
Executive Committee
Chair
John Reynolds, Eugene, Oregon
John S. Reynolds F.A.I.A. joined ASES in 1975, and served on the board from 1984-1990, and as Vice Chair 1985-1987. John received the American Solar Energy Society’s Passive Pioneer Award in 1997, and was elected a Fellow in 2000. He served as Chair of three ASES national conferences in Portland, Oregon: 1981, 1987, and 2004. A Professor of Architecture Emeritus, at the University of Oregon, John was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 2003. He was also named Distinguished Professor by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture in 1998. He is currently a board member and Vice President of the non-profit Energy Trust of Oregon. He is co-author of "Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings," 6th through 10th editions, published by John Wiley & Sons. His grant from the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, 1995-96 resulted in "Courtyards: Aesthetic, Social, and Thermal Delight" © 2002, John Wiley and Sons.
John is an active gardener and musician [flute], and often watches some of his 8 grandchildren for their parents. He has enjoyed Oregon’s beauty since arriving in 1967.
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Vice-Chair
Margot McDonald, San Luis Obispo, California
Margot McDonald is a professor of architecture at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo teaching building energy courses (heating, cooling, lighting, acoustics, water and waste), historic preservation, and design. Her professional consulting work includes preparing a chapter for the sustainability master plan for Cal State University-Monterey Bay and team member on a proposal for a biological solid waste and wastewater resource recovery facility for Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo. Most recently she has been recognized for the Sustainable Environmental Design Education (SEDE - http://www.calpoly.edu/~sede/home) program, a comprehensive curriculum framework for architects and landscape architects funded by the California Integrated Waste Management Board. She is the faculty advisor for the Sustainable Environments Minor, an interdisciplinary degree program that received an AIA/Committee on the Environment eco-literacy award in May 2005. In 2006, She was appointed chair of the US Green Building Council’s Formal Education Committee and elected to the Board of Directors of the American Solar Energy Society. She began her affiliation with ASES in 1987 attending a national solar conference as a graduate student working under University of Oregon Professors John Reynolds and G.Z. Brown. She has also served as Chair and Vice-chair of the Solar Buildings Division of ASES.
Professor McDonald is a registered architect in the State of Oregon. She holds a Masters in Architecture degree from the University of Oregon as well as undergraduate degrees in Mathematics and French from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She is currently is a doctoral candidate in the Geography Department at UC-Santa Barbara where she is refining a climate classification system for passive and low energy buildings in California.
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Secretary
Paulette Middleton, Boulder, Colorado
Paulette Middleton represents the Sustainability Division on the ASES Board of Directors and also is Chair of the Division. She is a member of the ASES Ethics and Member Concerns Committee and the International Committees; is secretary for the Divisions Committee; works on policy, marketing, and outreach for ASES; and, with her husband Dave Renné, has been developing edited DVDs of key events at recent ASES conferences. On the work front, as director of the Global Emissions Inventory Activity Center http://geiacenter.org/ since its inception in 1990, she helps develop international global change programs. In 2002, she created Panorama Pathways http://panoramapathways.net/, dedicated to providing clear advice on environmental/energy issues. Previously she held research, program development and/or leadership/executive positions at the University of Texas (PhD Chemistry 1973), National Center for Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Sciences Research Center at the State University of New York at Albany, Science & Policy Associates, Inc., and RAND. Paulette also has been serving on the EPA Science Advisory Board for over 15 years.
For more fun, she works with Dave on Aspen Hill Films http://www.aspenhillfilms.com/ video projects (newest passion http://www.a-convenient-solution.com/ and contributes inspirational stories to Positive Pace http://www.positivepace.com/. She enjoys hot yoga, dancing, swimming, jokes, family visits/hikes/calls (kids now all located in Greater SF Bay Area and Seattle), and having a great time working with the ASES gang.
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Treasurer
Travis Bradford, Cambridge, Massachussetts
Travis is Founder,
President, and Director of the Prometheus Institute for Sustainable Development. Travis founded the Prometheus Institute in 2003 as a means to connect the vast reach and power of industrial and capital markets with the technologies necessary to sustain and develop long-term economic well-being for people around the world. Having spent time in nearly 40 countries, he has seen first-hand the state of economic development and the need to develop markets to make existing sustainable technologies more available and cost-effective. Travis has authored of Solar Revolution: The Economic Transformation of the Global Energy Industry (MIT Press, 2006) as well as several industry reports and is the managing editor of PVNewsTM , the solar energy industry’s oldest newsletter.
