Management Team
Steve Voorhees, CEO and Founder - Mr. Voorhees focuses on site acquisition and corporate development. Prior to entering the wind energy business, Mr. Voorhees invented the patented BikeLid system and founded BikeLid Systems, LLC. Mr. Voorhees sits on the board of directors of the successor company, Starlight Media LLC. Earlier in his career Mr. Voorhees was a field engineer for the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory working with the Office of Naval Research on polar research. In the early 1980s, he worked as a field engineer in the oil drilling industry on Alaska's North Slope and in the Persian Gulf. Mr. Voorhees has a Bachelor's degree in geography from Middlebury College.
Dennis Meany, President - Mr. Meany is responsible for economic evaluation, site commercialization, energy market analysis and finance. He has over twenty years of experience in the energy business, serving most recently as senior vice president, business development of Louis Dreyfus Energy where he identified new business ventures, developed several wholesale market joint ventures with Western utilities and helped establish the company's electricity and natural gas trading business in Europe. He was also a founding member of a team that grew Louis Dreyfus and Duke/Louis Dreyfus into the second largest electric and natural gas trader and marketer in the U.S. . From 1987 to 1993, he was a principal and senior associate with the global electric industry management consulting business of Booz, Allen & Hamilton. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of St. Aloysius School in Harlem, New York. Mr. Meany has a Master's degree in public policy from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor's degree in economics and European studies from the University of Vermont.
Darrel G. VanCoevering, Advisor - Mr. VanCoevering advises Ridgeline on transmission interconnections, availability and tariffs. Mr. VanCoevering is a former director of system operations with Bonneville Power Administration, which operates one of the largest high-voltage transmission systems in the United States. He has extensive knowledge of the Northwestern transmission system and electric utility industry.
John Vanden Bosche, Advisor - Mr. Vanden Bosche provides site evaluation services to Ridgeline. He has 14 years of experience in the wind industry with involvement in a broad range of projects. He has worked on basic engineering research, wind turbine design and analysis, component manufacturing, structural and performance field testing, turbine verification, due diligence investigations, project planning and construction, commissioning testing, operations and maintenance, and design of retrofits. He also has experience procuring land leases, collecting and analyzing wind resource data, and calculating project performance projections. He has lived and worked on wind energy projects in Tehachapi, California, Palm Springs, California, El Paso, Texas, and South Wales, United Kingdom.
Rich Rayhill, Vice President - Mr. Rayhill is responsible for permitting, environmental studies, site acquisition and legal analysis. He works with landowners and federal, state and local regulatory agencies to obtain permits for wind development projects in the Northwest. Mr. Rayhill has seventeen years of experience in the Northwest legal profession, including seven years as staff attorney for two Idaho federal judges. His areas of expertise include litigation, contracts, real estate law, environmental law, planning and zoning, and legislative lobbying. He has a Bachelor's degree in history from Middlebury College and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Idaho.
Robert Ellis, General Counsel - Mr. Ellis has a wide range of legal experience and provides general legal advice to the company, including transactional, real estate and corporate work. He has worked as an admiralty attorney at law firms in San Francisco and London on both litigation and transactional matters. Prior to joining Ridgeline, Mr. Ellis was a special agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, primarily involved in white-collar investigations. He has also been a line officer in the U.S. Navy and holds a master mariner's license. Mr. Ellis has a Bachelor's degree in engineering and physics from the University of Washington and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of California. He is admitted to practice law in Washington and California.
Mary Kay, Business Manager - Ms. Kay manages Ridgeline's information systems, accounting, financial reporting, and administrative staff. She also supports strategic planning, proposal development, and research efforts. She is an insurance specialist and manages the company's insurance packages and personnel benefits. Ms. Kay has extensive background in business management from her previous work in mergers and acquisitions, software development, vocational education, and commercial construction industries.
Brandy E. Rhebeck – Legal Manager: Ms. Rhebeck is the Legal Manager for the company, managing the real estate and corporate documents. She liaises with project managers, land owners, and title companies, creating solutions for the complex challenges inherent in leased-land operations. She also has a key role in the Company’s due diligence activities working with management to complete due diligence requests successfully. Additionally, she is significantly involved in investor relations for the company, managing the legal documentation necessary for private investment. Ms. Rhebeck’s capabilities come from her experience in corporate and securities law, intellectual property, and mergers & acquisition
Randy Gardner, Project Manager - Mr. Gardner assists Ridgeline with meteorological tower installations, data collection, landowner relations, and project development. He has 15 years' experience as a marketing manager in the financial services industry and 10 years as a business consultant in the construction industry. Mr. Gardner attended Idaho State University where he studied political science.
Jim Voorhees, Project Manager - Mr. Voorhees is responsible for field coordination, site acquisition and development and landowner relations. He works directly with sub-contractors to ensure that all project work meets company and industry standards. Mr. Voorhees has 16 years of project management and location relations experience from his work in the commercial and feature film industry. Mr. Voorhees has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Utah.
Board of Directors
Preston Michie, Senior Advisor and Director - Mr. Michie, a co-founder of Ridgeline, advises the company on transmission and public policy, business and financial strategy, legal issues and marketing. He has over 25 years of experience working on electric power, high voltage transmission, and environmental issues, including 21 years as an attorney with the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA). Since 2001, Mr. Michie has been a consultant to BPA on the creation of a regional transmission organization in the Pacific Northwest, the development of an effective demand response program, and the development of a hydrogen economy in the Pacific Northwest. He also provides negotiations training to businesses and government agencies. He is a director of the Energy Trust of Oregon and the Wetlands Conservancy in Oregon and executive director of the Northwest Hydrogen Alliance, (a non-profit created to promote the development of the hydrogen economy in the Pacific Northwest). Mr. Michie has an M.B.A. from the University of Oregon, a J.D. degree from the Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College and a B.S. in chemistry from the University of Wisconsin.
Paul Addis, Director - Mr. Addis has 25 years of business experience. He is CEO of Louis Dreyfus Energy and former executive vice president of American Electric Power (AEP), the largest electric utility in the United States, where he was responsible for the restructuring of the electric generation portfolio and the mining, transportation, fuel-handling assets, and engineering and construction segments of the company. He also developed AEP's energy marketing operation, which became the utility industry's most successful. Mr. Addis has a B.A. and M.S. in history from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in environmental health from the University of Minnesota.
David Marcus, Director - Mr. Marcus has been a wind energy investor since 2002. He is the Managing Partner of Chestnut Capital, which is a partner, investor, or shareholder in several wind energy developers, including Ridgeline, Midwest Renewable, NedPower, Greenlight, Windworks, and the Clean Power Income Fund, and in several wind energy technologies, including Princeton Power, Fallbrook Technologies, and Mechanology. David is also the CEO of General Compression, a startup wind technology company. David is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Princeton University, and a founder and former CEO of APEX Property Exchange, a financial services firm he founded in 1989 and sold to JPMorgan in 2002. He is a Trustee of the Boston Children's Museum.
Jason Rubin, Director - Mr. Rubin has more than 20 years of experience as a management consultant and communications professional. He is the founder and president of The Redstone Group, LLC, an independent public relations firm serving biotechnology companies. In the mid-1980s he worked on environmental and electric utility regulations as a public policy consultant with Temple, Barker & Sloane and ICF, Inc. Mr. Rubin has a B.A. in geology from Middlebury College and an M.S. in management from the MIT Sloan School of Management.