Ener1’s Board of Directors brings with them a wealth of experience and knowledge which complements the skills of our management team.

Kenneth R. Baker - Director

Kenneth R. Baker is a long-time automotive industry executive with a focus on the development of alternative energy. Ken has most recently served as President, Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Trustees of the Altarum Institute, a leading nonprofit research organization recognized for advanced informatics/decision support applied to the areas of national defense, healthcare, homeland security and the environment. Previously, he served as the Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Energy Conversion Devices.

Ken also served as an executive at General Motors for over 30 years until his retirement in 1999, where his achievements included serving as Vice President of Global Research and Development, and as Program Manager of GM Electric Vehicles. He was also the first Chairman of the USABC (United States Advanced Battery Consortium), the public/private partnership that has partially funded EnerDel's lithium-ion battery development. In addition to his membership on Ener1’s Board and Chair of the Compensation committee, he currently serves in the following capacities: member of the Board of Directors and the audit and compensation committees of Millennium Cell, Inc.; member of the Board of Directors and the audit committee of AeroVironment, Inc.; serves on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Advanced Manufacturing; serves on the Board of Governors of Cranbrook Science Institute; and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Center for Automotive Research. Mr. Baker graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University.

Marshall S. Cogan - Director

Marshall S. Cogan has become a legendary figure during his career on Wall Street, presiding over several global corporations and financial institutions while creating significant wealth for his stakeholders. Marshall has served as either Chairman and/or Chief Executive Officer of numerous public and private companies, including Knoll International, General Felt Industries, Foamex, United Auto Group and, most recently, Greystone Logistics. Among his many accomplishments, Marshall's involvement in the automotive industry has been long-standing and significant. In 1984, he founded Foamex International and built its foam operations in the automotive industry for a period of ten years. Today, Foamex continues to be the dominant supplier of urethane foam to the industry. Additionally, he controlled Sheller Globe, once the world's largest manufacturer of steering wheels and related automotive components with annual revenue of $800 million. In 1992, with the support of Harvard Private Equity, Apollo Management and JP Morgan Private Capital, he founded United Auto Group (UAG) becoming a pioneer in the consolidation of the auto retail business.

Marshall is a former partner of Cogan, Berlind, Weill & Levitt. From 1974 to 1999, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the private investment company Trace International Holdings, Inc.

He serves as a Director of the Friends of Israel Museum, Trustee of the Boston Latin School, the oldest public school in America, and Trustee of New York University Hospital. He also served on the Board of the Museum of Modern Art for 20 years and was Chairman of Architecture and Design for 10 years.

He graduated from Harvard College and also received his Masters of Business Administration from Harvard Business School.

Mark D’Anastasio - Director

Mr. D’Anastasio is a strategic communications advisor to multinational corporations and government institutions globally. He is founder and president of Washington, D.C.-based Emerging Markets Communication (EMC). Mr. D’Anastasio’s work is spread across rising post-socialist, ‘base-of-the-pyramid’ and dynamic economies of Asia, and has included pioneering assignments supporting some of the most sweeping international economic changes of the past twenty years. EMC, a limited liability company, specializes in market entry, commercial dispute resolution, corporate and CEO positioning, government relations, federal compliance issues and sovereign external communications. Prior to establishing EMC in 2000, Mr. D’Anastasio was a managing director at the global communications consultancy Burson-Marsteller, where he chaired the International Development Practice, and he has served in a number of other high-profile commercial and non-commercial positions, including as a communications policy advisor to foreign governments at Harvard University. He began his career as a business and financial journalist and held international staff positions at Business Week magazine and The Wall Street Journal. Mr. D’Anastasio holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College, an M.A. from Yale University and an M.S. from Columbia University.