Prior to founding the Prometheus Institute, Travis was a partner at Steel Partners II, L.P., a hedge fund based in New York City focused on the acquisition, growth, and sale of small publicly traded and privately owned businesses. In this capacity, Travis served as both a board member and active management participant in businesses and industries ranging from industrial filters to fertilizer distributors. Travis has worked for the Federal Reserve Bank, has lectured at top Universities including Harvard University, MIT, Columbia University, Duke University, and New York University on finance, entrepreneurship, and renewable energy economics. He is also a partner at Atlas Capital, a hedge fund based in Cambridge, MA.
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Directors
Marion Barritt, Gardnerville, Nevada
Marion has served on the ASES board since 2004 and was elected an ASES Fellow in 2006. As a Director of the Solar Rating & Certification Corporation (SRCC), 1999 to 2005, she served as the Chair of their Consumer Affairs committee. In 1996 she helped found Sunrise Renewable Resources Group, the first Nevada chapter of ASES. Marion has chaired many conferences, including the ASES Solar 2002 Conference, Reno, which attracted 1100 delegates, directed five Nevada Solar Home Tours and ran the Exhibits at the International Solar 2005 Florida Conference. Working with Senator Reid, NV, she co-chaired the Western States Renewable Energy Summit in Reno in 2003. As an advocate and consumer lobbyist, Marion contributed to the writing and passage of Nevada's Net Metering and Renewable Portfolio Standard bill in 1997, and built the first net-metered solar home in Nevada in 1997, about which she presented a paper at the 1998 ASES conference.
Born in Liverpool, England, Marion has spent the last 22 years in Gardnerville, Nevada. She has a degree in Education from the University of Nevada, Reno. As a power and glider pilot (instructor) since 1964, she owned a commercial flight operation, Soar Minden, edited a book on soaring and has written for many aviaiton publications. Marion has competed in and organized regional, national and International Championships all over the world, as well as Chairing a number of Soaring Conventions. Her son, Darrin, is an amazing pilot (Mom's words!) and flies F-15's for the Air National Guard and 737's for United. Currently, Marion is very active in local politics, working on airport, growth and renewable energy issues
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Andrew Black, San Jose, California
Andy is a Solar Financial and Sales & Marketing Consultant and the owner of OnGrid Solar. OnGrid Solar has two main foci: 1. To provide financial analysis software to solar installers to help them make the financial case for solar electricity to their customers (www.ongrid.net/payback); 2. To assist solar system installers and salespeople in setting up sales and marketing organizations and processes. Andy has more than ten years of analysis, design, consulting, teaching, sales, and research experience in solar. He specializes in demonstrating the financial payback of solar electricity systems. He is a NABCEP certified solar installer. Andy is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Solar Energy Society and serves as Chapters Representative. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Northern California Solar Energy Association.
Andy’s formal education includes a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering from Penn State University, a Master’s in Electrical Engineering from University of Southern California, and a Marketing Certificate at the University of California. His training in solar electricity includes Solar Energy International’s intensive photovoltaic coursework and more than a dozen specialty courses in solar electric and related fields. He presents regularly on the financial analysis of solar electricity to audiences nationwide. Andy is also the groundskeeper and servant for a cat at his home in San Jose, CA.
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Richard Caputo, San Diego, California
Rich is the founding chair of the San Diego chapter of ASES (SD Renewable Energy Society) and the 2007 President of the Volcan Mt. Preserve Foundation. After the ’03 Cedar Fire in San Diego, he rebuilt his home and was awarded the SANDEE award as the most efficient residence built in 2005 in SD County. Rich is a Chapter Representative on the ASES Board.
He obtained a masters from Carnegie-Mellon University in mechanical engineering after graduating from Manhattan College also in ME. He worked as an energy engineer on the original Manned Mars program at Westinghouse, the Apollo program at GE, and then on a range of energy projects at JPL for 25 years. The most interesting were: designing the power supply for the Voyager spacecraft to work “indefinitely”, leading the team that evaluated the gargantuan orbital Space Power System for NASA, organizing a national hydrogen energy study, and starting the national program to develop the dish-Stirling solar power system. While on leaves from JPL, he helped SERI start-up in 1978, and led an international team at the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis from 1979 to 1981. There he examined how the European energy infrastructure could function after the fossil era was over. On a third leave he supported the central receiver solar program at SANDIA Livermore in 1983.
He is a trained mediator and worked in court programs in CA, VA and MASS, as well as mediated scientific team conflicts at JPL, and construction project conflicts for the San Diego School System. He also was the fund raiser who amassed the matching funds derived from large donors to build a $4 M public library in Julian, CA.
