Jason Hicks

Jason A. Hicks is Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of the Sant Foundation, where he is responsible for all of the foundation's investment activities and financial administration. The Sant Foundation is a private family foundation established in 2015 to support the philanthropic interests of Roger W. Sant and the late Victoria (Vicki) P. Sant, complementing the earlier Summit Foundation the couple founded in 1991. Roger Sant is co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of The AES Corporation, a Fortune 200 global power company — a connection that runs through Hicks's own career.

Before joining the Sant Foundation, Hicks was co-founder and Managing Director of Persimmon Tree Capital, a Washington, D.C.–based private equity firm established in 2008 to invest in renewable energy, energy conservation, and environmentally friendly technology companies. At Persimmon Tree he was responsible for the origination, execution, and oversight of investments in early- and mid-stage clean energy companies.

Prior to Persimmon Tree, Hicks spent years at The AES Corporation, first as Director of Global Business Development — analyzing acquisitions of power generation and utility businesses — and later as Director of Portfolio Management, where he led and co-led multiple M&A and financing transactions. Earlier in his career he worked as a strategy and regulatory consultant to power and gas sector clients at McKinsey & Company, The Brattle Group, and Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett.

Hicks holds graduate degrees from The Wharton School and the School of Engineering and Applied Science, both at the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated magna cum laude from The American University.

• As CIO of a private foundation, his mandate is stewardship of the Sant Foundation's endowment and financial administration in service of its grantmaking — not venture/angel deal-making.
• His hands-on investing track record is in clean energy and energy efficiency: at Persimmon Tree Capital he backed companies developing renewable fuels, energy conservation systems, and environmentally friendly technology.
• Deep domain grounding in power, utilities, and energy infrastructure from AES and consulting (McKinsey, The Brattle Group), pairing engineering training (Penn) with finance training (Wharton).
• Comfortable with early- and mid-stage / growth companies and with M&A and structured financing transactions rather than pure passive investing.