Blackstone and RMI Veteran Jamie Mandel Joins EnKoat to Lead its Next Phase of Growth
EnKoat names James (Jamie) Mandel, former Blackstone and RMI leader as President and Chief Commercial Officer to lead its commercial scale-up.
EnKoat's coating cuts cooling costs and extends roof life for far less than a roof replacement. Mandel will lead the commercial scale-up.
PHOENIX, AZ, UNITED STATES, July 8, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- James (Jamie) Mandel has joined EnKoat as its President and Chief Commercial Officer. He will lead sales, partnerships, and revenue as the company rapidly scales its thermal-management solution for existing buildings.
EnKoat’s products are applied to existing roofs and other infrastructure to improve thermal performance and resilience, lowering the heat that enters a building, cutting cooling costs, and adding years of roof life. The system has been redesigned from the ground up to deliver a service life of more than 20 years, surface-temperature reductions of 25 to 50 degrees, and HVAC cost reductions of up to 30 percent. For most building owners it runs 50 to 70 percent below the cost of a roof replacement, and it can pay for itself on energy savings alone in four to six years.
At Arizona State University’s largest energy-consuming building, a multi-year deployment funded by SRP cut both roof surface temperature and HVAC energy use, with the results measured independently by ASU and the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL).
“We’ve spent years proving this works on real roofs, with the impact validated by leading institutions,” said Matthew Aguayo, EnKoat’s co-founder and CEO. “The next job is getting it to market fast, and that’s why Jamie is here. He knows this industry, and he chose to build it with us.”
Mandel comes to EnKoat from Blackstone, where he was Chief Sustainability Officer and Global Head of Decarbonization Programs. Before that he led the Buildings Program at RMI (Rocky Mountain Institute) and started his career at McKinsey & Company. He holds a Ph.D. from Cornell University and a B.A. from Princeton University.
“EnKoat provides a rare solution to improve the thermal performance of almost any existing building with really attractive paybacks,” Mandel said. “It cuts cooling costs, it improves asset resilience, and it’s far cheaper than the alternatives. Rapidly scaling this technology is the highest-impact thing I can be spending my time on.”
EnKoat has drawn steady recognition over the past year: a spot on Trellis’s “15 Climate Tech Startups to Watch in 2026,” a top-five finish among 4,800 companies in Hello Tomorrow’s sustainable construction and infrastructure category, a place on the Arizona Commerce Authority’s list of the state’s most innovative companies, funding by the National Science Foundation SBIR program and selection for the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2). Mandel will build out the company’s commercial team and its contractor and distribution network as it scales.
About EnKoat
EnKoat is a Phoenix-based climate-technology company and Arizona State University spinout. Its IntelliKoat™, EnBase™, and EnFlex™ coatings use phase-change material science to cut rooftop heat gain and HVAC energy use, extend roof life, and cost far less than a full roof replacement. The technology has been independently validated by the National Laboratory of the Rockies (formerly NREL) and ASU, funded by NSF (National Science Foundation) and recognized by Trellis, the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2), the Arizona Innovation Challenge, and others. Learn more at enkoat.com.
Aashay Arora
EnKoat
+1 602-760-5343
info@enkoat.com
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