NTR Announces Senior Appointments
December 15 2009
NTR plc, the international renewable energy group, today announced senior appointments across its portfolio of green energy and resource-sustaining businesses. Greenstar, NTR’s sustainable waste management business, has appointed Michael Simmons as Chief Executive Officer of Greenstar North America. Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE), the fourth largest ethanol producer in North America, has appointed Jeffrey S. Briggs as Chief Operating Officer effective November 23, 2009. Wind Capital Group has appointed Robert Craig as Senior Vice President, Finance; Bob Bergstrom, as Senior Vice President, Business Development and Pat West, as Senior Vice President, Operations.
The appointments highlight the strength of NTR’s investment portfolio and the Group’s ability to attract and retain industry leaders across each of the businesses.
Greenstar North America
Michael Simmons, CEO, brings a strong track record in operational leadership to Greenstar with over 20 years experience in senior leadership positions at General Electric, including Corporate Finance, Mergers and Acquisitions, Business Development and Operations. Most recently Mr. Simmons was Senior Operating Partner at Q Investments, a multi-billion dollar, multi-strategy hedge fund.
Green Plains Renewable Energy
Jeffrey S. Briggs, Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for all operations across GPRE, including Agribusiness and Ethanol Production. In addition, Mr. Briggs will lead the Company’s strategic sourcing efforts, environmental, health and safety programs.
Mr. Briggs spent seven years at Valmont Industries, Inc. as President of the Coatings Division where he managed a 10 facility division with over 1,000 employees. Prior to Valmont, Mr. Briggs acquired and managed a high tech electronic manufacturing company in Los Angeles; was Director of Mergers and Acquisitions for Peter Kiewit and Sons; and worked for Goldman Sachs in their Equities Division.
Wind Capital Group
Robert Craig, Senior Vice President, Finance. Mr. Craig will be responsible for the evaluation of corporate funding requirements and associated raising efforts to support Wind Capital Group’s growth plans. Prior to his work with Wind Capital Group he was an investment banker with Bank of America Securities working with energy and power companies. Mr. Craig earned his BBA-Accounting from the University of Notre Dame and went on to receive his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Bob Bergstrom, Senior Vice President, Business Development. Mr. Bergstrom will be focused on developing new markets as Wind Capital Group seeks to expand its development footprint, customer relations in the markets where Wind Capital Group’s existing development assets are located, and taking on additional strategic development initiatives. Mr. Bergstrom has nearly a decade of experience in the wind industry, including senior management positions with FPL Energy and, most recently, with Babcock & Brown. He received a law degree from Drake Law School in Iowa.
Pat West, Senior Vice President, Operations. Mr. West will oversee power plant operations, building up Wind Capital Group’s operational capabilities from the ground up to enable the company to run its assets safely, profitably, and with technical excellence over the long term. He comes to Wind Capital Group from Invenergy, where he held the position of Senior Vice President, Technical Services. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Marquette University and an MBA from DePaul University.
About NTR plc
NTR plc, the international renewable energy group, builds and runs green energy and resource-sustaining businesses. Founded in 1978, NTR has evolved from being a developer and operator of infrastructure in Ireland to an international developer and operator of renewable energy (wind, solar and ethanol) and sustainable waste management businesses in the USA, UK, and Ireland. The Group employs over 4,100 people.
http://www.ntrplc.com
About Greenstar North America
Greenstar is America’s fastest growing recycling company backed by one of the world’s largest private recycling companies. Greenstar provides sustainable recycling solutions in the recycle processing, commodity upgrading and commodity trading sector of the solid waste market. Greenstar entered the U.S. market in 2007 and quickly established a platform for growth by partnering with some of the leading companies in the industry. The company handles two million tons per year of recyclables through a network of 15 processing facilities.
About Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc.
Green Plains Renewable Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: GPRE) is North America’s fourth largest ethanol producer, operating six ethanol plants in Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska and Tennessee with a combined expected operating capacity of 480 million gallons of ethanol per year. Green Plains also operates an independent third-party ethanol marketing service that currently provides marketing services to its affiliated plants as well as four third-party ethanol producers with expected operating capacity of 360 million gallons per year. Green Plains owns 51% of Blendstar, LLC, a Houston-based biofuel terminal operator with six facilities in five states. Green Plains’ agribusiness segment operates grain storage facilities and complementary agronomy, feed, and fuel businesses in northern Iowa and southern Minnesota.
About Wind Capital Group
Formed in 2005, Wind Capital Group is a successful Midwest-based company committed to using American technology and know-how to harness clean, renewable sources of energy, create jobs, generate opportunity and help forge a path to American energy independence. We continuously strive to form responsible partnerships with the communities in which we operate, provide our workers with an environment for personal growth within the company and provide continued long-term value for our investors. Wind Capital Group is currently developing utility-scale wind farm projects in 16 states across the U.S. Wind Capital Group has offices in St. Louis, Missouri; Madison, Wisconsin; and Chicago, Illinois.