Bringing People and Ideas Together

A global community tackling global challenges

With offices and water solutions created around the globe, people from many different places and backgrounds gather at Organica. Interns from Taiwan to the U.S.A., employees from India to Hungary – and countless cultures and backgrounds in between- this global community is truly unique, yet absolutely necessary for tackling our global water challenges.

Learn more about the people behind Organica by rolling-over the pictures below.

Management Team

István Kenyeres (Co-Founder)
Chief Global Strategist

István co-founded Organica in 1998. He is recognized at all levels of academia, government, and the water industry as being on the cutting edge of the water treatment market, having introduced an entirely new paradigm to the industry. Prior to co-founding Organica, István was a founding partner of Kenyeres Engineering and Consulting, an environmental services company. He also served as a Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the Department of Biotechnology and Bioengineering at Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME). István received both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from BME. His efforts in the environmental industry were acknowledged in 2005 when Hungarian President Ferenc Mádl presented him with the Silver Merit Cross of the Republic. Previously, István also served as an advisor to the environmental committee of the Hungarian National Parliament.

Ari Raivetz
CEO

Ari has more than 12 years of experience in finance, corporate strategy, marketing, and public and private equity investing. Before joining Organica as CEO, Ari was the Head of Private Equity Investments – Water with New York-based RNK Capital, a pioneering investment firm with ~$800M in assets under management focused on clean technology, environmental, and energy related investments. In this role Mr. Raivetz led a team responsible for transaction sourcing, due-diligence, structuring, divesting, and working with portfolio companies’ management teams, all concentrated on the global water sector. Mr. Raivetz also served as Chairman of the Board of Organica (2008-2011) and served on the Board of Directors of various RNK portfolio companies. Prior to RNK, Ari spent three years at Bank of America Securities, most recently as Vice President and Senior Research Analyst covering public equities in the energy and industrial sectors. Previously, he spent four years working in various corporate strategy, finance, and marketing roles at two venture-backed enterprise software companies. Ari holds a bachelor of business administration degree from the George Washington University and an MBA degree from Yale University’s School of Management.

Ákos Berzi
CFO

As Organica’s CFO, Ákos brings over 14 years of experience to Organica. Prior to joining Organica, he served as a Director of Moellendorf & Company, a multinational financial consulting firm, where his primary responsibility was providing strategic and financial expertise to local and foreign companies related to emerging markets. During this time Ákos acted as a consultant in one of Hungary’s biggest water related acquisitions. As Organica’s CFO, he is responsible for the development of the firm’s business and financial strategy. Ákos received both his bachelor’s and master’s of economics from the Budapest University of Economics.

Robert Kovács
Director – Technology

Róbert has over 10 years of experience as a bioengineer, specializing in mathematical modeling of wastewater and sludge treatment processes. Prior to Organica, he was an associate engineer in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Budapest University of Technology and Economics. In this role he analyzed various treatment technologies, including solving activated sludge tank aeration issues, improving nutrient removal capabilities via technological modifications, and mathematical modeling. His work has been published in over 10 international publications and journals. At Organica, Róbert heads the firm’s technology and product development department. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Budapest University of Technology and Economics.

Péter Bakonyi
Director – Business Administration

Péter started his career at Organica in 2005 as Secretary to the Board of Directors, assisting the everyday decision making of the executives. Soon he took over the management of the business administration processes of the company. His department was responsible for corporate procedures, legal matters, and intellectual property management. Today, with the international expansion of the company, Péter’s main focus is on the corporate legal support of headquarters, various international operations, subsidiaries, transactions and investments. Prior to Organica Péter was employed by McCann-Erickson. He has a bachelor’s degree in economics from the Budapest Business School. He also holds a master’s degree from Budapest University of Economics and is a certified marketing manager.

Prathmesh Barar
Senior Strategic Advisor

Mr. Barar has over 35 years of experience in the manufacturing and projects industry. He has worked in a variety of responsible positions over the last three decades ranging from managing an R&D center specializing in environment monitoring (air, soil and water) and product development, running chemical manufacturing plants and setting up turnkey projects in the field of Wastewater Treatment & Desalination. He has been the first to introduce many technologies/solutions to the Indian water treatment market, for example, setting up a wastewater recycling plant using reverse osmosis technology in early 90s, launching the sale of bottled water in 20 liter jars in India, developing water vending machines (based on in-situ desalination of ground water) for sale of drinking water at public places in India etc. His focus over the last two decades has been to introduce sustainable & innovative solutions in India for water treatment and recycling.

