Our Team
Leadership Team
Pier LaFarge
Co-Founder & CEO
Pier is an experienced entrepreneur and changemaker. At ICF International, he co-founded a new ICF service offering focused on energy efficiency finance strategy. Pier also has experience in financial analysis, working on a major evaluation of loan financing modalities employed by the World Bank under its Climate Investment Fund program. In 2010, he founded Race to Replace, a statewide clean energy focused voter registration campaign in Vermont in partnership with League of Conservation Voters.
Pier LaFarge
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Asher Burg
Chief Revenue Officer
Asher is an energy industry leader dedicated to bringing new technology and creative clean energy solutions to market. At Sparkfund, he is responsible for sales channel development and driving customer success. He joins Sparkfund most recently having held leadership positions in both sales and customer success at Opower. In these capacities he was responsible for the delivery, client relationships and business growth of a client portfolio representing over $60M in annual recurring revenue. He also led sales strategy for all of Opower's new products and complex deals. Prior to working at Opower he worked at PG&E, developing the Utility's residential dynamic pricing strategy. Asher's energy industry experience is rooted in the 5 years he spent consulting to a diverse set of clients from American Express to the House of Representatives in ICF International's Energy and Climate practice. Asher holds a BA in Environmental Science and Economics from Middlebury College and an MBA from University of California Berkeley.
Asher Burg
Chief Revenue Officer
Leigh-Golding DeSantis
COO, Founding Team
Leigh-Golding manages multiple teams responsible for Sparkfund's business operations, legal contract strategy (including development of the Technology Subscription agreement), customer accounting analysis, and technology strategy. As part of the founding team at Sparkfund, Ms. DeSantis established the Operations Team, business processes, and developed Sparkfund's financial products (including the "as a service" offering). Her past experience with ICF International includes consulting with EPA, DOE and a host of other public and private clients in implementing policies and programs for resource efficiency in buildings and increasing the use of distributed generation. Prior to her time as a consultant, Ms. DeSantis helped launch the first Office of Sustainability at Temple University, where she conducted Temple University's first Greenhouse Gas Inventory, drafted plans to move Temple towards carbon neutrality, and served as Adjunct Faculty.
Leigh-Golding DeSantis
Chief Operating Officer, Founding Team
Mike Kohn
Chief People Experience Officer
Mike is passionate about the world of people and human systems, sustainability and the environment, and enabling others to save the planet. As the Director of People Operations, he gets to work across Sparkfund to help set his colleagues up for success. Most recently, Mike spent time with Deloitte Consulting, advising the federal government on building out their human capital function. Prior to that, he worked in higher education, leading a team of HR professionals to enable the growth and development of student services, while earning his MA in Organizational Leadership from the George Washington University. When not at work, he's spending time with his partner, Tony, and their dog, Spot, practicing yoga, playing board games, or trying a new restaurant around DC.
Mike Kohn
Chief People Experience Officer
Chris Martin
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Chris oversees demand generation, marketing operations and digital marketing at Sparkfund. An experienced marketing leader, he is passionate about marketing and believes great marketing happens at the intersection of art and science, and content is only worth producing if it is useful to prospects and customers. He brings an extensive background in building the marketing infrastructure critical for a marketing department to succeed and designing integrated programs that exceed corporate goals. Prior to joining Sparkfund, Chris led demand generation, marketing operations, and digital marketing for the B2B organizations at Rosetta Stone and CARFAX. He received his MBA from Wake Forest University.
Chris Martin
Sr. Vice President, Marketing
Pari Rao
Chief Technology Officer
Pari is an experienced respected industry leader, technologist, entrepreneur and innovator. Prior to joining Sparkfund, she has lead several senior technology leadership positions at Google, Microsoft, IBM, The New York Times and SL Green among others. At The New York Times, she was the recipient of the highly coveted prestigious Publisher Award for innovation in technology, driving digital transformation across products and technology at The Times. Among others, she has driven technology innovation at Google, along with being one of the founder members of the Agile grouplet, where she enabled engineering teams to deliver world class products globally, building an industry reputation through delivery of software products and technology solutions. She is also an avid proponent of women in technology, having contributed to several diversity efforts. When she is not working, she is hiking on long trails with her family and her dog, enjoying nature or enjoying yoga and meditation.
