Debra Wilcox: Thoughts on the Cleantech Fellows Institute

Debra Wilcox is our Advanced Transportation Department Head for the Fellows Institute. We asked Debra to share her thoughts about the program.

You were one of the integral members of the Cleantech Fellows Institute’s team of Department Heads during the inaugural session in 2012.  Looking back on the experience, what were a couple of program highlights for you?

At the time I was asked to be a member of the CFI team, I had an idea of what I thought the program would be.  My vision was far exceeded by both the participants and the content of the program.  The value of the program showed itself in the level of participation from the fellows, the staff and the many guests speakers attracted to the program. The program was about learning, not teaching and each session presented learning opportunities for fellows and presenters alike.

Your background in law, aviation, aerospace and energy is quite impressive.  What most excites you about the intersection of cleantech and aviation?

I am a strong proponent of bringing industry sectors together. Through those intersections participants learn from each other and those intereactions spark more innovation.  I believe that the Cleantech Fellows Institute has created an innovative culture, not unlike that described by the Edison Achievement Award in describing the work of David Kelley, CEO of IDEO, that is the “development of an innovative culture that has broad impact.” This innovative culture will continue to be the success of the program.

Eric Drummond: Thoughts on the Fellows Institute

Eric Drummond was the 2012 Clean Energy Generation Department Head for the Fellows Institute. We asked Eric to share his thoughts about the program.

You have an incredibly varied background in the law, politics and energy. How do you tie these areas of expertise together to help support and grow Colorado’s expanding cleantech and renewable energy industries?

I’m very big on collaboration and getting the best people around the table to devise and execute on projects. This collaborative model was something I was exposed to very early in my career when several of us assisted with the formation of one of the largest electric utility holding companies in the U.S. This effort lasted around three years, involved four states plus the nation’s capitol and required our group being directly involved with a number of state and federal agencies, and state federal legislatures. I relied on these types of experiences when I was Chairman of the Economic Development Commission and, ultimately, Mayor of my city. Collaborative and creative processes led to a record amount of private investment in our city and allowed us to regain control of our economic future.

I am enjoying supporting our Colorado-based cleantech businesses and assisting with attracting capital and other like-minded businesses to our state. In addition, I believe that it is both rational and lucrative to assist Colorado businesses in developing work in foreign markets where U.S. expertise is in the global forefront of providing energy in energy intensive and emerging economies, while doing so without adding to, or possibly decreasing carbon load in these markets. I generally believe that in the most robust markets in the world there is conscious participation at the highest levels between law, politics and business and I hope to continue to facilitate those kinds of interactions to benefit our nation’s economy and our global climate.

Focus on the Fellows: Tom McKinnon

Tom McKinnon, Professor Emeritus at the Colorado School of Mines and Director of InventWorks

In our second installment of Focus on the Fellows, we highlight Tom McKinnon, managing director of InventWorks Inc. and Professor Emeritus at Colorado School of Mines.  Tom has followed a fascinating career path that has included work at NREL (when it was the Solar Energy Research Institute); TDA Research, a small contract research company; University of Colorado; Colorado School of Mines, researching combustion biofuels, “green” fire suppression, and new materials for lithium batteries; Fullerene Sciences Inc., a nanomaterials company; Novare Biofuels; and Boulder ElectroRide, which made high-performance electric motorcycles.  Tom even has experience on the legislative side from when he cofounded a bill for the Colorado ballot to place a small carbon tax on natural gas.

So how did Tom find his way to the field of cleantech?  Energy had been on Tom’s mind for quite some time, and the field of alternative energy was of particular interest to him but he wasn’t sure where to start.  Fate seemed to intervene when he went to a job interview in Boston during his senior year at Cornell University and shared a cab with a man who would eventually become his boss at SERI.  After a few years at SERI, he went east to get his PhD in Chemical Engineering at MIT, researching combustion, and then continued to follow a path in research and energy.

Focus on the Fellows: Tony Formby

Tony Formby, cofounder of Squirrel POS Systems and angel investor

For the third edition of our Focus on the Fellows we are highlighting Tony Formby, a Vancouver, B.C. native who has lived throughout North America and played an instrumental role in the development of touch screen user interface technology before becoming an angel investor, focusing the majority of his attention on cleantech.

Tony started his professional life in Ottawa, working as an aid to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General.  After five years, he realized he had become jaded in his views and wanted different career opportunities.  So in his late twenties he moved back to Vancouver, teamed up with a partner, and entered into the restaurant business, owning two restaurants and running a third on behalf of the owners.  During the recession of 1980, the restaurant industry was hit hard and only one of Tony’s restaurants survived the tumult. Around this time Tony and his partner decided to move into the computerization of restaurant point of sales (POS) systems.  In 1985 they commercialized Squirrel Systems, the first PC-based, touch-screen user interface.  Today, Squirrel POS systems is used by heavyweights such as Apple, Holiday Inn, and Applebee’s.

