Peter Vandermeulen

Peter Vandermeulen started 7AC Technologies, Inc. in 2009 to bring ultra-efficient, waste heat driven air-conditioning technology to market. 7AC provides Liquid Desiccant Air Conditioning systems for Commercial and Industrial buildings and is a licensee from the US Department of Energy (NREL). Prior to 7AC, Peter founded BlueShift (a robotics company) to introduce the use of continuous flow automation to the semiconductor industry and raised $20M in venture capital for the company. Peter was VP and GM at Brooks Automations, and ran marketing and sales for their Vacuum Systems Businesses Unit which he helped grow from $2.5 to $60M in 4 years. He developed the E500 Ion Implanter at Varian Ion Implant Systems, which resulted in sales of over $2B. Peter has a background in physics (MS Eindhoven University) and business administration (MBA Babson College) and holds 10 US patents. He lives with his wife and daughter in Newburyport, MA.

Employer:	7AC TECHNOLOGIES
Position:	President and CEO
Time period:	January 2009 - Present
Description:	7AC is developing a novel air-conditioning system that uses waste heat to provide cooling in summer and heating in winter for commercial buildings in a single, integrated and retrofittable solution. The United States uses almost 25% of its primary energy for the heating and cooling of commercial/industrial buildings. HVAC combines to represent 60% of a building's operating cost. Conventional HVAC systems use 80% of energy for dehumidification rather than for physical cooling. Our system uses a liquid desiccant salt solution that dehumidifies air through a membrane. Waste heat regenerates the desiccant. Our system can replace standard Roof Top Units and save between 50 and 75% of the heating and cooling costs in the building. We target commercial and industrial building RTU’s between 2 and 25 ton capacity primarily located in hot, humid climates, a market of $2.5B in the US alone. Our management team has 150 years of experience in start-ups and growing new businesses. We have raised significant funding for past ventures, have run and sold companies and our board advisers have significant HVAC marketing and distribution experience. The founders hold over 35 patents. We license 7 patent applications from DoE/NREL and have developed 16 additional applications internally.

Employer:	BlueShift Technologies
Position:	President and CEO, Chairman and Founder
Time period:	January 2003 - December 2009
Description:	Founded a high technology start-up company for semiconductor wafer handling automation and equipment control software. Raised $18.5M in funding from Venture Capital firms. Developed business plans, presentation materials and negotiated both A and B term sheets with North Bridge Venture Partners, Atlas Venture and Intel Capital. Managed and organized Board of Director meetings to inform on company progress. Managed company expenditures and developed forecasts, resulting in actual spending of the company with a few percent of the original forecast over a 3 year period. Hired core management team, employees, set up benefits plans, compensation and stock-option plans, implemented new ERP system and created core company infrastructure. Successfully managed litigation with former employer, resulting in $1.9M payment. Negotiated and closed a joined development agreement with a strategic partner, resulting in a one year project after which partner entered M&A discussions. Created novel equipment architecture. Filed 50+ patent applications around new technology. Started Sales and Service subsidiaries and hired agents in Japan, Korea, China and Europe, resulting in 2007 bookings of $4.0M, the first year that the company was in the market.

Employer:	Brooks Automation
Position:	Vice President, General Manager, Factory Interface Systems
Time period:	January 2000 - December 2002
Description:	Managed the P&L of engineering, marketing and pilot manufacturing line of the FabExpress Equipment Front End System, and increased staff from 4 to 14 employees in 6 months. Created the company’s most profitable new product and fastest introduction, exceeding revenue forecasts 4x representing $13M in revenue, with gross margins at 50%, while maintaining OpEx at 40% below budgeted costs with better than 20% contribution margins. Won OEM equipment design-in wins at 26 customers. Went from 0 to >25% market share in 2 years during an industry downturn, growing revenue of $35M.

Employer:	Inspex
Position:	Director of Marketing and Sales, Yield Management Software
Time period:	January 1999 - December 2000
Description:	Accountable for the worldwide marketing and sales of industrial software for yield management (DMS). Managed a team of 3 product managers and 4 software QA engineers. Developed an international sales force, sales strategies, sales collateral and product literature. Worked closely with key end user accounts (AMD, NEC, UMC, and Fujitsu) to define and develop the product further. Doubled sales in 1 quarter to $1M.

Employer:	Brooks Automation
Position:	Director of Strategic Account Development
Time period:	January 1998 - December 1999
Description:	Responsible for the product marketing of vacuum cluster tool handling equipment to the semiconductor, flat panel display and magnetic read-head industries with 3 direct reports. Developed focused market plans, sales strategies and product development strategies. Grew a new product line from $35M per year in 1998 to $52M per year in 1999. Coordinated worldwide sales activities for all of the company’s product lines. Supported regional sales offices and distributors at the early definition stages of customer projects. Generated total bookings of ~$90M of which 50% international, primarily Asia.

Employer:	Brooks Automation
Position:	Senior Product Manager
Time period:	January 1993 - December 1996
Description:	Led a team of 4 Product Managers in the cluster tool systems product line. Product line revenue grew from $2.5M in 1993 to $35M in 1996. Led the introduction of the company’s products to international markets, primarily Europe (1994), Korea (1995), and Japan (1996). Gained 90% market share.

Employer:	Varian Ion Implant SYSTEMS
Position:	Technology Manager, Staff Scientist
Time period:	January 1988 - December 1992
Description:	Lead scientist of a 3-person team for E500 High Energy, Medium Current Implanter. Designed new ion optical components, and defined hardware and software controls for fully automated operation of the implanter, resulting in first system sales to Intel. Gained 70% market share and 7% improvement in gross margin.

Employer:	Brooks Automation
Position:	Vice President System Control Software and Tracking Systems
Time period:	December 2003
Description:	Managed a team of 67 employees in 3 locations in a $14M business supplying OEM equipment control software and Radio Frequency and Infrared material tracking.Initiated a product-based P&L analysis of software and controls businesses by diagnosing resource allocations, resulting profitability statements by individual product line.

Employer:	Brooks Automation
Position:	Vice President Business Development, Tool Automation Division
Time period:	December 2002
Description:	Developed M&A target identifications, performed due diligence and contract negotiations, identified market-segments and financial forecasting and created divisional revenue reports. Created marketing response for Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust investigation in 4 areas: vacuum and atmospheric robots, vacuum systems and Front-End system. Successfully contributed to get the Department of Justice to approve a $500M merger between Brooks and PRI.

University:	Babson College
Time period:	2002 - 2004
Degree:	Entrepreneurship, MBA

University:	Harvard University
Time period:	1990 - 1993
Degree:	CSS Certificate in Business Administration and Management

University:	Eindhoven University of Technology
Time period:	1981 - 1988
Degree:	Physics

Patents:

7769482 Methods and systems for controlling a semiconductor fabrication process 7458763 Mid-entry load lock for semiconductor handling system 7959403 Linear semiconductor processing facilities 7210246 Methods and systems for handling a workpiece in vacuum-based material handling system 7899562 Methods and systems for controlling a semiconductor fabrication process 6257827 Apparatus and method for transporting substrates 7792350 Wafer center finding 7677859 Substrate loading and uploading station with buffer 7988399 Mid-entry load lock for semiconductor handling system 7422406 Stacked process modules for a semiconductor handling system 7945348 Methods and systems for controlling a semiconductor fabrication process 6719517 Substrate processing apparatus with independently configurable integral load locks 7894657 Wafer center finding