Timothy Hennessy - CEO & Chairman of the Board
Mr. Hennessy joined the company in August 2003. He holds a Master of Science & Engineering, a B.Sc. Electrical Engineering and has completed various commerce and business school studies. He has held positions including Vice President of Engineering and Operations and Managing Director - LECTRIX LLC, Vice President of PacifiCorp's Energy Services, Quality of Supply Manager for ESKOM and was a founder and Principal of Power Quality Technology. Mr. Hennessy has had extensive experience assessing and developing new technologies, project management and product delivery, including the implementation of large-scale power quality solutions such as superconductor energy storage, rotary and hybrid power-electronic systems. Mr. Hennessy has also published and presented over 20 international papers as well as editing of the Power Quality Blue Book (South Africa), a text for engineers in industry. He is a member of the board of Schmitt Industries (Nasdaq: SMIT)
Vincent Sorace - President, Director
Mr. Sorace joined the Board of VRB Power in November 2002 and assumed the role as President in April 2003. Prior to joining VRB Power, Mr. Sorace was active in the investment community and over the last 10 years has helped finance numerous public and private entities in Canada and the U.S., including several high tech companies. Mr. Sorace has extensive experience in strategic planning, corporate development and the capital markets. Mr. Sorace holds a Diploma in Management Systems from the B.C. Institute of Technology and multiple University courses in Business Administration.
Gavin Cooper - Chief Financial Officer, Corporate Secretary
Mr. Cooper is a Chartered Accountant. He holds a Bachelor in Accounting (Hons) from the University of South Africa. Mr. Cooper was President and CEO of Catamaran Ferries International Inc, Director of Finance & Administration at Yarrows Ltd, Vice President and Director Pacific Engineered Materials Inc., and Senior Auditor at Ernst & Whinney in Vancouver, BC, London, UK and Cape Town, South Africa. Mr. Cooper is an accomplished executive with a significant record of achievement in the areas of strategic change, financial management and working closely with key external stakeholders in a diversity of leading private sector domestic and international organizations.
Brian Beck - VP Business Development
With over 30 years experience in the electrical industry in Europe and USA, Brian Beck has participated in electric supply restructuring in UK and North America. Educated in Britain, he is a chartered engineer, registered with the European Federation of National Engineering Associations (FEANI), a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the IEEE, and the Institution of Diesel and Gas Turbine Engineers. He gained extensive management experience with a major European manufacturing electrical engineering company, culminating as the CEO of its U.K. group of companies. He has published several articles on critical and secure power supplies. From 1991, he has been actively involved in many aspects of the restructuring of the North American electricity supply industry. He has recently retired from Caterpillar where, as General Manager of Caterpillar Energy Solutions, he had responsibility for initiatives in power quality and distributed generation.
Justin Lacey - VP Sales & Marketing
Mr. Lacey brings to VRB Power a wealth of knowledge and expertise in marketing and selling complex, high technology product and services to customers around the world. Most recently, Justin K Lacey was head of the worldwide marketing efforts for the business aircraft division of Bombardier Aerospace where his efforts contributed to an unprecedented growth in sales around the world, particularly in growth and emerging marketing outside of North America. Mr. Lacey is responsible for providing the strategic direction, as well as day-to-day management for all aspects of marketing and communications, sales, investor relations and capital markets. Mr. Lacey will be leading VRB Power's efforts to put into place a world-class sales and marketing organization, and implementing well defined, integrated sales and marketing strategies that result in sales growth in VRB Power's key target markets. Mr. Lacey has a B.A. in Economics for the University of Western Ontario, an MBA from McGill University, and a degree in International Business from the Stockholm School of Economics.
John Davis - Director of Sales
Mr. Davis brings over 18 years executive level experience in sales and business development heavily focused on emerging technology solutions for the telecommunications and utilities industries. John has been a pioneer in selling fuel cells and alternative energy technologies into the telecoms and utilities market space both nationally and internationally. Most recently, John held the position of Director of International Business Development for ReliOn, Inc., offering hydrogen based fuel cell products for telecommunications backup solutions in North America and The Caribbean. Previous to ReliOn, John held the position of Sr. Director, Sales for Metallic Power. Inc. offering a rechargeable Zinc/Air fuel cell product. In the mid 1990’s, John held the position of Sr. Director, European Sales with Tekelec Inc. managing an extensive distribution network in 15 countries. John has a strong engineering background with a B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clemson University.
Gary Lepp, P.Eng - Vice President of Operations
Mr. Lepp brings over 20 years of experience in mechanical engineering and product development regarding electrochemical power generation. Mr. Lepp was previously employed with Ballard Power, where he held a number of senior positions including Director of Product Development (Systems), Director of Stack Development; Director of Product Development and Program Manager of Stationary Power Systems. While at Ballard, Mr. Lepp provided leadership and direction to the engineering and product development teams regarding its development of fuel cell stacks and was a member of the company's senior management on the Technology Approval Committee, overseeing multiple technology projects. Mr. Lepp also spent six years with Chemetics International Company Ltd. as a Sr. Mechanical Engineer and Project Manager and three years at Highquest Engineering (now QuestAir Technologies) as a Research Engineer and Partner. Mr. Lepp holds a Masters of Applied Science and Bachelor of Applied Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of British Columbia and is a registered member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C. and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
