Management Team
The two primary founders, Alla Weinstein and Jon Bonanno, are both successful entrepreneurs and company operators. Ms. Weinstein adds strong management skills, energy project permitting and development experience and numerous strategic alliances. Both have well-established global Clean Technology networks to partnership opportunities with governments, national labs, universities, environmental and business groups across the Americas, Europe and Asia. Mr. Bonanno has extensive experience in company creation and early stage development. He brings knowledge of equity and structured financing strategies through his direct involvement in the international Cleantech investor community.
Click on each team members name for a brief bio.
Alla Weinstein is an engineer and a business professional with more than 30 years of industry experience. She has extensive knowledge of working with emerging technologies, international markets, energy policies, and governments. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and an Masters of Business Administration from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management. In October 2007, Ms. Weinstein co-founded Principle Power. As the CEO, she oversees all aspects of the business.
Ms. Weinstein is dedicated to the entrepreneurial challenges of a renewable energy company because it combines her lifelong interests and experience in science, technology, and climate change with her successful business expertise.
Ms. Weinstein currently serves as the first President of the European Ocean Energy Association, a non-profit organization that is promoting and bringing public awareness to the potential benefits of ocean energy. She is well known in the ocean energy and hydrokinetic arenas on both sides of the Atlantic. Prior to Principle Power, Ms. Weinstein co-founded AquaEnergy Group, Ltd., which developed wave energy conversion technology and generation projects utilizing proprietary technology. She served as CEO and President of AquaEnergy until the company was sold to Finavera Renewables, Inc., a TSX-V listed public company, in 2006.
Ms. Weinstein served on the board of Finavera Renewables and is currently serving on the board of Optimal Nutrition, a privately held start-up, specializing in organic, customized meals designed to help individuals reach their ideal physical potential. Ms. Weinstein’s successful career began at Honeywell Inc. and spanned more than 21 years, during which she served as Director for International Business Development, Program Manager, and Systems Engineer. At Honeywell, Ms. Weinstein developed start-up initiatives, both domestically and internationally in the renewable energy, aerospace, and semiconductors sectors. She developed new cross-border business ventures in an emerging market for Honeywell’s Commercial Aviation Division, acted as General Manager with full P&L responsibility for $100 million in the energy conservation arena, and was an independent consultant assisting companies from the former Soviet Union to enter worldwide markets. She implemented in-country fabrication and secured project finance from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for more than $250 million. Ms. Weinstein conducted extensive work with US government export organizations including EX-IM Bank, the National Economic Council, the Commerce and State Departments, and the International Trade Commission.
Jon Bonanno co-founded Principle Power in October 2007, to bring new renewable energy technologies into the commercial space through his entrepreneurial, team-building, and finance experience. His vision is to grow the portfolio of Principle Power assets, to generate multiple gigawatts of sustainable energy, and to make a significant difference in offsetting fossil fuel usage. He holds a Bachelor of Arts, with emphasis in European Studies and Spanish.
In 1995, Mr. Bonanno founded Interbill, a global online business-to-consumer micro-billing foundation for digital consumables. Two years later, he sold his company to Global Internet Billing (GIB) out of London. This inspired him to move to London and work under the corporate umbrella focusing on footprint expansion, opening offices in Hong Kong, Sydney, Düsseldorf, New York, and Los Angeles. After exiting from GIB, Mr. Bonanno founded Solid Streaming, a venture backed by J.P. Morgan, CIBC and Telesystems, which developed a BREW audio/video streaming foundation for CDMA 1x. In the wake of 9/11, Solid Streaming struggled, prompting Mr. Bonanno to move to Barcelona, Spain to start his third venture, ViaMoviles. This was an online and mobile marketing company, which grew to a #103 rating on Alexa and created a bridge between Internet vendors and publishers worldwide.
In October of 2006, Mr. Bonanno sold his position in ViaMoviles to the original partnership in order to dedicate 100% of his time to Cleantech investing. In a short time, he became an early angel investor in Earth Class Mail and Sierra Nevada Solar and the first investor in Cool Earth Solar, at which he has served on the Board of Directors and as a Commercial Advisor.
