Good Energies

Power for a better world

Gianni Operto

Investment Director, Zug

In our venture team Gianni Operto is focussing on renewables and energy efficiency in general and on solar in particular. At present he serves as chairman of the board of Concentrix Solar of Freiburg/Germany.

Gianni Operto has more than 26 years international experience in industrial technologies, of which 10 years in venture investing. Before joining Good Energies in January 2008, Gianni Operto was a Partner at Emerald Technology Ventures (formerly SAM Private Equity), one of the first venture capital funds in the cleantech sector. Before that, he was co-founder and Managing Partner of Nextech Venture, a Swiss venture capital fund focusing on start-up companies in the life sciences and energy space. Prior to that, he has served as CEO of the Zurich Municipal Electric Utility (EWZ), where he successfully initiated a solar program that earned him the award of both the European and the Swiss Solar Prize in 1997. Previously, he was Vice President at ABB Power Generation, responsible for worldwide steam power plant services and for turbine R&D before that. He began his career in steam turbine product development and power plant commissioning.

Gianni Operto is Italian citizen and holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and he has completed the executive training program at London Business School. Gianni Operto is a member of the Energy Commission of the Swiss Academy of Technical Sciences.