NEWSROOM

Bill Ritter, Jr. is a partner at Freestone Strategies and the founder of the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University, which he established on February 1, 2011 and led until December 2024.

Governor Bill Ritter was elected Colorado’s 41st Governor in 2006 and was the District Attorney of Denver from 1993-2005. During his four-year term as Governor, Ritter established Colorado as a national and international leader in clean energy by building a New Energy Economy. After leaving the Governor’s Office, Ritter founded the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University, which works with state and federal policymakers to create clean energy policy throughout the country. Governor Ritter authored a book that was published in 2016 entitled, Powering Forward – What Everyone Should Know About America’s Energy Revolution.

Governor Ritter is the current Board of Dierctors chair for The Climate Group North America and former chair of the Board of Directors of the Energy Foundation and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of The Nature Conservancy. Ritter is a member of Blackhorn Venture Capital and serves as an advisor to Green Alpha and others. Ritter earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado State University (1978) and his law degree from the University of Colorado (1981). With his wife Jeannie, he operated a food distribution and nutrition center in Zambia.

Mark is a senior executive and adviser for companies, investors, and institutions tackling the world’s more urgent social impact challenges with particular depth in the energy, resource sustainability, and access space. Mark connects innovation and talented social impact change makers and entrepreneurs with financial resources, market opportunities, and advisory support to build business and scalable social impact enterprises. Mark brings these resources to bear as the Head of Redstone Consulting, Chairman of Factor[e] Ventures, and Operating Partner at Blackhorn Ventures. Mark is Managing Director Emeritus at McKinsey & Company. He holds both a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bruce is the Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of Trailmark, where he manages key investor relationships, originates new mandates, and plays an active role in project management. Prior to co-founding Trailmark, originally known as Fortress Group, Bruce was Managing Director of Williamson Advisors, an investment banking firm he founded in 1994 to offer M&A and capital advisory services to U.S. middle-market companies in an array of industries. Prior to Williamson Advisors, Bruce was Vice President at KD Equities, a New York-based buyout fund focused on middle-market companies. Previously, he was with L.F. Rothschild & Co. in Corporate Finance/M&A. He began his career at Bear, Stearns & Co. in the Financial Restructuring Group. Bruce received his A.B. degree from Harvard College and is a CFA Charterholder. (Series 7, 63, 24, 28, 79, 99, 50).

Currently serving as the Senior Accountant for CGC, Shelly brings over 20 years of experience in both public and non-profit accounting and financial management. Her expertise includes cash flow management, financial reporting, budgeting, and payroll across multiple states.

Andrew came to CGC from the renewable energy sector where he served as the global director of project economics with Vestas Wind Systems and a consultant to leading wind, solar, and hydrogen developers throughout the world. With CGC, Andrew supports project development across organizational specialties and markets, delivering bankable technoeconomic assessments to clientele and funding institutions.

Daniel Gastel serves as Managing Director, Head of Transformation at Enfusion. In this role, Daniel works closely with Enfusion’s leadership team across the Product, Revenue, Engineering, and Client Success functions to organize and execute a multi-year plan. Prior to joining Enfusion, Daniel spent six years as Managing Director at BlackRock.

Joshua Skov has been a consultant to business and government organizations on sustainability strategy for more than 20 years. Acting as a liaison between technical analysis and executive-level decision making, he has served more than 50 clients in the United States and abroad in a range of industries, including energy, food, waste management, tech, and consumer products. Skov is assistant vice president in the sustainability, energy, and climate change practice of WSP USA. He has served on advisory bodies for World Resources Institute, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, ICLEI, and the National Academies. He is a cofounder and former principal of Good Company, a leading regional sustainability consultancy.

Caitlin Morris-Bender is a purpose-driven strategic leader with over 25 years of experience in corporate social responsibility, sustainability, and community impact. Her expertise spans labor rights, climate justice, and organizational development, with a proven track record of creating strategic frameworks that align business objectives with social impact. Currently a principal at Fleur de Sel, LLC, Morris-Bender provides advisory services to purpose-driven companies and nonprofits: combining deep knowledge of ESG principles with a commitment to driving both social impact and business value.

Principal, Vogel Group

Served as Senior Director for Federal Affairs at ExxonMobil, overseeing engagement with the White House, all federal agencies, and the U.S. Senate

Served on President Obama’s Energy and Environment Transition Team as both a Senior Advisor to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Water and Science in the Department of the Interior
Extensive background in water policy, natural resources, energy policy and more

Nick Visser has 27 years of experience in software engineering and software product management. Nick manages the information strategy for CGC, assuring that necessary and valid data is collected, retained, and used to prove sequestration. Multiple data sources quantify CGC’s process and corroborate each other. Drawing from his experience in software solutions for materials information and environmental compliance, Nick works with CGC software vendors to create a platform to make this data accessible and provide the data that proves the veracity of related carbon assets. Prior to his role with CGC, Nick served as a Senior Software Engineer at IDES Inc., as a Product Manager at Underwriters Laboratories, and Software Program Manager at Trihydro Corporation.

George Sorenson founded FE Clean Energy Group Inc. in 2001 and serves as the Chairman. FE Clean Energy Group, put together some of the first funds in the clean energy market that brought together strategic and financial investors to maximize investment success. George was an early investor in clean energy, and has a wide range of experience in originating, structuring, negotiating, and executing direct equity investments in electric, gas, water, and telecommunications utilities in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Prior to FE Clean, George co-founded FondElec Group in 1992, and served as Chairman of this private equity firm specializing in Latin American utility investments.

