Leadership

Robert J. Griffin

Chairman of the Board

Mr. Robert J. Griffin was named Chairman of the Board in March 2018, after serving on the Board of Directors since February 2014. Mr. Griffin is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Griffin International Companies, a Minneapolis-based retail sales and marketing firm. Since founding Griffin International Companies in 1997, Mr. Griffin has led the expansion of the company’s business across three continents and secured the license of brands and technologies from a number of large, well-known companies. Prior to founding Griffin International Companies, Mr. Griffin spent 6 years at Best Buy Co. in various management roles. Mr. Griffin holds a BA in Economics from Gustavus Adolphus College. Mr. Griffin’s extensive executive leadership experience and his in-depth knowledge of the retail industry and technology licensing make him well qualified to serve as Chairman of the Board.

John R. Gaulding

Chairman Emeritus

Since July 1996, Mr. Gaulding has been a private investor and business consultant in the fields of strategy and organization. Mr. Gaulding is a Co-Founder and Director Emeritus of Sage Partners, an advisory firm providing counsel on strategy and corporate governance issues. He is also Chairman Emeritus of Dominican University of California where he served for 7 years as Chairman and 16 years as a Trustee. From 1996-1999 and again from 2001 to the present, Mr. Gaulding has been an independent director of Monster, Worldwide (NYSE:MWW), where he serves on the Audit Committee and chairs the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. From 2002-2012, he served as a Director for Yellow Media, Inc. (TORONTO:YMI) where he also chaired the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee and the Compensation Committee. Mr. Gaulding’s extensive corporate board experience includes ANTS Software, Inc. where he was lead director and Chairman of the Audit Committee, and ORTEL (NASDAQ:ORTL), a high-technology manufacturer of electro-optical devices used in the telecommunications industry. In addition, he served as the executive Chairman and CEO of National Insurance Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:NAIG). Mr. Gaulding has also served as non-executive Chairman of Novo Media, Inc., one of the first digital agencies, sold to BCOM3 and in the same capacity with GetMeIn, a secondary ticketing agency headquartered in London and sold to Ticketmaster. Finally, he was a founding director of the popular in-airport wine lounge, Vino Volo. Mr. Gaulding’s industry experience includes 15 years as a corporate officer, serving as Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Development for Pacific Telesis Group, President and CEO for Pacific Bell Yellow Pages, and President and CEO for ADP Claims Solutions Group. Mr. Gaulding holds a BS in Engineering from UCLA, an MBA with honors from the University of Southern California, and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Dominican University of California.

Stephen R. Rizzone

President & CEO, Director

Mr. Stephen R. Rizzone joined the Company in October of 2013 and currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer of Energous. Mr. Rizzone has more than 35 years of executive management, marketing, sales and entrepreneurial experience in the data communications hardware, networking hardware and software, silicon and optical components markets. Prior to joining the Company, he served as Chief Executive Officer and chairman of the board of directors of Active Storage, Inc. from June 2011 until December 2012, and as the Chief Executive Officer and chairman of the board of directors of Communicado, Inc. from April 2006 to September 2009. Mr. Rizzone previously served as a member of the board of directors of Katzkin Leather from June 2011 to November 2013 and the Los Angeles Regional Technology Alliance (LARTA) from February 2009 to November 2011. He holds a B.A. in Public Administration from California State University at Fullerton. Mr. Rizzone’s extensive industry, executive and board experience position him well to serve as our President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors for Energous.

Rex S. Jackson

Director

Mr. Jackson joined the Company’s board of directors in March 2014. Mr. Jackson served as CFO of Gigamon Inc. (NYSE: GIMO) from October 2016 to March 2018. Mr. Jackson previously served as CFO of Rocket Fuel Inc. (NASDAQ: FUEL), an advertising technology company, from March 2016 to October 2016.

Prior to Rocket Fuel, Mr. Jackson served as CFO of JDS Uniphase Corporation (NASDAQ:JDSU), a provider of network and service enablement solutions and optical products for telecommunications service providers, cable operators, and network equipment manufacturers, from January 2013 through September 2015, and drove the separation of JDSU into two independent public companies in August 2015. Mr. Jackson joined JDSU in January 2011 as senior vice president, Business Services, with responsibility for Corporate Development, Legal, Corporate Marketing and Information Technology. Prior to JDSU, Mr. Jackson served as CFO of Symyx Technologies (NASDAQ: SMMX) from 2007 to 2010, where he led the company’s acquisition of MDL Information Systems and subsequent merger of equals with another public company. Mr. Jackson also previously served as acting CFO at Synopsys and held executive positions with Avago, AdForce and Read-Rite.

