Our Team

 

Bill Clerico

Founder & Managing Partner

Splitting time between San Francisco and Mendocino County, Bill loves both the forests of Northern California and the energy and pace of Silicon Valley. He is passionate about the potential of startups to create new tools for firefighters, policy makers, utilities, insurance companies, landowners and other stakeholders in order to restore a healthy relationship with fire.

Prior to starting Convective Capital, Bill was co-founder & CEO of WePay, a fintech company which was acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase in 2017.

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Amy Brown

Director of Operations

Amy is thrilled to manage all things operations in support of Convective Capital's mission. Before joining the team, Amy spent a decade in nonprofit fundraising and development as well as executive recruiting.

In her free time, you'll find Amy on a travel adventure, cheering on her favorite sports teams (Go Seahawks!), or volunteering in the community.

Jay Ribakove

Principal

Jay joined the Convective Capital team as a Principal in 2024. He’s focused on partnering with founders who are relentless about achieving their goals and protecting our environment from natural disasters.

Prior to Convective, Jay was an investor at Munich Re Ventures, backing companies reducing risk in climate and the built environment. He is also a girl dad, recovering software engineer, and aspiring ski instructor.

Lia Kennett

Fractional CMO

As the fractional CMO of Convective Capital, Lia Kennett is a passionate and experienced leader with expertise in experiential event development, business strategy, marketing, podcasting, production, and operations. She is known for creating immersive experiences that bring people together, sparking meaningful conversations to effect change.

Lia has collaborated with top organizations like Apple, Google, Dow Jones, Stanford University, Recode, and Vox Media. She played a key role in shaping iconic conference & media brands such as the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), All Things Digital, Code Conference, The Lobby Conferences, and the Recode Decode, Code Media, and Recode Replay podcasts.

Lia is known for crafting successful marketing strategies, fundraising, and focusing on driving growth and engagement. With a unique blend of creativity and business insight, she brings both vision and precision to every project.

Outside of her professional life, Lia enjoys hiking, kayaking, continuing her search for the perfect cup of coffee, and spending quality time with her family.

Avery Paulick

Marketing Coordinator

Avery joined Convective with the launch of the inaugural Red Sky Summit in 2023, later expanding her role to support the firm’s marketing efforts in 2024. She is passionate about amplifying Convective’s mission and growing the Summit year after year. Avery is also a member of the Kennett Productions team, where she serves as an event producer for clients across tech and venture capital.

Avery is a Bay Area native who can be found at the local barre studio, deep into a true crime podcast, or trying to keep her garden alive with her two rescue cats, Earl and Rhubarb.

Our Values

 

We invest in relationships

Venture capital is a relationship business measured in years (if not decades). We take the time to get to know our partners well - whether they are founders, LPs, or other members of our community.

We have deep respect

As former CEOs and operators, we understand and respect the challenges faced by entrepreneurs, as well as the firefighters, government officials, nonprofits, and other stakeholders who make up the fire ecosystem. We don't profess to have all the answers, but we're committed to trying to help.

We get our hands dirty (literally)

We make unusual efforts to get in the trenches and help. Field experience (getting hands-on with products and with fire) grounds our investing and support of entrepreneurs in reality. Applying our work to the real world matters to us - so does having fun.

Purpose drives excellence

Whether we're measuring returns or offering support to founders, we hold ourselves to unusually high standards. We're committed to timely, thoughtful, direct feedback and actively seek it out from others. It’s the right way to do business, and our mission deserves nothing less.

Faster is better

Our mission is time-critical. With the effects of climate change accelerating, swift action is the only option. Our founders and team relentlessly pursue innovative solutions.

 

Advisors

  • David Blankinship

    PRESIDENT - EMERGENT | SENIOR TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR - WESTERN FIRE CHIEFS

  • Shefali Juneja Lakhina, Ph.D.

    CO-FOUNDER - WONDER LABS

  • Zach Knight

    CEO - BLUE FOREST

  • John Clarke Mills

    CEO - WATCH DUTY

  • Dan Munsey

    FIRE CHIEF - SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CA

  • Andrew Salmon

    CO-FOUNDER, PRODUCT AND FORESTRY - WILDFIRES.ORG

  • Michael Wara

    DIRECTOR OF POLICY - SUSTAINABILITY ACCELERATOR, STANFORD DOERR SCHOOL OF SUSTAINABILITY

  • Matt Weiner

    CO-FOUNDER, CEO - US MEGAFIRE RESPONSE

  • Genny Biggs

    PROGRAM DIRECTOR, WILDFIRE RESILIENCE INITIATIVE AND SPECIAL PROJECTS - GORDON AND BETTY MOORE FOUNDATION