Guest Speakers

Keynote Speaker

Brian Binnie

Test pilot for Burt Rutan's award winning SpaceShipOne. Brian flew the first and the last powered flights of the vehicle. In the process he opened up the vehicle's envelope to supersonic flight, beat the long standing altitude record of the X-15 and clenched the $10M Ansari X-Prize.

His background includes 20 years as a Naval Aviator in the Strike-Fighter community, four operational carrier tours and 490 arrested landings as well as combat operations associated with all of Desert Shield, Desert Storm and subsequently Operation Southern Watch. He was also the test director and test pilot for Rotary Rocket's revolutionary and controversial Roton ATV before joining Scaled Composites. He has logged over 4700 hours and more than 20 years experience in flight-test.

Brian's educational background includes a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and an M.S. in Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics from Brown University, an M.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from Princeton University and an Honorary Doctorate from Aberdeen University, Scotland. He is a graduate of the U.S. Navy's Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, MD and the Naval Aviation Safety School at Monterey CA, the Defense Acquisition University at Fort Belvoir, VA
He is a Fellow of the Explorer's Club and an Associate Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. His technical reports and personal accounts have been published in many professional journals and proceedings as well as trade publications.  He has received many awards for his professional accomplishments.

Brian is currently a program manager at Scaled Composites. He lives in Rosamond California with his wife "Bub" of 25 years and has 3 children, Justin, Jonathan and Jennifer.

Special Guest Speakers

Nora Brownell
Former Commissioner of FERC

Commissioner Brownell was nominated by to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on April 30, 2001. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 25, 2001, for a term that expired June 30, 2006.

After leaving FERC, Ms Brownell started BC Strategies and now serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Comverge, an energy technology company. She is an excellent speaker and also publishes her thoughts about energy, technology and regulatory issues on her energy blog.

Ms. Brownell's tenure at the FERC reflects her longstanding and unwavering commitment to fostering competitive markets to serve the public interest. She championed the development of independent transmission organizations for wholesale power, which now represent the electricity market structure serving two-thirds of the U.S. $10 trillion economy. As a leading advocate of responsive and effective independent board governance at RTOs and corporations, Ms. Brownell is a strong proponent of FERC policies that promote investment in national energy infrastructure development.

John A. Eckstein
Attorney and Director
Fairfield and Woods, P.C.

John A. Eckstein is an attorney and director of Fairfield and Woods, P.C., a 74 year old full service law firm based in Denver, Colorado. Mr. Eckstein's present area of focus is corporate transactions, including debt and equity financings and mergers and acquisitions. His clients include both a number of institutions, venture firms, and high net worth individuals who are investing in solutions to current energy issues and a number of corporations and projects focused on energy solutions. He is actively involved in managing law work related to investments in renewable energy technologies and businesses and is a member of the Corporate Department and the GreenTechLaw Group of Fairfield and Woods. Among other professional associations, he is a member of the Energy Lawyers Association and the Licensing Executives Society. Among other activities apart from practicing law, Mr. Eckstein served in the 1990s as the chair of the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute, an advanced technology economic development state agency. Among other recognitions, he has often been listed in Who's Who in High Tech in Denver/Boulder (Colorado) and was recently listed in the 2008 Corporate Counsel Black Book.

Fairfield and Woods, P.C. has for many years represented investors in wind, solar, water, biofuels, nuclear, power management, energy efficiency, photovoltaics, battery, fuel cells, storage and other clean technologies. The firm recently represented ConocoPhillips in its purchase of the buildings and real estate facilities in Colorado which were formerly the headquarters facilities of Storage Tech; ConocoPhillips has announced that it plans to use the site to open and operate world wide training and renewable energy research and development operations and may in the next few years employ up to 7000 persons in its Louisville, Colorado facilities.

Matt Farwell
Equity Analyst

Matt Farwell has followed publicly traded companies in the alternative energy sector for the past four years, working most recently as an Associate Analyst at Credit Suisse Securities in its equity research department out of New York. On the Global Energy Team, he covered companies operating in the energy efficiency and energy storage subsectors. Before joining Credit Suisse in 2007, he worked as a Senior Research Analyst at Apollo Capital Management, and before that, at Connective Capital Management, two hedge funds located in the San Francisco Bay Area. At both funds he managed long-short energy portfolio construction and research.

Before his career on Wall Street, he worked in the technology industry in Silicon Valley at companies focused on the utilities and energy space, including Powel ASA, a European software firm. He began his career in economic consulting at LECG Corporation.