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Allison K. Gray, Las Vegas, Nevada
Allison is a research engineer at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Center for Energy Research working in high concentrating solar power and photovoltaics, data acquisition, solar resource assessment and numerical modeling. She received her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering specializing in Fluids and the Thermo sciences. Allison is actively involved in the ASES Southern Nevada Chapter, Solar NV by being the program committee chair.
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Jason Keyes, Seattle, Washington
Jason Keyes is an attorney in the Seattle office of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. His practice is primarily related to renewable energy project development and finance and interconnection of distributed generation. More than half of his time is devoted to representation of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council in state proceedings related to net metering and interconnection standards. Before attending law school, Jason managed government contracts and business development for eight years at JX Crystals Inc., a pioneer in the field of high-concentration PV and thermophotovoltaics. In the early 90's, he ran the electric vehicle program and helped develop the integrated resource plan and the demand forecast at Puget Power during his three years at that electric utility.
In his free time, Jason enjoys being with his wife and three daughters, skiing and hiking. He has completed more than half of the Pacific Crest Trail (from Mexico to Canada) and welcomes any ASES member to join him for a trek.
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Jeff Lyng, Rollinsville, Colorado
Jeff is a Program Manager at the Governor’s Office of Energy where he is responsible for overseeing commercial building energy efficiency and solar energy implementation.
Prior to joining the Governor’s Energy Office, Jeff worked as a Technical Consultant at Xcel Energy on the company’s demand side management and renewable energy programs. Jeff’s undergraduate training is in Ecology from SUNY-ESF and he earned a Masters of Engineering degree in energy from the University of Colorado at Boulder Building Systems Program. Jeff’s thesis work focused on implementing solar energy in the Colorado production home market and was funded by the Home Builder’s Association of Metro Denver.
While at CU, Jeff served as the project manager for the 1st Place 2005 Solar Decathlon Team. Following the Solar Decathlon, Jeff had the opportunity to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Energy and was a guest of First Lady Laura Bush at the 2006 State of the Union Address.
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Gabriela Martin, Chicago, Illinois
Gabriela recently joined the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation as Program Officer for renewable energy. She has thirteen years of progressively responsible experience in strategic planning, project management, and product development in the energy industry. Gabriela most recently worked at a major utility, with principal responsibility for developing and implementing the company’s residential energy efficiency and renewable energy ventures. Her prior experience as consultant focused on policy, research, analysis, modeling, program and product development in the fields of energy, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions. Gabriela received her M.S. in Environmental Management and Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and her B.A. in Economics and French at the College of William and Mary.
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Nathan Mitten, Gainesville, Florida
Nathan Mitten is young in his career and excited for his first opportunity to serve on the ASES board. He has served as chair of the Clean Energy and Water Division since the summer of 2007 and was president of ASES at the University of Florida student chapter in 2006-2007. He received his B.S. in mechanical engineering from Messiah College in PA and is currently working on his Ph.D. and a dissertation in solar distillation at the University of Florida. In addition to a passion for affordable, clean energy and water, he is actively involved in the design and fabrication of solar / human powered light-weight vehicles as well as the development of renewable energy educational curriculum for Florida 4-H.
Nate also enjoys biking, hiking, reading, traveling, and visiting family and friends with his wife, Naphtali.
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Victor Olgyay, Boulder, Colorado
Victor is a Principal with the RMI Built Environment Team. He has a wide range of experiences in architectural design, planning, laboratory design and integration, environmental and acoustical systems, with specialization in lighting and daylighting design. While spending eight years as an associate professor of architecture at the University of Hawaii, Mr. Olgyay was named Director of Research with various lighting and daylighting research projects for federal and state agencies. Mr. Olgyay's breadth in lighting and daylighting design ranges from small private residences to large university campuses.
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David Renné, Golden, Colorado
Since 1991 Dave has been at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, developing and managing programs on renewable energy resource assessment and analysis, and the integration of resource data into GIS. Much of his recent work has been for international organizations such as the US Agency for International Development and the United Nations Environment Program. Prior to coming to NREL he was a senior program manager at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where he was heavily involved in both domestic and international wind studies, such as the U. S. Candidate Site wind measurement program, and a wind resource assessment study for Egypt. Dave received his Masters and PhD at Colorado State University in Atmospheric Sciences and Earth Resources. He has previously served on the ASES Board for 7 years, including 5 years as Treasurer, and is currently one of two U.S. representatives serving on the Board of Directors of the International Solar Energy Society. Dave also serves as an Associate Editor in the area of Resource Assessment for the Solar Energy Journal. Dave is the owner of Aspen Hill Films, a videography production company, and in this capacity along with his wife, Paulette Middleton, he has been developing edited DVDs of key speeches and events at recent ASES and ISES Conferences
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J.P. Ross, San Francisco, California
JP Ross is the Director of Programs at The Vote Solar Initiative, a non-profit organization working to bring solar energy into the mainstream. JP is the chair of the Policy Division at ASES, bringing years of effective policy advocacy at the city and state level to the ASES Board.
