SUSTAINABILITY PARTNERS - Key Persons
Adam T. Cain serves Sustainability Partners as Chief Operating Officer. His unparalleled lead-by-example work ethic is instrumental in developing SP's exceptional team and successfully implementing efficient operating processes and growth strategies.
At SP, Mr. Cain oversees SP's business operations while serving on the legal team and Executive Committee. His experience as a Partner at one of the largest global law firms, DLA Piper, LLP in Los Angeles, has served him well as he negotiated SP's first contract for over $100 million.
Mr. Cain has represented clients in complex litigation and negotiated multi-million dollar issues on behalf of a wide variety of clients, among them CEO's, celebrities, business owners, and other high-profile and high net worth individuals. His experience in the courtroom and outside the box strategies helped to resolve many difficult issues for his clients. Mr. Cain has spearheaded technological innovations and implementations for the company, which effectively improved data processing, workflow, client communications, and overall efficiency.
Mr. Cain earned his J.D. from Pepperdine University School of Law School where he was Editor-in-Chief of the National Association of Administrative Law Judges Journal and was published for his article "Satellite Radio: An Innovative Technology's Path through the FCC and into the Future." He externed with the United States District Court of Arizona. Mr. Cain also holds a B.A. from Point Loma Nazarene University where he graduated Cum Laude.
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Specialist
Allison Wallace joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Specialist.
Mrs. Wallace adds to the team experience in a wide array of major infrastructure projects. As a project manager for Ergon, Inc., she executed capital improvement projects primarily in terminal, refinery, asphalt and emulsion facilities. She was also a maintenance engineer providing first call maintenance response, troubleshooting, inspection and repairs. She has project experience with tanks, piping, heat exchangers, rotating equipment, safety equipment and more.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Mrs. Wallace earned her B.S. in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Environmental Engineering from Mississippi State University. She has completed training for above ground storage tanks, instrumentation flow, and OSHA with additional coursework in pumps, flow and level sensors, welding, crane and hoist rigging, heat exchanger, valves, lockout/tagout, electric safety, hydrogen sulfide awareness, work permits, and others.
Andrew Myers is an instrumental part of SP's Arizona team bringing with him a twenty-year career serving at the nexus of government policy, nonprofit/public benefit organizations and disruptive technology. His impressive career spans from work with a former President of the United States to the Arizona Governor's administration.
For years Mr. Myers has served dozens of Arizona elected officials as a political and strategic communications consultant. Residing in Arizona since 2005, he currently lives in Northern Arizona with his wife, Nancy, and three young children.
Andrew Myers has experienced first-hand the impact of Arizona's rapid growth and is passionate about helping policymakers find creative and sustainable solutions to meet the challenges of our expanding communities.
Job Titles:
- Director of Special Projects
Ashley Cain serves Sustainability Partners as Director of Special Projects. Ashley brings a unique blend of skills, combining strategic vision and marketing expertise with her background serving private, non-profit and government sector organizations. She has a proven track record successfully implementing new initiatives at SP.
In her new role, Ashley spearheads proposal writing, internal training, team events, community outreach, and other special projects. Her creative flair is also put to use as she supports the marketing team with graphic design and website development.
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Partner and Specialist in the State of Hawai'I
Benson Medina serves as SP's Infrastructure Partner and Specialist in the state of Hawai'i.
Mr. Medina is a Hawaiian executive and community leader. He previously served as the Director of North American Sales for Hawaiian Airlines and President of Island Vacations. His experience includes senior roles with geothermal power developer, Innovations Development Group of Honolulu, and Hawaii-based, American Electric.
Born and raised in Hawai'i, Mr. Medina is an alumnus of the prestigious Kamehameha Schools and is a prominent leader in his home community of Hilo.
Job Titles:
- an Infrastructure Partner
- Infrastructure Partner
Bert Carson serves Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Partner. Mr. Carson identifies opportunities for infrastructure improvements and development throughout the southeast US region.
Mr. Carson spent 30 years as a freelance videographer working with federal, state, and local governments and police departments. He is a very active member of the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, and Louisiana Municipal Association. He was an integral contributor to sending Louisiana products along with federally funded aid to Senegal, West Africa.
