The Empower Team

As CEO, Michael sets the vision and oversees the mission of Empower Energies. Previously COO for Empower, Michael has built and led a world class EPC organization that has constructed over 100MW of complex commercial energy systems and positioned Empower as a top tier provider of renewable energy solutions nationwide. Building upon this success, Michael continues to focus the team on expanding the company’s services to serve the increasing needs of Empower’s clients across the US.

Michael has held several senior positions, including President of RCS Energy Services, where he built a $35 million solar power EPC company, and as Senior Director of Operations at SunEdison, where he oversaw North American EPC and overall performance.

As CSO, Patrick is responsible for corporate strategy and implementation. Patrick’s career began in mobile telecom and software, serving both the F500 and government sectors, where he built several successful organizations before joining the solar industry.

Patrick has broad experience across residential, C&I and utility scale solar and storage projects. He has held leadership positions with NRG, SolarCity, Tesla and 174 Power Global/Hanwha Energy, where he built and led teams that developed over 200 megawatts of solar and storage projects across the US.

As COO, Clint brings with him over 20 years of operational leadership and team building. Most notably, Clint spent almost 3 years as Chief Operating Officer of Interconnection Systems, a large Midwest renewables EPC firm, and 20 years as Senior Vice President of Adventures in Missions (or international non-profit) coordinating disaster relief efforts across the globe.

Clint brings organizational agility to develop and implement strategic change, an essential component for growth on the horizon.

Dennis Haines has worked with a diverse mix of companies in energy and related industrial sectors, ranging from early-stage, entrepreneurial startups specializing in renewables to leading, publicly traded power-generation firms with worldwide operations. He has supported business and project development, equipment procurement, manufacturing and sales, facility build-out and operations as well as corporate governance, finance, treasury and human resources over his 30+ year career as hands-on general counsel, private practitioner and strategic advisor.

As SVP of People and Corporate Operations, Vanessa is responsible for the HR, workplace and corporate administrative functions of Empower. Vanessa brings 15+ years of renewable industry experience through leadership roles in multiple fast-growth companies including SolarCity and Tesla. In her role there as Regional Operations Manager, she led the team through doubled volume growth, expansion of new locations and significant improvements in operational throughput. She subsequently led Tesla’s East Coast energy HR team, spanning 32 locations over 13 states with over 4,000 employees at the high point of growth.

Vanessa has built, led and mentored teams that have produced multiple next-generation leaders. With deep industry experience, Vanessa focuses on aligning people, practices and business priorities to produce an inclusive work environment where employees are energized and able to create superior results. As a people-centric leader, she builds relationships with team members across the organization to foster a mission-driven culture grounded in Empower’s core values of respect, teamwork, ingenuity, integrity and passion.

As the SVP of Procurement and Strategic Partnerships, Ludovic is responsible for the implementation of the corporate procurement strategy and the development of strategic partnerships.

Ludovic brings 12 years of financial planning and accounting experience and over 11 years of procurement and operation management comprised of technical expertise in budgeting, strategic sourcing, and project controls. He established and led the supply chain group at Greensmith Energy, a Wärtsilä Company, where he provided solutions to improve the efficiency and economics of the procurement program while managing the strategic sourcing and suppliers development for energy storage projects totaling approximately 180 MWh DC. In his role at SunEdison as the Procurement & Planning Manager for North America C&I and Utility-Scale projects, he managed a sourcing category for a portfolio of approximately 300MW DC of projects.

His experience in solar energy, energy storage and hybrid projects gives him a leadership edge in the clean energy sector to push Empower Energies to the next level.

Chris leads Capital Markets and Project Finance for Empower Energies. He is responsible for providing strategic leadership in the finance team including all capital markets, project financing, risk management, capital structure and investor relations functions. Chris’s finance roles span over 30 years of experience as a renewable energy developer, infrastructure investor, commercial lender, and investment banker. He has worked on over $70 billion of financings in a leading role throughout his career. His expertise includes renewable energy infrastructure project finance in the C&I, governmental, and nonprofit sectors.

Chris was previously a finance director at Ameresco, a clean energy integrator, where he worked closely with technical teams and customers on energy efficiency, renewable energy and EPC/ESPC/EaaS projects. His experience also includes roles as Vice President of Credit at Key Bank, where he helped grow the business to record levels, and as Portfolio Manager at Capital One, where he was a leading team member that launched and managed a new business unit.

As VP of Engineering, Bob oversees every facet of Empower’s in-house engineering capabilities. Bob has over 35 years of experience in construction, energy efficiency technologies, automation and renewables. His background includes growing talented engineering teams in support of an international client base, managing projects across the continental US and Hawaii, and developing creative solutions in the fields of Demand Response, Solar Production and Remote Automation and control.

Additionally, Bob has served as Engineer of Record for many Solar projects in the NJ/CT/MA area since 2010, being Licensed in those states as a Professional Engineer, as well as NY and PA. He also holds an Electrical Contracting License in NJ.

Serving as VP of Sales Operations, Jose oversees the Sales Operations team supporting the Business Development team at Empower Energies. He has been in the renewable industry since 2011 with industry leading organizations, serving in a project management role, most recently as the Director of Project Management at Empower Energies. During his renewable career, Jose has managed more than 200 MW DC of projects throughout the United States.

Jose brings over 35 years of experience in the architecture, construction, site development and solar energy fields. Prior to the renewable energy industry, he owned and managed an architectural consulting firm, with projects ranging from the US to the Caribbean and Russia. Jose also holds architectural licenses in multiple states.

As VP of Sales, Mike is responsible for leading our sales and development team. Mike has over 22 years’ experience in senior sales and development executive positions both internationally, and in the US.

Mike has secured and developed over $550MM in energy projects, with a strong emphasis on distributed energy solutions. He has broad experience in MUSH and C&I markets, and expertise in a variety of contracting mechanisms (EPC/ESPC/PPA/EaaS). Prior to joining Empower Energies, Mike held senior development and leadership roles at E.ON UK, AECOM, NORESCO, Centrica Business Solutions, and GreenStruxure. At GreenStruxure he led development of “behind-the-meter” microgrid solutions, containing multiple subsystems (Solar/BESS/CHP/Genset), and delivered them through an outcome-based Energy as-a-Service agreement.