Board of Directors

Board members are appointed by Gov. Martin O’Malley.

George Ashton III

George Ashton III is co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of Sol Systems, Inc. a national leader in solar finance and aggregating solar renewable energy credits, or SRECs. He has been instrumental in developing the solar credit futures market in several states and orchestrated creative financing solutions that enabled the installation thousands of residential and commercial solar systems.  Before Sol Systems, Ashton spent more than 10 years in the capital markets and financial services industries, ending his career as a Senior Account Executive at Fannie Mae, chartered by Congress to provide liquidity and stability to the U.S. housing and mortgage markets. He also serves on the Auxiliary Board of the Washington Jesuit Academy, a middle school for promising disadvantaged male youths. He earned his M.B.A. from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University Maryland in College Park.

Jeremy Butz

A mechanical engineer and a lifelong Maryland farmer, Butz currently holds leadership positions in two companies. Together with his three brothers, Butz manages the family’s Windridge Farm. Spanning 1,500 acres in Montgomery and Frederick counties, Windridge employs leading technology and traditional farming techniques to minimize herbicide and pesticide utilization while maximizing yields. It cultivates proprietary, high-protein, non-GMO soy beans which are used by local tofu producers. Butz is also a founder of Chesapeake Green Fuels, an Adamstown-based startup that converts animal fats and used cooking oil into an alternative to diesel fuel. Butz is a member of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, the Montgomery Agricultural Center Committee and the Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Carol Collins

Ms. Collins has worked toward ecosystem restoration and industrial remediation for 28 years, designing and constructing energy efficient technologies that convert waste into valuable resources while sequestering greenhouse gas emissions and removing excess nutrients.  She has developed pollution prevention/resource recovery industrial innovations and designed, equipped and operated three engineering laboratories. She served as the Small Wind and Biomass Technical Projects Manager with the New Jersey Clean Energy Program from 2007 through 2008, after which she founded a renewable energy manufacturing company – Spiralcat – in Maryland which she serves as its CEO.  Ms. Collins is the co-author of several patents and has served on Gov. O’Malley’s Green Economy Task Force.

Ken Connolly

An executive with Goldman Sachs since 2008, Connolly is currently the firm’s vice president and director of Energy and Environmental Policy in the Office of Government Affairs. Previously, he served as staff director for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee where he advised 19 senators on energy, environment, infrastructure and climate change. He has also served as legislative director for Senator Jim Jeffords and as an advisor to the director of environmental policy during the Clinton administration.

Jeff Eckel

Eckel is President and CEO of Hannon Armstrong, a leading investment and merchant bank providing capital for energy and infrastructure assets. The firm is an active equity investor in geothermal, solar power and energy efficiency projects. Eckel’s experience spans 25 years and includes the creation and management of energy service companies as well as project and corporate finance functions. He has held senior executive positions as CEO of EnergyWorks (Bechtel’s early foray into renewable energy), as CEO of Wärtsilä Power Development (a leading international IPP developer for much of the 90’s), and with Booz Allen in its energy practice.

Michele Mitch-Peterson

Michele Mitch-Peterson is currently the Business Development Manager for Honeywell Building Solution's for her assigned territory in the Northeast. In this position, she is responsible for designing and leading a sales strategy for Honeywell's Energy Services programs in Performance Contracting and Renewable Energy. Michele has almost 15 years experience in sales, marketing and management. Serving in a number of leadership roles, she has developed and implemented strategic processes that support account management, opportunity development and sales and marketing campaigns resulting in building brands, driving demand and growing profitable revenue. In addition, she has established analytics and created metrics to improve visibility and effectiveness of sales and marketing operations. Michele was born in Baltimore and grew up on the Eastern Shore. She holds a BA degree in Marketing from Frostburg State University and a Master's in Business Administration from Pennsylvania State University. She has taken Executive Management courses in strategic planning, business development and finance and is also a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Eric Wachsman

Eric Wachsman, Ph.D., is Director of the University of Maryland’s Energy Research Center where he leads the University-wide energy research center in developing a broad array of sustainable energy technologies and resources, from fuel cells and hydrogen production, to batteries, wind, photovoltaics and biomass. Wachsman also holds the William L. Crentz Centennial Chair in Energy Research at the University of Maryland, College Park. Previously, he was Director of the Florida Institute for Sustainable Energy and a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Florida in Gainesville. He earned his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering and a Master’s of Science from Stanford University. He is a Fellow of The Electrochemical Society and has authored two hundred energy related research publications and patents.