About Us
BuildingIQ’s mission is to be the leading supplier of energy saving technologies to the commercial building sector. BuildingIQ was founded in 2009 to address the opportunity created by a “perfect storm” of:
- a commercial property sector in a significant market downturn and under severe earnings pressure;
- the rapid emergence of environmental requirements for buildings from government, tenants and investors; and
- the continually increasing cost and demand for energy
BuildingIQ’s management team and advisors bring decades of valuable experience with technology and technology start ups, energy management and commercial buildings. Their combined skill sets, track record and global networks put BuildingIQ in a unique position to capture this opportunity and achieve its mission.
Management Team
Michael Zimmerman, CEO: Michael has spent the last 20 years working with high growth companies and the last 12 years as an executive, board member or investor in technology start ups. Prior to BuildingIQ, Michael was a General Partner at Technology Venture Partners, a leading Australian venture capital firm focused on cross-border opportunities, where he invested and worked with internet, software and mobile companies including ThreatMETRIX, Engana (sold to Finisar), MIG33, Viator, and Eurekster. Prior to TVP, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Altos Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, and a senior executive at iOwn Holdings, one of the leading internet mortgage and real estate companies (sold to Citigroup in 2001). Previously, Michael worked with Bain & Company, Goldman Sachs and The Mentoring Partnership. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) from Amherst College and an MBA from Stanford Business School.
Peter Dickinson, VP Operations:Peter has worked as an entrepreneur and executive in the energy management and commercial property sector for the last 12 years. Most recently, he was the Operations Manager and Group Leader of the AECOM Canberra Buildings Services Group. Prior to AECOM, Peter was the Managing Director of LiveDATA, a leading Australian energy monitoring and reporting services business, which he joined as an early employee. Peter successfully sold LiveDATA to global controls company TAC (Schneider Electric), and scaled this business to over 2,500 metered points across Asia Pacific. Peter has a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical/Electrical/Electronic Systems from the Australian National University.
Tom Celinski, VP Engineering: Tom has 15 years of experience in the technology software and systems field and has led teams and businesses in the UK, Silicon Valley and Australia. Prior to BuildingIQ, Tom was co-founder and CEO of Avega Systems, a start up developing a world-leading software platform for networked consumer products, backed by Cisco, JAFCO and Technology Venture Partners. Tom led Avega from founding through to its expansion to the US, its partnership with Cisco and the launch of its initial joint product. Prior to Avega, Tom was the Head of Embedded Software for Linn Products, one of the world’s leading premium consumer electronics companies. Prior to Linn, Tom was a software team leader and developer in a number of organizations including Capital Networks and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation. Tom completed his PhD in Adaptive Control of Sensory Perception in Robotic Systems, as well as his Bachelor of Systems Engineering (Honours) and Computer Science at the Australian National University.
Board and Advisors
Will Deane, Director, (Exto Partners): William has over 14 years experience in financing and developing early-stage companies from both the company perspective and the investor perspective. As a Managing Director of Exto Partners, William assists investee companies with capital raising, corporate structuring, business development and strategic transaction negotiation. He sits on the board of several of Exto Partners' investee companies and has advised on the formation, operation, financing, stock exchange listing (NYSE, NASDAQ and ASX) and acquisition or sale of corporations and funds management businesses of all kinds with transactions ranging in size from $1 million to $15 billion. William is admitted to practice law in Victoria, Australia and New York, USA and has a L.L.B. (hons) from Bond University and a B.A. (hons) from the University of Sydney.
Brian Wilson, Director: Brian has over 30 years of executive experience in strategy, operations and corporate development with growth companies. Brian is currently an active investor and director of numerous technology companies. Brian is also a member of the Global Advisory Board of Accenture. Previously Brian held numerous executive roles at Accenture, with leadership roles of strategic developments such as the firm’s IPO and the development of Accenture Ventures.
Andrew Dent, Technical Advisor: Andrew is a visionary entrepreneur and founder of several successful enterprise software companies, with an extensive track record of creating and launching pioneering new products. Andrew is currently CTO and co-founder of Hubspan, a leading middleware company selling a Saas offering to Fortune 500 companies. At Hubspan, he led the development of the product strategy, road map and development, and led initial deployments at such leading companies as Boeing, Intel and Home Depot. Prior to Hubspan, Andrew co-founded 7 Software, a start up selling solutions B2B ecommerce solutions to the Fortune 500 (sold to Concur Technologies). Previously, Andrew was a program manager leading delivery for a range of client/ server solutions at Microsoft.
Nils Kok, Advisor: Nils is one of the world’s leading thinkers in the area of economics and green buildings. Nils’ seminal work on the US market, “Doing Well by Doing Good: Green Office Buildings?” which he co-authored with Dr. John Quigley and Dr. Piet Eichholtz, demonstrated that energy-efficient buildings have significantly higher market values and rents vs. their inefficient counterparts. Nils is now working with governments, industry and non-profit organizations around the world to help them understand the implications of this work for their markets and operations. Nils is an Assistant Professor of Finance and Real Estate at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and currently a visiting scholar at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.
Brett Robson, Advisor: Brett has several decades of executive experience in the commercial property industry, with a career that spans direct property management, property fund management and providing advice and guidance to the world’s leading real estate companies and funds. Brett is an Executive Director and the Global Head of Real Estate Private Capital Markets at Macquarie Bank. Prior to Macquarie, Brett spent 12 years at Lend Lease in a variety of roles including fund manager for Lend Lease Australian Prime Property Funds with $2 b of assets across the retail, commercial and industrial sectors.
Andres Wydler, Advisor: Andres has over 20 years experience working with high growth clean and information technology businesses. Andres is currently CEO at RealGreen Power, a start up bio fuels company commercialising an anaerobic digestion process that produces clean energy and water, without pollution or waste. Prior to this Andres was co-founder and VP Business Development of BPL Global, a leading Smart Grid company. Previously, Andres worked with numerous technology companies including Silicon Graphics, Macromedia, and others. Andres also lectures in clean tech entrepreneurship at Stanford’s continuing education program.
CSIRO
CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, is Australia's national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world. CSIRO employs over 6,500 staff across more than 50 sites throughout Australia and overseas.
CSIRO established the Energy Transformed National Research Flagship center to respond to environmental and efficiency challenges facing the energy sector. The center collaborates with national and global partners, and seeks to deliver energy solutions for a sustainable future. The center focuses on research to halve greenhouse gas emissions and double the efficiency of new energy generation technologies.