Thomas Cantello, MBA

Tom Cantello has 30 years of experience in banking, most of it in the energy and renewable power sector. Until 2023, he was a managing director and the co-head of ING Capital’s Americas Renewables and Power team. ING, a Dutch headquartered bank, is a global leader in sustainability and renewable energy finance. In his 15 years there, Tom helped build the team into a top 5 renewable energy lender in the very competitive Americas region.

In 2018 Tom relocated from New York City to San Francisco to start up ING’s West Coast renewables office, to expand ING’s presence in the Bay Area. This was a successful endeavor, having provided financing on nearly 30 separate renewable energy projects between 2018 and 2022, totaling $7.5 billion. These projects helped transition more than 5 million households from greenhouse-gas-producing, fossil-fuel-electric-generating projects to zero-carbon-producing renewable energy projects.

Tom completed several early leading-edge financings for various renewable technologies, including rooftop solar, battery storage, and fuel cells. His clients included several leading Bay Area–based companies, including Sunrun, Tesla Energy, Lightsource BP, Pattern Energy, and SB Energy.

Prior to joining ING, Tom worked for 7 years at Credit Suisse in its investment banking group, covering the energy sector. He has a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and an MBA in Finance from New York University. Tom retired early from banking to focus on other interests, including teaching.