With energy demands predicted to increase 50% from 2009 to 2035, public and private sector organizations are focusing more and more attention towards feasible energy investments. For example, in 2010, renewable energy investments totaled $210 billion, a 540% increase since 2004. This session will explore current and future energy investment trends amongst different industries as well as the origination of the investments. What sectors do Venture Capital and Private Equity organizations find to be the most financially compelling? How does this viewpoint defer from public institutions and non-profit companies? How do these organizations evaluate investment opportunities in favored sectors and how do they determine risk?
Central questions to be answered:
- What current energy investment trends are you witnessing today? Is there a particular sector that you believe has experienced a substantial amount of increased interest among investors in the past few years?
- To what extend do energy investment trends defer between public and private institutions? Do you find that public and private institutions focus on different energy sectors?
- How does your organization evaluate a potential energy investment project? Are there certain criteria that you look for in investments?
- How does your organization measure risk associated with energy investments? What attempts are made to minimize risk?
- What kind of impact do you see Federal Incentive Programs having on domestic energy investment institutions?
- Does your organization primarily focus on energy investments within in the United States or other countries such as China or developing markets?
Moderator
Scott Weiss, GMBA student, GW Net Impact VP of Environmental Affairs & GW Energy Club VP of External Affairs
Scott Weiss is a current MBA candidate at George Washington University, pursuing a career in energy efficiency and renewable energy. He has an economics and IT background, most recently serving as the IT Chief of Staff at CarMax, where he was responsible for the financial strategic direction of the IT Department. At CarMax, he also cofounded CarMax’s first internal environmental sustainability strategy.
Speakers
Mary Wolter Glass, President and Chairwoman, Mexel USA, LLC
Ms. Glass is the Co-founder and President of Mexel USA, LLC a company providing environmentally responsible water treatment solutions to utilities, industry and commerce. Mexel USA, LLC offers products that improve the energy efficiency and financial performance of a wide variety of heat transfer processes. Ms. Glass has more than 30 years of experience in the energy sector, private business, utility management consulting, and government. As a former top executive in an energy system development company, she managed the financial, operational, and environmental performance of energy systems for industrial clients. Her consulting work has included comprehensive asset management, pricing and policy studies for utilities and businesses worldwide. Her clients include electric utilities in the United States and abroad, major gas pipelines, trade associations, federal agencies and private developers. She is a recognized energy professional at the national level, and is a former officer and director of the Women’s Council on Energy and Environment, an influential, policy-neutral, professional organization in Washington, D.C. She holds an MBA in Finance from The George Washington University, an MA in Environmental Management from UCLA, and a B.G.S. from the University of Michigan.
Rutherford ‘Bo’ Poats, Executive Director, Pace Global, a Siemens Business
Bo Poats is an Executive Director of Pace Global, a Siemens Business. Mr. Poats brings over 30 years of experience to his responsibilities in developing and leading Pace Global’s structuring and transactions advisory activities for a diverse client base of traditional, renewable energy and clean technology developers and investors. Mr. Poats advises on Pace Global’s commercial and financial structuring, M&A and placement activities in this role, serving both utility and distributed scale energy projects and client sponsors.
Mr. Poats developed the Financial Services practice within Pace Global, with particular focus on energy company, and infrastructure project valuation, M&A and transaction advisory activities. He has led or supported over 100 energy sector transactions, covering infrastructure development, energy asset finance, contract monetization, tax equity monetization, debtor-in-possession and re-structured asset portfolio financings for a wide range of strategic, debt and private equity capital sources. Mr. Poats also has extensive experience in business planning, risk and financial management, due diligence and capital placement support. He has also served as an expert witness on a number of energy cases covering company and contract valuation, best practice in energy trading and risk management, and project development practices. His recent engagements include liquid and solid bio-fuels, solar, wind, midstream gas and energy technology transactions advisory.
Mr. Poats was previously a founding director of a boutique energy commodity, market and financial advisor focused on the development and application of commodity markets, regulatory reform and financing of oil, gas and power infrastructure. Mr. Poats holds an MA in Economics from the University of Virginia and a BA from the College of William & Mary and holds a Series 7 and Series 63 certification.
Michael Park, Senior Investment Officer, U.S. Department of Energy – Loan Programs Office
Michael Park is a Senior Investment Officer for the Loan Guarantee Program Office at the United States Department of Energy (DOE). At DOE, he is responsible for financial analysis, loan structuring, negotiations, and project management with respect to renewable energy project finance transactions throughout the U.S. He covers project finance transactions from all industry types including solar, wind, and advanced biofuels.
Prior to DOE, Michael was an Assistant Vice President of Structured Finance at the National Cooperative Bank (NCB). Here, he also served as the Senior Program Manager for Renewable Energy Project Finance. He negotiated, structured, and underwrote renewable energy projects and tax credit finance transactions for a variety of industries. Additionally, he served as the portfolio/relationship manager for the renewable energy, non-profit, and Alaska Native Corporation business lines for NCB. Previously, Michael held positions as a lending consultant at CitiMortgage, and as a Vice President at The Corporate Finance Institute (CFI). At CFI he screened over 140 early-stage companies, assessed their product/service concepts, milestones, funding needs and management teams to make funding recommendations to private venture capitalists.
Michael obtained his BA in International Relations with a concentration in East Asian Studies from Johns Hopkins University and his MBA from the George Washington University with a concentration in Finance and International Business.
Philip Henderson, Sr. Financial Policy Specialist, NRDC
Mr. Henderson is a new Senior Financial Policy Specialist
with the Center for Market Innovation. Philip has worked in residential real estate finance leading innovation and the application of technology. He will be working with CMI on buildings, specifically how to use financing tools to achieve greater energy efficiency. Following work on Capitol Hill and with a DC law firm, he was with LendingTree from 1999 to 2006, as counsel and on the business team. Philip was then General Counsel for Overture Technologies, a firm that creates underwriting systems that enable greater rigor and transparency in the loan decisions and allow investors to access loan-level data underneath securities. Philip has a law degree from the University of Virginia.
Kevin Allen, Executive Director, Urban Energy Advisors
Kevin Allen is an Executive Director at 
Urban Energy Advisors (UEA) and caries responsible for the development of the Washington DC Commercial PACE financing program. Kevin is also a co-founder and Partner at Energy Growth Partners (EGP) – a private equity backed enterprise focused on acquiring energy efficiency companies. Before working with UEA and EGP, Kevin was a Business Development Director in Johnson Control’s Commercial Energy Solutions Group where he was responsible for the development, financing and implementation of energy efficiency and renewable energy projects for large commercial real estate and Fortune 500 corporations. Prior to his time at Johnson Controls, Kevin spent four years as a Vice President at Grant Capital Management, a boutique finance firm that specialized in providing capital for large scale energy efficiency projects. Prior to his work in sustainability Kevin was the founder and CEO of New World Science and Technology, a bioinformatics company that he lead to acquisition. Kevin also spent several years in Banking at both Smith Barney and PNC Capital Markets. Kevin has a BS from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; an MBA in Finance and M&A from the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University; and a JD from The University of Chicago.
