coffee, and draw upwards of 200 entrepreneurs, corporate lawyers, VCs, and angel investors.
Hannah has worked at senior level with four high tech start-ups, touching a range of industries such as information, software, consulting, and materials science. In 2014, Hannah co-founded OThot, a predictive and prescriptive analytics company that helps customers predict, understand, and change the future through a proprietary process that leverages state-of-the-art data mining and analytics tools.
Prior to OThot, Hannah was the co-founder and CEO of Plextronics, a global materials science company focused on OLED flat panel displays and lithium-ion batteries. Plextronics raised angel, venture, and strategic capital and was sold in March 2014 to Solvay, a Belgian chemistry company.
Hannah has worked successfully with prominent venture firms such as Trident Capital, Advent International, Safeguard Scientific, Draper Triangle, and Birchmere, as well as with leading leverage buyout companies including Vestar and corporate VCs such as Samsung and Applied Materials.
