Hiring news at 1776 amid Challenge Cup festivities

D.C.’s 1776 announced Wednesday that the incubator and seed fund has hired Christian Garcia as a managing director of its investment arm. Garcia will have a specific focus on energy, water and food.

Please join us in welcoming Christian Garcia to our executive team https://t.co/T9ejqrf6t7 @cdgarciavc #LifeAt1776

— Union (@JoinUnion) June 8, 2016

According to a press release, Garcia joins 1776’s executive team from Gates Ventures in Seattle, where he also focused on investing in early stage companies working in the energy arena.
“Christian has an exemplary background of investment experience in emerging energy solutions,” 1776 cofounder and co-CEO Evan Burfield said in a statement. “He also brings 1776 an incredibly strong technical grounding in energy science that will help drive our policy recommendations.”
Indeed, Garcia has an educational background in engineering at MIT and an MBA from Harvard.
Garcia’s hire is just the latest in a string of hiring and expansion announcements from 15th Street-based 1776. After securing $7.2 million in “strategic investment” in April, the company announced expansion to not one but two new campuses — Brooklyn and Dubai — and hired Margaret Shepard, former U.S. Chamber of Commerce executive director for communications and strategy.
1776 is also in the midst of holding a week of festivities in D.C. for the finals of its yearly global pitch competition, the Challenge Cup.