Elliot Fuhr - Director

As a Senior Managing Director at FTI Consulting, Inc., Elliot Fuhr specializes in assisting senior management and boards of directors in the areas of performance improvement, financial and operational restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, business planning and rapid implementation projects. His broad industry experience includes engagements with automotive, apparel, retail, technology, manufacturing, services, chemical, and oil and gas companies. Elliot has led or is leading several FTI firm-wide initiatives, including Business Quality, Learning and Education, Business Performance Improvement and Key Client programs. He has over 24 years of experience in consulting and restructuring businesses and was previously a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC in the Business Recovery Services division. In addition, he has held several chemical engineering positions at Exxon.

Charles Gassenheimer – Chairman of the Board

Charles Gassenheimer is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Ener1, Inc. He is also Chief Executive Officer of Ener1 Group, the largest shareholder of Ener1, Inc.

Over his career, Charles has forged a reputation as a dynamic businessman, with a proven track record in structuring and managing complex capital markets transactions, as well as in transforming failing companies into highly competitive businesses.

Before joining Ener1, Charles was Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of both the Convertible Arbitrage Division and Private Investment Group of Satellite Asset Management, a hedge fund with approximately $6 billion in assets. Prior to that, he was Portfolio Manager and head of the distressed securities investment group of Tribeca Investments, the hedge fund division of Citigroup Global Investments. Charles has also served as a Vice President at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Charles began his career with Coopers & Lybrand in the field of operational and financial turn-around management services. He graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Karl Gruns - Director

Karl Gruns is a Certified Public Accountant with a private accounting practice in Munich, Germany. He serves as Chairman of the Audit Committee for Ener1. He was previously the Chief Financial Officer and a Board member of Infomatec Integrated Information Systems AG, a producer of high-end, innovative e-commerce systems. Previously, Karl was with the international accounting and consulting firm KPMG LLP.

Ludovico Manfredi - Director

Ludovico Manfredi is a marketing and business development executive for Cheyne Capital, a London-based hedge fund management company with approximately $12 billion in assets. Ludovico is responsible for European strategic relationships and business development activities for Cheyne. Prior to joining Cheyne, he founded and managed Newfield Group, a company active in commodities trading and investments in South America, the Caribbean and Western Europe. Previously, he worked in commodities trading with major European trading firms such as Sucres et Denrées in Paris and Riz et Denrées in Paris and New York.

Ludovico has an Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, with a major in Finance, and received his undergraduate degree from Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, with a major in Economics and Finance.

Peter Novak – Director

Dr. Peter Novak is the President, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder of Ener1, Inc. Peter graduated from the Ural Polytechnic Institute, Physics and Technical Department, with a specialization in experimental nuclear physics. Subsequently he obtained his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the Institute of Solid State Chemistry's Ural Branch Academy of Science in Russia. As a world-renowned expert in lithium-ion battery technology, he has written many scientific articles and patent applications and brings broad interdisciplinary experience in transforming advanced research projects into business solutions.

Thomas J. Snyder - Director

With an in-depth background in both the automotive industry and the energy sector, Thomas J. Snyder brings a wealth of pertinent experience to the Board of Ener1, chairing the Nominating and Corporate Governance committee. He currently serves as the President of Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana, a leading mid-western educational institution with an enrollment of over 100,000 students. Prior to that, he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of Remy International in Anderson, Indiana, and most recently as the Chairman of the Flagship Energy Systems Center (FESC) in Anderson. FESC is Indiana's first energy-focused center of excellence working on leading technologies, including hybrid systems, lithium-ion batteries, solid oxide fuel cells and alternative fuels.

Following a distinguished career at General Motors, Thomas spent 11 years with Delco Remy International, where he established a new business model and diversified the company from a captive General Motors supplier to a global leader in truck, off road and aftermarket products, increasing the company sales from $500 million to over $1.2 billion and worldwide employment from 1,500 to 6,000. While at Delco Remy, Tom also led Delco Remy's management buyout form General Motors in 1994.

Tom graduated from Kettering University, formerly General Motors Institute, in 1967, with a degree in mechanical engineering and also holds a Master in Business Administration from Indiana University. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Executive Council of the Saint Theodore Guerin High School in Noblesville, a Board member of the Paramount Theatre restoration in Anderson, Indiana and a past member of the prestigious World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.