After significant success with Squirrel Systems, Tony and his partner decided to sell the company and as Tony says, “I saw the opportunity to integrate flat panel display touch screens and customized mother boards with various controllers built into them to create a low profile computer system that could be used in a multitude of process control scenarios, for instance on factory floors or at hotel front desks.”  Truly an entrepreneur, Tony worked from home, had no employees, and created contracts with companies that needed products designed for them and then contracted out to a team of engineers and a manufacturer that shipped the product directly to the end user.

Sam Jaffe: Thoughts on the Cleantech Fellows Institute

Sam Jaffe is one of the Cleantech Fellows Institute’s invaluable Department Heads, leading the Storage Technologies curriculum. We asked Sam to share his thoughts about the program.

Your background is in journalism with publications such as Bloomberg and Business Week.   What brought you into the cleantech arena?

I went into journalism because it’s a great way to witness history. However, in the end, your role as a journalist is as an observer, not as a prime mover of change. I went into cleantech because I felt that making energy clean and cheap is the fundamental challenge of my generation and I wanted to be part of it–as an actor, not as an observer.

You’ve worked with some of the premier energy and cleantech research firms.  Has your research and work with these firms led you to have any industry “ah-ha” moments that you can share?

As a science journalist, I was always interviewing fascinating people who made significant discoveries. But when I asked them when their breakthrough would be turned into a product, the answer was always the same: “In five years.” I wanted to find out what was so magical about five years. The “ah-ha” moments have usually been when I’ve had a chance to peek inside the screen and find out that “five years” is usually short-hand for “this will never work, but we’re going to milk it for as much capital and prestige as we can for as long as we can”. When a concept described in a scientific paper really, really works and solves a significant business problem, it usually finds its way to market much earlier than five years. The majority of cleantech concepts out there, however, simply don’t work as promised. There might be published data and a team of people with great C.V.’s, but the data is usually wrong.

An Interview with Steve Berens, Cleantech Fellows Department Head

Steve Berens is one of the Cleantech Fellows Institute’s invaluable Department Heads, leading the Capstone Project team. We asked Steve to share his thoughts about the program. 

You know the startup and entrepreneur environment very well.  How do you feel about the cleantech startup market given today’s economic pressures?

I'm excited by the amount and variety of unique, market-worthy opportunities currently being considered as part of the cleantech fellows program. I believe the contributing institutions, up-and-down Colorado's front range, have exciting and innovative technologies that can make economic and social impact. Today's economic realities require that each of the Fellows’ technologies be evaluated on their own merits. The Fellows are approaching these opportunities by looking intently at the feasibility of projects that survive without government or grant funding and deliver strong ROI to their customers.

What drew you to the Cleantech Fellows Institute?

I was initially drawn to the Cleantech Fellows Institute by the passion and capability of the founding team. Their commitment and dedication to bringing a strong program to Colorado was evident. I am continuously impressed by their ability to bring a wide variety of clean technologies and real opportunities to Fellows who want to join or expand the cleantech industry in Colorado.  It is exciting to see the progress in the unique opportunities that are being pursued.  It has been an honor to be a part of the team. 

Focus on the Fellows: Henry Mouton

With over half of the Cleantech Fellows Institute curriculum completed, we wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the Fellows and the progress they have made to date.  This first installment of our Focus on the Fellows looks at Henry Mouton, a successful Fort Collins businessman with 26 years of experience in the restaurant industry and a deep passion for sustainability. 

On track for an engineering career in the oil industry, Henry took a class his senior year called “Ethics of Engineering.”  This class illuminated the challenges between the oil companies and the environment and came to be the catalyst in his shift of focus away from traditional energy development and towards environmental stewardship.  The second career-altering event came soon after he graduated, with an invitation from his older twin brothers to move to Colorado to ski for a season and help out at their newly founded Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant.  Whether it was the great snow or the Rio’s impressive success, Henry stayed longer than a year, 26 to be precise, becoming the Chief Operating Officer and Director of Sustainability while the Rio grew to 8 locations, employing 575 Coloradans at its peak.  Having recently retired from the Rio, Henry notes only one regret - that he would have devoted even more of his efforts towards corporate sustainability earlier in his career.

The experienced restaurant businessman is now returning to technology, specifically to cleantech.  In this industry, he believes that determination is the key attribute for an individual to succeed and his environmental emphasis is Henry’s main motivator.  “For me, reducing my carbon footprint is critical, so I think that’s the biggest driver for me.  I think that can be my biggest contribution.”  Since being in the Cleantech Fellows Institute program, he views energy efficiency and building technologies as the most promising area in cleantech, short-term, because many of our buildings are at the age where retrofits are needed, regardless of whether clean technologies are integrated or not.  He cites notable examples such as the Empire State Building retrofit, and locally, the Byron Rogers Federal Building retrofit, which the Fellows Institute toured in late October.  In these cases, developers were able to take advantage of new financing strategies and better ROI’s to make energy efficiency plays attractive and economical.  Energy efficiency can also be increased by behavioral modifications, which companies such as Green Button and Tendril emphasize.  

Henry believes the nation is moving in the right direction in terms of accepting cleantech, but wishes the industry wasn’t labeled as a high-risk venture for investors.  He says, “The way I see it is, if it’s a great idea and if you have the right people at the table, then you’re going to end up with a successful company.  So whether it’s cleantech or not, the basic tenets apply.”