Pari Rao
Chief Technology Officer
Nikko Patten Weinstein
Co-Founder & President
Nikko contributes to corporate governance while overseeing all software development and information technology efforts. He is responsible for ensuring that the business' requirements and opportunities are translated into functional software and systems. Nikko is a talented software developer with specific experience in web development, financial software solutions, functional programming (λ), and the Agile methodology. A graduate of Northeastern University with a wide breadth of experience in the technology field, Nikko was a member of the highly competitive Rotational Development Program (RDP) at Intuit. At the age of 16, Nikko founded Basement 9 Studio, a full-fledged digital recording studio that Nikko built and operated by himself which ran as a profitable business for seven years.
Nikko Patten Weinstein
Co-Founder & President
Morgan Wright
Chief Financial Officer
Before Sparkfund, Morgan helped launch Tax Equity Advisors, an investment advisory firm that implemented the first solar tax equity facility with a non-bank public company investor. Over the last two years he has structured, deployed, and managed nearly $400M in tax equity investments. Previously, he was the head of strategy and operations for the DOE Loan Programs, and has a deep background in investment banking, private equity, venture capital, and senior finance and business development roles in private companies. When not at the office, Morgan enjoys hiking, cooking, playing soccer, and spending time with his wife and daughters.
Morgan Wright
Chief Financial Officer
Sparkfund Team
Peyman Allahvirdizadeh
Talent Acquisition Manager
Peyman is an experienced recruiter with a passion for everything People Operations, diversity, equity, and inclusion. He believes economic growth and environmental sustainability are mutually exclusive. Prior to joining Sparkfund, he worked at wikiHow as a Talent Acquisition Manager, as well as helping wikiHow grow their international websites. Peyman graduated from San Francisco State University in 2014 where he studied International Business. When not at work he spends his time riding his bike, cooking, buying fresh cut flowers, writing poetry, or designing performing art pieces.
Peyman Allahvirdizadeh
Talent Acquisition Manager
Will Alexander
Director, Project Management and Delivery
Will is a seasoned construction and real estate industry professional who now leads Sparkfund’s Project Management and Delivery group. His experience spans multiple facets of the general contracting realm, having excelled in the roles of project management, superintending, engineering, estimating, and procurement. Will has also worked as an owner’s representative providing consultation to developers, commercial brokerages, as well as various commercial, non-profit, and institutional building ownership entities in the course of his career. In these capacities, he has leveraged his knowledge and insights into construction means and methods to deliver a variety of building product types including new construction and major existing building renovations. Will is a Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Construction Manager (CCM), and LEED AP. He earned a BS in Mechanical Engineering, an MBA with a concentration in Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and a Master’s Certificate in Energy Engineering and Management all from the George Washington University.
Will Alexander
Director, Project Management and Delivery
Claire Alvis
Software Engineer
Claire is a proficient software engineer who specializes in functional programming language design and implementation. She draws from her extensive experience in academia, first graduating with a Bachelor's in Mathematics and Computer Science from Indiana University Bloomington, and then finishing her Master's degree in Computer Science at Northeastern University, Boston. During this time, Claire contributed to the open-source development of Racket, a full-spectrum programming language, and the declarative logic programming language miniKanren. Through these experiences, Claire learned to produce maintainable systems by prioritizing careful software design and strenuous testing. She applies that knowledge at Sparkfund by improving the software used to manage the fund's transactions and analytics. She also maintains Spec-Tacular, an open-source library that provides a safe layer for interactions between Clojure and Datomic.