Mr. Carson is a native of Louisiana and grew up in Baker, LA. He earned a B.S. in Finance with a specialization in Insurance from Louisiana Tech. Today Mr. Carson travels with his daughter, Alyssa, the youngest astronaut in training at 19 years old, currently in training to go to Mars.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
- Co - Founder, Zoomdojo LLC
Chris Ferrari joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Partner focusing in the southeast region. Mr. Ferrari is President and Founder of Ferrari Development in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Mr. Ferrari combines comprehensive real estate development expertise with proven, scalable project management capabilities to provide end-to-end consulting, representation, and delivery of commercial, retail, residential, and municipal projects of any size. He has established a consistent track record of success that goes beyond the fundamentals of managing scope change and risk to ensure on-time, on-budget project delivery. By establishing strong client partnerships with solid communication and an understanding of the client's business, Mr. Ferrari ensures that projects are on target and aligned with client goals and strategic direction.
His multi-disciplined expertise enables Mr. Ferrari to provide true start to finish oversight for projects from predevelopment and site acquisition through completion and occupancy. He has significant experience in prototype development, project feasibility and viability assessment, architectural design, budgeting and financial coordination, and development of all necessary documentation for bidding, permitting, and construction.
Mr. Ferrari earned his B.A. in Architecture from Louisiana State University.
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Specialist
Connor Fay joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Specialist.
Prior to SP, Mr. Fay worked in project management and field engineering focusing on coastal restoration and marine construction. He also has experience in supervising operations for manufacturing and fabrication in the metal industry.
Mr. Fay holds a B.A. in Industrial Technology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He also served six years in the Army Reserves as an 88N Transportation Management Coordinator.
Job Titles:
- Electrical Engineer
- Infrastructure Specialist
Connor Goss joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Specialist in the southeast region. Mr. Goss is an electrical engineer with outstanding experience in project management, commercial building design and industrial infrastructures.
Prior to SP, Mr. Goss spent time working with municipal clients on projects ranging from commercial lighting, power, mechanical power systems, water/wastewater infrastructure, sports field lighting, and various sustainability infrastructure including EV charging, SmartRun VFD controlled water/wastewater industrial pump systems and more.
Mr. Goss holds a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner Asset Underwriting
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
- President, Weild & Co
Dax Cuthbert serves as Director of Analytics at Sustainability Partners. Mr. Cuthbert is responsible for financial forecasting and reporting, operational metrics, returns analysis and project modeling.
He works closely with both the origination and operations teams to provide insight and options on cost analysis recommending actions that help optimize each project's financial outlook. Mr. Cuthbert has almost 20 years experience in corporate finance primarily in Financial Planning and Analysis roles, managing and developing financial forecasting models and supporting operational reporting.
Mr. Cuthbert holds a Masters in International Management from Thunderbird and a Masters in Business Administration with a focus in Finance from Arizona State University.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
- Founding Partner, Monolith Energy Management
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
Job Titles:
- Chief of Staff
- Infrastructure Partner
François Illas joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Partner in south Florida. Former Vice President of Corporate Development for Florida East Coast Industries (FECI), Mr. Illas, was responsible for pre-development, including land use, environmental, traffic, general governmental regulation, and property acquisition and seller issues on such projects as Brightline MiamiCentral Station, funding of Tri-Rail extension to MiamiCentral and Flagler Global Logistics' development of South Florida Logistic Center a 200 acre complex just west of Miami International Airport.
As Vice President, François was also involved in many of FECI's other projects. These included Brightline, a $3 billion transportation and commercial real estate investment, which also represents the United States' first privately owned and operated intercity passenger rail system connecting Miami and Orlando; Flagler Global Logistics, the largest industrial developer in Florida and an integrated logistics company; Parallel Infrastructure, a nationwide developer, owner and operator of telecommunication towers; and Flagler, a full-service real estate company focused on the commercial office sector.
In 2004, he opened his consulting firm, Metropolitan Strategic Consulting, Inc., focusing on governmental and political consulting throughout Southeast Florida. In 2011, he merged his efforts with Strategic Access Group. His governmental practice focused on procurement, regional and local legislative matters, land use, transit-oriented development, and permit processing. He also maintained a campaign management, fundraising, statistical research, and media production/ placement practice during this time for numerous campaigns throughout South Florida.
François was appointed Chief of Staff by City of Miami Mayor Manuel A. Diaz in 2001, where he served until 2004. During his tenure with this administration, he worked on some of the most impactful projects to be achieved by the City of Miami, including the agreement that realized the Port of Miami Tunnel with the Florida Department of Transportation and Miami-Dade County.