Attila Bodnár (Co-Founder)
Executive Vice President –
Business Development

Attila co-founded Organica with István, whom he has known since childhood. An architect by training, Attila built two successful businesses in the United States prior to Organica. Most recently, he was Managing Partner of Denker & Bodnar Architects, an architectural design and construction firm. Under his leadership, the firm became a market leader in the New York metropolitan area and received numerous architectural awards. Previously Attila co-founded and managed a safety technology startup, PAJ America, which was acquired by a Fortune 500 company five years after its founding. Attila received his master’s in Architecture from the Technical University of Budapest.

Akhil Barar
Vice President –
Sales and Engineering

Akhil has nearly a decade of experience as a Chemical Engineer specializing in the field of water treatment and desalination. Prior to Organica, he worked for a number of multinational corporations specializing in water treatment, including Nuchem Ltd., CH2MHill and Veolia, in regions covering the United Kingdom, Middle East, and the Indian Subcontinent. Most recently, Akhil worked as Chief Operating Officer for Nuchem’s water business. He also worked as a project manager at both Veolia and CH2M Hill, with responsibility for the supervision of multiple water-related projects. He began his career at Weir Westgarth as a Process Engineer in the United Kingdom and Middle East. At Organica, he is responsible for managing the design, engineering, and tendering of all projects, as well as supporting business development. Akhil received his bachelor’s in chemical engineering from DCET, Panjab University, graduating with First Division Honors.

Nikolaus Hutter
Strategic Advisor

Nikolaus has close to 15 years experience in venture capital investing, fundraising and strategy consulting. Prior to Organica, Nikolaus was an Investment Director and Sector Partner at Cleantech at CEE Private Equity firm 3TS Capital Partners. Prior to 3TS, Nikolaus was a partner with technology firm Gamma Capital Partners, where he built the Cleantech practice. Previously, he worked for the Austrian firm IES and as a Strategy Consultant for The COBA Group, London. He also lectures on Social Entrepreneurship at WU Vienna. He received a master’s degree in International Business from Wirtschaftsuniversität in Vienna and IECS Strasburg, as well as a master’s in Political Economy from the London School of Economics.

Márta Major
Director – Contracts and Investments

Márta has over 10 years of experience in the wastewater industry, where she specializes in international public procurement. Prior to Organica, she served as an independent consultant, advising corporations on processes involved with obtaining European Union and other public grants. At Organica, Márta is responsible for grant procurements and contract issues, in addition to supervising the firm’s legal department. She received her master’s degree in economics from the Budapest University of Economics (Corvinus University), and a master’s degree from the French Economic Sciences University. Márta is also a Certified Procurement Advisor.

Krisztina Deák
Director – Finance and Accounting

Krisztina joined Organica in 2009, bringing nearly 10 years of accounting experience to the company. She previously worked as the regional controller at Fiber Net, Inc. where she helped organize international mergers and restructuring, improving the yearly budget and managing country audits. She also worked successfully as the Deputy Head of the Hungarian Controlling Department.

North America

Jonathan Lanciani
President, CEO
Organica Sustainable Water

Jonathan has more than 20 years of experience within the North American water industry, with a focus on customer oriented direct sales and service. Most recently, Jonathan was the Senior Director of Strategic Planning, Business Development and Marketing at ChemTreat, a $250 million water treatment company owned by Danaher Corporation. He started with ChemTreat in 1999 and led the growth of its Northeast business unit from a greenfield opportunity to over $80 million in revenue over a four year period. Prior to ChemTreat, Jonathan spent nine years as a Sales Executive with GE Betz, where he delivered significant sales growth. Jonathan has gained extensive experience in developing and executing water conservation strategies with hundreds of clients, including Toyota, General Motors, Owens Illinois, Kraft Foods, MIT, Harvard University, and Duke University. He received his Bachelor of Science from the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Aaron Hollander
Vice President of Marketing
Organica Sustainable Water

Aaron is an entrepreneurial executive with over 15 years of experience in the communications technology field managing sales, marketing, operations and personnel. He started his own company, Fiberoptic Alignment Solutions, Inc., in 1994 and subsequently sold it to Uniphase Corporation. At Uniphase, Aaron was the General Manager of a division and led a team that created a critical technology for wavelength stabilization used in DWDM transmission, producing a revenue stream in excess of $30 million. Most recently Aaron was the Director of Marketing and Business Strategy at JDS Uniphase for the Active Components and Transmission Systems Groups, a $265 million a year group that included eight divisions worldwide. He received his Bachelors of Science in Engineering from The Ohio State University in 1988.