Claire Alvis
Software Engineer
Donald Ball
Software Engineer
Donald is a software engineer with extensive experience developing, operationalizing, and maintaining production software systems. Donald develops Sparkfund's information systems by designing, developing, and installing software solutions. Having been fortunate enough to be introduced to the World Wide Web in its infancy, he has devoted his career to deep mastery of the protocols, languages, tools, and challenges peculiar to developing software systems deployed on the Internet. He's deployed production systems with a variety of languages, including perl, c++, javascript, java, python, php, ruby, and clojure. He is especially skilled at developing robust systems that work reliably with little maintenance. He's contributed to a variety of open source projects in the past, and served on the Apache Software Foundation's board. He has a BS in Mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Donald Ball
Software Engineer
Matt Bosch
Sr. Director, Business Development
Matt is responsible for strategy, execution, and growth for the Utility vertical of Sparkfund's business. His background is hyper-focused on energy software, spanning the Wholesale Energy Market to the Utility-Customer relationship. Prior to Sparkfund, Matt led a segment of Client Success Managers at Opower covering $20M+ in annual recurring revenue. With a primary focus on building enduring client partnerships, Matt was responsible for strategic account management and technical delivery of SaaS products at 30+ US Utilities. Additionally, Matt spent nearly 5 years in Accenture's Utility Management Consulting practice. During that time he worked with Regulated Utilities, Regional Transmission Organizations, and Energy Traders on the business implications of a rapidly advancing software landscape. Matt holds a BSE in Mechanical Engineering (Energy Focus) from the University of Michigan.
Matt Bosch
Sr. Director, Business Development
Carol Burns
General Counsel
Carol is a seasoned attorney with significant experience in the energy sector and construction law. Prior to joining Sparkfund, she was Senior Counsel at the Bechtel Group of Companies, where she worked on energy and infrastructure projects, in the US and internationally, including renewable energy projects and Phase One of the Silver Line Metro. She also spent a few years working as a consultant for Archetype USA, on a contract for the US Army in the Office of Energy Initiatives, where she helped the Army develop renewable energy projects at Army installations in the US using third party financing. She received a BA in History with a French minor from Dartmouth College and a JD from the University of Notre Dame. Outside of the thinking about the energy sector, Carol enjoys travel, being outdoors and cooking.
Carol Burns
General Counsel
Anthony Carnette
Credit Analyst
Anthony is a member of the Finance Team, where he works as a corporate credit analyst. Anthony has nearly a decade of financial analysis and valuation experience in addition to graduating from American University with a masters in finance, George Mason University with a bachelors in finance, and is a CFA charterholder. In his spare time, he enjoys Steelers football, good whisky, and spending time with his wife and son, but not necessarily in that order.
Anthony Carnette
Credit Analyst
Phillip Choi
Associate Counsel
Phillip is an attorney with experience in the energy and finance industries. Prior to joining Sparkfund, he was an attorney with the Energy Transactions and Projects practice group at an international law firm and the Energy and Project Finance practice group at a national law firm. Prior to becoming an attorney, Phillip served in the U.S. Navy Reserve as a Lieutenant and also as a navigational officer aboard various ocean-going commercial ships.
Phillip Choi
Associate Counsel
Phil Croker
Operations Associate
Phil is a driven problem solver on the Operations Team. Prior to joining Sparkfund, Phil managed the operational activities for the bilateral utility demand response programs at EnerNOC. His past experience also includes researching energy efficiency solutions at Boss Controls, an energy management start up, and working with the Energy Innovation Center of Pittsburgh, a non-profit that fosters green workforce development. Phil graduated from Middlebury College with a degree in Environmental Economics.
Phil Croker
Manager, Deal Solutions
Mike Derzko
Director, Business Development
Mike is a member of Sparkfund's Direct to Customer business development team and is responsible for developing new business opportunities, engaging with key customers, and building relationships with organizations that would like the benefits of energy efficient technologies without a major expenditure of time and money. Mike was previously a Vice President at Northwater Capital, where he developed the firm's energy and environmental investment strategy and was responsible for managing approximately $1 billion in hedge fund investments. He most recently served as a policy advisor in the United States Senate, advising on economic, energy, and environmental issues. Mike holds a BS in Economics and Physics from the University of Toronto and an MS in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Johns Hopkins University.
Mike Derzko
Director, Business Development
Alex Dickson
Director, Deal Solutions
Alex leads the Deal Solutions team within Sparkfund’s Finance division. The team serves as cross-functional project management group for Sparkfund’s deals with customers, providers, vendors, and capital partners that are complex and/or require new structures. Alex joined Sparkfund from Deloitte Consulting, where he specialized in growth and product line strategies for companies in the chemicals, manufacturing, and medical device industries. Alex is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Engineering and Applied Science with a degree in Applied Science in Biomedical Science.
