AMERICAN SOLAR GRAZING ASSOCIATION - Key Persons
Amber Lessard has held several roles within the solar industry. She has worked as a residential PV installer and service technician, and as a commercial solar evaluator, designer, site supervisor, and operations and maintenance manager. She now brings that wealth of experience to Encore Renewable Energy as a Construction Project Manager, located just outside Burlington, VT. Amber is an enthusiastic supporter of dual-use solar and agriculture.
An advocate for increasing diversity in the renewable energy and trade industries, Amber has worked closely with the non-profit Vermont Works for Women as a solar instructor for their middle school and high school programs, adult pre-apprenticeship training, and job training for incarcerated women nearing release.
Amber has a bachelor's degree from Ithaca College in Environmental Studies, concentrating in land use and ecosystem management. She is a licensed electrician with the state of Vermont and holds the NABCEP PV Installation Professional certification. Prior to her work in the renewable energy industry, Amber worked in the Finger Lakes, NY wine industry and in the VT coffee roasting industry.
Job Titles:
- President of the Institute for Energy
Arjun Makhijani is President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Maryland. He earned his Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in 1972, specializing in nuclear fusion.
Dr. Makhijani is the author and co-author of numerous reports and books on energy and environment related issues. He has done extensive work on nuclear and renewable energy as well as on the health and environmental impacts of nuclear weapons production and testing. He is also author or co-author of reports and analyses of radionuclides emissions from nuclear weapons facilities, radiological conditions at nuclear production and testing sites, worker exposures, and the risks of radiation exposure. His recent work on renewable energy, Prosperous, Renewable Maryland, includes hour-by-hour modeling of the Maryland electricity sector and energy justice in a transition to renewable energy. He is principal editor and co-author of Nuclear Wastelands: A Global Guide to Nuclear Weapons Production and Its Health and Environmental Effects, (MIT Press, 1995 and 2000). He published articles in journals and magazines as varied as The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Environment, The Physics of Fluids, and The Washington Post.
Since 2004, he has served on a team to provide scientific support to the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health. He has served as a consultant on energy issues to utilities, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Edison Electric Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and several agencies of the United Nations.
In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, an honor granted each year to at most half-a-percent of the Society's members. He was named a Ploughshares Hero, by the Ploughshares Fund; was awarded the Jane Bagley Lehman Award of the Tides Foundation in 2008 and the Josephine Butler Nuclear Free Future Award in 2001; and in 1989 he received The John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism of the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, with Robert Alvarez.
Dr. Makhijani has testified before Congress, and has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, CBS 60 Minutes, NPR, CNN, and BBC, among others. He has served as a consultant on energy issues to utilities, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Edison Electric Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and several agencies of the United Nations.
Since 2015, Caleb has been actively grazing commercial solar sites and working towards this as an industry best practice. Caleb is the owner of the Scott Land Yard Group a contract company who works closely with solar site developers, Caleb and his landscape crew were mechanically mowing ground-mounted solar arrays as part of their vegetation management prior to getting started solar grazing. Caleb also owns a Grocery-Market where he sells his solar raised lamb and solar honey. Caleb is a founding board member and vice president of ASGA the American Solar Grazing Association.
Job Titles:
- Director of Operations for Eitri Foundry
Christopher is Director of Operations for Eitri Foundry, LLC. Eitri Foundry was created by a group of like-minded individuals who strive to promote the deployment of clean energy technology in a distributed generation and small utility manner and with the immediate community always in mind.
Previously, he was a Federal Renewable Energy Project Manager for Legatus6, LLC managing the construction of distributed solar systems for various military and space agencies nationally. Before that, he was Principal and CTO for Aeries Energy Capital, a renewables project development and finance firm, focused on the commercial, public and small-utility sectors of the US and International markets. Aeries brought to market over 20 megawatts including the EPA Brown Site at Vertellus Industries in Indianapolis and consulted on national and international projects totaling over 120 megawatts of solar PV.
Christopher's primary responsibility at the Foundry is to ensure that all projects enter and exit the construction phases smoothly and can uphold a high standard for workmanship.
Dan Finnegan, Founder and General Manger of Solar Shepherd, LLC possesses a wealth of business ownership, financial service, analytics and farming expertise central to the company's reputation as a unique provider to the solar industry.
With a career that spans marketing, sales, distribution strategies and client services roles, Mr. Finnegan has over 20 years of financial service/investment management experience.
Daniel Dotterer grew up on a family farm near State College Pennsylvania that is an original land grant from 1819. While living at home and working, Daniel completed his PreMed degree from The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). After graduation, he passed on medical school and moved to Los Angeles, California where he worked his way up to producing on movies, TV shows and gameshows. One of the most well-known projects he worked on was Despicable Me.
