Bradley D. Collins
Brad is Executive Director of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and Publisher of SOLAR TODAY magazine. He has guided ASES since February 2001. During his career Brad has served as an organizational manager, chief development officer, foundation executive, fund raising consultant and solar building researcher, designer and builder. He holds an M.A. in Sociology from the University of Colorado and an MBA from Regis University. He represents the Society at functions and events throughout the country and works to educate and advocate for renewable energy technologies among decision makers, educators, media and the public.

Brad and Jody have two children, a soon-to-be-lawyer daughter who lives with her husband in Austin and a son who works in the solar industry in the San Francisco bay area. His Prius-driving wife lives part year in their owner-built passive solar house in Montana. Otherwise they enjoy family, hiking in the Rockies, the Broncos, old friends, and the solar hot water in their home in Boulder.
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Becky Campbell-Howe
Becky is Director of Operations and has been with ASES since 1993. She is ASES’ webmaster, equipment and software buyer, network administrator, database programmer and meeting planner. She has been involved in the planning and organization of 14 of the last 15 National Solar Energy Conferences. She organized ASES’ first three National Solar Tours, beginning in 1996.  In addition to her work for ASES, she has organized several Colorado Renewable Energy Conferences, and the first and second Colorado Wind and Distributed Energy Conferences for the Colorado Governor’s Office of Energy Management and Conservation.  She also worked as Assistant to the Secretary of the International Energy Agency’s Wind RD&D Executive Committee and worked in Human Resources at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

In her spare time she and her husband Jim watch their 15 year old daughter play the cello and electric guitar and compete on the high school speech and debate team; and attend many, many, many of their 12 year old son’s baseball, basketball and soccer games.
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Gina Johnson
Gina joined the staff as the editor of SOLAR TODAY magazine in January 2004. The recipient of several reporting and editing awards, she is the creator and former editor-and-chief of Energy Customer Management magazine. Gina has been an editor and reporter for business and technical magazines including Public Utilities Fortnightly, USGlass and Measurements & Control. Over the years, she has served as an industry expert in her fields of reporting, invited to speak publicly and judge industry competitions. She completed a master’s degree in editing and professional writing in May 2006.

When she’s not discussing editorial ideas with readers and authors, Gina loves to hike with her husband and their dog, Stella; travel; and read and write. She resides in Atlanta, Georgia.
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Neal Lurie
Neal is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the American Solar Energy Society. He develops and implements the strategic marketing plan to further strengthen the organization’s brand, awareness and growth. Neal brings more than a decade of marketing and leadership experience working in nonprofit, Fortune 500, and political environments. He received an MBA from the University of Colorado. Neal is also an avid bicyclist (he once rode across America) and led the successful effort to secure $8M to build a new bikeway between Denver and Boulder.

When not bicycling, Neal and his wife Cathy enjoy hiking through Colorado’s breathtaking mountains.
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Dona McClain
Dona is the Publications Manager and has other responsibilities in the ASES office. She opens and distributes the mail, responds to requests for information and fills book orders. She also sends out new member/new susbscriber packets and personalized letters of acknowlegement to donors and higher level membership categories. She also acts as the Chapter Liaison in the ASES office. This involves the forming of new chapters, participating in the monthly Chapters conference call and sending out the yearly Chapter Report to the chapters. She also manages the nomination of ASES Fellows and the process of gathering nominations for all ASES awards. Dona and Brad work with a local artist in the design of the awards. She helps generally with all aspects of the Natonal Solar Conferences and specifically with organizing the volunteers ahead of time and with registration on-site. Dona and Mike compile a book of newsclippings, collected from around the country, that serve as a record of each years Natonal Solar Tour. Dona also serves as our resident proofreader for SOLAR TODAY magazine and any other printed material that may need a once over.

Dona has been with ASES for over twenty years. Her daughter just started high school (which should keep her young) and one of their favorite activities is to draw and paint together. Dona also enjoys working in her garden.
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Brooke Simmons
Brooke is the Manager of Online Publishing for SOLAR TODAY magazine. She joined the staff as a part-time editorial assistant in January 2002 after completing a bachelor's degree in journalism/visual communication at Creighton University, and came aboard full-time as the departments editor and webmaster in 2003. Brooke enjoys collaborating with other staff members to come up with new ideas for events, projects, promos, and more.

When she doesn't have her nose in her laptop, Brooke coaches high school girls' volleyball; works on calligraphy projects; spends time with her family and friends; and loves to ski, hike and bike in beautiful Colorado.
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Seth Masia
Seth joined the staff of SOLAR TODAY in November, 2007, after earning a master’s degree in environmental journalism at the University of Colorado. He holds a BA in English from the University of Chicago, where he worked as a technical editor on physics and chemistry texts. Seth was technical editor of Ski Magazine for 20 years. The work took him around the world to ski, and everywhere he went he saw glaciers retreating – so he began writing about climate change in 1991. Seth has written for Backpacker, Outside, The New York Times and dozens of other magazines, newspapers and websites. Beginning in 1994, he has helped to launch large website projects for Times Mirror Magazines, Microsoft Corp., AOL Time Warner and a number of small non-profit organizations. He is the author of half a dozen books on mountain sports, and has won several awards for his writing and website innovations.