Alex Dickson
Director, Deal Solutions
Jon Duelfer
Software Engineer
Jon is a software developer focused on improving how companies manage customer relationships through cloud-based software systems. He maintains our Salesforce infrastructure, working closely with our Sales and Operations teams to optimize how we interact with our partners and customers. Throughout his career, he has consulted for companies in a wide range of industries, from aviation to pharmaceuticals, migrating their software infrastructure into the cloud and optimizing their business processes to be customer-centric.
Jon Duelfer
Software Engineer
Megan Fellows
Manager, People Operations and Events
Megan is a creative and solution-oriented administrative professional. Megan recently joined Sparkfund in September 2017 to provide support for office operations and organization. Megan studied Anthropology and Russian language at American University, where she also developed an interest in business while working as staff at the University's business school. In her free time, Megan enjoys cooking, traveling, and volunteering at her local farmer's market.
Megan Fellows
Manager, People Operations and Events
Taylor Griffith
Content Marketing Manager
As Content Marketing Manager, Taylor owns all written messaging that represents the Sparkfund brand. She spends her days writing marketing collateral and website content, among other things, and crafting winning content marketing strategy for Sparkfund. Taylor has always had a tenacious creativity, which has served her well as a journalist and digital marketer. As a technical writer, she loves breaking down complex topics into layman’s terms. Taylor’s also fond of finding something delicious at the farmer’s market, listening to jazz and taking her dog, Oliver, to the park.
Taylor Griffith
Content Marketing Manager
MaryLauran Hall
Director of Product
MaryLauran spans verticals at Sparkfund to define product development priorities in order to deliver an exceptional Technology Subscription experience to internal users, customers, and partners. With an exceptional telescoping focus, she regularly context-switches between the big picture and the technical details. An early hire, MaryLauran was Sparkfund's first operations account manager, originated most of the company's first projects, and established the business unit responsible for project diligence, legal documentation, technical review, payment processing, and booking. Prior to joining Sparkfund she was Communications Director for a national active transportation advocacy nonprofit and worked on the 2012 transportation bill reauthorization. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wesleyan University.
MaryLauran Hall
Director, Product
Lauren Harris
Director, Business Development
Lauren is responsible for strategy, execution, and growth for our broad network of channel partners, including contractors, developers, agents, distributors and manufacturers. Lauren leads a strong team of dedicated Account Managers, developing and growing the team, while working cross-functionally across the sales org to improve process and increase growth in other go-to-market verticals. Lauren has a deep background in solar energy with focus on project origination, development, and finance. At Sol Systems as Director of Customer Energy Services, Lauren was instrumental in implementing and managing a direct to customer model including a channel partnership strategy which was responsible for over 40% of lead generation. Prior to that at SolarCity, she was a Senior Manager for Commercial Channel Accounts where she cultivated external business relationships that were responsible for the origination of over 100MW of solar projects. In addition, she successfully initiated, developed, executed and financed on a wide variety of project types across the United States. Lauren’s strengths lie in long-term relationship building with partners and clients, and driving productive development cycles by implementing strategic lead generation practices and streamlining the customer acquisition and negotiation process. Lauren graduated summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga with a BS in environmental science.
Lauren Harris
Director, Business Development
Ben Hill
Operations Manager
Ben is an engineer and scientist by training, with a background in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and materials science research. At Sparkfund, Ben supports building technology engineering and fund management operations. His past experience at ICF includes supporting EPA, DOE and Natural Resources Canada in the development, analysis, and implementation of energy efficiency programs. Prior to his time as a consultant, Ben worked as a metal materials engineer at Apple, developed Solarize programs throughout Virginia with the Local Energy Alliance Program, and researched semiconductors at the DOE's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and at the University of Virginia. He graduated from UVa's School of Engineering and Applied Science with a BS in Materials Science and Engineering and a minor in Physics.
