ROBERT M. KNOWLES, PARTNER & CO-FOUNDER

Bob Knowles is a Partner of REM, the company he co-founded in 2009, for the sole purpose of bringing as much large utility-scale clean solar energy to Massachusetts and the region as possible.  His core responsibilities, aside from assisting in setting the general strategic direction of the company, are generating new business, site acquisition, project development & permitting, as well as energy off-take sales prospecting.  Bob is a senior executive with over twenty-five years of business experience, and prior to REM held roles as Director of Sales & Marketing and Business Development at Project Adventure, Inc., at the time a $10 million in revenue fee-for-service non-profit.  Earlier in his career Bob was a key member of the management teams of two innovative consumer packaged goods start-up companies in both the pediatric pharmaceutical and premium beverage categories, having assisted in the negotiations for the successful sale of each company in 1997 and 2002 respectively.  Bob acts in advisory and board capacities for various for-profit and non-profit start-up and emerging-stage companies in the Boston area, and received his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1985.

BRIAN KOPPERL, MANAGING PARTNER & CO-FOUNDER

Brian Kopperl is co-founder and Managing Partner of REM and oversees the firm’s strategic direction and project development activities.  He draws on over 30 years of a wide-ranging career in project development, negotiations and communications, business development, and financial and risk assessment.  Brian was previously the co-founder and co-Chief Investment Officer of Pegasus Investments, Inc., a Boston investment management firm he co-led for a decade, during which time it grew from a seed fund of $3 million to a peak portfolio of $450 million of public equity security investments.  Earlier in his career, Brian served as a corporate and securities attorney in San Francisco, CA with a predecessor of the national law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.  Brian also served on the law staff of Judge Pamela Rymer of the Ninth Circuit United States Court of Appeals in Pasadena, CA.  Brian earned his BA from Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT and a JD from the UCLA School of Law, serving as an editor of the UCLA Law Review. Following a mid-career MPA at Harvard Kennedy School in 2006, Brian has been active on pro bono strategic consulting teams to Boston-area nonprofit clients of Community Action Partners (CAP), the Harvard Business and Kennedy School alumni service arm.

THOMAS SCHIEBER, BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR

Thomas Schieber is responsible for REM’s new business generation, site acquisition, project development and the management of utility relationships during the development phase of solar projects. Previously Thomas worked in diverse industry segments for leading multi-national companies Black & Decker, Guinness/Diageo and CSM in marketing and sales roles. He is an expert in developing marketing strategies, launching new products, building brands and managing customer relationships. Having spent over 20 years working in global blue chip companies in Europe, Thomas relocated to Massachusetts in 2013 and has since worked in the green energy sector developing rooftop solar energy projects. Thomas received his MBA from Columbia Business School.

REM Advisors

STEVE BARRETT, PRINCIPAL, BARRETT ENERGY RESOURCES GROUP

Steve Barrett draws on 20+ years experience in environmental policy and sustainable development to help identify, evaluate, and facilitate strategic environmental plans and renewable energy opportunities for clients in New England, across the United States, and beyond. In recent years, he has developed a specialization working with airports. He currently is a consultant to the United Nation’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as well as large airports from Boston-Logan to Salt Lake City with the integration of renewable energy projects that are compatible with aviation activities. He also co-authored the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Solar Guide and several FAA-funded research projects on energy and aviation administered by the National Academy ’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP). Beyond airports, he is working to permit several complex energy and infrastructure projects including a 12.5 MW wind farm in western Massachusetts as founding partner in Minuteman Wind, LLC, tidal energy projects in the Cape Cod Canal and in Muskeget Channel between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, and a desalination project for the Town of Swansea. With a strong background in project siting, regulatory compliance, and financial analysis, Steve helps clients create commonsense solutions that meet environmental and economic objectives within a real-world framework.

ED BRAKEMAN, ADVISOR

Managing Director, Bain Capital, LLC, Boston, an affiliation Ed has maintained since 1988, first in private equity investments and then as co-founder in 1996 of Bain Capital’s public equity investment business, Brookside Capital. Active philanthropic roles currently with Tenacity, African Leadership Academy, and Girls and Boys Town. Ed is an REM advisor; as a matter of principle, he does not invest in private, non-control transactions outside Bain Capital. Ed has known Brian Kopperl for over 30 years and advises REM on matters of company strategy and management. Stanford University MBA.

BOB MCDERMOTT, CO-FOUNDER & ADVISOR

Following his 26-year career in financial services, the last 12 years of which he served as Managing Director and head of Sales and Trading in Boston for CIBC, Bob formed McDermott & MacCarthy a team of advisors at By the Sea, a division of Sotheby’s International Realty. In 2008 Bob also formed ECO Investments to invest in the renewable energy space. Bob earned his BA from Southern New Hampshire University, and served a six-year term as a trustee there.