Seth lives in Boulder with his teen-aged daughter and a rotating cast of pets. He has been teaching himself the plumbing skills necessary to hook up the solar thermal panels he bought as salvage, and hopes to have his do-it-yourself electric motorcycle running by next spring. He picks banjo and flies a Piper Comanche, but his first love is skiing. A fully certified instructor, he has taught at Squaw Valley and puts in holidays at the Vail-Beaver Creek Ski School.
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Carolyn Beach
Carolyn, Member Services Manager, has been with the American Solar Energy Society since July of 2002. In this position, she develops and manages the ASES membership data base including data entry, producing and mailing renewal notices, producing monthly and annual membership reports, and acting as membership liaison. She is also responsible for the production of the Sunbeam e-newsletter and is a member of the ASES Membership Committee. Prior to joining ASES, Carolyn spent 14 years in the Marketing Department at Micro Motion and four years with the California State Psychological Association.

Carolyn lives with her two cats, Twinkle and Gracie, and enjoys walking, reading, writing, bicycling, and handicrafts and is an accomplished singer. She has sung in a folk group, a dance band, and a female a capella trio, spending two summers performing at the Colorado Renaissance Festival. She currently sings with her church choir and with the Arvada Center Chorale in Arvada, Colorado.
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Richard Burns
Richard is the Program Manager for the ASES National Solar Tour. Involving more than 10,000 volunteers in 2,900 communities the tour is the largest renewable energy event in America. Richard's primary role is to support and coordinate tour organizers nationwide. Previous career paths include owning a glassblowing studio and as an administrator in a private high school. Having been born and raised in Mexico City Richard is bicultural and fluent in Spanish, a skill that will help him with one of his goals to expand the tour into new communities. His larger purpose is to inspire people to make energy choices that are in alignment with the ASES mission of leading the renewable energy revolution.

In 2005 Richard, his wife Susan and "Sugar Bear," their tri-color Aussie, left Austin, their home of thirty five years, and began a two year journey traveling throughout the West in an Airstream trailer. They resided in Marin County, CA, where Richard immersed himself in learning as much as possible about renewable energy and Taos, NM, where Susan took her painting skills to a gallery level. Bear dog, all the while, reveled in chasing rabbits and skunks... All three look forward to continuing to pursue their passions for a long time in Colorado.
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Kate Hotchkiss
Kate is the Executive Assistant to Brad Collins. Kate has spent the last two years as part of the corporate legal team at Quiznos Subs, headquartered in downtown Denver. After attending the University of Central Florida, she moved to Colorado with her fiancée Angel. They enjoy the beautiful weather and all the outdoor activities it provides. Kate also takes pleasure in spending time with her family, supporting National Public Radio, and of course, the 48 mpg she gets in her Honda Civic Hybrid.
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Elena Hoffrichter
Elena has worked at the American Solar Energy Society since November of 1993. Elena “womans” the front desk, greets visitors, directs phone calls, and records all the money coming in and going out. Elena’s favorite task is balancing the books monthly. You can tell from Elena’s mood if there is more money going out than coming in.

In addition to her job at ASES, Elena is a professional storyteller, dancer, and writer. She enjoys reading good fantasy fiction, cross-stitching, listening to music, dancing to music, and gardening. Elena has one handsome son, all grown-up and married, and one beautiful, sweet cat, Zamira.
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Scott Cronk
Scott is the principal developer of Findsolar.com. Scott brings a unique blend of experiences from large multi-national corporations, innovative small companies, and nonprofits. He is founder and principal of Energy Matters LLC, www.energymatters.net, a firm specializing in web-based tools that help streamline operations for the renewable energy industries and provide secure, paperless IRS income tax filing for individuals. In 1996 Scott founded Electric Motorbike Inc. (EMB), a designer and manufacturer of electric-powered motorcycles. In 2001 he became Chief Operating Officer of Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (EVI) Inc. EVI is a manufacturer of charging stations for electric vehicles, and was a Tier 1 supplier to Ford Motor Company. He is a cited author and recognized expert in the electric vehicle and renewable energy industries.

Scott has a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Kettering University and an M.B.A. from the Sir John Cass Business School in London, England. He lives in a net-zero energy home, powered by a grid-tied solar system.

Pamm McFadden
Pamm is now coordinating exhibits for the ASES Conferences. In the past, she sold advertising for Solar Today Magazine and chaired the Building Division and the Architecture and Construction Division, was Vice-Chair of ASES, organized the Conference that was held in Boulder, CO, and helped to organize various conferences, events, and exhibits for the last 20+ years. The thought that she has done all of that exhausts her.

When not working or volunteering for ASES, Pamm serves on the Board of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and organizes the Denver Tour of Solar and Green Built Homes, and has been a private investigator for the District Attorney’s Office.  Professionally, she is an architect, and specializes in designing passive solar, energy efficient green homes.  She has written a book on Paris and is currently writing three others – two on travel and one on gastric bypass surgery.  She does not have much spare time right now, but when she does, she heads for the airport to go to the ends of the earth in search of the unknown.
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Patty currently lives in western Pennsylvania.
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Ken Sheinkopf

Ken received B.A. and M.A. degrees in Journalism and Mass Communications from Syracuse University and completed two years of doctoral study in Mass Communications at the University of Wisconsin.  He has taught advertising, public relations and other communications and journalism courses at the University of Wisconsin, Penn State University, University of Central Florida and Rollins College.  He has also worked for advertising and public relations agencies in New York City, Syracuse, Rochester and Orlando.
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