ASES Staff

Bradley D. Collins
Brad is Executive Director of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and Publisher of SOLARTODAYmagazine. 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 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.

Irene Pérez Law is the new Chief Operating Officer at the American Solar Energy Society where she manages the day to day business operations of the Society consistent with established goals, objectives and policies. Before coming to ASES, Irene was the Director of Operations at Habitat for Humanity of Colorado, a non-profit organization based in Lakewood, Colorado whose purpose is to assist 31 Colorado Habitat for Humanity affiliates in increasing production of affordable housing. Prior to Habitat, Irene was a Senior Consultant at MAXIMUS, a national consulting firm which provides complete program management and operations services to federal, state and local government agencies. She has also worked for the Denver Regional Council of Governments, the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, and the American Humane Association.

Irene is involved in the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s Executive Leadership Program, a 6-month leadership program focused on educating business and government leaders about clean energy solutions that can boost the local economy. Irene earned a Bachelor degree in Sociology from Princeton University and a Master of Public Affairs from the University of Texas, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.

Irene lives in Littleton, Colorado with husband, Randy, and two sons, Ben (9) and Nick (8). In her spare time, Irene enjoys taking full advantage of the Colorado outdoors with her family by gardening, hiking, biking, and outdoor sports.

Neshama Abraham
Neshama is the Director of Marketing and Communications, and brings to the Society 28 years of professional public relations, writing, marketing communications, and event management experience. She applies her media relations skills to expand awareness of Society programs for professional and general public audiences, and create strategic partnerships to help grow the Society’s membership and achieve larger renewable energy goals. Previously, she was president of her own firm, Abraham Paiss & Associates, which represents renewable energy companies and sustainable solutions. Prior to that, she consulted for Fortune 500 companies on Madison Avenue in New York. A native of New York, Neshama enjoys Boulder’s outdoor-oriented lifestyle where she and her husband, Zev, are raising their two daughters in an environmentally-conscious cohousing community. Neshama competed in tennis for Rice University in Houston, TX where she earned a B.A. degree in Philosophy.

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.

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.

Becky Campbell-Howe
Becky is Director of Professional Education and has been with ASES since 1993. She has been involved in the planning and organization of 15 of the last 16 National Solar Energy Conferences, and works with Technical Divisions. 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. She is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Nonprofit Management from Regis University. In her spare time she and her husband Jim watch their 17 year old daughter play the cello; and attend many, many, many of their 14 year old son’s baseball and basketball games.

Kristin Conrad
Kristin is ASES' Web Development Manager and is diving in to redevelop all of ASES' many web assets into a strong, coordinated, two-way communications vehicle to promote solar/renewable energy. She has been immersed in web design & development since the first visual browser appeared on the scene in the mid-1990's, and has a background in fine arts and graphic design, as well. Prior to joining ASES, she designed and developed websites, applications, and databases for non-profit, scientific organizations, most recently in the role of Web Producer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

If she is not glued to one of her Macs, she can be found camping, skiing, and taking pictures of her husband and teenaged son (often to muffled pleas to put the camera away), or playing around in the pottery studio.

Corey Dahl
Corey is associate editor with SOLAR TODAY magazine. Before joining ASES in January 2009, Corey worked as a reporter for several small daily and weekly newspapers around Colorado. She holds a Bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is working on a Master’s in communications management at Webster University. When she’s not at work, Corey loves hiking, traveling, spending time with her family and reading as much as possible.

Annette Delagrange
Annette is the Director of Sales charged with profitably increasing revenue for ASES products including Solar Today, online products, expo and sponsorships. She has, let’s just say quite a few years, experience in leading publications and expos to becoming number one in their field. She developed her sales management, team building , strategic planning and marketing/branding skills in several different industries including: horse racing, osteopathic medicine, high tech ceramics and spa and wellness. Her love of learning is now focused on the renewable energy world.

