Founder
Marc Rappaport has been involved in renewable energy for over forty years. He served as the founding president and a charter member of the Oregon Solar Energy Association in 1971. In 1972, he invented the geothermal-solar hybrid system, for which he was later awarded the basic patent. During the same period, Marc engineered and developed the business plan for what is now Biomass One, L.P. This 30 mW biomass plant in Medford, Oregon has been in commercial operation for the past 26 years. He served as a founder, general partner and managing partner of this project which remains a very profitable operation. As a result of his pioneering works, he now holds the honor of being the only American asked to present at the Sustainability of the Planet conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
Board of Directors
PresidentI. David Reingold has a
bachelors from Dartmouth College and a PhD from the University of Oregon.
He taught organic chemistry at Haverford, Middlebury, Lewis & Clark, and
Juniata Colleges, and recently retired to Portland. He has served as a
national officer in the Council on Undergraduate Research and as a local officer
in three different sections of the American Chemical Society. Dave's website.
Sandra Foltz is now retired from the field of education and social services in the
Portland area. She has served on the boards of the Guadalajara Sister
City Association and the Clackamas Service Center. Her educational background
includes a bachelors in Psychology from the University of Oregon and a degree
in Education from Portland State University. Her background training has also
included fundraising, sales and grant writing. She has run her own skincare
business for the past 24 years. She also has a passion for clean energy and the
environment, travel, the outdoors, music and sports.
Treasurer
Director of Communications Michelle Yockelson has a varied educational background, beginning with a Certificate of Advanced
Mastery in Arts and Communications from South Eugene High School in Eugene,
Oregon. She pursued her undergraduate education at Juniata College in
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, where she designed her own Bachelors of Arts program
in Peace and Politics. In 2017, she graduated with a JD, a Graduate
Certificate in Civil and Human Rights Law, and a Certificate in Public Policy
Mediation from Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis, Indiana.
She is passionate about healing the world and encouraging individuals and
communities to embrace an ethos of social obligation. She has
participated in the development of civic engagement and community legal
education programming in 8 countries, most recently in Myanmar. She has
returned to her home state of Oregon and is excited to be a part of the
Renewable Energy Scholarship Foundation.
Erica Valli is
a transactional attorney with experience in the renewables
sector. As a native Oregonian, she returned to Portland a few years
ago and has been working for Stoel Rives LLP, participating in its Environment
and Natural Resources practice. Prior to that she lived and worked in London
for over ten years. She has a degree from UC-San Diego and studied at the
London School of Economics before attending law school in the UK.
Selection Committee
Mike Grainey was Director of the Oregon
Department of Energy between 2002 and 2009, and led the State’s efforts to
become one of the leading states in energy efficiency, sustainability, and
renewable energy. He was Renewable Energy Advisor of the Oregon Business
Development Department between 2009 and 2014 where he promoted clean technology
jobs and recruited renewable energy manufacturers, and is currently Principal
of Michael W. Grainey Consulting, working on clean energy project finance and
development, sustainability, energy policy and climate change.
 Jeff
Hammarlund is an adjunct associate
professor and senior research fellow at Portland State University. He has served as an advisor to Presidents,
Senators, and other national leaders on the smart grid and renewable energy,
and played a major role in creating and securing federal funding for the Pacific
Northwest Center of Excellence for Clean Energy. Previous positions include serving as a
senior policy analyst and manager at a major Northwest utility trade
association (Public Power Council), professional staff member with the US Senate
Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (where he had lead staff
responsibility for renewable energy issues), policy analyst at the US
Department of Energy, senior manager and policy advisor at Southern California
Edison, and senior manager at several major energy consulting firms.
Vijay Kumar is an intellectual property attorney at Fortem IP, where he works with emerging and international companies to protect their most valuable technology. Vijay focuses his practice on patent prosecution, strategic development of patent portfolios, freedom to operate analyses, and patent-related due diligence. Vijay has particular experience with technologies in the clean tech and energy sectors, including hydrogen production and storage, battery systems, carbon capture, chemical processing, biomass conversion, solar power and other alternative energies. Vijay previously worked as an attorney at Perkins Coie in Seattle, and prior to law school worked in the energy sector at a global industrial gas company in various engineering roles within operations, design and commissioning. Bill Lemon has over 25 years in the
energy industry starting with Pacific Gas and Electric where he was a key
contributor to the financial evaluation of the full spectrum of electric
generation technologies, current and emerging. He was later recruited by
ConneXt (now part of by Alliance Data Systems), a provider of information
technology products for the energy sector, where, as the Senior Product Manager
h their efforts to identify the key technical and business implications of
deregulation on energy IT. Most recently, as Senior Vice-President at
Source Capital Group, he leads fundraising efforts for a variety of Cleantech
businesses from start-ups to large renewable energy projects. e led
Cathy Myers is the chief operating officer and executive vice president at SSOE Group, a global project delivery firm for architecture, engineering, and construction management. She joined SSOE in July 2017 and brought with her 25+ years of expertise and a deep familiarity with the semiconductor industry. She previously held the position of Senior Vice President for CH2M’s Industrial and Advanced Technology Business Group with responsibility for the semiconductor market—overseeing $200 million in annual revenue. Most recently, Catherine had been the Director of Industry and Community Partnerships within the Donald P. Shiley School of Engineering at the University of Portland. In addition to serving on SSOE’s Board of Directors, Catherine also serves on the board for two local organizations in Portland, Oregon, where she resides and works. |
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