Scott Zajac

TOPICS

Green Economy, Green Jobs, Eco-Investing

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It Takes Green to Make Green in Green Investment

We hear everyday about the new green economy we should expect in the United States and the thousands of “green jobs” and clean technologies that are promised.

But, who is going to invest in these emerging companies and fund the cutting edge ideas of today and tomorrow?

Scott Zajac, senior managing director of Advantage Capital Partners, is a leader in the emerging field of CleanTech investing, the frontier of the green economy. Zajac is a seasoned investment professional with more than 20 years of experience in real estate finance, venture capital, small business lending, and investment banking. He is recognized as a subject matter expert on community-oriented investing and frequently serves as a panelist and speaker at economic development and community-based investment conferences.

Advantage Capital Partners is a leading venture capital and small business finance firm with offices in St. Louis, New Orleans and other cities. Advantage Capital provides senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity capital to promising operating companies, among them a number of environmentally innovative businesses across the country.

Included in the firm’s growing CleanTech portfolio are:

•	GridPoint, the pioneer of the innovative smart grid energy platform;
•	Hoku Scientific (NASDAQ: HOKU), a clean energy technologies company that develops and manufacturers fuel cell membranes;
•	SOMS Technologies, a green oil filter manufacturer with a technology that keeps oil cleaner for a longer duration;
•	Virent Energy Systems, which produces biofuels and bioproducts that are both sustainable and economical.
•	Producers’ Choice Soy Energy LLC, an investor-owned biodiesel and soy crush company that is part of a national renewable fuels strategy.
•	Carbolytic Materials Co., which recycles used tires into carbon black that reduces landfill of scrap tires, oil use to generate carbon black and CO2 emissions.

Zajac believes venture capital for a green economy is essential to bring the philosophical dream to reality. Because so many of the entrepreneurial concepts are new, it takes knowledge, scrutiny and sometimes a tough stomach to go out on the green limb to change America.

It takes green to make green in the green economy of the future, Zajac explains.

He received a master’s degree in information systems from Washington University, School of Engineering and an M.B.A. degree from Saint Louis University. He also received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri and a bachelor’s degree from Truman State University. He is a Certified Treasury Manager.