About Us - Our Team
Alexander von Welczeck | Charlie Kuffner| John Parsons | Dirk Michels
Alexander von Welczeck
Principal
Alexander von Welczeck is an innovator and entrepreneur in the CleanTech and Solar Energy industries. As an industry leader he works closely with trade groups & associations, investors, as well as strategic global enterprises to accelerate the clean power revolution. He has 25 years of management experience with a successful track-record at identifying, building and managing technology-based businesses with investment grade systems. His primary focus is on renewable energy projects and the commercial building industry.
In addition to CLEAN POWER GROUP (CPG), Mr. v. Welczeck currently is a Director at CLEAN POWER ADVISORS and on the Advisory Boards at SOLAR LAND PARTNERS (SLP), CLEAN ENERGY ASSET FINANCE an AdamCapital Company and CLEAN REIT.
Prior to current engagements, SOLAR POWER PARTNERS (SPP). He is a founder of SPP and as CEO from 2007-09 his team completed Nationwide (41) different & top-performing commercial PV solar systems based on PPA energy service financing. Mr. v. Welczeck served in both domestic and international (EU) management and executive sales & marketing capacities at ThyssenKrupp, DOVER, DORMA, and Friendlyway. He lived and worked in Europe from 1990–2000. He is a University of San Francisco business graduate (1985) and is a member of the Construction Specification Institute (CSI), US Green Building Council, The American Council on Renewable Energy, SolarTech.Org and The CleanTech Circle.
Charlie Kuffner
Principal
Mr. Kuffner is the Founder and President of Sustainable through Innovation, LLC, a consulting firm related to the built environment specializing in Energy Conservation and Renewable Energy.
A registered California Civil Engineer, (PE), Mr. Kuffner had an illustrious 28 year career with the Swinerton organization, a $2 Billion/Yr. Western US Regional General Contractor. During his tenure at Swinerton Builders, he held several roles including Project Engineer, Project Manager and President. He also held Board Member and Executive Committee positions with Swinerton Incorporated, the financial holding company of the Swinerton Family of Operating Companies, and had the titles of Executive Vice President, Chief Operation Officer and Chief Technology Executive. While at Swinerton, Mr.Kuffner also held the Positions as the Chairman of the Boards of Directors of Harbison, Mahoney, Higgins Builders, William P. Young Construction, and Swinerton Management and Consulting, three other wholly owned operating subsidiaries of Swinerton Incorporated. His Green Leadership at Swinerton included establishing Swinerton’s Renewable Energy Operating Group.
Mr. Kuffner has had a long history in Green and Sustainability. During undergraduate studies at Stanford, Mr. Kuffner studied Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy as a (unofficial) minor area of study and was a volunteer student carpenter that helped build the Stanford Solar Energy Test Laboratory (that is still collecting data for student solar projects after almost 30 years). This Environmental passion converged with the US Green Building Council LEED rating system, and in 2001, Mr. Kuffner, with the support of some inspired employees of Swinerton, championed the GREENING of Swinerton’s new headquarters, a renovated building in the South of Market Area of San Francisco. Instead of leasing, Swinerton’s Board, upon Mr. Kuffner’s urging, decided to buy their office building and to make it GREEN. The building, 260 Townsend Street, was built by Swinerton for a private client in 1985. Upon the purchase, Mr. Kuffner championed the Present Value Analysis of Energy Saved by installing new Digital HVAC and Lighting Controls to save energy in the operation of the building. Swinerton was a Pilot project for LEED Existing Buildings and was recognized as the first LEED Gold in San Francisco and the first LEED EB in the nation with their LEED GOLD Certification. Mr. Kuffner and the Swinerton Green Team then went on to employ and train over 300 LEED Accredited Professionals on staff and be recognized as GREEN Leaders nationwide perennially being recognized by Engineering News Record as one of the top 5 GREEN Contractors in the United States. Furthering on the market of Sustainability and Renewable Energy, he founded and set-up the Swinerton Renewable Energy Operating group.
Mr. Kuffner has also served on the Board of and held the position of President of the Construction Employers Association (CEA) – the management association of over 100 of the largest General Contractors in Northern California that is the primary Collective Bargaining Agent with the Carpenters, Laborers, Operating Engineers, and Cement Masons Trade Unions. Mr. Kuffner has been very involved on the CEA’s Legislative Committee and was active in writing, arguing and politicking for and getting signed by Governors Davis and Schwarzenegger of California three significant pieces of Commercial Construction Legislation Bills.
In an effort to connect Cleantech jobs with citizens that are in need of good paying jobs, Mr. Kuffner was a founding member of the Oakland Green Jobs Corp and member of their Employers Council. Teaming up with the Cypress Mandela Job Training Center, the Oakland Green Job Corp is training local residents the skills they can use to work in Solar, Energy Conservation, and other Cleantech jobs that are being created to conserve energy and to produce energy at a local and regional level from alternative renewable energy sources.
Mr. Kuffner earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at Stanford University and a Masters Degree in Engineering: Engineering Management, also from Stanford and remains a regular Guest Lecturer in a variety of Construction Management Graduate Courses.
John Parsons
Principal
Mr. Parsons is a seasoned executive with more than 25 years of management and investment experience focusing on new projects and ventures. He has been CFO at Zep Solar, a maker of innovative solar mounting components, cofounder and CFO of CleanREIT Partners, a company developing a novel way to finance commercial solar projects, and an advisor to TurkSolar, a utility-scale solar project developer in Turkey. Mr. Parsons' energy background includes founding and structuring a Section 29 alternative fuels project that was acquired by Koch Industries and the Southern Company and generated over $2.4B in tax credits during its 10 years of operations.
Previously, Mr. Parsons was a Managing Partner and CFO at Residential Growth Partners, a real estate investment firm. He also served as a manager of Halo Fund II, a venture capital fund now fully invested, and as an advisor to Halo Fund I. Previously, he served as CFO of White Knight Packaging (acquired by Parmalat), Elk Creek LLC, and Olliance. Mr. Parsons is a serial entrepreneur who has served as an executive at eight venture-backed companies and was instrumental in building operations and processes and putting in place financial systems and controls. He has invested in and advised more than 40 start-up companies. In addition, he has represented investors as a board member of four companies. Mr. Parsons is also a Managing Partner in the Cleantech Circle and has been a judge in the Cleantech Open. Early in his career, he was a strategy and finance consultant at Ernst & Young, and he is a graduate of the Manufacturing Management Program at General Electric.
Mr. Parsons earned an M.B.A. from The Darden Graduate School of Business Administration of the University of Virginia, and a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Dirk Michels (K&L Gates LLP)
General Counsel
Dirk Michels is a partner with the international law firm of K&L Gates LLP, resident in its Palo Alto and San Francisco offices, where he is a leader in the firm’s Cleantech and Alternative Energy practice group. Mr. Michels advises renewable energy companies in corporate and project development and financing matters. His work includes the full range of corporate and strategic advice, as well as assistance with all aspects of project development and complex debt and equity financing. In his more than 15 years of practicing law in Germany and California, Mr. Michels has developed and negotiated corporate and project agreements for many companies engaged in centralized and distributed renewable energy projects – from power purchase agreements and interconnection agreements, to construction contracts, debt and equity financing agreements, and agreements related to renewable energy and carbon credits.
In 2011, Mr. Michels was recognized by the Daily Journal as one of the "Top 25 Clean Technology Lawyers in California" for his work in project finance.
