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About Us

Planetary Health focuses on creating and funding companies that develop and commercialize cost-effective solutions to reduce emissions, increase resource availability, and restore environmental quality. We define ourselves by our ability to offer companies considerable value beyond capital.

Our Team

KYLE TEAMEY

KYLE TEAMEY

Managing Partner

BRIGID O’BRIEN, PhD

BRIGID O’BRIEN, PhD

Managing Partner

KATHRYN MENG, PhD

KATHRYN MENG, PhD

Investment Director

MICHAEL GILLESPIE, MD

MICHAEL GILLESPIE, MD

Investment Director

CHRIS BROWN, PhD

CHRIS BROWN, PhD

Associate

CELI KHANYILE-LYNCH, MBA

CELI KHANYILE-LYNCH, MBA

Associate

DANIEL SLESINSKI

DANIEL SLESINSKI

Associate

WALTER DAUKSHER

WALTER DAUKSHER

Associate

JAIMIE KIRKPATRICK, MPH

JAIMIE KIRKPATRICK, MPH

Senior Research Assistant

KYLE TEAMEY

KYLE TEAMEY

Managing Partner

Kyle Teamey joins RA Capital as a Managing Partner, Planetary Health. Kyle's primary responsibility at RA is to lead investments in private companies that are developing innovative solutions to address climate change and environmental sustainability. Prior to joining RA, Kyle was a Partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV), where he led investments and served on company boards that span the utilities, energy storage, chemicals, agriculture, automotive, recycling, and consumer products sectors. Prior to BEV, Kyle was a Principal at In-Q-Tel, the strategic investment arm of the CIA and US Intelligence Community, where he invested in early stage manufacturing, materials, energy, computing, and defense companies. Kyle was also the CEO and co-founder of Liquid Light, developer of a proprietary process to make major chemicals from CO2, which was sold to Avantium in 2016. Kyle also recently retired as a Colonel in the US Army Reserve after 24 years of service. He holds a BA in Environmental Engineering from Dartmouth College (1998), an MA in International Finance and Energy Policy from John Hopkins University (2008), an MS in Materials Science from Columbia University (2012), and a Masters of Strategic Studies from the Army War College (2020).

BRIGID O’BRIEN, PhD

BRIGID O’BRIEN, PhD

Managing Partner

Brigid O’Brien joins RA Capital as a Managing Partner, Planetary Health. Brigid's primary responsibility at RA is to lead investments in private companies that are developing innovative solutions to address climate change and environmental sustainability. Prior to joining RA, Brigid was the Head of Venture Investments for BHP Ventures, the internal venture capital unit within the world’s largest mining company, where her investment mandate was to help the decarbonization of BHP’s operations and to improve the sustainability of resource extraction. Brigid was responsible for starting the venture fund and led investments in multiple sectors, including advanced analytics platforms, biomining and bioremediation, novel chemical leaching, long-duration energy storage, traceability of products, carbon removal, and green steel. Prior to BHP, Brigid was at In-Q-Tel (IQT), the strategic investment arm of the CIA and the US Intelligence Community; she co-founded IQT's Australian subsidiary, served as its Managing Director, and built an international program to support a global innovation initiative through investing in the Asian-Pacific region. Brigid holds a BS in Chemistry (Hons) from the Commonwealth Honors College at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (2002) and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Johns Hopkins University (2009).

KATHRYN MENG, PhD

KATHRYN MENG, PhD

Investment Director

Kathryn Meng is an Investment Director within the Planetary Health division of RA Capital. Kathryn’s primary responsibility at RA is to invest in companies developing solutions that address climate change and environmental sustainability. Prior to joining RA, Kathryn was SVP of Strategy at Energetic Insurance where she addressed regulatory-driven commercial lender limitations to enable financing for renewable energy and efficiency via financial insurance products. Before Energetic, she was Head of Carbon Strategic Partnerships at Indigo Ag, where she led external innovation focused on solutions that minimize or sequester agricultural GHG emissions and deliver additional environmental, social, and economic co-benefits. Prior to Indigo, Kathryn was Investment Principal at the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) where she invested in enterprise and consumer-facing clean energy companies, including software and hardware companies focused on utility and grid resilience, grid edge, next-generation renewables, efficient mobility, industrial efficiency, sustainable buildings, and the water-energy nexus. Kathryn holds a BA in Geography and Peace and Conflict Studies from Colgate University, a MSc in International Development: Environment and Development from the University of Manchester (UK), and a MA and Ph.D. in Geography from Clark University (2016).