He also served as Campaign Manager for the 2000 Re-election Campaign of Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas. Following the successful re-election of Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas, François joined the Office of the Mayor, serving as a Senior Advisor and Political Director. François has also worked for Miami-Dade County Public School System, one of the largest school systems in the United States, as the Chief of Staff to School Board Member and former Chairperson Perla Tabares-Hantman.
He brings extensive public relations and advertising experience from his work with BVK McDonald, headquartered in Milwaukee. As a senior accountant executive for campaigns and government relations, he worked on such accounts as the 1998 Jeb Bush Campaign for Governor (Statewide Hispanic Media and Public Relations Campaign), the 1998 Referendum on Statehood for the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and a host of other international, Federal, state, county and municipal elections during his years at BVK McDonald.
François Illas attended Boston University and earned his undergraduate degree in Political Science from Florida International University ( Magna Cum Laude). During his postgraduate work at Florida International University, he also completed his Scholars Certification at George Washington's Graduate School of Campaign and Political Management.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
- CEO, Co - Founder at Whitney Partners, LLC
Helena Poleo joins Sustainability Partners in Florida as an Infrastructure Partner. Helena has more than 20 years' experience in communications, focusing on political and crisis initiatives. She has an impressive background working with public and private entities as a spokesperson for Fortune 500 companies, elected officials, and city governments.
Helena started as a reporter for daily publications and magazines before making the switch to public relations where she focused on government communications. Her career as a reporter included being foreign correspondent for Venezuelan publications covering politics, immigration, and local news for several South Florida newspapers.
Helena made the transition from reporting to media relations in 2008, when she became the spokesperson for the Mayor of the City of Miami.
Helena's experience spans crisis communications; real estate; public affairs; Hispanic and Latin American issues; politics; and arts and culture, among others. Her extensive experience working with government entities and private companies has given her a unique perspective in managing these relationships and getting public benefit projects done.
A native of Venezuela, Helena graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2003 from the Journalism School of Florida International University and earned a certificate in Women in Leadership from Cornell University. She is a Mentor for High School Girls as part of the Women of Tomorrow program and is a graduate of the Greater Miami's Chamber of Commerce Leadership Miami Program and is a member of the Florida International University Presidents Circle.
Helena was recently recognized Woman Owned Business of the Year by the South Florida Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, and the Mayor of Miami-Dade County, Daniella Levine-Cava. She was also named as one of the Top 50 Hispanic Business Leaders Award for 2019 by the Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. She lives in Miami with her husband and two young daughters.
Herb Fritts works on our team serving the state of Louisiana. Colonel retired Fritts has numerous cross-functional competencies associated with high-level strategic analytics, leadership, operational management, facility management, human resources, logistics, budgetary and fiscal efficiency.
He completed a 20-year Army career filling many supervisory, planning, training, and operational management roles. Faithfully served in many units in the Louisiana Army National Guard and U.S. Army, culminating as a Colonel and Installation Commander.
After retiring from active military service he served 21 years in the state Louisiana Military Department culminating as the Deputy Director for the last 9 years. He provided operational oversight over 6 major LANG installations, 2 LANG airfields, 69 readiness centers, 4787 real property assets, total building space of over eight million square feet, 111 miles roads, and 33,705 acres. Fritts provided yearly strategic operating budgetary guidance, development, and implementation in excess of 100 million dollars. He has been involved with all phases of emergency preparedness, response, and recovery for all-hazard events for the past 20 years.
Born at Fort Benning, Georgia he attended Columbus College earning a B.A. and completed the Command and General Staff Army College. He enjoys cooking, wine, hunting, fishing, gardening but most of all socializing with friends.
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Specialist
Hogan Guidry serves Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Specialist in the southeast region.
Mr. Guidry is a professional mechanical engineer with extensive background in project management, technical sales engineering, and municipal construction account management for a wide range of initiatives. Mr. Guidry's experience includes building efficiency solutions and energy initiatives in addition to championing comprehensive water meter solutions, artificial turf and lighting projects, wastewater treatment plant upgrades, and new water tank installments. Serving as an Infrastructure Specialist with SP, Mr. Guidry's exceptional insight and contributions have made a tangible impact on a range of projects.
Mr. Guidry is proud to help communities implement sustainable solutions that have a lasting impact. Notably, as a Louisiana resident, Mr. Guidry is particularly proud to join the team that made a significant community enhancement to his hometown, Crowley, with the athletic facilities modernization project.
