Michael Katz, Partner of Greener Capital, is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of investment and operational experience in a wide range of industries and asset classes, from Real Estate to CleanTech.
 
Most recently, Michael co-invested with SAIL Venture Partners in Oryxe Energy International, through its subsidiary Oryxe de Mexico S.A. de C.V., a CleanTech additive company based in Irvine, CA with a manufacturing plant in Pasadena, Texas. ORYXE’s proprietary technology, based on more than 20 patents, reduces emission and increases fuel economy from fossil and biomass fuels. Michael lead a merger and re-cap of the two companies to form ORYXE International, became CEO of the combined entity and lead a turn-around over 18 months which included a full P&L cleanup, forging new strategic distributorships with competitors and signing new multi-year contracts with major refiners and fuel terminal companies such as Valero (NYSE: VLO), Nustar (NYSE: NSH) and Sunoco (NYSE: SUN).  In addition, Michael successfully built the international division from the ground up, effectively signing multi-year contracts with MetroBus, Mexico City's public transport system, and PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP). Oryxe International was successfully sold in 2010, resulting in an 11.25x exit.
 
Prior to his involvement in Oryxe International, Michael was the founder and CEO of Walstone Realty Group with investments in leisure real estate across Mexico and Central America. Walstone has had over $250M in assets under management. Walstone focused on turn-key development solutions for mixed use resort developments. Michael led and oversaw all aspects of operations including design, construction, construction management, sales, and negotiations of franchise or management agreements with hotel operators. The fund successfully exited most positions in 2007 and early 2008.
 
Before founding Walstone, Michael was the VP of Development for GFA, where he started the leisure branch and grew it to be the largest source of revenue for the company. Prior to joining GFA, Michael co-founded BTM, a franchise retail coffee shop targeting teenagers in urban areas. BMT was successfully sold to a competitor in 2001.
 
Michael has also held leadership and advisory roles in Hipotecaria Nacional, Mexico’s largest mortgage bank, Aerolineas Marcos, Plasticos Olimpia and Mooney Aviation. Katz has lived and worked in Italy, France, and the US.
 
Michael is a frequent speaker at Latin American investment conferences and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University.