Meet Our Advisory Board – Featuring Karim Farhat

What motivated you to enter the clean energy industry? 

“I spent my childhood in Lebanon, where electricity blackouts were part of daily life. Reliability was not an abstract metric; it was the occasional dinner by candlelight. In Qatar, where I did my undergraduate studies, I experienced the scale, economics, and geopolitics of energy first-hand. I learned how the conventional energy system works up close. At Stanford, where I did my grad studies, I absorbed the innovation waves of climate science and cleantech, and I learned why the system must change. Those three lenses pointed to a single imperative: the need for clean, abundant, reliable energy for everyone. From there, the bridge to EV charging was logical, not accidental. In the mid 2010s, EV charging looked like the hardest knot in the clean energy ecosystem: hardware plus software, infrastructure plus retail, public policy plus consumer behavior. I chose it precisely because it was complex; structuring and solving complex problems was my vocation.”

What’s a lesson you’ve learned that still guides you today?

“The first lesson is about the ‘what’—simple but fundamental: design for people, not for technology. Understanding the technology is crucial, but even the most elegant technical solutions will collapse if they don’t meet real human needs. I’ve carried that into EV charging, where the user experience at the station often matters more than the kilowatts in the ground. The second lesson is about the ‘how’: leadership is clarity plus integrity. This means saying the real thing early and plainly, setting standards, and owning outcomes.”

What’s an achievement you’re especially proud of? 

“Two stand out, and they’re connected. First is my PhD thesis at Stanford: ‘DAFF’—the Decision Analytic Five Forces framework. It was my way of marrying qualitative competitive strategy with quantitative operations research, and it continues to guide how I think about competition and value creation in business. The second is more hands-on: helping EVCS become one of the fastest-growing public charging networks in the U.S. Those two achievements represent different sides of me: the intellectual academic who likes creating new frameworks of thinking, and the operator who likes scaling real businesses with real customers. Both remind me that the energy transition requires a combination of innovation and execution—plans and plugs.”

What’s one fun fact about you most people don’t know?

“I love cooking, and I bring flavors from the 42+ countries I’ve traveled to. For me, cooking is chemistry; I say that literally, as a chemical engineer by training. But it’s also an expression of love. Every dish is a way to share part of yourself with others. In many ways, it’s the most human thing I do: to take raw materials, apply science and art, and create an experience that brings people together. It’s not so different from building an industry like EV charging: both require patience, creativity, and an instinct for what brings people value and happiness.”