Job Titles:
- Director of Infrastructure Specialists
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner of Infrastructure
Jason McGaugh serves as SP's Chief Capital Officer and is responsible for formulating effective and efficient investment processes, including project investment theses, transaction structuring, returns analyses, and project risk management for the Company's infrastructure projects.
He leads SP's utilization underwriting and due diligence activities, including credit risk evaluation and project cash flow analysis. Additional responsibilities include performance monitoring and analytics of infrastructure assets within SP's operational projects.
Mr. McGaugh brings nearly 25 years of finance experience, with extensive knowledge of operational and strategic finance. Prior to joining SP, Jason spent 8 years at one of the largest renewable energy manufacturing companies in the Western hemisphere, where his duties included financial reporting, M&A evaluation, and strategic financial leadership to multiple lines of business.
Prior experience includes nearly 17 years in investment banking and investment advisory roles. As an M&A advisor, Mr. McGaugh has deal experience covering over $2 billion of enterprise value across multiple industries, representing domestic and international companies on a variety of buy-side, sell-side and capital raise transactions.
Mr. McGaugh earned both his Bachelor of Science in Finance and MBA from the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and has held numerous Securities licenses throughout his career.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Capital Markets Chairman, Barclays Investment Bank
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
- Chief Investment Officer, Marathon Capital Partners
Joe Yuhas brings to Sustainability Partners a diverse background in both the public and private sectors. His body of work has immersed him in the complex public policy and political process, and the opportunities and obstacles to achieve community stability and growth through wise capital investments.
A public affairs strategist, Joe has guided public outreach and advocacy programs on behalf of government agencies, non-profit organizations, Fortune 500 clients and local brands, and community causes. His public sector challenges include assignments on behalf of the Arizona Governor's Office, Arizona Board of Regents, Arizona Office of Secretary of State, Arizona Department of Transportation, and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, among others.
Julieann Scharr joins Sustainability Partners as a key member of the origination team, supporting efforts to meet the needs of new and current customers. Her exceptional leadership, communication, and organizational skills are an outstanding addition to the team.
Prior to joining SP, Mrs. Scharr worked in education, teaching and serving the future of our world! She has a passion for art and has even studied under the great New Orleans artist Terrance Osborne. She holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University as well as a teacher certification from Southern University.
Keli Posch serves as the Chief Marketing Officer at Sustainability Partners. In this role, Keli is responsible for developing and executing the marketing and brand strategies for SP's diverse market segments.
Prior to joining Sustainability Partners, Keli served as the Vice President of Marketing and Sustainability at Clover Environmental Solutions. She has also held leadership positions at Insight and Comark and owned a marketing consulting firm where she worked with a diverse range of clients spanning multiple industries. In 2023, OPI magazine recognized Keli as one of the most influential women in the business products industry.
Keli has expertise in both online and offline marketing disciplines, including branding, digital marketing, customer lifecycle marketing, lead generation, communications, and public and investor relations. Her strategic and integrated approach to marketing focuses on collaboratively working across the organization to drive revenue, profitability, and market share.
Ken Szeliga serves as SP's Infrastructure Partner in Colorado. He brings 35 years of diversified experience working with and advising public agencies (at the local, state and federals levels), elected government officials, board of directors, investors and community stakeholders on capital improvement projects.
Prior to joining SP, he served as the Executive VP of Construction and Operations for United Bridge Partners with a $1.0B capital fund to privatize transportation infrastructure across the US. In addition, he served as the program manager overseeing a $1.0B bridge reconstruction program for the State of Colorado and lead CDOTs interim program management office supporting the $800K annual capital improvement program. He also served as the Business Development Director - Rocky Mountain Region (Jacobs Engineering rated #1 design company in US by ENR in 2023) overseeing the strategic planning, market analyses, and business development efforts for nine different infrastructure business lines.
Mr. Szeliga has a Master's in Business Administration from Regis University (Denver, CO) and a Bachelor of Science in Construction Engineering from the University of Nebraska. Mr. Szeliga has hands on-experience working with aging and failing infrastructure that has not been properly maintained and challenges to repair/replace with constraints on necessary funding.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
- Senior Partner, Lydecker Diaz & Former Mayor of Miami
Job Titles:
- Member of the Trustees & Advisors Team
- CEO, Waterkeeper Alliance
Job Titles:
- Associate
- Key Support Member for Our Team of Infrastructure Specialists
Margaret Richard serves Sustainability Partners as a key support member for our team of Infrastructure Specialists. Her communication and organizational skills are instrumental in maintaining our "raving fan" status with our partners.