MICHAEL GILLESPIE, MD

MICHAEL GILLESPIE, MD

Investment Director

Michael Gillespie is an Investment Director within the Planetary Health division. Michael conducts due diligence on various companies at RA Capital. Previously, Michael worked closely with the Healthcare Investment Team, to originate conviction in potential investments by identifying breakthroughs and putting data into context, as well as advising RA's portfolio companies on many aspects of program and pipeline strategy. Michael's previous experience includes venture development at Health Wildcatters Seed Accelerator and product development in various roles at the Institute for Environmental and Exercise Medicine and as an Aerospace Medicine Clerk at NASA. Michael holds a BS in Exercise Science from Brigham Young University and an MD from the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine.

CHRIS BROWN, PhD

CHRIS BROWN, PhD

Associate

Chris Brown is an Associate within the Planetary Health division at RA Capital Management. His primary responsibility is to create detailed competitive landscapes of planetary health solutions. Prior to RA, Chris worked as a post-doc in the Johnson group at MIT, and he has eight first-author publications in research that spans degradable polymers, energy-efficient catalysis, and low-energy lighting devices. Chris has a Master of Chemistry in Organic Chemistry from Newcastle University and a PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of British Columbia.

CELI KHANYILE-LYNCH, MBA

CELI KHANYILE-LYNCH, MBA

Associate

Celi Khanyile-Lynch is an Associate within the Planetary Health division at RA Capital Management. Her responsibilities include creating competitive landscapes of climate change solutions and analyzing investment opportunities across climate technology. Prior to RA, Celi served as a Sustainability Analyst for Private Investments at Wellington Management, where she developed market maps, conducted due diligence on investments, and integrated environmental, social, and corporate governance factors across the platform. She served in a similar capacity at Morgan Stanley and Manulife Investment Management. Celi holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School.

DANIEL SLESINSKI

DANIEL SLESINSKI

Associate

Daniel Slesinski is an Associate within the Planetary Health division at RA Capital Management. Daniel’s primary responsibilities include creating competitive landscapes of climate change solutions and analyzing investment opportunities across climate technology and applied biotech. Previously, Daniel spent time working at ARPA-E and the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and has published research examining potential early markets for fusion energy as well as techno-economic synergies between direct air capture and advanced nuclear. Daniel has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lehigh University and a MS in Energy Policy & Climate from Johns Hopkins University.

WALTER DAUKSHER

WALTER DAUKSHER

Associate

Walter Dauksher is an Associate within the Planetary Health division of RA Capital Management. Walter's primary responsibility at RA Capital is to create competitive landscapes of biotechnology and planetary health. Walter has a BS in Biology from Davidson College and a MS in Genetics from University of Georgia.

JAIMIE KIRKPATRICK, MPH

JAIMIE KIRKPATRICK, MPH

Senior Research Assistant

Jaimie Kirkpatrick is a Senior Research Assistant at RA Capital Management. Jaimie's primary responsibility is to conduct research and analysis for competitive landscapes of drugs and medical devices across a range of disease indications and capabilities. Jaimie previously held roles as data analyst at Massachusetts Department of Public Health and Anne Arundel Medical Center Department of Medicine. Jaimie holds a BA in Biology Boston College, with Minors in Medical Humanities and Sociology, and a Master of Public Health from Boston University School of Public Health.

Our Approach

Our Planetary Health strategy is based on the principles of "one-team, one knowledge core." We work together to develop a unified vision of markets and technologies so we can collaboratively build a portfolio of companies that we believe will reveal large market opportunities. We're a visual team, and our growing and constantly evolving maps allow us to contextualize competition and value chain dependency among commercial and development-stage technologies across many markets. We use these maps to present a systems-level view to one another, to companies, and to our partners and collaborators.

Example Maps:

Negative Emissions Technology

Alternative Food Protein

Energy Storage

Non-Ferrous Metal Sorting

Methane Inhibition in Cattle

Nitrogen Fertilizers

Water

Food Waste

Lithium-ion Battery Manufacturing

Weed Control for Commercial-Scale Farming Systems

Clean Aviation

Oceans

Hydrogen Production


Electricity Grid


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