Ben Hill
Manager, Project Engineering
David Hoedeman
Director, Business Development
David is responsible for the strategy, execution, and growth of Sparkfund's Direct to Customer business development team. He comes to Spark with an extensive background in delivering a breadth of innovative energy solutions to commercial customers, having previously served first as the Sales Director and then as the General Manager of Nextility's solar division, developing over $50 million of rooftop commercial solar projects across the country. Additionally, David served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for Nextility's energy procurement division, working with a range of energy services providers to develop a robust channel sales team dedicated to demystifying the deregulated retail energy supply market for commercial energy users.
David Hoedeman
Director, Business Development
Cassandra John
Sr. Director, Finance and Strategy
Cassandra leads capital markets, deal structuring, special situations, and financial infrastructure strategy at Sparkfund. She joined Sparkfund in October 2016 from JP Morgan, with a background in investment banking, asset management, and financial technology. Previously, she held positions at Credit Suisse, Moodys, and Barclays, focused on new business, P&L and valuations, ratings structure, regulatory, investment reporting, and product management.
Cassandra John
Sr. Director, Finance and Strategy
Ashlee Keown
Marketing Coordinator
Ashlee is the Marketing Specialist at Sparkfund. Ashlee has gathered knowledge and experience from different positions such as owning and operating a full-service photography studio, working as a social entrepreneur, and 10 plus years of various marketing experience.
Ashlee earned her Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Maryland University College and a Certificate in full stack development for George Washington University.
Ashlee Keown
Marketing Specialist
John Lee
Graphic Designer
John is a visual designer for Sparkfund. He is responsible for maintaining and growing the visual strategy and brand for Sparkfund. John's passions lie in art and design. He aims for a world where creativity and innovation are used as means for achieving any solution. John graduated from the University of Maryland where he found the power of Social Design, designing for change. After graduating, John pursued a career in Social Design by joining a software company called Opower, a company that drives utility customers to save energy by utilizing behavioral science. A few years later and many lessons learned, John joined the Sparkfund team and brings a wealth of design knowledge from the utility and energy industry.
John Lee
Graphic Designer
Lee McElroy
Manager, Deal Solutions
Lee is a member of Sparkfund’s Delivery and Solutions team, where he works closely with Sparkfund vendors, providers and project managers by bringing financial solutions and structure to complex projects and provider programs. Furthermore, Lee helps manage Sparkfund’s Board and investor relations, working closely with the executive team during periods of corporate capital raising. Prior to joining Sparkfund, was an intern at the Obama White House, Virginia Governor’s Office, and the Sewanee Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability. In his spare time, he serves on the Associate Board of the City Kids Wilderness Project. Lee graduated from Sewanee in 2016 where he studied Environmental Policy and Economics.
Lee McElroy
Manager, Deal Solutions
Michael McLenahan
Sr. Director, Asset Management
Michael is a seasoned specialty finance professional with expertise in portfolio analysis, credit operations and asset management. At Sparkfund, he works to deliver maximum shareholder value through risk management and portfolio optimization. In addition to managing the daily collateral reporting, he coordinates with the Underwriting and Operations teams to transition partners and projects into Portfolio Management. He comes to Sparkfund after working in Government Contract Finance at Federal National Commercial Credit and in Healthcare Finance at CapitalSource. Michael is a graduate of Miami University with a BA in Management Information Systems and a BS in Philosophy. He enjoys travel, sports and spending time with his family.
Michael McLenahan
Sr. Director, Asset Management
Marcela Poffald
Software Engineer
"Marcela is a software engineer with a background in both computer science and the arts. She has a Master’s degree in computer science from Indiana University, specializing in the theory and implementation of functional programming languages. During her time in academia, she carried out research in machine learning, and was also a contributor to Cur, a dependently-typed programming language embedded in Racket. She also holds an undergraduate degree in art, with a focus on concept art for video games and film."