Daniel has developed multiple IOS/Android mobile applications released in iTunes and other app stores. Four years ago, he was one of the first to own the HoloLens, the first wireless wearable holographic computer. Based on this experience, he started a company that offers holographic solutions. One of his current projects is building an interactive holographic exhibit at Pearl Harbor.
He is a staff member in Penn State's Extension Office and manages his family's farm while splitting his time between LA and rural PA.
Dr. Judy St. Leger is the new Executive Director of the American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA). She grew up in New York State and graduated from the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University. For the past 30 years, she's enjoyed a brilliant career as a veterinary pathologist traveling the globe teaching and working on wildlife health. Her commitment to conservation includes not just exotic wildlife but also American farms, farmers, and farm land.
In 2009, she and her husband, Marc purchased a small, historic farm in the Mohawk River Valley of New York. They have been restoring the farm and raising grass-fed lamb and breeding stock to enhance the American lamb market. Income from the sheep pays for the farm restoration.
In 2018, Judy had her first foray into solar grazing when she partnered with another local farmer to manage vegetation on a small array. That enterprise led her to meet Lexie Hain and one thing led to another as they tend to do.
Dr. Serkan Ates holds a PhD in Pasture Agronomy (2010) from Lincoln University, New Zealand. Before joining Oregon State University, he was a Pasture Scientist at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA). He joined Oregon State University as an Assistant Professor of Forage/Livestock Systems at the Department of Animal and Rangeland Sciences in 2016.
Some of Dr Ates' current research interests include: Carbon neutral livestock farming; Plant bioactive compounds, Livestock production in agrivoltaics systems; Management of forbsin dryland pastures; Dual purpose management of pastures for livestock and pollinators; and Use of spent hemp biomass in ruminant nutrition.
Dr. Ates has authored and co-authored more than 100 scientific publications including journal and conference papers, book chapters and scientific reports. He is an elected member of the Continuing Committee for the International Grassland Congress to represent the Mediterranean Region. He is serving on the editorial board of Grass and Forage Science Journal and African Journal of Range & Forage Science.
Job Titles:
- Founder and CEO of EVA Ranch
Ely Valdez is the Founder and CEO of EVA Ranch and Solar Farm Services. Ely and his wife started South Texas Curbing, LLC, a small concrete company based out of San Antonio, Texas back in 2014.
Jesse Robertson-DuBois is a farmer and conservation professional working to advance and improve the protection, stewardship and productivity of farm and forest lands. With expertise ranging from agricultural operations management to conservation policy, he integrates entrepreneurial and public-policy approaches to working landscapes, with a focus on real, on-the-ground applications.
He and his partner Desiree operate a farm business specializing in solar grazing and small ruminant livestock production, and plan to expand into agrivoltaic crops.
Johnny Rogers is Program Coordinator for North Carolina State University (NCSU) Extension's Amazing Grazing Program. He works with pasture-based livestock producers throughout North Carolina. Currently, the program's emphasis is on the benefits of adaptive grazing using temporary fence and managing pastures for improved soil health.
Outside of his current role at NCSU, Johnny owns and operates Rogers Cattle Company, LLC. The family farm consists of beef cattle, hair sheep, free range poultry and pasture raised pigs. They also offer Red Angus seedstock and commercial cattle, seedstock and market sheep, and pasture raised meats both on the farm and at farmers markets.
His previous professional experience includes serving as a lecturer at NCSU (ANS 402 Beef Management) and a Beef Cattle Specialist at Purina Mills, LLC (Land O'Lakes, Inc).
Johnny graduated from University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a bachelor's degree in Animal Sciences and earned his master's degree in Animal Nutrition from North Carolina State University.
Job Titles:
- Founder of Solar Sheep LLC
Julie Bishop is the founder of Solar Sheep LLC. Solar Sheep LLC is woman owned business operating out of its base in south central New Jersey. Solar Sheep LLC has worked primarily with solar tracker sites and has clients such as Princeton University and The Lawrenceville School.
In his 12th year with EDF Renewables (EDFR), Kevin is currently a Director of Development. Kevin's experience is mainly in development (managing land acquisition, community engagement and permitting) and leading efforts with internal and external stakeholders to bring projects to the construction-ready state. An advocate for agrivoltaics, with focus on grazing sheep under solar panels, he is a member of the NYSERDA Agricultural Technical Working Group and is chair of the ACE NY Solar Siting Committee.
