Team
The people here have built nuclear plants, financed them, and shaped the policy and economics around them, at Westinghouse and TVA, at Goldman Sachs and Apollo Global Management, at MIT and inside government. The company is small; the bench is deep and every name carries real weight.
Core team
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Charles Oppenheimer
Founder & CEO
Charles Oppenheimer is Founder and CEO of Oppenheimer Energy, a startup focused on nuclear energy deployment, and founder of the nonprofit Oppenheimer Project. He previously spent more than 20 years in Silicon Valley's software industry in roles ranging from programmer to CEO. Charles has spoken globally on science, diplomacy, nuclear non-proliferation, nuclear energy, AI, and related issues, and has published in outlets including The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, TIME, The New York Times, Fast Company, Newsweek, and USA Today.
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Duane Olcsvary
Chief Delivery Officer / Head of Nuclear Projects
Duane Olcsvary is Chief Delivery Officer / Head of Nuclear at Oppenheimer Energy, where he leads nuclear project delivery strategy, execution planning, risk management, and technical and commercial due diligence. He brings more than 40 years of experience across nuclear operations, construction, project recovery, EPC contracting, commercial management, and new-build development, including senior roles at Westinghouse and TVA. He is a PMP and completed the Vanderbilt University Executive Leadership Program.
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Kevin Doran
Senior Advisor
Kevin Doran is a Senior Advisor to the Oppenheimer Project and Director of Strategy & Growth at Lyvi AI. His background spans federal energy strategy, national laboratory leadership, technology transfer, R&D organizations, and science and technology innovation ecosystems. He previously served as Senior Advisor to the DOE Under Secretary for Science and Energy and directed the Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program.
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Hunter Dare
Head of Finance & Capital Markets
Hunter Dare is Head of Finance and Capital Markets at Oppenheimer Energy, leading corporate fundraising, investor engagement, equity and debt structuring, and project finance for nuclear development. His background spans energy and infrastructure finance, structured finance, debt capital markets, private equity, and investment management, with prior roles at Goldman Sachs, Citibank, and private funds.
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Ryan Pickering
Head of Development & Partnerships
Ryan Pickering is Head of Development & Partnerships at Oppenheimer Energy, leading commercial strategy for gigawatt-scale nuclear finance and development projects. He coordinates investor engagement, utility partnerships, federal agency collaboration, site selection, permitting, and stakeholder alignment. His background includes 15+ years in electricity infrastructure, with senior distributed-generation development roles at SunPower, Real Goods Solar, and Westinghouse Solar / Akeena Solar.
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Srishti Agarwal
Finance & Capital Markets Director
Srishti Agarwal is the Finance & Capital Markets Director at Oppenheimer Energy, supporting project financing, modeling, structuring, and fundraising for utility-scale U.S. nuclear development projects. Her background spans sustainable finance, impact investing, energy transition, institutional client strategy, capital formation, and ESG-integrated investment analysis, with prior roles at Apollo Global Management, PIMCO, UBS, and The Abraaj Group.
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Dave Williams
Senior Advisor
Dave Williams is an energy executive with nearly 25 years of experience developing, financing, and evaluating energy projects across the U.S. and more than 20 countries. His work spans project finance, distributed energy, market development, clean energy strategy, origination, diligence, structured transactions, capital formation, and execution. He serves as Special Advisor on Advanced Reactor Deployment with the National Laboratory of the Rockies and holds a mechanical engineering degree with high honors from Georgia Tech.
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Christopher Brand
Senior Advisor
Christopher Brand is Co-Founder of Hoplite Pacific LLC, an AI-enabled nuclear and power developer focused on site origination, qualification, scoping, feasibility, bankability, and development. He previously served as a Senior Managing Director at Evercore, where he was part of the founding team of the Private Funds Group and advised leading private equity, infrastructure, and power sponsors on capital formation. He holds a J.D., cum laude, from Willamette University and a B.A. in Economics from Washington & Lee.