JP has been actively advocating for progressive renewable energy policies since graduating from the UC Berkeley Energy and Resources Group with a Masters Degree in renewable energy policy. He has worked closely with city and state government officials, as well as the private sector, to ensure that renewable energy comprises a growing proportion of our energy mix. Mr. Ross has focused on developing and implementing the policies necessary to bring solar energy into the mainstream, including long-term declining financial incentives, net metering, interconnection and pro-solar rate design.
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Mary Spruill, Manassas, Virginia
In March of 2006, the National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project celebrated 26 years as the nation’s leading energy education network – annually providing energy training and programs to over 45,000 classrooms. Mary E. Spruill has been actively involved in NEED since 1986. Ms. Spruill currently serves as NEED’s Program Director – managing its energy education programs, teacher and student training activities, relationships with national, state, and local energy industry organizations and government agencies, and its national development activities.
Since 1991, she has managed the state and regional programs for NEED, building business-education partnerships between the energy industry and school systems. Her work in regional development has been rewarded with a number of flourishing partnerships between NEED a diverse portfolio of energy interests.
Spruill holds a B.A. in International Studies and Global Systems, a Master of Public Administration and a certificate in Nonprofit and Association Management from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.
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Jennifer Szaro, Merritt Island, Florida
Jennifer
joined ASES in 1999. In her current role as Renewable Energy Manager for Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC), she guides the development and implementation of renewable energy and alternative fuel programs and helps set green organizational policies. Prior to her present position, Jennifer was employed as a Senior Energy Analyst for the Florida Solar Energy Center for nearly nine years, where her research focused on photovoltaics, distributed generation, biomass energy and green power marketing. She also managed Florida’s Million Solar Roofs Partnership, the SunSmart Schools Program and the Florida’s Photovoltaic Rebate Pilot Program. Jennifer received her BS Degrees in Environmental Science and Chemistry from Florida International University in 1997 and completed her Master’s Degree in Business Administration the University of Central Florida in 2006. In addition to her new role as a director for ASES, she serves as Treasurer for the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) and as Secretary for the Florida Renewable Energy Association (FREA), the Florida chapter of ASES.
She shares a home in Merritt Island, Florida with her husband (Adam), her two sons (Kaleb, 7 and Jonah, 5) and her dogs (Berkeley and Luke).
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Lorin Vant-Hull, Elgin, Texas
Lorin Vant-Hull served on the ASES Board from 1995-2002 and was elected to another term starting in 2006. In 2005 he was invited to participate in the Strategic Planning exercise led by the ASES Chair-elect, where he argued for a stronger role and more recognition of the existing role of the Topical Divisions. He has always had a strong interest in the Topical Divisions, chairing several of them over the past 30 years. In 2006 he was appointed Chair of the Divisions Committee of the Board. He initiated a quarterly to monthly series of Division Leaders conference calls, which led to the initiation of an annual Division Leaders Caucus preceding the Annual Meeting. This first Caucus led to the approval of a consistent set of bylaws for the various Divisions, and a review of the ASES bylaws to suggest appropriate revisions to put the Divisions in the correct context.
A graduate of the Univ. of Minnesota and the California Institute of Technology, Lorin converted to RE in 1972. At the University of Houston, he began working on concentrating solar thermal power, namely the solar tower, or central receiver technology. Success here led eventually to the construction at Barstow, CA of the 10 MWe Solar One plant; to interaction with many industrial, utility, and academic partners; and to attendance at innumerable ISES, ASES and DoE solar conferences, a role he still enjoys in retirement. In recent years he has also been active in the local ASES chapter (TXSES), which he chaired from 2002-4.
Besides minor activities at the local Senior Center, Lorin continues as an Assistant Editor for Solar Energy and Advances in Solar Energy, stays active cutting fallen oak trees for firewood for our catalytic heating stove and fireplace, throwing pottery, walking in the nearby woodlands, ravines, and meadows, staying out of the way of Mary's 5 kittens/cats, and enjoying a delightful 5 year old granddaughter (who is about to have a baby sister).
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