Marcela Poffald
Software Engineer
EmilyRasowsky
Customer Experience
Emily is an leading customer experience and marketing strategist. At Sparkfund she is responsible for creating holistic customer experiences and building on customer insights to drive powerful and relevant engagement with customers, partners and community members. Prior to working with Sparkfund, Emily led international marketing campaigns and partnership initiatives with brands like NASA, Booz Allen Hamilton, the City of DC, among others. Ms. Rasowsky is the Founder of the Women in Tech Campaign and holds a degree in Economics from the George Washington University.
Emily Rasowsky
Sr. Manager, Marketing
Brendan Reed
Director, Business Development
Brendan is responsible for growing business as a part of Sparkfund's Direct to Customer and Utility sales verticals. He brings extensive experience communicating the benefits of new energy technologies and "as-a-service" models to the company. Brendan's background is in accelerating growth and market access to clean energy products like solar, battery storage and electric vehicles. Previous to Sparkfund he worked for the policy arms of Tesla and SolarCity, engaging lawmakers to increase consumer access to electric vehicles, promote grid benefits of solar generation and streamline local regulations on solar and battery system construction. He also worked with utilities to develop incentive programs and customer education campaigns aimed at promoting clean energy technologies. Prior to working in policy Brendan sold residential and commercial solar at a time when third-party owned financial products were just getting off the ground. Brendan has a degree in communications from the University of Delaware, home of the Fighting Blue Hens.
Brendan Reed
Director, Business Development
Suzanne Reed
Sr. Manager, Subscriber Services
Suzanne is responsible for delivering timely, high-quality service to Sparkfund subscribers. She joined Sparkfund with a background in leading customer success teams in the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) space and is skilled in designing and refining processes that scale to support the customer experience. Suzanne is excited to reinforce Sparkfund’s customer-obsessed culture and build a team to deliver the best possible service to everyone we work with. Suzanne is from Virginia and holds a BA from William & Mary in Economics and Russian Studies.
Suzanne Reed
Sr. Manager, Subscriber Services
Paul Roberts
Sr. Director, Treasury
Paul is a seasoned financial professional with expertise in accounting, tax and financial reporting. At Sparkfund Paul is responsible for all aspects of the company's financial management, including corporate accounting, fund accounting, transaction management and financial reporting. Paul brings over 20 years of experience in the lease industry to Sparkfund from Saab Aircraft Leasing, where he led the accounting and reporting operations for the portfolio of over 175 aircraft. Paul is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a BS in Accounting. When he is not at Sparkfund, you will find Paul travelling with his family, coaching little league, or playing in the yard with his kids.
Paul Roberts
Sr. Director, Treasury
Patch Ronald
Senior Accountant
As the Senior Accountant at Sparkfund, Patch assists the Director of Finance with the fund accounting, financial reporting, treasury management, accounts payable, and accounting policy functions. Prior to joining Sparkfund, Patch was a Senior Associate in the Assurance practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he planned and executed financial statement and internal controls audits of various financial institutions in the Washington, DC metro area, including a Fortune 100 mortgage banking entity, a national credit union, and various real estate entities. Patch is a graduate of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Patch Ronald
Senior Accountant
Kyle Saltsman
Director, Operations
Kyle joins Sparkfund from Dartmouth College, where he earned a Masters in Engineering Management. He brings a passion for process efficiency including certification in the Lean Six Sigma method of continual process improvement. Previous employers include Navigant, where Kyle studied federal regulation of energy efficient products, and Global Facility Solutions, an engineering services company.
Kyle Saltsman
Director, Operations
Jessie Schiavone
Vice President, Business Development
Jessie is a motivational leader and team builder with a 20-year track record of cultivating high performance teams to achieve big goals. She served 8 years as a Naval Flight Officer and Mission Commander in EA-6B Prowlers, an aircraft carrier-launched electronic attack jet, completed 2 tours over Iraq, and was awarded an Air Medal for accumulated time in a combat zone. She’s led numerous divisions through time-sensitive, mission critical engagements, taught leadership and management at the Harvard/MIT Navy ROTC consortium, and was honorably discharged in 2007. With passion, focus, and discipline, she pivoted into the energy and utilities industry and has spent the last 12+ years developing expertise and thought leadership in grid efficiency, resiliency, and cybersecurity technologies, from power transmission and distribution to behind the meter tech. She’s worked with Constellation, BG&E, Exelon, Energetics, the DOE and most recently, Opower (acquired by Oracle), where she managed a strategic accounts portfolio worth over $65M in ARR. Her deal teams closed over $500M in TCV and her SaaS delivery teams maintained client health in the green through complex, game-changing technology deployments (on time, on budget).