Matt is a graduate of Tufts University with a B.A. in International Relations and Economics, and is a CFA charterholder.

Matt Ferguson
Principal and Renewable Energy Practice Leader
Reznick Group, P.C.

Matt Ferguson is a principal and the National Renewable Energy Services Practice leader with Reznick Group, a national accounting, tax and business advisory services firm. A seasoned professional in promoting renewable energy through business transactions and policy development, Matt is responsible for developing this practice which includes advising clients on energy-related transactions including matching renewable projects with tax equity investors, raising capital, mergers and acquisitions within the renewable energy sector, and maximizing public policy to promote and reward low-carbon solutions as well as helping with energy tax credit financing with current clients.

Before joining Reznick Group, Matt had been with UPS for 15 years, the world's largest package delivery & transportation company. Most recently he was a Director & General Tax Counsel responsible for initiating UPS' energy strategy. This included executing investment transactions in renewable energy, coordinating energy efficiency facility upgrades and green building development, creating energy-related products and mitigating business related risk.

Matt is an attorney having earned his JD from Georgia State University of Law and holds a bachelor's degree in financial management and marketing from Franklin Pierce College in New Hampshire.

Ralph Garcea
Senior Equity Analyst
Haywood Securities Inc.

Ralph Garcea covers the Canadian technology and alternative energy sectors, having joined Haywood Securities in June 2007. Garcea, who has been a top-ranked analyst in the Greenwich Associates survey in past years, and was ranked #2 in the 2001 Brendan Wood International survey, joins Haywood after more than ten years as a Technology analyst at both a global bank and a Canadian bank-owned dealer. He had been a research engineer for Bombardier Aerospace, using computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools, and subsequently joined Belgium-based LMS International, a developer of CAE tools, as a business unit manager for Michigan-based LMS North America to manage sales, marketing, and services efforts. He is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO), the Canadian Aeronautics and Space Institute (CASI), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). He holds a Bachelor of Applied Science degree with honors in aerospace engineering from the University of Toronto, and an MBA with honors from York University's Schulich School of Business.

James J Graham
President and CEO
ConverDyn

Mr. Graham is the President and CEO of ConverDyn, the joint venture between affiliates of Honeywell International, Inc. and General Atomics, and manages the international marketing of conversion services from Honeywell's Metropolis Facility.

Mr. Graham is a member of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) Board of Directors. He has served as Chairman of the Board of Governors for the World Nuclear Fuel Market (WNFM) and is the past Chairman of the NEI's Nuclear Fuel Supply Forum.

Prior to his current position, he was a Senior Vice President of General Atomics and responsible for the company's nuclear fuel cycle activities from 1992 until 2004. During this period he oversaw the permitting, development and start up of the Beverley Uranium Mine in South Australia. Prior to General Atomics, he held the position of President and COO of NUEXCO and NUEXCO Trading Company. Before joining NUEXCO, Mr. Graham worked eight years with the French oil company, TOTAL as President & CEO of its North American uranium, coal and gold mining entities. Mr. Graham also held position of President & COO at General Exploration Company., a diversified energy company based in Dallas, Texas. He also held senior positions at Zapata Fuels, Inc., and Texas Gulf, Inc., all in the areas of the energy industry.

All together, Mr. Graham has over 37 years in the mining industry with over 24 years in the international nuclear industry and has been the author of numerous papers and presentations the nuclear fuel cycle including uranium, conversion and enrichment.

Mr. Graham received his bachelor's degree in metallurgical/mining engineering in 1970 from Michigan Technological University.

Ali Malkawi
Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania
Founder/Director, Penn-Tsinghua T.C. Chan Center for Building Simulation and Energy Studies

Dr. Malkawi teaches architectural technology and computation and conducts research in the areas of computational simulation, building performance evaluation and advanced visualization. He is Director of the T.C. Chan Center at Penn - a global initiative which seeks to create healthier, productive, energy efficient strategies for high performance buildings and sustainable environments. Dr. Malkawi received his B.S. in Architectural Engineering and Environmental Design from Jordan University of Science and Technology in 1989, MArch from the University of Colorado in 1990 and his Ph.D. from Georgia Institute of technology in Architectural Technology/artificial Intelligence in 1994.

