Meet Our Team
Background
SunEast has an experienced senior management team with an average of over 25 years experience in developing and financing independent power projects. Additionally, each member of the senior management team has extensive experience in structuring projects for non-recourse project financing.
Management Team
Tom Swank, President
Mr. Swank has over 30 years of energy industry experience, of which the past twelve years have been in the renewable sector. As SunEast’s President, he is responsible for commercial execution of its projects and portfolios and for the strategic direction of the company.
Prior to founding SunEast, Tom was the Senior Vice President of Quantum Utility Generation LLC, where he focused on investing capital in power generation facilities, in both renewable and conventional technologies. Additionally, Tom served as Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer with Noble Environmental Power.
Tom's extensive expertise includes capital investment, structuring and financing, executive management of project development and execution of long-term power purchase agreements and commodity hedges. Tom was involved in the successful development and construction of a generation portfolio which resulted in over 700 MW of installed wind capacity and an additional 200 MW of operating wind-parks. He worked on successful financing of renewable energy projects totaling over $1.2 billion of third-party debt and equity funding, two of which earned multiple “Renewable Deal of the Year” awards in 2008 and 2009. Tom also brings strong utility and commodity market relationships to SunEast, and over the past decade has been responsible for the execution of long-term commodity hedges and power purchase agreements for renewable energy facilities totaling over 50,000 GWhs.
Tom has a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia.
Reed Wills, Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Wills has over 30 years experience managing energy development and finance teams, with a specific focus on the solar PV market since 2011. As SunEast’s COO, he is responsible for the permitting, engineering, interconnection and execution of the company’s projects.
Prior to joining SunEast, Reed was Vice President at Duke Energy Renewables responsible for project development in the California solar market and served as Duke’s representative on the Large-Scale Solar Association board of directors. Additionally, Reed held senior management positions with NRG Energy, United American Energy and Northstar Power.
Reed's considerable experience includes project development, project finance, asset management and negotiation of contracts for real estate, engineering and construction, operations and maintenance and long-term power sales agreements. In the mid 1990's, Reed and his partner Tom Swank led the formation of West Coast Power, a joint venture between NRG and Dynegy, which ultimately purchased over 3,000 MW of utility assets in southern California. Additionally, Reed has acquired and managed over 1,000 MW of independent power facilities.
Reed has an M.S. in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Geography and Urban Planning from Temple University.
Dave Ross, Vice President
Mr. Ross has over 30 years of engineering, financial and development experience in the energy industry, with a focus on power plant development since 2005. As Vice President at SunEast, he is responsible for project development, technical services and project due diligence in the eastern U.S. markets.
Prior to joining SunEast, David was the Manager of Business Development at Exelon, responsible for development efforts for utility-scale electric generating projects, supporting corporate acquisitions and served on Board of Directors for FutureGen.
David’s unique and comprehensive commercial experience encompassing fossil, renewables, energy storage and emerging technologies is based on a foundation of hands-on experience in project management, due diligence, market fundamentals, financial modeling and engineering. In the late 1990’s, David supported Independent Power Producers through 3,000 MW's of generating asset acquisitions and $6 billion of energy project financings.
David has an M.B.A. from Villanova University, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University and is a registered Professional Engineer.
Mr. Beckner has over 18 years of project development and financial experience in the energy industry, with a focus on renewable energy development and project management since 2006. As Vice President at SunEast, he is responsible for project development, management, and origination throughout New York State.
Prior to joining SunEast, Mike was Vice President at AWCC Capital, where he focused on solar project financing and structuring. Additionally, Mike served as Vice President of Renewables at Quantum Utility Generation and Vice President of Development at Noble Environmental Power responsible for managing the development of over 700 MWs of renewable utility-scale generating projects throughout the northeastern U.S.
Mike's extensive experience includes project development, project finance, asset sales and acquisitions, and negotiation of contracts for real estate, engineering and construction, and long-term power sales agreements.
Mike has a B.S. in Accounting from Clemson University and served as an Armor Captain in the U.S. Army, deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II.
Mike Beckner, Chief Development Officer
Development Team
Mr. Elko focuses on land origination, development and project management in New York State. He has over 12 years of project development experience focusing on renewable energy.
Prior to joining SunEast, Greg was Director of Development at E.ON Climate & Renewables leading the development of a 300 MW wind project. Additionally, Greg managed the development of over 750 MWs of utility-scale renewable energy projects in the eastern U.S., including multiple wind projects in New York State while at at Noble Environmental.
Greg’s renewables experience includes project development, origination, management, engineering and construction, project finance, asset sales, due diligence, acquisition.
Greg has a B.S. in Exercise Science from McDaniel College and served as an Engineer Captain in the U.S. Army deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Greg Elko, Director Development
Chet McLaughlin, Project Developer
Mr. McLaughlin is responsible for land acquisition and project development and management in New York State.
Chet has a B.A. in Public Relations from Susquehanna University.
Tom Bankert, Director Commercial Origination
Mr. Bankert focuses on energy and REC offtake transactions for the SunEast project portfolio.
Tom has over 25 years experience in wholesale energy market origination. At BP he focused on natural gas origination in the Northeast, and as a Partnership Advisor for BP’s refineries and chemical plants related to electricity, emissions, and natural gas purchases in excess of $1 billion annually.
Prior to BP, Tom was a Northeast Power Originator for Duke Energy based in Houston. Tom began his energy career at Dynegy in 1996, focused on acquiring and optimizing the Destec and Illinois Power merchant generation portfolios.
Tom has a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Hamilton College, and an M.B.A. from Syracuse University.
Anthony Cirillo, Executive Director Engineering
Mr. Cirillo is responsible for engineering and downstream technical support for renewable project development and due diligence services in the eastern U.S. markets. Anthony has over 35 years of project development and engineering-procurement-construction experience in the electric power generation and energy industries.
Prior to joining SunEast, Anthony held numerous senior management positions at several national EPC firms, including most recently at United Engineers & Constructors/Ebasco, where he was responsible for the development and execution of both independent power projects and large, electric utility power projects totaling over $2.5 billion. Anthony brings significant energy storage and electric power transmission technologies to SunEast, as well as broad project development experience.
Anthony has published and presented over 60 topical papers and articles within the electric power industry, has an M.B.A. in Operations Management from Rutgers University, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in eight states.
Harrison Kihonge, Project Manager
Mr. Kihonge is responsible for supporting the commercial execution of SunEast’s projects and portfolios.
Prior to joining SunEast, Harrison was a Project Manager at a global strategic consulting firm based in New York. Harrison began his career at SunEdison as part of the Solar Development Program based in Belmont, CA.
Harrison has a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College and a MSc. in Finance from Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School.
Marcia Haas, Business/Project Manager
Ms. Haas manages multiple areas of the SunEast business, including project management, human resources, community outreach, marketing and corporate business systems. Additionally, she is the subject matter specialist on pollinators and their habitat.
Prior to joining SunEast, Marcia held management positions with The Vanguard Group and ADAGE. She has over 25 years of experience in both large and small organizations focusing on marketing, communications, project coordination and management, human capital, event planning and business systems management.
Marcia has a B.A. in Economics from Hood College and has taken additional Masters coursework.