ACO Investment

Richard Gephardt

Richard A. Gephardt is both an equity shareholder of Convalt and advisor of ACO. Mr. Gephardt is also President and CEO of Gephardt Government Affairs. He provides strategic advice to clients on issues before the House, Senate and Executive Branch in the federal government. Mr. Gephardt has brought successful resolution for clients on issues related to negotiations, crisis management, and strategic communications. He represents a broad array of Fortune 100 clients on Capitol Hill and before the Administration, in addition to serving as public spokesperson for clients on coalitions to bring about policy solutions to healthcare reform and climate change. Mr. Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives from 1976 to 2004. In his role as Leader, Mr. Gephardt emerged as one of the leading strategists of the Democratic Party’s platform and chief architect to landmark reforms ranging from healthcare, pensions, education, energy independence and trade policy. He was elected to serve as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995 and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003. Mr. Gephardt was a colleague in the House to 49 currently serving U.S. Senators and members of the Executive Branch. He enjoys strong bipartisan relationships in the House of Representatives, serves as a trusted advisor to senior officials in the Administration and on Capitol Hill, and has counselled numerous CEOs during negotiations with labour. He has been featured in national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Journal, Roll Call, The Hill and Time.

Bertil Tiusanen

Bertil Tiusanen, a senior advisor at ACO is currently a Director General and CEO at Lanekassen, the Norwegian State Education Loan Fund in Oslo, Norway. Mr. Tiusanen also serves on the board of Respect Europe of Sweden AB that offers market-leading services and tools within sustainable development and climate, and in SIVA- The Industrial Development Corporation of Norway. Mr. Tiusanen is also Chairman of the Board in CBRE-Atrium a real estate services company in Norway. Mr. Tiusanen was previously a board member at Statkraft, Europe’s largest renewable energy company, served as president and chief executive officer of Protegrity, Inc., a leading provider of privacy solutions and was previously acting president and chief executive officer of Vattenfall AB, the largest public utility in northern Europe, with assets of more than $10 billion. From 1990 to 1992, he was senior vice president for finance and a member of the executive board at Procordia AB, a Swedish conglomerate. Before that he was executive vice president and CFO at Pharmacia AB, a leading pharmaceuticals and biotechnology firm. Mr. Tiusanen has served on the boards of several Swedish companies including serving on the board of JM AB, one of the largest construction companies in Sweden, and was previously chairman of JP-Bank. He is a graduate of the Gothenburg School of Economics.


Sanjay Chablaney

Chablaney is a Partner of ACO Investment Group and joined Convalt Energy, inc as a Chief Financial Officer. Sanjay Chablaney has more than 20 years of experience working at top tier investment banks in trading ETF and index products especially in transformational sectors including Energy and Technology. Sanjay was most recently Head of ETF and Central Risk Book Trading at Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofA) where he initially worked from 2005 - 2009 & re-joining from 2013 – 2021 where he was responsible for institutional market making and risk management across all ETF asset classes. Sanjay has traded Crude Oil and Natural Gas Futures and was instrumental in the launch of the first crude oil ETF, USO – United States Oil Fund.Prior to re-joining BofA in 2013, he was Head of ETF Trading at Morgan Stanley from 2009 - 2013 and began his career at Credit Suisse in 1998 as an index arbitrage trader and later worked for Societe Generale in Paris trading European markets. Sanjay brings extensive capital market experience for ACO’s portfolio companies that are growing rapidly especially Convalt Energy, Inc. Sanjay is responsible for all capital raises for ACO portfolio companies while also building the finance teams to help support the businesses. Sanjay was an early investor in Tesla shortly after its IPO and has a track record of investing in transformational companies. Sanjay is keen to grow Convalt Energy during one of the important times in our history.Sanjay holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Stony Brook University and an MBA in Finance from St. John’s University.

Catherine Weir

Catherine Weir is a senior advisor for ACO. Catherine’s extensive investment banking career includes her current role as Chief Credit Risk Officer for Julius Baer based in Switzerland. Prior to joining Julius Baer, Catherine was a Managing Director at Citigroup till 2014, starting her investment banking career in 1988 at Citi London within the Capital Markets division working in the FX, Credit and Debt Underwriting markets. During her 26 year CitiGroup career she was assigned multiple executive responsibilities, among which were: Head of Citi Global Family Office Group, Vice Chairman and Chief Country Officer for China, Hong Kong/Macau and the Philippines. Catherine has served as a board member of the Swiss American Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland and as an advisor to Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Catherine’s previous roles include: Member of Financial Services Committee of the MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore), board member of the Singapore Art Museum, Advisor to Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Advisor to Prime Minister’s Financial Markets Committee, Vietnam. Catherine Weir is married with two children.


Madras Seshmani Ramachandran

Madras Seshmani Ramachandran is a senior advisor at ACO. Mr. Ramachandran is a former CEO and Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL). He is a Mechanical Engineer by qualification and started his career in Ashok Leyland before joining IOCL as a Manager Trainee in 1969. He has handled diverse assignments during the career with IOCL including supply logistics, shipping, commercial, sales operations and international trade. He was the chief of the Oil Coordination Committee the de-facto Regulatory Body under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas during 1998 – 2000. He joined IOC’s Board in 2000 as Director Business Development and took over as CEO and Chairman in the year 2002. Mr. Ramachandran was also the Chairman of IOC’s Group Companies including Chennai Petroleum, Bongaigaon Refineries and Petrochemicals, IBP Company and also Indian Oil Tanking, a joint venture company with Oil Tanking of Germany. He was IOC’s nominee Director in ONGC, Lubrizol India Ltd, AVI Oil India Limited and Petronet LNG. He had played a key role in drafting the Hydro Carbon Vision 2025 and the Draft Regulatory Authority Bill and over saw the phased de regulation of the oil industry. He is currently an independent Director in six companies including ICICI Bank Limited and he is a Member of the Advisory Panel of International Infrastructure Consultants. Mr. Ramachandran has received several awards including Chemtech Pharma Bio Hall of Fame Award in 2005 and National Institute of Industrial Engineers Lakshya Business Visionary Award in 2004. He was one of two finalists of Platts Global CEO of the Year Award in 2004, Foundation of Indian Industry & Economists Best Corporate Man of the Year in 2002. Mr. Ramachandran holds a Bachelor Degree in Mechanical Engineering. He attended Advanced Management Programmes in Ashridge Management College in England and Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.