With EDF Renewables, Kevin worked on dozens of large scale solar and wind projects including more than 100 MW already in service. Currently, he is focusing efforts on a 2 GW portfolio of large scale solar projects across New York State.
Prior to EDFR, Kevin held operations, engineering and project management roles with Shell Canada. He earned a Bachelor of Applied Science in Environmental Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo.
Lewis is a top-producing senior business development and sales leader with passion for driving sustainable solutions that deliver multimillion-dollar growth across the renewable solutions industry. Leveraging deep expertise in C&I solar projects and economics/policy, combined with advanced sales methodologies, he is able to create and overhaul processes to replace ineffective systems and achieve operational excellence.
Lewis's prior work experience includes Director of Sales at Simpleray, a renewable energy installation company and teaching positions in economics at Ferris State University, Aquinas College - Grand Rapids, and Hillsdale College. He also has been an entrepreneur and started businesses in the areas of yacht care, consulting, and aerial data and image services.
He is very active with several professional and community organizations. He serves on the Boards of the Iowa Solar Energy Trade Association, Illinois Solar Energy Association, Missouri Solar Energy Industries Association, and Detroit Achievement Academy.
Lewis earned a B.S. in Economics from Hillsdale College and a Masters in Economics from George Mason University.
Lewis Fox has an agricultural background with both small and large ruminants in the Northeast. Lewis has a BS in Animal Science from Cornell University, and has extensive experience within the dairy industry. Lewis has managed large scale cow, sheep and goat dairies in New York, and grew up on an organic grazing dairy in Vermont.
Lewis owns and operates a commercial sheep operation as well as being a co-founder and partner in Agrivoltaic Solutions, which currently grazes solar assets for multiple firms in New York State, Vermont and Pennsylvania. Lewis is a founding board member of the American Solar Grazing Association.
A farm owner in New York State since 2005, Lexie started with a small homestead and transitioned from owner to operator of a specialty plant nursery, Motherplants Ltd. (2005 to 2015). After selling the business in 2015, she transitioned to solar grazing with sheep, starting a solar grazing business.
She developed Agrivoltaic Solutions LLC with Lewis Fox. The business manages a portfolio of grazed solar arrays in the Northeast and consults on individual projects.
Lexie is a founder of and former Executive Director of the American Solar Grazing Association (ASGA). Lexie is now an ASGA Board Member and Director of Agrivoltaics and Land Management at Lightsource bp.
Michael MacDonald graduated from Cornell University with a B.S. in Science and Technology Studies and Government. He worked in science policy development at the International Center for Technology Assessment and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His work covered human genetics and agriculture. He followed his interest in agriculture to work at dairy farming operations in Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York. Michael is currently the farm manager of Churchtown Dairy, a center for regenerative agriculture in Hudson, NY. He oversees an operation producing raw milk, beef, pork and eggs. Michael's interest in social justice led him to the Catholic Worker movement communities in Atlanta and New York, where he lived with those on the margins. He studied at Moreau Seminary at the University of Notre Dame and received a Masters of Divinity from the Weston Jesuit School of Theology.
Nick has a professional background in small business and supply chain administration, sales, land and livestock management. Over the course of his career, Nick has managed four small businesses for others, and two of his own, throughout start-up phase to maturity. A recent highlight was 10 years spent sourcing and supplying domestic wool for the commission manufacture of 100% American grown and sewn, knit and woven wool clothing fabrics, as well as goods certified to the Global Organic Textile Standard - GOTS, and Cradle to Cradle Certified™ for the U.S. company Ramblers Way Farm, Inc.
He holds a BA in English from Washington College, Chestertown, Maryland, where he went to play lacrosse but studied Romantic Poetry instead. He is proud to be a University of Maine Master Gardener and a Saltwater Institute Values-Centered Leadership graduate.
Nick has spent most of his adult years somehow engaged with animal agriculture and organic farming. Initially ranching in Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho, he then returned home to Maine to start Spring Creek Farm with his wife, Sarah, in 1998. Nick manages Spring Creek Farm, a mixed-power, organic, horse, sheep, hay and small grain farm that also serves as the host facility for Carlisle Equestrian Academy. He is most happy behind his draft horses getting a job done.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Advisory Committee to the National Renewable Energy Lab 's InSPIRE
Rob Davis is Communications Lead at Connexus Energy and Chair of the Advisory Committee to the National Renewable Energy Lab's InSPIRE study into low-impact solar. Davis' work on pollinator-friendly solar has been featured in trainings by the U.S. Department of the Interior's National Conservation Training Center, the U.S. Department of Energy, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; in Fast Company and Scientific American feature stories, and a talk titled "This unlikely 1960s space tech can help save the bees," onTED.com.
