Our Team

A team dedicated to putting waste to work

Vaulted Deep is a Texas-born company headquartered in Houston. We’re repurposing tools and talent from the oil and gas world to tackle two big problems: overburdened waste systems and rising carbon pollution.

Our roots are in Texas, and our boots are on the ground in Houston, Hutchinson (KS), and San Francisco.

Leadership
Board & Advisors
Full Team

Julia Reichelstein

Co-Founder & CEO

Julia Reichelstein

Julia co-founded Vaulted and serves as Chief Executive Officer. She brings expertise in carbon removal markets and technologies through time spent investing in the climate tech space as a venture capitalist at Piva Capital. Julia started her career as an early-stage operator in Kenya building a fintech start-up that furthered financial inclusion and international development. Julia holds B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Omar Abou-Sayed

Co-Founder & Senior Strategic Advisor

Omar Abou-Sayed

Omar’s 25-year career sits at the intersection of the global energy, chemicals, and climate-tech industries. He founded and led Advantek, a TPG-backed industrial waste management company, where he now serves as Executive Chairman. Advantek developed the technology being commercialized by Vaulted, and applies it to other industrial waste challenges. He also advises or has invested in a dozen early-stage companies and venture funds. Omar has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Bryan Epps

Head of Commercialization

Bryan Epps

Bryan is Vaulted’s Head of Commercialization. He brings to Vaulted his experiences as an operator across startups in carbon removal markets, climate fintech, and the renewable energy sector. He began his career as a management consultant, scaling climate technologies in emerging markets with a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Bryan holds a B.A. in Global Affairs from Yale University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and an MPP from Harvard Kennedy School.
Adriana Ovalle

EVP of Operations

Adriana Ovalle

Adriana leads Vaulted’s engineering and operations functions, overseeing the development of new sites including selection, acquisition, permitting and construction. She began her career at Schlumberger, where over 15 years, she held various positions including Wireline Field Engineer and manager of Cuttings Re-Injection, Water Treatment, and Underbalanced Drilling operations. Subsequently, she dedicated 7 years to Halliburton, leading the Geosciences Group and the Technology Group for Consulting and Project Management. More recently, she served as Oil & Gas Advisor at SAP and took on the role of VP of Strategic Initiatives at Advantek. Adriana holds a degree in Civil Engineering, a Master’s in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M, and a Data Analytics certification from RICE University.
Francisco Vera

Head of Operations

Francisco Vera

Francisco leads Vaulted’s operations function, bringing over two decades of experience in global energy services to the role. He began his career at Schlumberger, where he spent 20 years in various leadership positions across North and South America. His roles included Operations Manager for Cuttings Re-Injection Offshore Mexico, Business Development Manager for Mexico, Central America, and Caribbean (MCA) regions, and Regional Technical Service Manager for South America. He later served as Operations Manager for Equipment in Bakersfield, CA and Midland, TX, and most recently as Field Service Manager at Schlumberger’s headquarters in Houston, TX. Francisco holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and is known for his strategic approach to operational excellence and team leadership in complex, high-performance environments.
Nicola Lwin

VP of Finance

Nicola Lwin

Nicola leads Vaulted’s finance team as the VP of Finance. She brings over 20 years of finance experience in the renewable energy infrastructure industry. Prior to Vaulted, she ran a successful fractional CFO consulting practice, served as CFO of Sparkfund, and worked on the $787 million sale of TerraForm Global, a SunEdison yieldco, to Brookfield Asset Management. She began her career at Microsoft in finance. Nicola holds two degrees from UC Berkeley, a B.S. in Business Administration and Finance and B.A. in Political Economy, and an M.A. in International Economics from Johns Hopkins SAIS.

David Hayes

David Hayes

David J. Hayes served in the White House as President Biden’s Special Assistant for Climate Policy and now is teaching at Stanford Law School and Stanford’s Doerr School of Sustainability. He was the Deputy Secretary and COO of the Department of the Interior in the Obama and Clinton administrations; a partner at Latham & Watkins; and Director of the State Energy & Environment Impact Center at NYU. David is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame and Stanford Law School.
Matt Eggers

Matt Eggers

Matt Eggers is a technology and business leader with extensive experience in sales, marketing, finance, product, and operations. He joined Prelude Ventures as Managing Director in 2023, following his role as a partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. With almost 20 years in climate tech, Matt has held key roles at Sunrun, Tesla, and Bloom Energy. His broader career includes roles at Genentech, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, and Yardi Systems. He holds a B.S. in Molecular Biology from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford. Additionally, he serves on the Board at the Duke University Center for Energy, Development, and the Global Environment.
Ryan Orbuch

