Board of Directors
Doug Vilsack - Chairman
Doug Vilsack is the founder and Executive Director of Elephant Energy. He is a lawyer from Colorado, working with the law firm of Davis Graham & Stubbs in Denver in the practice areas of environmental law, Indian law, and renewable and alternative energy law. Doug focused on environmental and energy-related issues while attending the University Of Colorado School Of Law and continues to work with students at the University on a variety of energy-related projects. Doug first traveled to Namibia in 2005 to work for the World Wildlife Fund and has returned on numerous occasions to continue his work with community-based conservation organizations. Prior to his work in Namibia, Doug attended Colorado College and founded the Paddle for the Presidency, a non-profit venture that organized an expedition that canoed the entire length of the Mississippi River and registered over 2000 young voters during the 2004 Presidential election.
Jonah Levine - Vice Chair
Jonah Levine holds a BS in Applied Ecology and a MS in Telecommunications and Utility Engineering. Jonah has worked as a wildlife biologist, tracking threatened and endangered species, and then as a research engineer solving challenges related to wind energy development, energy storage, and biomass energy and carbon production. Jonah works with many private and public companies and entities on technical, environmental, and economic issues. On the specific topic of biomass energy and carbon sequestration (biochar) Jonah is a nationally recognized thought leader.
Dr. Peter Warren - Secretary
Dr. Peter Warren is the president of the International Education Corps, an organization that sets up projects for senior professionals to serve in developing countries. Formerly, he was the founder and dean of University College, DU’s adult professional education division, the Vice Provost for Global Development at the University of Denver. Dr. Warren designed the Understanding America model, which encourages exchange between University of Denver and international leaders and decision makers. Peter has used this model to train present and future leaders in Namibia and other countries. Earlier in his career, Peter served as director of research for the Colorado Energy Research Institute, was a tenured associate professor of mathematics and computer science at DU, and held academic positions at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, the Aarthus Institute in Denmark, and the Institute for Information Processing in Graz, Austria. He held professional positions at IBM Watson Laboratories, Lawrence Radiation Laboratories in Berkeley, and Space Technology Laboratory in Los Angeles, and is the author of more than 40 papers, articles, and research reports.
Shannon Liston - Treasurer
Shannon Liston received a BS in Accounting and Masters of Professional Accountancy. Shannon spent 18 years as a tax professional in public accounting firms working with corporate founders, executives, and board members planning for capital transactions and liquidity events. She specialized in wealth transfer, charitable, and succession planning for U.S. and international high net worth families. Shannon is currently a law student at University of Colorado Law School in Boulder focusing on international tax and social entrepreneurship.
Mike Dow
Mike Dow lives in Boulder, Colorado, and works in the field of community solar (a.k.a. "solar gardens"), the latest position in a career that has been focused entirely on renewable energy. In 2012, Mike completed an MBA program at the University of Colorado’s Leeds School of Business with an emphasis on sustainability and finance. Before joining the board, Mike worked in a variety of roles for Elephant Energy--focused primarily on the Navajo side--writing grants, helping with program design and operations, and numerous trips to the Navajo Nation to do field work. His academic and professional background, in addition to time spent traveling in developing countries, has given him insight into the various cultural, political, economic, and geographic challenges involved in developing renewable energy projects in these areas. Mike first became captivated with the possibility of renewable energy technologies as tools for social empowerment in 2003, while staying with indigenous and campesino families during a study abroad semester in Panama.
Ron Larson
Ron Larson has been a renewable energy activist since the 1970s, when he worked on the first two solar bills passed by Congress. He co-founded the Colorado Renewable Energy Society, a chapter of the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), of which he was once the Vice President, and helped pass the Colorado’s first Renewable Portfolio Standard. He is now retired, but very active in volunteer renewable energy efforts, often overseas. Ron has been at the forefront of renewable energy innovation for years, pioneering work in solar energy and low cost cookstoves. He is now a leading proponent of biochar, a renewable energy technology that burns biomass in a low oxygen environment to produce char, which can be used as fertilizer and gasses that can power vehicles or electric generators.
Beth Osnes
Beth Osnes, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of theatre at the University of Colorado. As co-founder of Mothers Acting Up (2002-2011), she toured a program in partnership with Philanthropiece Foundation entitled “The (M)other Tour” to locations around the world to create a global community of mothers moving from concern to action on behalf of their most passionate concerns. In conjunction with this program she has developed a methodology specific to gender equity in clean energy development. This work uses theatre as a tool to include the voices of the mothers living in poverty in the planning and implementation of development projects in Panama, Guatemala, India, Nicaragua and the Navajo Nation. She has presented on this work at the World Renewable Energy Congress in Abu Dhabi in 2010. She has conducted field research as a Fulbright Scholar in Malaysia and has published books and many articles on women’s vocal empowerment, mothering, activism, and the performing arts. She is featured in the award-winning documentary, Mother: Caring for 7 Billion (2011).
Dr. Luka Powanga
Dr. Luka Powanga is a professor in the School of Management at Regis University and Executive Director of the Global Commerce Forum. He is also the Managing Editor of the peer-reviewed Journal of Global Commerce Research and the Journal of Current Research in Global Business. He is currently the US correspondent for CargoNews Asia - a trade magazine based in Hong Kong writing on international trade issues. Dr. Powanga holds a BSC degree in Metallurgy and Mineral Processing, Masters and PhD degrees in Mineral Economics from Colorado School of Mines with a minor in Finance from the Graduate School at Denver University. He also holds a Masters degree in Computer Information Technology and Graduate Level Certificate in Object Oriented Programming from Regis University. His industry and academic experience spans over thirty years at middle and senior management levels, including consulting in mining and international business management. He taught at Colorado School of Mines before transitioning to Regis University and has written a textbook in economics published by McGraw-Hill.
Cynthia Scott
Cynthia Scott is a landscape designer, beekeeper and environmental conservationist. After graduating with a degree in International Affairs from Lewis and Clark College in 1986, she worked in New York City for 6 years in human resources for an international investment bank and then as a research assistant at the Council on Foreign Relations. She currently sits on the Board of Trustees of the Denver Botanic Gardens and chairs their Gardens and Conservation Committee, which is charged with reviewing their garden spaces and supporting their plant genetics lab and research programs on native plant populations of the southwest. She was a 2013 delegate for the Garden Club of America’s National Affairs and Legislation Committee Meeting in Washington DC, where she advocated on Capitol Hill for clean air, clean water, renewable energy and protection of our soils, native plants and pollinators. She has had extraordinary travel experiences around the world that strengthen her interest in our global environment and economy.
Tim Wade
Tim Wade serves as Chief Operating Officer for Waste Enterprisers, a waste-to-energy social enterprise in Ghana, West Africa. He is responsible for daily operations and finances, managing strategic direction, and cultivating investor relationships. Prior to WE, Tim managed funding relationships for microfinance organizations, Grameen Foundation and Unitus. He earned his MBA from the Global Social and Sustainable Enterprise program at Colorado State University, graduating Phi Kappa Phi.
Tim Willink
Tim Willink brings a passion for sustainable development and public policy to Elephant Energy. Tim works for Namaste Solar as a Field Supervisor for Commercial Solar Installations. He has installed a variety of systems, from residential to a 1.1 MW system at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. A Navajo from Pueblo Pintado, New Mexico, Tim earned his B.A. in economics from Cornell University. He worked as a lobbyist for the Navajo Nation Washington Office representing the tribe in economic development and education. After living and traveling throughout the United States and Canada, Tim and his family now live in Colorado. Tim enjoys making furniture, playing basketball and spending time with his wife and two teenage sons.