Dr. Dominique Roddier, Chief Technology Officer of Principle Power is one of the
inventors of the WindFloat technology. He is a Naval Architect specializing in complex hydrodynamic problems ranging from wave energy production to liquid natural gas (LNG) sloshing. Previously, Dr. Roddier founded Marine Innovation & Technology, a marine engineering consulting firm which developed the Minifloat hull concept, and provided consulting services to the ocean related industries. Before this endeavor, he worked in Houston in the offshore division of ExxonMobil’s Upstream Research Company. He obtained his doctorate in Naval Architecture from UC Berkeley. Dr. Roddier has been involved in a large variety of offshore projects and is an expert in floating structures. His research interests are in spar vortex induced vibrations, LNG sloshing in large carriers, and wave energy converters.
Dr. Roddier has written over 25 technical publications, is a reviewer for Ocean Engineering and ISOPE, is a session organizer for OMAE, and has recently served as the chair of the SNAME Northern California Section. Dr. Roddier holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering, from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Science in Ocean Engineering, from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering, from the University of Arizona.
Craig Andrus is Principle Power’s Senior Vice President in Europe, overseeing projects and opportunities in both EU and non-EU member countries from Principle Power’s office in Spain. He has twenty years of global investment banking experience, working from London, Paris, and New York. Most recently he was Managing Director with J.P. Morgan, New York where he co-headed their Global Leverage Fund Group until 2005. Mr. Andrus brings his global organizational skills and financial sector experience to Principle Power’s team.
Mr. Andrus holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and an Masters of International Business Studies from the University of South Carolina. Having invested and participated in a wide spectrum of alternative energy companies over the years, Mr. Andrus has served on the business advisory committees to renewable energy companies and is an active investor in the sector. He is also a charter member of the Barcelona chapter of the Keiretsu Forum.
Des FitzGerald has lived in Maine since 1978 and in 1979 founded Ducktrap River Fish Farm, which he ran as its CEO for 23 years. In 1998, he sold a portion of his company to Continental Grain, which formed a holding company with Atlantic Salmon of Maine, the largest salmon farming company in the US at that time. Subsequently, he ran and managed that holding company, ContiSea, for 2.5 years. Mr. FitzGerald has also worked as a leadership consultant for Brimstone Consulting based in Camden, Maine and as a professor at the University of Maine in their Business School, designing and co-teaching a course on Leadership for the 21st Century with Dr. James Patterson. He has been a partner in Dirigo Wind, a land-based wind development company, a past President of The Natural Resources Council of Maine, and currently sits on the board of the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy. Mr. FitzGerald has a degree from Harvard University and attended graduate school at the University of Washington.
Based in Portland, Oregon, Kevin has over 12 years experience in energy and development. He has held senior positions with NW utilities and international renewable energy developers, and was an appointment in Oregon to develop the state’s renewable portfolio standard. He also co-founded and was the first chair of an organization promoting ocean energy development. His experience includes energy project development, contract negotiation, resource planning and policy at the state and national levels. Kevin has an MSc in Economic Development from the London School of Economics, where his dissertation focused on access to electricity and economic development in the developing world.
Joshua Weinstein has had the exposure and opportunity to work in many diverse fields on the cusp of current technology. Trained as a Bioengineer at thhe University of Washington, Joshua spans the gap between the engineering and business development sides of the Business for Principle Power. In addition to his Business Development role Joshua is also responsible for Turbine Manufacturer relationships and managing contractors for various engineering related activites.
Karen Ho joins Principle Power as Controller with extensive expertise in accounting, finance, business risk assessment, and project management. Prior to Principle Power, Ms. Ho served as a Senior Project Manager at CRC Results, successfully leading and managing financial consulting projects for public companies in the semiconductor, technology, and retail and distribution industries. Concurrently, Ms. Ho also provided independent consulting services to start-ups in the Bay Area. She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, where she served as an Audit Manager, performing financial audits and Sarbanes-Oxley attestations for multinational clients in industrial manufacturing, retail and distribution, and telecommunications. Ms. Ho is a Certified Public Accountant, a Chartered Accountant (from Canada), and holds a Bachelor of Mathematics and Masters of Accounting from the University of Waterloo in Canada.