Ja Kao

Board Member

Founder, 42 Renewables

Ja has over 20 years of finance, legal and renewables leadership experience. As an investment banker and tax lawyer, Ja structured and placed complex financial instruments and structured and executed M&A transactions across sectors, including financial services, media, telecom, energy (both traditional and renewable), consumer products and industrials. Ja was the Former President and Chief Executive Officer of Onyx Renewable Partners L.P.

Prior to joining Onyx, Ja worked at The Blackstone Group, where she was a Managing Director on the Structured Solutions team of Blackstone Advisory Partners. While at Blackstone, she led the renewable energy investment banking practice, covering wind, solar and other technology companies. Ja structured multiple tax equity financing transactions for solar and wind projects. Prior to The Blackstone Group, Ja was a tax associate at the law firm of Shearman & Sterling, LLP in New York and worked on complex M&A, capital markets, cross-border finance and private client matters from 2001-2008.

Ja serves on the Board of Directors for the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and previously served as Chairman of the Board of Assessment Review for the town of Pound Ridge, New York, and was a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer for the not-for-profit group, Internationals Network for Public Schools.

Ja received a Juris Doctor degree, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Brandeis University.