She’s an advocate for shelter dogs and active in various volunteer efforts. Gardening, entertaining, horses, dogs, alpacas and reading are passions. Her four pawed family currently includes Chloe, Golden Retriever and Lola, Whippet mix.

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.

Christy Honigman
Christy is the Director of Development at American Solar Energy Society where she oversees the fundraising program. With a track record of over 20 years of successful practice in the philanthropic community, Christy specializes in building nonprofit organizations’ capacity, helping them become stronger through strategic planning, fundraising, board development, and program sustainability. During her career, she has served as executive director, manager of operations, director of marking and development and fundraising consultant.

As a committed volunteer and board member for many civic, art, and public policy groups, Christy has facilitated conferences, provided media relations services, governance guidance, and raised substantial funds.

A graduate of Regis University in Denver, Christy holds a Master’s Degree in Nonprofit Management.  She is the author of the “Colorado Nonprofit Agenda Project: An Assessment of the Public Policy Concerns and Needs of the Nonprofit Sector of the State of Colorado.”

Christy is also an accomplished artist.  Her work is represented in more than 50 private and corporate collections. Recently the Mizel Museum honored Christy with a commission to produce a public art installation. Her exhibit “Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World” is currently on a five year tour throughout the region.

Kate Hotchkiss
Kate is the Program Manager for ASES' National Solar Conference, Social Media, and Chapter Development. In 2005, after attending the University of Central Florida, she moved to Colorado. She spent two years as part of the corporate legal team at Quiznos Subs, headquartered in downtown Denver, before joining ASES in March of 2007. She enjoys the beautiful Rocky Mountain weather and the never ending home improvement projects on her home. Kate also takes pleasure in spending time with her family, supporting National Public Radio, and learning about growing trends in the renewable energy industry.

Christine Howard
ASES Executive Assistant. Bio coming soon!

Ann started at ASES as a volunteer in 2006 and joined the ASES staff part-time as Administrative Assistant in 2008. Ann works in Member Services and sends out monthly new member packets, renewal letters, processes claims, renewals and address changes, and helps on special projects with the Solar Tour and the Solar Conference. Ann has a degree from CU, Boulder in Environmental Conservation and a Green Building Certificate from CSU in Ft. Collins, CO. Her background includes work in Planning with the DOT, Habitat for Humanity, green building sales, and import/export businesses. Ann volunteers for various sustainability committees, writes children’s stories, loves travel, photography, her cats and especially spending time with her husband and beautiful daughter, Holly.

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.

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.

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 is in 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.

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.

Patty McIntyre
Patty does the graphic design for most of ASES' Solar Conference, Solar tour and membership collateral pieces. She spent many years honing her design and management skills in venues as varied as resort hotels and high-tech companies. Patty and her sister Maureen established McIntyre Communications Inc. in 1995, combining their skills into a full-service publishing enterprise, specializing in renewable energy and green building.
Patty currently lives in western Pennsylvania.

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.

Chris Stimpson
Chris became Executive Campaigner of Solar Nation in July 2007, advocating for legislative and regulatory support for solar power development in the U.S. In this role he joined ASES in May 2009. For the last five years Chris has been a director of Clean Power Now, a grass roots group of over 10,000 members supporting the proposed Nantucket Sound Wind Farm.

Chris' teenage ambition was to be a steely-eyed pilot of Mach 2 jet interceptors, or if his eyesight wasn't up to it, a research librarian. As they say, be careful what you wish for; he ended up as a navigator of prop-driven transport planes. But he remained steely-eyed until age 50, when the wire-framed glasses and greying temples made him irresistible. Having survived his military career, he drifted with great determination into the world of advertising, first in an agency and then on the corporate side, in telecommunications and software companies. He owned a Subway franchise on Cape Cod (and can still make a foot-long sandwich in ninety seconds), and for three years worked for a radio station, "selling air". In the spring and fall he can often be seen running around fields wearing a soccer ref's uniform, much to the surprise of the lacrosse players around him.