Tuesday, 02-23-2010

YPIN: Innovations & Careers in the Green Tech Industry: A look at how Seattle is contributing to solving the global energy crisis and climate change

Join us for an interactive panel with:
David Leonhardi, moderator, Business Strategist, Boeing Commercial Airplanes
J.D. Sitton, CEO, Infinia, a global CleanTech Top 100 firm developing solar power generation systems
Kevin Wilhelm, CEO, Sustainable Business Consulting, a company delivering solutions to help clients meet profitability and sustainability goals
Bryan Guy, Managing Director, Cypress Venture Group, a startup developing smart grid solutions to make homes more energy efficient
Clare Nordquist, Director, Cascadia Capital, LLC, an investment bank focused on sustainable technologies
William Einstein, Manager, Emerging Technologies & Climate Change Department, Puget Sound Energy
T. Ron Davis, Chief Marketing Officer, VU1, a Seattle start-up company developing a new technology for energy efficient lighting

Global warming is one of the greatest challenges mankind faces today. It's going to require innovations and new ways of thinking to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and to improve our energy efficiency. A new industry is emerging, working on green technologies to provide us with alternative sources of energy and to help us consume energy more efficiently.

The event will include free appetizers and a cash bar!

Also, during the post event networking you will be able to speak with the panelists, network with attendees, attend a book-signing for "Return on Sustainability" by Kevin Wilhelm, and converse with past winners of the Clean Tech Open!

Speaker bios:

David Leonhardi serves as the leader of Boeing Commercial Airplane’s Product Development Decision Consulting Group. In his role, Leonhardi leads strategy development activities associated with Future Airplane Product Lines and Production Systems, Collaborative Business Relationships, New Business Development Opportunities and Sustainability Strategies.

Leonhardi has more than 30 years of experience and has served in a variety of positions within multiple Boeing organizations including Developmental Manufacturing, Airplane Production and Product Development, and he has been involved in developing Boeing’s BioJet fuel strategy and CPV Commercialization strategy. Leonhardi serves on the INFORMS advisory council for the yearly INFORMS practitioners’ conference, and currently is an Adjunct Professor teaching classes on sustainability concepts in Seattle University’s MBA Program.

A graduate of Central Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration, Leonhardi also earned a master’s in project management from George Washington University. He has attended executive programs at Stanford University’s school of Engineering and is a graduate of the MIT Sloan School of Management Strategy and Innovation Program.


J.D. Sitton joined Infinia as President and Chief Executive Officer and member of its Board of Directors in October of 2002. During his tenure at Infinia, Mr. Sitton has led the company’s entry into the market for solar power generation systems and has closed on three rounds of venture and private equity capital totaling over $70 million. Mr. Sitton is a serial entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience developing and commercializing new technologies, products and services in domestic and international energy markets. He is a sought-after speaker with strong relationships throughout the industry and in 2008 alone has been quoted in outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal and Fortune, to Earth2Tech and CNET, to Energy Prospects and VentureBeat.

Prior to joining Infinia, Mr. Sitton formed a new business for, and led technology investments on behalf of Integrated Electrical Services.
Prior to that, Mr. Sitton led the successful start-up of an international provider of hydrocarbon measurement services, now a part of Emerson Electric Company (NYSE: EMR). Mr. Sitton was Director of Marketing and Sales at Capstone Turbine Corporation (Nasdaq: CPST) where he was responsible for building early-market customer relationships, sales channels and key transactions. Mr. Sitton began his career with the gas pipeline and energy trading subsidiaries of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK). Mr. Sitton holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rice University and a Master of Business Administration from the Executive Program at the University of Houston.


Kevin Wilhelm is the country’s pre-eminent consultant on business sustainability and climate change. As CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting he leads clients in developing and implementing profitable sustainability and climate action plans. Kevin draws on his fourteen years of experience with businesses ranging from Fortune 500s to renewable energy start-ups to deliver practical solutions that benefit the bottom line. His expertise includes climate change and carbon footprinting, corporate sustainability strategy and triple bottom line accounting.