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Christopher Dann
Senior Advisor
Christopher Dann is a Senior Managing Director with 30 years of global strategy consulting experience across energy and infrastructure. He has advised major nuclear new-build and refurbishment decisions since the early 2000s, including vendor selection, commercial model development, developer strategy, and multibillion-dollar investment decisions. His prior firms include Strategy&/PwC, Booz & Company, Strategic Decisions Group, and Arthur D. Little. He holds degrees from LSE and UC Berkeley, and a certificate in Strategic Decision and Risk Management from Stanford.
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K Kuhn
Chief of Staff, Oppenheimer Energy & The Oppenheimer Project
K Kuhn is Chief of Staff for Oppenheimer Energy and the Oppenheimer Project, supporting executive operations, organizational coordination, and operating infrastructure across both entities. Her work spans HR, contract management, grant writing, project rollout, and coordination with senior leadership, media, academic partners, and international organizations, with prior experience across mission-driven operations, donor and board relations, program administration, and federally grant-funded stakeholder coordination.
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Bailey Todtenbier
Strategic Positioning Advisor
Bailey Todtenbier is a Strategic Positioning Advisor at Oppenheimer Energy, supporting investor materials, partnership documentation, external communications, and executive thought leadership for nuclear project development and capital formation. Her work translates nuclear deployment, procurement, offtake, regulatory, and financing issues into materials for investors, partners, clients, and leadership audiences. Prior to Oppenheimer Energy, Bailey founded Alston Scott Energy Advisory, where she published analysis on nuclear finance, procurement, regulatory risk, and infrastructure capital formation. Her prior operating experience includes drafting and structuring cross-border partnership deals, membership agreements, corporate-use arrangements, and stakeholder-facing documentation for a DACHL-based professional platform.
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Ashish Sharma
Project Finance Summer Associate
Ashish Sharma is a Project Finance Summer Associate at Oppenheimer Energy, supporting project finance and investment-related work for nuclear development and capital formation. His background includes credit and preferred equity investing at 17Capital, private equity secondaries at Capital Dynamics, and investment banking at Sixpoint Partners, where he helped launch SP Capital Partners. Ashish is completing an M.S. in Sustainability Management at Columbia University and holds a B.S. in Economics with a concentration in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Advisors
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Elina Teplinsky
Leading Legal Advisor / Partner, Pillsbury
Elina Teplinsky is a leading nuclear energy legal advisor and Partner at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, focused on nuclear energy transactions, regulatory and policy matters, project structuring, and complex commercial arrangements for nuclear developers, owners, vendors, investors, and governments.
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Koroush Shirvan
MIT Professor
Koroush Shirvan is an MIT professor and nuclear engineering expert focused on reactor design, reactor economics optimization, nuclear safety, and advanced nuclear technologies.
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Glenn R. George, PhD
Independent Economic Advisor / Partner, Bates White
Glenn R. George, PhD, is an independent economic advisor and Partner at Bates White Economic Consulting, focused on nuclear finance, energy economics, project risk assessment, regulation, infrastructure, and power markets.
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Jeff Duncan
Retired South Carolina Congressman / Director, Anfield Energy
Jeff Duncan is a retired U.S. Congressman from South Carolina and Director of Anfield Energy, with deep experience in energy policy, nuclear development advocacy, legislative strategy, and U.S. nuclear competitiveness.
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Ray Rothrock
Nuclear Engineer / Venture Capitalist
Ray Rothrock is a nuclear engineer, venture capitalist, technology investor, founder of FiftySix Investments, Executive Chairman of RedSeal, and former general partner at Venrock.
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Keyes Niemer, PhD, PE
Nuclear Engineer / Senior Vice President, Global Nuclear, Worley
Keyes Niemer, PhD, PE, is a nuclear engineer and Senior Vice President, Global Nuclear at Worley, focused on nuclear project delivery, engineering, EPC execution, and complex energy project leadership.
We are always glad to meet anyone wanting to help build advanced nuclear.