Ryan Orbuch

Ryan Orbuch is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital and leads the firm’s work in carbon removal. Prior to joining Lowercarbon, Ryan led Stripe’s industry-leading carbon removal procurement program. Considered by many as a global authority on CDR, Ryan has likely met with more teams in this space than anyone in the world. With a deep and unique understanding of the science behind a vast range of carbon removal approaches, backing from Ryan and the Lowercarbon team is a major validation of Vaulted’s technology. Previously, Ryan was a startup founder, software engineer, and product manager. He is based in San Francisco.
Steve Cole

Steve Cole

Steve has worked as a board member, private equity advisor and CEO over three decades in public, private, and private equity backed organizations. His career spans a wide range of sectors, most recently in environmental services. Steve studied chemical engineering with additional executive education from the Columbia Business School. The bulk of his education, however, has come from the successes and failures of leading rapid change in complex environments.
Ahmed Abou-Sayed

Ahmed Abou-Sayed

Dr. Abou-Sayed is the founder of multiple companies that taken together have improved the world’s standard of living through his work on injection technologies for sequestration of complex waste materials and on increasing the availability of the world’s energy resources. Dr. Abou-Sayed hold B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the Cairo University, M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from Brown University.
Jane Woodward

Jane Woodward

Jane Woodward is Managing Partner at WovenEarth Ventures, a Founding Partner at MAP Energy, and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University where she has taught classes on energy and environment since 1991. Jane is an advisor or director for several energy transition companies and funds. Jane received her B.A. in Geological Sciences from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and holds an M.S. in Applied Earth Science and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.
Stefan Reichelstein

Stefan Reichelstein

Stefan Reichelstein currently serves as the Director of the Mannheim Institute for Sustainable Energy Studies at the University of Mannheim in Germany, and as an Emeritus Professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. His long-term research agenda has focused on the costs and benefits associated with alternative decarbonization technologies, as well as the policy support required to make these technologies succeed in the market place. His recent publications have reported techno-economic analyses on the subjects of energy storage, electrolytic hydrogen, industrial carbon capture and sequestration, and cost-effective pathways for carbon dioxide removal.

Our Great Plain operators

Aaron Hebeler

Land Manager

Aaron Hebeler

Aaron is a senior energy professional and land acquisition strategist with more than 15 years of experience spanning oil, gas, and carbon management. As Land Acquisition Manager at Vaulted Deep, he leads national land strategy and site development for carbon injection projects, building partnerships that advance large-scale carbon removal solutions. Previously, Aaron held key management roles at mid-sized oil and gas (O&G) operators, where he oversaw multidisciplinary teams, capital programs, and major land development initiatives. Aaron holds an MS in Geology from California State University, Northridge, and completed executive leadership education at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.
Adetayo Zenger

Finance & Strategy Senior Associate

Adetayo Zenger

Tayo is a Finance & Strategy Senior Associate at Vaulted where he works alongside the business development and subsurface teams in evaluating growth opportunities and strategic partnerships. Tayo started his career at Citigroup on the Paper & Packaging investment banking team, where he led analysis and advised several large public companies on cross-border M&A and financings. Prior to joining Vaulted, Tayo worked in private equity at Arsenal Capital Partners, where he evaluated investments in the specialty industrials sector. Tayo has a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Babson College.
Albert Frederick

Director of Land Acquisition

Albert Frederick

Albert is Vaulted’s Director of Land Acquisition. He brings in-depth experience in land management and commercial negotiations. Prior to joining Vaulted, he worked in the energy sector for both private and publicly traded energy companies, formulating and implementing lease and asset acquisition strategies and managing mineral and surface estate rights portfolio. He was a co-founder and Vice President of Land for Gulf Coast Energy Resources and served as Vice President of Commercial Affairs and Land for Verdad Exploration Mexico, investing in the Mexican energy sector. Albert holds a B.S. in Business Administration, Petroleum Land Management from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Almostafa Alhadi

Subsurface Engineer
Chad Cornish

Business Development Manager

Chad Cornish

Relying on his 10+ years of waste management and recycling experience, Chad helps both source carbon-rich waste streams and identifies key partners for expanding Vaulted’s footprint. He has worked for both Fortune 500 companies and industry changing start-ups. While home for him is near the Great Plains site in Kansas, he travels all over the country to help turn the theoretical into reality.
Conor Duggan

External Affairs Director

Conor Duggan

Conor is Vaulted’s Director of External Affairs. He brings over a decade of experience in government affairs, stakeholder engagement, public policy, and strategic communications. He has held senior roles in both government and industry, and worked across a range of sectors—from space and aviation to clean energy and mining. His expertise focuses on leveraging areas of alignment between government objectives and rapidly scaling start-ups. Conor holds a B.S. in Political Science from Santa Clara University.
Dan Klemmer