With a 45-year career in the energy industry, Marcia Reeves Simpson has been a trailblazer in the upstream petroleum industry. From reservoir engineering and operations to asset acquisitions and sales, her insights illuminated the path of success for numerous ventures. Marcia’s extensive achievements include orchestrating intricate planning, budgeting, and performance management processes that underpinned her visionary approach to business success.

Marcia’s most recent endeavor launched Sabre Energy Partners, an enterprising exploration and production company strategically focused on developing assets in the Appalachian Basin. Sabre Energy Partners was built around a partnership with Trace Capital, an influential financial institution with managed funds exceeding $1.4 billion in invested and committed capital.

Marcia’s trajectory to success was further solidified during her tenure as the Senior Vice President of Engineering and Operations at Chief Oil and Gas, LLC. Her stewardship was instrumental in transforming the company into one of the United States’ largest privately-owned gas producers and sold to Chesapeake Energy Corporation for $2.6B.  Marcia’s leadership journey also included seven years as the Vice President of Engineering at EXCO Resources in Dallas, Texas where she developed Haynesville, Eagleford, and Marcellus shale assets and distinguished senior executive roles with Mobil, Chevron, Gulf, and J-W Operating Company, each a testament to her commitment to excellence.

Marcia’s impact extends far beyond the boardroom. Marcia is an Advisory Board member role with Carbon GeoCapture, a carbon sequestration start-up, and SWAN  Impact Network which is focused on social and environmentally focused startups.  She recently joined the Executive Committee of WEN North Texas.  She devoted six years to the Board of Directors for the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, championing their growth and empowerment. She is a Centennial Fellow at the Pennsylvania State University College of Earth and Mineral Sciences where she graduated from with a degree in Petroleum Engineering.  Marcia is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and a certified Professional Engineer.

Mark Northam is a Mobil and ExxonMobil veteran, with twenty years of carbon capture and sequestration projects. He is the founding director of University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources. He also oversaw carbon management operations at Saudi Aramco.

Patric Galvin’s career in the environmental and energy sectors spans over 40 years and 15 companies worldwide. Currently, Galvin serves as Founder of i3 Capital Partners, LLC, whose mission lies in helping companies grow and build top and bottom lines. Galvin’s business experience has tackled everything from small projects, developing billion-dollar opportunities, launching startup-teams, managing large companies, and providing ongoing advice and direction to numerous companies at the Board level. Galvin’s energy-related projects include coal bed methane development; oil and gas development; fracking sand discovery, development, and sourcing; flowback and process water cleanup; and freshwater acquisition and transportation.

Chris Walker has pioneered business partnerships and market initiatives to address climate change for over two decades. Previously, Walker served as Director, North America at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in New York City, where he managed WBCSD’s relationship with 47 Fortune 500 companies headquartered in North America. Prior to WBCSD, Walker was as a member of Ernst & Young’s Climate Change and Sustainability Services, as well as Executive Officer of Carbon Trust, LLC, and Executive Director for North America for The Climate Group, where he conceptualized and implemented “Climate Week” as an annual event in New York City.

Chris Varrone has been a consultant and banker to more than 50 cleantech companies over the past 10 years. He is the former Chief Strategist/Technology R&D at Vestas Wind Systems and a former management consultant with McKinsey & Co. Chris was a Fulbright Scholar in Norway and holds an M.A. in Economics (First Class) from Cambridge University. Chris is currently a Managing Director and Registered Representative of Pickwick Capital Partners, LLC, a broker-dealer member of FINRA.

Art Toews has over 45 years of experience in oil and gas operations and high-performance instrumentation. He is highly experienced in coal bed methane (CBM) engineering, field operations, and operational management. Art has worked in most major basins in the United States and in international settings including Australia, China, Mozambique, and Indonesia.

Tony Calandro has more than 25 years of experience conducting strategic communications initiatives on behalf of Fortune 500 companies’ efforts to address and mitigate climate change. In this capacity, he has developed campaigns to shape public opinion on climate change, including managing corporate communication and engagement efforts at United Nations Climate Change Conferences, as well as cultivating corporate partnerships with climate NGOs to identify innovative approaches to bring renewable energy to the Southeast and Midwest regions of the United States and “green” the U.S. electrical grid. Tony has also partnered with the Vatican’s Council on Inclusive Capitalism on communication efforts to highlight the need for a fair and equitable transition to a global economy much less reliant on fossil fuels.

Dylan Esquivel is a distinguished reservoir engineer and operational manager with extensive operational experience across a range of sectors and geographies. He has led projects in carbon sequestration, conventional oil and gas, coalbed methane, and geothermal energy.

Sam Yntema helps companies navigate the complex federal policy landscape and identify strategic opportunities, particularly in the energy, industrial, and transportation sectors. His work focuses on translating government initiatives into actionable business strategies for clients driving technological innovation. He advises on a range of emerging technologies, including carbon capture, direct air capture, hydrogen, and sustainable fuels. Sam helped clients secure funding in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and advocated for various energy and industrial tax incentives under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. He is an expert on Sections 45Q, 45V, 45Z, and 45X tax credits, and contributed to defending and expanding these credits in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025.