CAMPBELL, Calif., Feb. 6, 2018 Concentric Power, a leader in advanced power systems for ag and industrial applications, today announced the addition of four new members to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. The Concentric Board now comprises Brian Curtis (founder and CEO), Ian Copeland, Tom Church, Andrew Bogan and John Brewster. Concentric also announced key executive hires in the CFO and General Counsel roles, which were filled by Chad Forrest and Jamey Wyman, respectively. Lastly, the company announced the renewal of Advisory Board roles for Ken Morse, Joe Parisi and Don Chapin.
“My goal in formalizing all these roles at this time is to create the business processes, corporate governance and company culture required to scale Concentric to its fullest potential, not just in terms of managing our organic growth in sales and headcount, but also enabling us to bring large institutional financing to our market of small- to mid-sized clean energy infrastructure projects,” said Curtis. “In other words, we are creating the commercial platform to go with our technical platform for this large market opportunity in the ag and industrial power sectors.”
All four new Board members have been involved with the closely held company since its early days, either as investors or advisors. Each brings world class experience in different aspects of the business. Copeland retired as President of Bechtel Corporation’s Renewable and Fossil Power businesses, where he oversaw worldwide engineering, procurement and construction for one of the largest power construction firms. He is currently Managing Partner at Ultra Capital, a project finance investment firm focusing on sustainable infrastructure.
Church is a 3rd generation California farmer and significant innovator in the modern food supply chain. Under the banner Church Brothers Farms, his family farm is one of the largest grower-owned processors of fresh vegetables in the U.S.
Bogan manages a global investment fund focused on science and infrastructure where he takes a research-driven approach to capital deployment. He is also a leading voice in native habitat conservation in North America.
Brewster retired as CEO of North American Energy Services (NAES) where he ran the largest power services organization in North America, including operations and maintenance of over 150 power plants. Previously, Brewster was Executive Vice President at NRG in charge of development and operations.
As part of the same long range company building effort, the new Board is working closely with Forrest and Wyman who joined in early 2017 and early 2018, respectively. Forrest brings over 20 years of experience in energy project finance and real estate development. Previously, Forrest served as CFO for Slingshot Power and VP of Finance for Solar Universe. Forrest also served as VP of Acquisitions and Development for Heisman Properties, a tax motivated real estate development firm.
Wyman joins the company with legal experience in private and public sector infrastructure and is leading the effort to standardize contracts and streamline project finance transactions. Before joining Concentric, Wyman served as Deputy Attorney for the California Department of Transportation in San Francisco and as an attorney at a leading infrastructure firm in Los Angeles. Wyman’s practice focused on project development, right-of-way acquisition, litigation and environmental law.
The management team and directors are also supported by long time Advisory Board Members Ken Morse, Joe Parisi and Don Chapin, all of whom are industry leaders in their respective fields. Morse was a co-founder of six high-tech companies, including 3Com Corporation, Aspen Technology and several other technology companies. Morse was either the CEO or responsible for part or all of the Sales organization in each of these enterprises.
Parisi, Founder and President of Therma Corporation, one of the largest mechanical contractors and fabrication shops in the San Francisco Bay Area, is a 50-year veteran of in the technical building industry. He literally helped build Silicon Valley serving as mechanical contractor for early semiconductor fabrication shops in the late 1960s. Since then, Therma has also become a leading participant in the biotech and energy sectors.
Chapin, founder of Don Chapin Company, leads one of the largest general engineering contractors on California’s Central Coast. As such, he has had a hand in building much of today’s agricultural infrastructure in the west.