Prior to joining SP, Margaret was an educator in Acadia Parish in southern Louisiana for 13 years, where she taught middle school English/Language Arts. During her teaching career, Margaret held numerous support roles for organizations within her school, including serving on the Instructional Leadership Team.
Margaret holds a Bachelor of General Studies degree with an Alternative Certification in teaching from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Job Titles:
- General Counsel
- Arizona Attorney General 's Office As Deputy Division Chief Counsel of the State Government Division
Mr. Joseph Sciarrotta joins SP with extensive experience in the public and private sectors having served as General Counsel to the Governor of Arizona and a Superior Court Judge, in addition to his tenure as in-house counsel for several Fortune 500 companies.
Prior to SP, Mr. Sciarrotta commenced a successful public sector career. He became General Counsel to the Arizona Department of Administration and Chair of the Governor's Regulatory Review Council. Mr. Sciarrotta then served as General Counsel to the Arizona governor. During his tenure in the Governor's Office, he assisted in legal, policy, and legislative matters and directed high-profile litigation cases in state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court. Mr. Sciarrotta became a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar and appeared before the court in 2012.
After serving as a Maricopa County Superior Court judge, Mr. Sciarrotta joined the Arizona Attorney General's Office as Deputy Division Chief Counsel of the State Government Division. Thereafter, the Attorney General promoted him to Division Chief Counsel of the Civil Litigation Division. Mr. Sciarrotta was proud to oversee and direct historic results in the Consumer Protection, Civil Rights, Tobacco Enforcement, and Collection sections.
He began his career in the private sector with the law firm Fennemore Craig where he represented clients for many years in a variety of civil and commercial litigation matters. Subsequently, he became in-house counsel to Fortune 500 companies Cendant Corporation (n/k/a Wyndham Worldwide), Allied Waste Industries, Inc. (n/k/a Republic Services, Inc.), and Meritage Homes Corporation. In these roles, Mr. Sciarrotta handled litigation and compliance dockets in excess of a billion dollars and strategized with senior management, as well as corporate and field personnel, regarding business transactions and developing company initiatives.
Mr. Sciarrotta earned his juris doctor degree graduating Order of the Coif from Vanderbilt University School of Law and was Chief Justice of the Vanderbilt Moot Court Board. He received his bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Michigan, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and with High Honors.
Job Titles:
- Co - Founder
- Partner
- Infrastructure Partner, Advisor
Mr. Michael Murray joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Partner, Advisor.
Mr. Murray, co-founder and partner of C-Level Solutions is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in corporate alignment, asset and resource optimization, process improvement and management, and profitability. Over his 33-year career at Union Pacific Railroad, he held a variety of key positions in finance, operations, strategic planning and real estate.
During his tenure, Mr. Murray was responsible for leading and developing capital investment strategies, strategic oversight of a $1 billion operating budget, and had fiduciary responsibility for reporting financial results to the SEC. His expertise also includes leading cross-functional teams focused on mergers and acquisitions and supply cost reductions, as well as real estate lease portfolio management. In addition to his career at UP, Mr. Murray served as the VP/General Manager, managing a $70 million P&L for one of the world's largest outsourced call center companies.
A relationship builder, Mr. Murray's specialty is focusing on an organization's people, processes and products to identify areas of operational ‘fine-tuning', making incremental improvements that fuel growth and ultimately increase profitability. He uses his expertise to guide railroads, transportation-related companies and large industrial manufacturers from internal assessment and alignment, to resource optimization and the
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Partner, Advisor
Mr. Michael Pappas joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Partner, Advisor bringing his successful tenure across multiple industries.
Actually into his third career, Mr. Pappas has worked for over a quarter century in each of the insurance and industrial energy management consulting industries, giving him the background, experience, and wisdom to successfully apply Sustainability Partners' business model for the benefit of various customers.
In the insurance business, while managing one-on-one and small business clients, he learned the prospecting and step-ahead prospecting skills key to building meaningful long-term relationships. In the industrial energy management consulting business, Mr. Pappas handled large national and global companies in which he incorporated internal dynamics to effectively and tactfully provide management solutions improving costs for production and energy efficiency. He also engineered the sale of a company to a major refiner and was instrumental in growing it further after that event. Along the way, Mr. Pappas gleaned many useful energy efficiency solutions to improve offerings for environmental and energy stewardship across industries.