Previously, Davis helped launch technology start-ups and created the international crowdsourced campaign that launched the Firefox web browser. He is a graduate of Macalester College.
Job Titles:
- Group Manager for National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Robert M. Margolis is Group Manager for National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Washington, D.C. Office in the Strategic Energy Analysis Center. His areas of expertise are energy-economic-environmental modeling, including national and global-scale models; economic and market analysis of renewable energy technologies; R&D planning and evaluation; and long-term scenario development.
His primary research interests are science and technology policy; research, development, and demonstration policy; energy technology; and environmental policy.
Robert's prior work experience includes Executive Director/Research Faculty for Center for the Study and Improvement of Regulation in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University; Research Fellow for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government; and Research Associate for the Stockholm Environment Institute-Boston's, Tellus Institute. He was also a Research Assistant for the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Design Engineer in the Advanced Sensors Group at Texas Instruments.
Robert earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from University of Rochester. He holds a M. S. in Technology and Policy from MIT and a Ph.D. in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy from Princeton University.
Job Titles:
- Program Manager at Nexamp
Ryan is a Program Manager at Nexamp where he manages special projects and the day-to-day upkeep of the company's solar assets. His passion for the environment shows immensely in his work, as you can find him 90 percent of the time outdoors. Throughout his time at Nexamp, he has enjoyed the freedom of taking on projects that he finds interesting and working with motivated, caring, and hardworking people. Prior to working at Nexamp, Ryan was Operations Manager for Solaflect Energy.
He is a graduate of Colgate University, where he majored in Economics and served as Captain of the Men's Division I Varsity Rowing Team.
Job Titles:
- Policy Specialist for Pasa Sustainable Agriculture
Sara Nicholas is currently a policy specialist for Pasa Sustainable Agriculture based in Harrisburg, PA. Previously, she held a number of jobs in the nonprofit and public sectors, including Policy Director for the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Mid-Atlantic Director of American Rivers, and Grants Officer for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. She has a masters degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and has a lot to learn about real-life farming.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center
Steve Kalland, Executive Director of the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center in the College of Engineering at NC State University, has over 25years of experience in the clean energy field. Steve directs the strategic vision of the Center and its programs, including activities in renewable energy and clean power, energy efficiency and green buildings, and clean transportation. Programmatic work includes technical assistance, economic development, energy policy and workforce training.
Mr. Kalland currently serves on the Boards of Directors of the NC Sustainable Energy Association (NCSEA)and the Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster (RTCC), the Advisory Board of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute(EESI) in Washington, DC and the Duke Energy (NC) State President's Advisory Council. He is a past board member of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC), the US Combined Heat and Power Association (USCHPA), and NC GreenPower.
Previously, Steve was the Director for Government Relations and Grid-Tied Markets at Xantrex Technology, Inc., Executive Director of the Maryland-DC-Virginia Solar Energy Industries Association (MDV-SEIA), and Director of State Programs and Policy Analysis at the national SEIA.
Steve graduated in 1991 from the College of William and Mary and in 1993 from the University of Rochester (NY). He lives in Cary, NC with his wife, three children, and a Golden Retriever named Tucker.
Trent is a rancher, consultant and serial entrepreneur having interests in all things agricultural, food, and environment. He has served as a board member for the American Grassfed Association, the Grassfed Alliance, Propogate Ventures, REP Provisions and is a Savory Global Advisor, along with being an accredited Savory Field Professional. Trent and his partner Rachel, with their 6 children, own Cabriejo Ranch in the Missouri Ozarks where they produce grassfed beef and lamb along with operating their ranch as the HQ for a large grazing operation including many utility scale solar farms across the Midwest and Southeast states. Trent's passion is reviving rural communities with Holistic Management and grassland economies.
Warren Sakey is a Renewable Development Manager with Invenergy, North America's leading developer of large-scale renewable energy projects. In his role with Invenergy, Warren manages a project development pipeline exceeding one gigawatt in Virginia and the Eastern PJM market.
Warren is also a Veterans Advanced Energy Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Through his fellowship, Warren is advancing policy proposals for the government to take a more active role supporting the adoption of solar grazing and the harmonization of solar with agriculture more broadly.
Before joining Invenergy, Warren consulted for clients such as the Resilient Energy Program Office (REPO) of the United States Navy, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), and multinational corporations. He holds a Master of International Business from the Tufts Fletcher School, a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from American University, and served as a Logistics Officer in the United States Army and Army Reserve for seven years. He currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where he enjoys hiking and camping with his husky, Guy Fox.