Kevin is the author of Return on Sustainability: How Business Can Increase Profitability & Address Climate Change in an Uncertain Economy, a market-based call to action to stop global warming. He chairs the Clean Energy Committee for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce and writes a monthly column for Sustainable Industries. Kevin is an instructor at the Bainbridge Graduate Institute and has been instrumental in designing City University-Seattle’s new Sustainable Business MBA program.


Bryan Guy, Esq. is a green technology innovator whose company, CVG has developed a number of head-turning products and services. These products and services include patented hardware and software solutions, mobile applications and renewable energy technologies. The Online Eco-Management Suite, Green Tango, House Runner and Building Runner are just a few of the products that Mr. Guy and CVG have moved from development to deployment.

CVG’s clients include the City of Seattle, the Seattle Climate Partnership and a growing number of municipalities and private organizations.
Mr. Guy has served as an executive for Fortune 500 companies and is a licensed attorney with expertise in business, technology and environmental law. He possesses a degree in business finance from Seattle Pacific University and a law degree from Seattle University and has studied sustainable development under organizations including the European Union, WBRD and the United Nations Environmental Programme.


Clare Nordquist, after serving in the United States Air Force doing materials research on nose cones, joined Coors Ceramics where he served in a variety of operating management and board positions including executive chairman of an electronic packaging manufacturing operation in Singapore.

Following his tenure at Coors, he co-founded and was managing partner of Materia Ventures, a venture fund investing in early stage companies developing commercial products in advanced materials technologies, serving on numerous boards of portfolio companies.

He is a past chair of the University of Washington Technology Center, and served as a Commissioner of the Port of Seattle, where his efforts focused on expanding capacity at SEA-TAC airport to better serve Greater Seattle. He currently is a director of Cascadia Capital LLC, a Seattle based middle market investment bank focusing on sustainable industry opportunities and a Senior Advisor to Meridian Capital, also a Seattle investment bank serving a broad base of more traditional brick and mortar companies in retail, industrial and service sectors of the economy.

Clare received a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering from the University of Washington and an M.B.A. from the University of Denver.


Will Einstein manages the exploration of new energy technologies and the development of PSE’s climate change policy. Einstein also oversees PSE’s participation in the renewable energy credit and carbon credit markets. This is a new position for PSE that was created in early 2009.

PSE is currently exploring new investments in solar energy, energy storage as well as an expansion of its current fleet of two plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. In 2009, PSE has also transacted several major sales of future surplus renewable energy credits from our wind generation facilities. Prior to taking this position, Einstein spent eight years working as a Manager in PSE’s Federal Government Relations group. In that capacity, Einstein helped develop, manage and execute, PSE’s federal legislative strategy involving renewable energy tax incentives, regional power matters and natural gas supply projects.

Einstein has also served on the staff of a member of the United States House of Representatives, a member of the United States Senate and a member of the Metropolitan King County Council. Einstein is a graduate of the University of Washington’s Executive MBA program and has a bachelor’s degree from Whitman College. Einstein is currently a member of the Board of the Seattle Aquarium Society and Seattle CityClub where he serves as Board Secretary. He is also a past member and Director of the Bellevue Breakfast Rotary Club. He and his wife, Brooke, live in the Maple Leaf neighborhood of Seattle with their two daughters Emma and Lucy.


Ron Davis was the Director of F500 Marketing at Microsoft. Mr. Davis spent 9 years with DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) in marketing, sales, and management roles. Ron started his career as a technologist in international systems and telecommunications at American Express. At Microsoft, Ron established the Corporate Account Marketing group, was responsible for developing the now industry standard Multi-License Pak, the design and development of the Microsoft Support Coordinator's Program, strategic seeding programs, Corporate Roadshows, Strategy Briefing Tours, Corporate Technical Workshops, transformed the US Sales Training department into the Worldwide Sales Training Group and played a principal role in growing F500 revenue from $25M to $1B.

Ron was the founder of three privately held companies. As President of the Intellect Marketing Group, he provided marketing consulting services to emerging growth software, digital media and technology companies, as well as F500 companies. Currently Mr. Davis is a member of the Public Relations Committee of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Washington and has presented to several Masonic groups.