BD Strategy Senior Manager

Dan Klemmer

Dan looks after Vaulted’s Business Development strategy and special projects. He has spent 15 years leading growth and innovation for companies across Africa and the Americas. Dan ran Innovation at a circular economy company in Kenya that turns city organic waste into agricultural products, commercializing a first-of-its-kind organomineral fertilizer. He also managed market expansion for an agri-fin-tech that provides a bundle of agronomic information, inputs, and financing to smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Dan holds a B.A. in English and Economics from Boston College.
David Cross

Geoscience Lead

David Cross

David serves as the Geoscience Lead at Vaulted, bringing valuable expertise to the company’s feasibility and site-selection processes. His skills were honed during the competitive phase of securing pore space for Class VI (Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage) projects along the Gulf Coast while working at Talos Low Carbon Solutions. His academic background is focused on tectonic and sequence stratigraphy. He holds B.S. in Geology from the University of Kentucky and M.S. in Geology from the University of New Orleans.
Edwin Tillero

Subsurface Reservoir Engineer

Edwin Tillero

Edwin is serving at Vaulted as Subsurface Reservoir Engineer. He has brought +20 years of international experience in reservoir modelling for hydrocarbon assets development and underground fluids storage (CO2, H2, energy carriers, etc.). Edwin has developed his career working for state-owned oil companies and oil & gas services companies in America. Edwin holds B.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering and a M.Sc. in Computational Thermosciences from Universidad del Zulia (Vzla). He also holds a M.Sc. in Petroleum Engineering from University of Tulsa (USA) and a M.Sc. in Energy Systems Technologies from Loughborough University (UK).
Grace Connolly

Founders’ Associate

Grace Connolly

Grace is a Founders’ Associate at Vaulted, supporting the company’s co-founders on a vast array of projects, including business operations, HR/people operations, communications, and strategic planning. She also supports the leadership team and Vaulters across the organization on special projects. Grace holds a Bachelor of Science in Human Biology and a Master of Arts in Sustainability, Science, and Practice from Stanford University.
Grant Scavello

Senior Permitting Specialist

Grant Scavello

Grant serves as Vaulted Deep’s Senior Permitting Specialist. He brings ten years of regulatory experience to Vaulted, having worked for the federal government as a hydrogeologist on permitting, enforcement, project coordination, and community involvement matters across all underground injection well classes. Grant holds a B.A. in Political Science and Theater Arts from the University of Pittsburgh, and an M.S. in Applied Geosciences from the University of Pennsylvania
Haley Leslie-Bole

Carbon Removal Science Senior Specialist

Haley Leslie-Bole

As Carbon Removal Science Senior Specialist, Haley ensures that Vaulted’s carbon removal product leads the field in quality and transparency. Haley works with Vaulted’s registry partner and other academic and NGO partners to align Vaulted’s carbon accounting practices with the best available science and standards. Haley also works to further the development of state, federal, and international policies and mechanisms that support robust demand for high-quality carbon removal. Prior to joining the team at Vaulted, she managed a portfolio of research on biomass and land use at the World Resources Institute, where she published white papers and led research-backed policy advocacy on biomass carbon removal, biofuels and land use change, and nature-based climate solutions. Haley holds a Masters of Environmental Management from the Yale School of the Environment and a BA in Environmental Studies from Colorado College.
Inti Rodriguez

Geoscientist

Inti Rodriguez

Inti Rodriguez is a seasoned geoscientist and reservoir modeler with over 21 years of experience in the global energy sector. His expertise spans oil and gas exploration, development, and production projects across Latin America and the United States, with a focus on geological characterization, 3D static and dynamic reservoir modeling, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), and carbon capture and storage (CCUS). He currently supports permitting, site evaluation, and geological modeling for organic waste injection and CO₂ removal through the analysis of underground injection projects across the U.S. Inti works closely with multidisciplinary teams to ensure regulatory compliance, operational safety, and the optimal design of subsurface storage systems. Inti holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geological Engineering from Universidad de Los Andes (Venezuela), a specialization in Hydrocarbon Reservoir Integrated Management from Universidad Central de Venezuela, and a Master of Science in Energy from Texas A&M University.
Jack Latham

Business Development Director, Pulp & Paper

Jack Latham

Jack is one of Vaulted’s Business Development Directors focused on partners within the paper & pulp industry. He comes with 20 years of experience in the paper industry, where he has held multiple sales leadership positions with Georgia-Pacific, Solaris, Sofidel, SIHL and Buckman. Jack holds a B.A in Communications from Lock Haven University and an MBA from The University of Pittsburgh.
Jamie Good

Geoscience Analyst