Mr. Jackson holds a B.A. degree from Duke University and earned his J.D. from Stanford University Law School. Mr. Jackson’s accounting and financial expertise, general business acumen and significant executive leadership experience position him well to make valuable contributions to our board of directors.

Nick Alexopoulos

Director

Dr. Nick Alexopoulos joined the Energous Board of Directors in March 2018 after serving on the Board of Advisors since March 2017.  He is currently Vice President for Academic Affairs and University Relations with the Broadcom Foundation. Prior to that, Nick served as the Vice President for Antennas, RF Technologies and University Relations at Broadcom Corporation. Before joining Broadcom, he was the Dean of the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at the University of California at Irvine (UCI), a position he held from 1997 to 2008. Previously, he was a member of the faculty at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1969 to 1996, where he served as Chair of the Electrical Engineering Department between the years 1987 and 1992. While at UCLA, he also served as Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs between 1986 and 1987. Dr. Alexopoulos was elected an IEEE Fellow for his contributions to the understanding of substrate-superstrate effects on printed circuit antennas and integrated microwave circuits. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Engineering for his contributions to microwave circuits, antennas, and structures for low observable technologies, and for contributions in engineering education. Dr. Alexopoulos is highly cited in Computer Science and has received two IEEE Best Journal Paper Awards. He and his students have published more than 300 articles in journals, refereed conference publications and book chapters. He also holds several US patents and has received Honorary Doctorates from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and Chapman University in California. Dr. Alexopoulos has served as a consultant to various high-tech companies and to the US Government. In addition, he founded Kimalink Inc., which was bought by Broadcom in 2000. Dr. Alexopoulos graduated from the 8th Gymnasium in 1959 and earned his BSEE in 1964, his MSEE in 1967, and his Ph.D. in 1968 in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Recently, he and his wife, Sue Curtis were honored with a $2 million endowment for the establishment of the Nicolaos G. and Sue Curtis Alexopoulos Presidential Endowed Chair in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering of the University of California, Irvine.

Carol Lindstrom

Director

Mrs. Lindstrom joined the Company’s board of directors in March 2018. Prior to that, she served as a principal at Deloitte, LLP and was vice chairman for more than 20 years. In her roles at Deloitte, Lindstrom was responsible for building and leading several businesses as well as serving as the advisory partner for many of the firm’s largest clients.  She also led Deloitte’s Strategic Relationship Management group and helped build Deloitte’s Workday practice.

Lindstrom has managed large scale technology projects with proven success and is extremely well-versed in the technology industry. She served on the U.S. Deloitte LLP Board for six years and the global Deloitte DTTL Board for eight years, where she led and participated on the Governance, Risk and Evaluation/Compensation Committees. She is primarily focused on the Financial Services and technology industries. In addition to the Board of Directors at Energous, she currently serves on several not-for-profit boards as well as the board of directors of Genpact Ltd. (NYSE: G) and Exponent. Carol is also a special advisor at Carrick Capital Partners, an investment firm focused on technology-enabled businesses.

Dan Fairfax

Director

Mr. Dan Fairfax joined Energous’ Board of Directors in April 2019. Mr. Fairfax is a seasoned executive who has served in a variety of financial management and operational leadership roles throughout his career. He most recently served as senior vice president and chief financial officer at Brocade through its acquisition by Broadcom. At Brocade, Mr. Fairfax also served as the company’s vice president of global service and support, and as vice president of business operations, following Brocade’s acquisition of Foundry Networks, where he was chief financial officer. Prior to that role, he served in various senior financial management positions at companies such as GoRemote Internet Communications, Ironside Technologies, Acta Technology, NeoVista Software, and Siemens and Spectra-Physics. In addition to serving on Energous’ board, Mr. Fairfax is a member of the board of directors for Saama Technologies. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Whitman College and graduated from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business.