Robert BergstromFounder

United States - Los Angeles Metropolitan Area

A seawater desalination developer and innovator:

-- OceanWell Water introduces a next-generation seawater desalination technology that slashes energy use by over 30% while protecting marine life. Using the hydrostatic pressure of the ocean to drive the reverse osmosis process, the Ocean Well is expected to become the technology of choice in areas of the world with deep water close offshore, as it saves energy, protects marine life and produces no toxic brine.

-- Seawater Desalination: Seven Seas Water, the company I founded in the Virgin Islands in 1997 to produce drinking water is now active in close to a dozen countries and is expanding worldwide. It, through its holding company AquaVenture, which I also founded, went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2014 as WAAS. An innovator, Seven Seas had the first pressure exchanger energy recovery device operational in the Western Hemisphere at our Reef plant on St. Croix. The device, revolutionary when introduced, now holds a majority market share in the desalination industry, with 30,000 Pressure Exchangers in operation worldwide. (Wikipedia) Just before retiring, I contracted to supply drinking water for the entire US Virgin Islands for the next 20 years.

-- Investment banking, where I was able to consistently find common ground between my firm's institutional clientele and entrepreneurial borrowers with ideas that needed funding. In total, in this role and in mortgage financing positions leading up to it, I had the pleasure of negotiating, structuring, and closing more than a half-billion dollars of financing. The mix of instruments involved included participating debt, forward purchase commitments, commercial mortgages, partnerships, bonds and common stock.

-- Commercial and residential mortgage banking, where I specialized in hedging of interest rate futures.

-- Executive recruiting for clients seeking financial specialists and managers.

-- Economic research