Management Team and Board of Directors
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.
Non-Executive Board Members
Mr. Matos is the Chief Executive Officer of A. Silva Matos Investments, the investment vehicle of the A. Silva Matos group of companies. His focus is on renewable energy including wind, hydro and solar power, with activities in Portugal, Spain, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. Previously, Mr. Matos served as the Assessor of A. Silva Matos Energy.
Executive Board Members and Management Team
Alla Weinstein was the co-founder and CEO of AquaEnergy Group (AEG), a company that successfully developed a wave energy conversion technology that was acquired by Finavera Renewables Inc., a TSXV listed Renewable Energy company, where she was the General Manager and a Director. Alla brings over 30 years of industry experience, building global engineering projects for companies like Honeywell and Boeing. She is a frequent speaker in the US and Europe on the development of Renewable Energy and has served as the first President of the European Ocean Energy Association. Alla holds a BE in EE from Stevens Institute of Technology and an MBA from Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management.
Dr. Dominique Roddier is a co-inventor of the WindFloat. He is a Naval Architect specializing in complex hydrodynamic problems ranging from wave energy production to liquid natural gas (LNG) sloshing. Dominique is a co-founder of Marine Innovation & Technology, a marine engineering consulting firm, which developed the Minifloat hull concept, and provided consulting services to ocean related industries. Prior, he worked in the offshore division of ExxonMobil’s Upstream Research Company. Dominique is an expert in floating structures with interests in spar vortex induced vibrations, LNG sloshing in large carriers, and wave energy converters. Dominique holds a PhD degree in Naval Architecture from UC Berkeley.
Craig Andrus brings over 20 years of global investment banking experience. Prior to co-founding PPI, he was Managing Director with J.P. Morgan, New York where he co-headed the Global Leverage Fund Group until 2005. Craig brings his global organizational skills and financial experience to PPI's team. Craig holds a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and an MBA in International Business from the University of South Carolina.
Dr. Christian Cermelli is a co-inventor of the WindFloat and a co-founder of Marine Innovation & Technology. Prior to that, he was a Senior Research Engineer with Shell International E&P in the Floating Systems group. He has worked with Technip in France and Coflexip in Brazil on many offshore projects. Christian has acquired a vast experience in the design of numerous floating structures, including TLP’s, spars, semi-submersibles and FPSO’s. Christian holds a PhD in Naval Architecture and Offshore Engineering from UC Berkeley. He is a Registered Professional Engineer in Texas.
Denis Letourneau brings over 25 years of experience in Marine Energy sector. His career spans from being an Engineering Officer on board Navy ships, to supervision of construction and electricity production of over 100 MW of Renewable Energy power plants (mini-hydro, biomass, biogas, and wind plants), to successful first phase technical development and ocean deployment of a small scale Wave Energy converter, to development of an award winning building-mounted Wind Turbine and Electric Vehicle Fast-Chargers, to technical commercialization of the AquaBuoy Wave Energy converter. Denis holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering, a Marine Engineering certificate and he is a senior member of the US Naval Engineering Society.
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.
Based in Europe and Singapore, Ralph has 30 years experience as a trial lawyer and international corporate counsel. A 1981 graduate of the University of British Columbia, he was called to the BC Bar in 1982 and joined the litigation department of Lang Michener Lawrence & Shaw LLP, Vancouver. He became a partner of the firm in 1987 and in 1994 was appointed Chair of its litigation group. His clients included Canada Deposit Insurance Corporation, Diamond Fields Inc., shareholders of Bre-X Resources Inc., and other clients with high-stakes corporate, securities and financial institution litigation. In 1997 he left the firm to join StarCapital Corp., a Bahamas-based telecommunications company, as its General Counsel and Managing Director. Since 2002, Ralph has been engaged as international legal counsel or General Counsel for other private and public companies, including Finavera Renewables Inc. (Vancouver, TSXV: FVR) and Continental Gas Storage BV (The Hague, NL).
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.