Mr. Pappas works as an intermediary, securing funding for growing businesses. His extensive network of client relationships, developed throughout his two careers, continue to stay in touch, attesting to the trusted, strong, and meaningful relationships he has built.
His experience building trusted and lasting relationships while helping durable entities gain confidence in sustainable solutions makes the partnership with SP a natural progression. Mr. Pappas is currently working in the midwest and southeast regions to help municipal, university, and county customers understand the innovative infrastructure offerings of Sustainability Partners.
Mr. Pappas holds a Bachelor's degree from Davidson College.
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Partner - Advisor
- Infrastructure Partner and Advisor
- Resident of Baton Rouge
Nathan Nguyen joins Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Partner and advisor in the southeast region.
With over 20 years experience in the mortgage industry, Mr. Nguyen has developed a wide network of long-lasting and trusted relationships across the state of Louisiana. His specialized knowledge in finance paired with his dedication to improving infrastructure for cities and towns makes him a key addition to the team.
Mr. Nguyen is a resident of Baton Rouge and pursued Finance at LSU.
Noel Morin serves Sustainability Partners as an Infrastructure Partner in the State of Hawai'i.
Mr. Morin is a community advocate and a leader in the electrification of transportation in Hawai'i. He has over 25 years of management and leadership experience from his work at Johnson and Johnson and eBay. He serves on the board of non-profits focused on climate action, sustainability, and resilience, including the Hawaii Electric Vehicle Association.
Mr. Morin has a Master's in Human Resources and Organizational Development from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor's from the University of the Philippines.
Job Titles:
- Director of Project Logistics
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Founding Partner, Second Avenue Partners
Job Titles:
- Building Businesses Includes Being the Founder
- Infrastructure Partner
- Managing Director of HOTventures
Rick Gibson's 45-year career of building businesses includes being the Founder or Co-Founder of several successful technology companies. Mr. Gibson has also advised over 75 other companies, reviewed 1000+ companies and mentored hundreds.
Since 1999, Mr. Gibson has served as Managing Director of HOTventures, a "mentor capital fund" for the Southwest U.S., that invests in and advises fast growth companies, in domains from Ballistic Armor to Agriculture and including IT, Healthcare, Sustainability, and Media. He has been involved with several companies that have had liquidity events as either co-founder or investor and his portfolio still has more potential exits. Mr. Gibson has invested almost one hundred million dollars. Since 1996, he has been a key player in several "mentor-driven accelerators" including Idealab, the world's leading tech incubator in the 1990's.
Mr. Gibson has been an investor, advisor or board member in dozens of innovation companies and a limited partner in Solstice Capital II, then the largest venture capital fund in Arizona.
As an early stakeholder in Bill Gross's Idealab, Mr. Gibson founded one of its first companies, E-Ticket Inc., which merged with Nederlander Organization's RealTime Syndication Network. As Vice-Chairman, he secured online licenses for and/or executive-produced: Fox's America's Most Wanted, Teen Magazine, and National Enquirer. He participated in strategic planning with the ten original Idealab CEOs. Idealab created several well-known technology companies, like Overture which was acquired by Yahoo for $1.6B. Earlier, Mr. Gibson started GNP Development Corporation with Bill Gross, and in 1986 they sold it to Lotus Development Corporation for $10M. In 1991, they co-founded Knowledge Adventure Inc. and in 1996 they sold to Cendant for $100M. Knowledge Adventure then became the largest children's CD-ROM edutainment company in the world with almost $400M in annual revenues, owned by Universal Studies and known for ‘JumpStart' (20M units sold) and ‘Blaster' educational software.
Ryan Mast serves as SP's Infrastructure Partner in New Mexico and southwest region. Mr. Mast has over 15 years of experience in the public sector developing and implementing forward-leaning projects that improve outcomes in the communities for which he served.
Prior to joining SP, he was the Director of the Environmental Health Department for the City of Albuquerque where he led the city's Sustainability, Air Quality and Environmental Health Science and Engineering programs. Through his efforts, he strengthened the city's resilience to environmental hazards and enhanced sustainability practices throughout all city programs.
Mr. Mast previously led similar efforts in Louisiana, serving as Hazard Mitigation Administrator and Director of the Office of Resilience and Sustainability for the City of New Orleans. He also devoted more than eight years of professional service with the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the Louisiana Recovery Office in support of the $20 billion recovery effort from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.
