Our Team
Avra van der Zee
COO
"Elemental’s mission aligns with my personal one: To help channel entrepreneurship as a powerful form of social change, and to center climate change as the moral imperative we must act upon right now."
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Avra is COO of Elemental Impact, a global climate technology accelerator and non-profit impact organization. As an entrepreneurial-minded executive with experience that spans the startup lifecycle—including rapid scaling, trial-by-fire dealmaking and the building of organizational culture—Avra devises, refines, and operationalizes Elemental’s multifaceted strategy across all areas of the organization.
In addition to leading Elemental Excelerator
Avra serves as advisor and board member of a number of visionary impact start-ups, non-profits, and firms, including BlocPower, Story Ventures, Made of Air, and Billion Minds Institute.
Prior to Elemental Excelerator
Avra began her career as a litigator at Paul, Weiss, LLP before moving in-house to help establish North and South American entities and operations for a global building materials firm. After joining micromobility start-up JUMP at the Seed stage, Avra served as GC, COO and CSO during a phase of industry-leading growth and innovation that culminated in a strategic sale to Uber for a reported $200MM+. Most recently, Avra led strategy, policy, and comms for the MIT-affiliated transportation robotics company Superpedestrian.
Outside of the office
You can find her browsing the bookstore for titles to add to a reading list she’ll never quite conquer because of her three young and very active boys… She’s also an avid runner, traveler and lover of pizza.