Dr. Straser joined the Board in 2024. He is a venture capitalist who focuses on early stage ventures and works with entrepreneurs, investors and corporations to build new technology businesses. He is a partner at ClearSky, a venture capital growth equity firm that counts 4 of the 7 largest U.S. utilities as investors and focuses on the energy transition, its adjacent markets, and enterprise technologies. He works with companies addressing distributed generation, smart cities, residential demand response, and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Prior to joining ClearSky, Erik worked with Fortune 500 companies to create new ventures and promote innovation in software services. He started his career at Mohr Davidow Ventures, where he became a general partner and led the firm’s Energy & Materials initiative.

He also serves as an investor, board member and advisor for a portfolio of approximately 15 software companies. This portfolio has produced one deca-unicorn (last round >$10 billion) and a few unicorns (>$1 billion). It includes internet services, enterprise SaaS, and artificial intelligence/machine learning technologies.

Erik earned a Ph.D. and Master of Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Engineering from Harvey Mudd College. He holds a U.S. patent for his research work. He has a stubborn belief that technology entrepreneurship plays a key role in improving society, unlocking human potential, and raising the standard of living for all.