She is now the VP of New Markets for Sparkfund, focused on evolving the go-to-market strategies for energy infrastructure as a service in new sectors. And she’s super psyched about it;)
BS from the US Naval Academy. MBA from Boston University. PMP certified 2009-2018. TSS/CI clearance from 1999-2007. Appointed by MD Governor O’Malley to serve on the board of the MD Clean Energy Center 2016.
Jessie Schiavone
Vice President, Business Development
Tanner Smith
Sr. Director, Business Development
Tanner is a passionate energy tactician responsible for Sparkfund's strategic partners, fulfillment network, and National Account customers. Tanner comes to Sparkfund with an array of expertise on large scale implementations in the commercial lighting market. As V.P. of National Accounts at Maxlite, he leveraged product expertise and specialized in growth within ESCOs and National Account Distributors. Prior to Maxlite, Tanner designed and executed hundreds of lighting projects for various Fortune customers at Pinnacle Solutions. Tanner is a graduate of Arizona State University with a degree in Sustainability and Urban Planning.
Tanner Smith
Sr. Director, Business Development
Nathan Sorenson
Software Engineer, Founding Team
Nathan is an experienced software engineer with a strong background in mathematics and artificial intelligence. At Sparkfund, Nathan develops software that supports the efficient and accurate operation of the fund, designing tools for accounting, analytics, and transaction processing. He has authored several publications in the field of computational creativity and brings considerable functional programming expertise as the developer of an alternative Clojure compiler and a frequent speaker at industry events. Nathan has led teams to create a wide array of technically challenging projects, including a web platform which enabled children to design and sell t-shirts to raise money for their schools, an artificially-intelligent "computer artist" that created artwork for hotels and offices, and an award-winning driving simulator used in police youth outreach programs. At the age of 17, Nathan developed the world's first realistic 3d computer curling game: Take-Out Weight Curling. This solo project was a commercial success, selling over 60,000 copies.
Nathan Sorenson
Software Engineer,
Founding Team
Jeffrey Stanton
Software Engineer, Founding Team
Jeff is a versatile full-stack software engineer with a passion for front-end software development and human-centric design. As part of Sparkfund's small engineering team, Jeff does a bit of everything - web dev, building backends, and keeping the servers running. 80% of his time is spent creating full-stack tools and systems to support Sparkfund, our partners, and their end customers throughout the process of getting projects financed. He joins Sparkfund from Intuit, a financial software company where he applied modern front-end tech and best practices to Intuit QuickBase. Jeff has a breadth of experience in taking new functionality through the whole development lifecycle: initial concept sketches, functional prototypes, user testing, production-ready code, and refinements. He graduated with a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Franklin W. Olin College. There, he studied an engineering curriculum that also included emphases on entrepreneurship and on iterative, collaborative design processes. His focus was on software development across a wide range of environments, from tiny embedded microcontrollers to large distributed servers.
Jeffrey Stanton
Software Engineer,
Founding Team
Michael Wurzbacher
Project Manager
Michael is a driven Project Manager who focuses on removing impediments to achieve customer success. At Sparkfund, Michael is responsible for working with channel partners to implement the Sparkfund Technology Subscription™ and build programmatic rollouts with core customers. Michael joins Sparkfund from Grant Thornton where, as a Senior Associate, he used Agile management practices to facilitate the development of a federal agency financial application that processed $3 billion of annual transactions. He also created a customer support center and managed releases using DevOps practices. Prior to Grant Thornton, he had a two year fellowship with the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation where he supported efforts for local business retention, expansion, and relocation. Michael has a MPA from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University and a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Kentucky.
