Our Advisors
Mark is an Oscar-nominated actor and director who lives in New York State with his wife and three children. Mark is an avid gardener and clean water advocate who has publicly opposed the practice of chemical hydro-fracking — a process regularly used by the oil and gas industries to extract oil and natural gas from shale formations. Mark also co-founded The Solutions Project, a nonprofit focused on accelerating the transition to a 100% renewable energy economy. You might recognize Mark from his Academy Award-nominated roles in Foxcatcher and Spotlight, or for his portrayal of the Hulk in the Avengers movies.
Josh Fox is the founder and producing artistic director of the International WOW Company, a theater and film group comprising over 100 actors, dancers, musicians, and technical and visual artists spanning 30 countries. He has written, directed, and produced two feature films and over 25 full-length works for the stage. Josh wrote, directed, and shot GASLAND, a film about the largest onshore natural gas-drilling and fracking campaign in U.S. history. GASLAND won the Special Jury Prize for Documentary at the Sundance film festival, was nominated for an Academy Award and won an Emmy for best documentary directing. It has been seen on HBO and in theaters across the country. Josh has spoken about fracking and its effects on The Daily Show, The Keith Olbermann show, PBS Now, CNN, Democracy Now, MSNBC, CBS, and NBC Nightly News.
GIANLUCA SIGNORELLI – HONORARY CO-FOUNDER & ADVISOR
Gianluca focuses on the growth of clean energy infrastructure by financing residential, commercial, and utility-scale clean energy systems at NRG Energy. Previously, he led clean energy finance at Rabobank, N.A., the U.S. commercial arm of the Rabobank group. He also served as an economist at the U.S. Treasury Department, working to advance development and economic relations with emerging-market and low-income nations in Asia and Latin America. He attended Stanford University (B.A.), Johns Hopkins University SAIS (M.A.), and Wharton (MBA).
Gil Shefer is an associate attorney at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe's San Francisco office, where he advises renewable energy developers and sponsors on a wide variety of matters, including debt & tax equity financings, energy storage acquisitions, power purchase and sale agreements, and EPC and supply agreements. Prior to joining Orrick, Gil assisted attorneys at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, consulted on a micro-finance project in Rwanda, and served as an economic consultant for the World Bank’s Kigali Office. He received a B.Sc. from NYU’s Stern School of Business, J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and Masters in Economic Law from Sciences Po Paris.
AARON LIGGETT - Technical Advisor
Aaron has 15 years of experience in residential and commercial solar. He has spent the past six years at Sunrun, the nation's largest residential solar installer. In his current role as a Staff Applications Programmer, he develops and maintains engineering tools that create permit-ready plansets for the Multi-family design team. Aaron has a specialization in off-grid design and construction, with systems installed across the U.S. and Africa. He has experience designing and deploying energy storage systems for disaster relief efforts, including in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, working to restore power to critical infrastructure. Aaron became NABCEP PV Installation Professional in 2013.
QAIS FEROZ - Technical Advisor
Qais is a senior project engineer at Tesla working on commercial storage and microgrids. He started at Solarcity in 2014 and has designed over 25 Megawatts of residential and commercial solar and energy storage systems throughout the U.S. and Mexico. At Tesla he has led the testing and commissioning of over 100 energy storage and microgrid systems for commercial businesses, healthcare facilities, and public utilities. He is a licensed electrical engineer in Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey, and has a B.S. and M.S. from Johns Hopkins University.
Jamie is the Program Manager at Footprint Project, an innovative disaster relief non-profit that deploys cleaner energy to communities in crisis. Jamie has over a decade of experience in government and the non-profit sector. She previously worked on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee at the Minnesota House of Representatives and on the U.S.-Mexico border with the Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services. Jamie has a B.A. in Politics from New York University.
NICK SOLEIL - Technical Advisor
Nick Soleil is a Senior Product Manager at Enphase Energy who has designed and installed PV systems for over 22 years. He is a NABCEP Certified Installation Professional and a licensed electrician in multiple states. Soleil has managed the installation of thousands of PV systems and hundreds of battery storage systems. Nick received a degree in Electrical Engineering from Sonoma State University.
CAPTAIN RICHARD BIRT - Operations Advisor
Richard served as a fire captain for Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, with over 30 years as a firefighter/paramedic. A long-time advocate of solar energy, Richard was instrumental in the fight to keep the solar industry alive in Nevada. Richard lives with his wife and two children in a home for which he designed and built an off-grid solar energy system. Captain Birt is the founder of SAFE, Solar And Fire Education, which provides training and education for emergency responders on how respond to emergencies involving renewable energy. Captain Birt has a Bachelors of Arts from Portsmouth University in England.
DAVID WILLIAMS - Strategic Advisor
With a background in renewable technology, finance, and enterprise development, David has been a peer reviewer for the U.S. Department of Energy’s SunShot program, a merit reviewer for Sandia National Laboratories, and a contributor to National Renewable Energy Laboratory initiatives. He has been involved in developing renewable energy projects in the Americas, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa. David was selected as one of TIME magazine’s Innovators of the Year in 2005.
Katie Ullmann is director of marketing for Dandelion, a home geothermal startup that reduced the price of installing home geothermal in half and graduated Alphabet's X in early 2017. Previously, Katie was director of global marketing for Conergy, a utility-scale solar company that operates in seventeen countries. Katie came to Conergy after managing public relations and marketing efforts for Mosaic, the world's largest home solar lending platform. Katie has been involved with the non-profit side of clean energy since high school, leading local efforts for 350.org and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and was one of seven two-time recipients of the national Udall Scholarship for environmental leadership in 2012.