Dr. Malkawi has lectured at numerous universities and conferences. His is author or co-author of over 60 scientific papers. He is co-editor of two definitive books on the subject of computationally-driven design and simulation: "Advanced Building Simulation" and "Performative Architecture - Beyond Instrumentality". Dr. Malkawi serves as board member and scientific reviewer for leading journals and conferences, is consulted worldwide on many high profile projects and has taught and conducted research at Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Michigan and Harvard University.

John Moore
Director and Chief Executive Officer
Acorn Energy, Inc.

John A. Moore has been a director and Chief Executive Officer of our Company since March 2006. He also serves as a director of Voltaix and as Chairman of Optimer, Inc. He was previously a Director of Comverge and served on its IPO committee. He serves on the Advisory Council of EnerTech Capital a $350 million energy technology fund. Mr. Moore was formerly President and founder of Edson Moore Healthcare Ventures, a $150 million biotechnology holding company. At the same time he was Chairman and EVP of ImaRx Therapeutics and Chairman of Elite Pharmaceuticals.

John has invested in many different industries over the past 25 years but he has never been as excited as he is today about Acorn's opportunities. John's favorite food is sushi. He loves to hear from investors. Please contact him at jmoore@acornenergyinc.com.

Charles Reith
Pace Global Energy
Director of Industrial Strategies and Sustainable Solutions
Carbon and Energy Management

Charles Reith is Director of Industrial Strategies and Sustainable Solutions at Pace Global Energy Services. Charles guides major clients in mining and other industries in understanding their potential liability relative to climate change and carbon regulations. He helps companies inventory and analyze their greenhouse gas emissions, characterize their climate-related business risk, and prepare for disclosure and related compliance responsibilities. Dr. Reith has a long history of involvement in mining, milling, and the associated transport of materials, having performed his doctoral research at the University of New Mexico on reclamation strategies for mines and mills in arid and high elevation environments. He has since provided technical and management consulting on environment-related mining issues to major corporations and ministries in North and South America. He views the mining industry as occupying a very special role in the forthcoming carbon-constrained economy, because mines are huge consumers of energy and are physically exposed to climate-related risk... but they are also excellent venues for sequestering carbon and otherwise earning credits under a cap and trade system.

Jeff Siegel
Editor
Green Chip Stocks

Jeff Siegel is the cofounder and managing editor of Green Chip Stocks, an investment advisory service that focuses exclusively on renewable energy and organic and natural food markets. He is often cited in the media, and has been a featured guest on Fox, CNBC and Bloomberg Asia. Siegel also works as a consultant, and is a frequent speaker at investment and renewable energy conferences and seminars.

Larry Sinesio
Vice President of Sales and Marketing
WindLogics

Larry leads a sales team committed to providing accurate and reliable wind resource services to the industry. He joined WindLogics in 2003 as a key member of the Executive Team, directing sales and target market development as WindLogics emerged as a major market player. Larry is responsible for defining and directing the organization through strategic account management, internal support processes, and exploration of new solutions for the marketplace.

Larry often shares his insights with landowners, facility managers and investors, with a particular emphasis on wind resource assessment and its implications on project development and finance.

Larry holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the University of Michigan.

Casey Verbeck
Caring Capital
Partner

Casey Verbeck has been a successful entrepreneur in the entertainment, media, tech, green and digital media industry for the past 14 years. He was the founder and CEO of Partners in Music, Frog Pad Records, North West String Summit, and cofounder of Vault Alliance/Iggli Inc. An accomplished leader and marketer, Casey has driven the careers of many artists and supported several top-tier businesses within the above industries. His work has been featured in Billboard magazine, Pollstar, Celebrity Access, Rolling Stone, Paste, the New York Times, Performing Songwriter, Time Magazine, CNN and other media.

Casey career to date has raised over $30million through all initiatives. Casey began working closely with Libby Cook founder of Wild Oats, providing due diligence on all portfolio investments. Casey also consulted for Act Now Productions the leading sustainability consulting firm out of San Francisco where he scaled the business development department, working closely with several of the top fortune 50 companies in the world providing guidance on how to shift the paradigms towards sustainability while improving their bottom line for future growth and investor relationships.

He continues to provide guidance to the financial community and emerging companies on finance strategy and overall operational implementation. Casey also consulted and led the acquisition of texturemedia who was acquired by Crispin Porter & Boguski earlier this year. Casey recently closed the series b round of financing, reorganized the internal team, built a new product along with closing their first major affiliate partnership with National Geographic for GenGreen and has recently accepted the COO role for Caring Capital Corp out of Vancouver BC.