Sean Mitchell is SP's Senior Analyst and responsible for providing financial forecasting, reporting, operational metrics, and modeling. His ability to build and analyze financial models tailored to each unique project and customer are extremely important for SP's customer engagement and overall project success.
Mr. Mitchell has over 10 years of global experience with EPC, manufacturing and renewable energy. His expertise in various infrastructure projects will be well used to identify opportunities and risks as the company approaches new projects. to SP, Mr. Mitchell served at TPI Composites as Business Development Proposal Manager for the firm's global proposal process for all new wind blade business. Before TPI, he was with First Solar managing a project controls team responsible for the cost management of solar EPC projects in the USA, Japan, and Australia.
Mr. Mitchell holds a B.S. in Quantity Surveying from Glasgow Caledonian University.
Job Titles:
- Infrastructure Specialist
- Project Manager
- Infrastructure Specialist, Hawaii
Mr. Agustin is a seasoned project manager with a decade of expertise overseeing the construction of commercial and residential structures across Hawai'i.
Born and raised on O'ahu, Mr. Agustin is an alumnus of the prestigious Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawai'i School of Architecture. His comprehensive knowledge of both development and Hawaiian culture has enabled him to offer valuable perspectives on the impact of new construction on local communities and cultivate strong connections between contractors and consumers.
Thomas Cain founded SP and due to initial successes, BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) purchased majority interests in 2016. SP completed private contracts in Colorado, Wisconsin, California, and Arizona in 2016 soon followed by its first major government contracts in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California by 2018.
From 2002 to 2014, Mr. Cain was Founder and Managing Partner of two CleanTech venture capital firms (SAIL Ventures and EFW Partners) with over $200M in discretionary funds. Mr. Cain was the primary partner to source and govern the energy storage, renewable energy, motor, media, transportation, and energy efficiency investments.
Prior to his time in venture capital, Mr. Cain completed a successful acquisition and turnaround of failing Evans Systems (NASDAQ: EVSI), a Texas-based distressed oil and gas business. A spin-off of this was restoring mothballed fuel terminals on the gulf intracoastal from which he founded Starco Energy. Quintana Corporation purchased Starco in 2006.
Mr. Cain started his career as a technologist and at 22 years of age he founded Distribution Architects International, a supply chain and enterprise resources planning (ERP) software firm. The firm was acquired by Frontstep Corp (NASDAQ: FSTP) in 1999 with Mr. Cain becoming Executive Chairman of the acquisition corporation. Frontstep was then acquired by Mapics (NASDAQ:MAPX) in 2003, then Infor acquired Mapics in 2005 at which time Mr. Cain retired from his role as Chairman. During Mr. Cain's tenure, the firm he stewarded grew to 4,500 customers in 70 countries with a staff of 1,200 and $172M in revenues. Over the years, he received many awards for innovative software breakthroughs and spoke globally as notable entrepreneur.
Mr. Cain holds patents in advanced ECM motor design and music tablature in commercial use today. As a young mathematician, Mr. Cain worked on the mathematics behind the theta-pinch toroidal plasma stabilization effort to control thermonuclear fusion for direct generation of electricity under the polymath James Tuck at Los Alamos Labs. While no solution was found, nor has been since, the experience seeded Mr. Cain's lifetime passion for energy, water, and the global ecosystem.
Mr. Cain, a member of WPO/YPO, founded the YPO Global Supply Chain Conference, was chairman of the MIT President's Education, and group led the HBS President's Education. He has served as a board director on over 30 public and private businesses. In 2008, Mr. Cain authored Best Practices for Energy Venture Capital with Innovation: Funding New Frontiers in Energy Investing. Mr. Cain is an alumnus of ASU with undergraduate and graduate studies in Mathematics.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Head of Infrastructure, PJ Solomon Company
Job Titles:
- Member of the Advisory Board
- Chairman of the Board, Insight Enterprises
Todd Magyar serves Sustainability Partners as Corporate Controller with 23 years of finance experience focusing on global renewable energy manufacturing, construction, and maintenance.
Mr. Magyar was part of the core team that took First Solar, Inc. from early growth stages to a public company. His expertise is accounting, SEC reporting, financial forecasting, planning and analysis as well as systems implementations is instrumental in the company's processes.
Prior to SP, Mr. Magyar was Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at TPI Composites and Senior Manager of Systems Project Controls at First Solar, Inc.
Mr. Magyar holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from Indiana University.