Michael Wurzbacher
Project Manager
Board of Directors
Dan Leff
Dan Leff, a senior advisor at Broadscale, has extensive operating experience building, leading and restructuring global energy services, industrial manufacturing, and technology and software companies. Previously, Dan worked as CEO of Hara Software, COO of Invensys Energy Management, CEO of Enron Energy Services, CEO of FMES and CEO of Pilot Energy. Dan serves as a board member of ServiceChannel, the Trudeau Institute, Point Positive, and on the advisory board of Carter Morse & Mathias. He was previously on the boards of Viridity Energy, Hara Software, Credit Acceptance Corporation (NASDAQ: CACC), the YMCA Camping Services Council of Greater New York and the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid, NY. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Union College in Schenectady, New York and has four children with his wife Pam of thirty-four years.
Dan Leff
Executive Chairman
Brandon Hurlbut
Brandon Hurlbut is a co-founder and partner of Boundary Stone Partners. He previously served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff to Secretary Steven Chu at the U.S. DOE, where he managed the Department's principal initiatives and oversaw day-to-day operations of a federal agency with a $29 billion budget and a 115,000-person workforce. Brandon provided leadership and counsel to the White House and Cabinet Secretaries during high-profile challenges including the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan, the Gulf oil spill, and Hurricane Sandy. He served on the board for DOE's $38 billion investment fund in clean energy, which is the largest of its kind in the world. He began working in the Obama Administration by serving in the White House as the Deputy Director of Cabinet Affairs, serving as the President's liaison to the Departments of Agriculture, Transportation, Interior, Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. He previously served in senior positions on Barack Obama's first presidential campaign and practiced law at Baker & Daniels.
Brandon Hurlbut
Pier LeFarge
Pier is an experienced entrepreneur and changemaker. At ICF International, he co-founded a new ICF service offering focused on energy efficiency finance strategy. Pier also has experience in financial analysis, working on a major evaluation of loan financing modalities employed by the World Bank under its Climate Investment Fund program. In 2010, he founded Race to Replace, a statewide clean energy focused voter registration campaign in Vermont in partnership with League of Conservation Voters.
Pier LaFarge
Lindsay Luger
Ms. Luger has more than a decade of successful experience as an investor in energy technology companies. As a Vice President of Digital Power Capital and Wexford Capital, Ms. Luger worked on dozens of venture capital and growth equity transactions and has expertise in all key areas necessary for successful technology investing, ranging from deal sourcing, analyzing, due diligence and transaction structuring to portfolio oversight and exits. In addition, Ms. Luger gained operating experience by serving as Vice President of Finance at two portfolio companies. She holds a BA in Psychology from Columbia University (Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa).
Lindsay Luger
Reuben Munger
Reuben Munger is currently Founder and Managing Partner of Vision Ridge Partners, LLC, a clean energy oriented investment firm. Previously he was Managing Director with The Baupost Group, LLC, a leading investment firm with over $25 billion in assets. He has also been a consultant to Texas Pacific Group and an investment banker with James D. Wolfensoln, Inc. Reuben is Chairman of Securing America's Future Energy, a trustee of the Rocky Mountain Institute, a founding member of the Executive Committee of the Electrification Coalition, and a member of the League of Conservation Voters board of directors in addition to serving on the boards of a number of private companies. Reuben graduated magna cum laude from Washington and Lee University with a B.A. in Politics and Economics and a B.S. in Business Administration.
Reuben Munger
DR Richardson
DR is responsible for deal sourcing, deal structuring and negotiation, and portfolio management, including corporate governance, financial analysis and strategy, people development and acquisition, and corporate strategy at Vision Ridge. Prior to Vision Ridge Partners, DR worked with Altman Vilandrie & Company, a strategy-consulting firm focused on tech, telecom, and energy. DR Holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Brown University.
DR Richardson
Advisors
Sparkfund's Advisory Board includes:
- Dan Reicher, Executive Director at Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy
- Kate Brandt, Sustainability Lead at Google
- Ray Rothrock, Partner Emeritus at Venrock
- Jeff Navin, Partner at Boundary Stone and former DOE Chief of Staff
- Richard Graves, Chief Impact Officer & Co-Founder at CleanChoice Energy
- Ron Smith, President at Curtis H. Stout
- David Litt, Former Senior Speechwriter to President Barack Obama