Clint Wilder
Co-Author of The Clean Tech Revolution
and Contributing Editor, Clean Edge

Clint Wilder is contributing editor at Clean Edge, a leading research, consulting, and publishing firm covering the clean energy and clean technology industry. Wilder has covered the high-tech and clean-tech industries as a business journalist for more than two decades and is a frequent speaker and panelist at industry events. He is also a blogger for the business section of The Huffington Post. He lives in Sausalito, California.

With Clean Edge's Ron Pernick, Wilder co-authored The Clean Tech Revolution, the widely praised book published in 2007 with an updated paperback edition due out in August 2008. Wilder and Pernick identify the major forces that have pushed clean tech from back-to-the-earth utopian dream to its current revolution among the inner circles of corporate boardrooms, on Wall Street trading floors, and in government offices around the globe. By highlighting eight major clean-tech sectors-solar energy, wind power, biofuels and biomaterials, green buildings, personal transportation, the smart grid, mobile applications, and water filtration-they uncover how investors, entrepreneurs, and individuals can profit from this next wave of technological innovation. Pernick and Wilder shine the spotlight on the winners among technologies, companies, and regions that are likely to reap the greatest benefits from clean tech-and they show you why the time to act is now.

USA Today wrote, "The Clean Tech Revolution is one of the few instances in this genre that shows the green movement not in heartstring terms, but as economically profitable." Groundbreaking and authoritative, The Clean Tech Revolution is the must-read book to understand and profit from the clean technologies that are reshaping our fast-changing world.

Session Chairs

Geordie Mark
Research Analyst
Haywood Securities

Dr Geordie Mark is a research analyst with Haywood Securities with a principle focus on uranium companies involved in exploration, development and production within the natural resources sector. He joined Haywood Securities from the junior exploration sector where he acted as Vice President of Exploration for Cash Minerals, a junior exploration company focused on uranium and iron oxide-copper-gold targets across Canada. Immediately prior to joining the exploration industry full-time, Dr Mark was a lecturer in Economic Geology at Monash University, Australia and consultant to industry. He completed his PhD in geology in 1998 at the Economic Geology Research Unit, James Cook University, and specialized in aqueous geochemistry and igneous petrology applied to ore-forming systems.

Robert Peterman
Senior Manager - Cleantech
TSX Venture Exchange

Robert Peterman is Senior Manager - Cleantech for the Listings Business Development Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange divisions of TMX Group. TMX Group also owns and operates the cash and derivative markets for multiple asset classes including equities, fixed income, derivatives, climate markets and energy products. He is responsible for leading global efforts to attract new listings in the clean technology sector, which encompasses any technology or process that optimizes the use of natural resources or reduces the environmental impact of their use.

Prior to his current role Mr. Peterman worked for several years in the Corporate Finance Department of the TSX Venture Exchange handling due diligence for the Exchange in relation to each listed company their financial statements, board of directors and ensuring that they had the proper business processes in place to become a public company.

Prior to joining TSX, Mr. Peterman held a variety of Senior Management roles with one of Canada's largest real estate firms including his final role as Director, Corporate Strategy. During those four years his focus was on developing and ensuring a complete suite of client services, and preparing the overall business strategy.

Mr. Peterman completed his MBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business (London, ON). And is a council member of the Ivey Entrepreneurship Council.

Dan Phaure
Vice President in Investment Banking
Jacob & Company Securities Inc.

Dan is a Vice President in Investment Banking at Jacob & Company Securities Inc. responsible for its renewable power initiatives. Over the last six years, he has been actively involved in all facets of securing capital for renewable energy companies from development risk capital through to project equity. Since its inception (January 2007), Jacob & Company principals have raised over $250 million in capital for renewable energy companies and specifically over $150 million for geothermal companies. Jacob & Company has established itself as one of the leading investment banks in North America dedicated to the renewable energy sector and over the last 8 years, its principals have participated in total transactions valued in excess of $1.3 billion.

Michael White
Vice-President, Director
IBK Capital

Mr. White has extensive experience raising capital for emerging companies in the alternative energy and natural resource sectors. During his 17 year tenure at IBK Capital, Mr. White has been involved in private placement financings (PIPE transactions) totaling over US $250 million. He has also been active in financial advisory assignments and mining industry development including advisory services to the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador with regard to its negotiations with Inco Ltd. on the Voisey's Bay nickel deposit in Labrador.

Mr. White has a Masters of Business Administration from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and a BA in Geology from the University of Western Ontario.