Bigger Than Us

Blake Bassett is currently the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Step Tire.  Step Tire is a trying to Give Hope Traction by reprocessing old car tires into soles for shoes.  The mission of the company is not only to Give Hope Traction but also to “Teach a Man to Fish” by building self-contained manufacturing facilities that can be placed anywhere in the world to allow locals to learn how to make the soles and sell shoes.  Prior to co-founding Step Tire, Blake was a small business lender and investor in small companies.  He earned his BA from Texas Christian University. Blake has been married to his wife Meg for 18 years and they have three daughters and attend HPUMC. https://steptire.com/ 

Dr. William M. Conlon, P.E., is the founder, and President of Pintail Power, and the inventor of the Liquid Air Combined Cycle™ (LACC) and Liquid Salt Combined Cycle™ (LSCC) technologies. Dr. Conlon’s track record of successfully managing innovation from concept through commercialization, includes Cheng Cycle Steam Injected Gas Turbines, and the Compact Linear Fresnel Reflector Solar Steam Generator. Since 2013, he has pioneered hybrid energy storage systems for utility-scale applications to address the CAISO Duck Curve and similar renewable integration problems around the world. After receiving a Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering and Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, he joined Pacific Gas & Electric Company to manage development of the Operator Training Simulator for the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant. He then joined International Power Technology where he was responsible for I&C functions and developed the control systems for the first Cheng Cycle cogeneration power plants, which are still in operation at several California locations three decades later. He also led new product development, had a key role in operational improvement and supported international business, licensing and technology transfer. Dr. Conlon led the technical turn-around of Ausra Inc., taking its CLFR technology to price-performance leadership in the solar thermal market. He was instrumental in the sale of Ausra to AREVA and the subsequent award of more than $1 billion of new business around the world. While Senior Vice President of Engineering at AREVA, he was responsible for Engineering, Commissioning and Operations teams on three continents. Dr. Conlon is the holder of over 20 patents world-wide as inventor or co-inventor of technologies related to steam injected gas turbines, solar power, water treatment, and both cryogenic and high temperature thermal storage. He is a registered Professional Engineer in California and a member of ASME, IEEE, AAAS, and Sigma Xi. He also serves on the ASME PTC-53 committee for Performance Testing of Energy Storage Systems. http://www.pintailpower.com/  Decarbonizing with Energy Storage Combined Cycles 

Tracy Wallace is a justice warrior—environmental, social, economic—who believes access and equity are the cures to poverty.  With tenacity and passion, Tracy works to connect those with the greatest need for employment to employers in the rapidly growing solar industry. https://greencareersdallas.org/about/

Michael Beitler, Founder/CEO:  30yrs experience at IBM and Texas Instruments semiconductor engineering 

Korina has over 20 years of experience leading teams on humanitarian missions to deliver humanitarian aid and facilitate sustainable projects in villages, relief camps, and orphanages around the world.  She has lived abroad and loves to travel internationally.  She considers herself to be a global citizen and speaks Spanish, Portuguese and (used to speak) French. Korina has served as a public speaker in various capacities, including as an advocate for education. She spent the last several years as an Executive Director for an international trade network and a community service and advocacy non-profit organization in Dallas, Texas.  She now serves as a consultant to nonprofits and social impact organizations with Greater Society Consulting. Korina recently launched a website, called “The Conscious Citizen Effect”, designed to help us all learn to make more conscious consumer choices and everyday habits that are kinder our planet, animals and our local and global communities.   http://theconsciouscitizeneffect.com/ 

Roshan Vani is the COO of Nexus PMG, an engineering firm that specializes in built-to-spec solutions for large scale infrastructure projects Mr. Vani is a Project Management Professional with experience in the EPC, EPCM & PMC industry working on large capital projects ranging in value from $0.5B to $11B in the Power and Mining & Metals industries. He has experience in managing lump sum and cost reimbursable contracts in North America and Saudi Arabia. Prior to starting Nexus he was a Risk Manager & Project Controls Manager for a Fortune 500 firm and subject matter expert in project planning (Primavera), schedule (Primavera Risk) risk analysis and cost risk (@Risk) analysis. Mr. Vani is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP certificate from the Project Management Institute) and holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering from the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park. www.NexusPMG.com

Hear the advice our previous guests have shared and then decide on the actions you want to take. 

Dr. Luis Aguirre-Torres is President and CEO at GreenMomentum Inc., a market intelligence and innovation company focused on the Latin American cleantech industry. He is also President of Cleantech Challenge Mexico, Latin America’s top green business accelerator program. He is considered an expert in clean energy, climate change and climate financing. In 2012 and 2013 he was recognized by the US President Barack Obama as Champion of Change and High Impact Entrepreneur for his work promoting the development of the cleantech industry in Mexico. In 2017-2018 he was co-Chairman of the Board at LAC-CORE and since 2015 he has been Chair of the Energy Subcommittee of the US-Mexico Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council. Since 2014 he leads the Energy Sustainability Fund’s Specialized Services Office managing the Fund’s relationship with the Mexican Energy Innovation Centers. Early this year, he joined the Technical Council of the National Council of Science and Technology’s Added Business and Knowledge Value Subprogram. He holds a first degree in Computer Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico, an M.Sc. in Computer Science and a doctorate degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from University College London, University of London.

Elena Savostianova has over 15 years of professional experience in the energy and infrastructure sectors. Prior to Ember, Elena served as a Principal with Global Infrastructure Partners CAPS team, focusing on renewable energy opportunities. Before GIP, Elena spent nearly a decade as part of Credit Suisse’s Power and Renewables group where she was responsible for coverage of energy corporates with a focus on renewable energy and infrastructure, as well as financial sponsors active in the energy and infrastructure space. Her responsibilities included deal sourcing and execution of the complete capital stack, from equity transactions on the corporate side to senior secured debt underwritings at the asset level.  Elena joined Credit Suisse in 2005. Prior to that Elena was a member of Deloitte’s Management Consulting division and the JPMorgan Chase Oil & Gas Investment Banking team. Elena holds an M.B.A. from Yale University and a B.A. in Philosophy and Economics from Hamilton College. https://ember-infra.com/

Allen Tsai is the Founder and CEO of Pani, a smart-home company inspired by his volunteer experience building water wells in rural Nepal. With a professional background in consumer electronics and IoT, Allen took inspiration from a lifetime of water conservation lessons to create Pani to advance the convergence of technology with water sustainability and efficiency. He’s spent nearly 20 years in the consumer electronics industry, having shipped millions of units of connected products through global brands such as Sony, Microsoft XBox, Panasonic, and Sonos. A multi-exit founder, Pani is Allen’s 6th startup, with Allen also having held leadership roles at large companies such as Qualcomm and Texas Instruments. When he’s not thinking about how to leverage technology to usher in the era of “decentralized water,” he spends his time with his wife and three kids, playing instruments, riding his motorcycle, and singing in the shower. www.getpani.com