Dr. Ryan Wartena :: Chief Executive Officer, President & Founder. Ryan directs GELI’s business, marketing, intellectual property, technical projects, product validation, and development of hardware and software for all scales of GELI’s Energy Computer (EC) & Energy Computer Network (ECN). The ECN is the culmination of years of work toward integrating the power grid and the information network by implementing networked, balanced and sustainable energy systems incorporating innovative technology with his philosophy of energy awareness. Prior experience includes developing Li‐ion battery architectures and materials, patenting novel energy systems and designs, and integrating energy storage systems into the grid.
Ryan holds degrees in Chemical Engineering from UC San Diego and the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he earned his Ph.D. in 2001. As a post-doctoral researcher at the Naval Research Lab in Washington DC, Ryan set up a battery development & testing laboratory and worked on energy harvesting & microbattery technologies. His development of micro- and nano-batteries continued at Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he helped drive the scientific team that introduced the world’s first self-assembled battery.
Crispell Wagner :: Chief Technology Officer and Co-Founder. Crispell directs GELI’s hardware, software, and technology development. He comes from a diverse background of software and hardware engineering, computational biology, natural language processing, bioinformatics R&D, and design. He brings over ten years of industry experience from LION Bioscience Research, Formulatrix, Harvard University, Entagen, and ISPACE/artlab, in roles ranging from machinist to Chief Technology Officer, along with operating his consulting company Applied Convergence. Cris is driven by a desire to create change and improve our collective condition through appropriate uses of energy, technology and communication. There is little he enjoys more than working with his hands and mind to shape the world around him.
Joseph Unruh :: Vice President, Software Development. Joseph comes from the financial sector where he led the team developing the software infrastructure, data storage and calculation engine of a software package for modeling the stock market. He designed and oversaw the development of a time-series database that is among the fastest in the industry and a system for building complex model factors. Joseph is the architect of the data storage and analytics aspects of GELI.
Joshua Krueger :: Lead Engineer. Joshua provides circuit design and programming for GELI’s communications and power electronics. He has a background in semiconductor design automation, laboratory robotics, embedded systems development, electric vehicle design, and sculptural lighting control. Joshua holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from Alfred University.
Demetrious Harrington ::Design Engineer. Demetrious has the ability to create things and processes that work smoothly and efficiently. He has developed his skills through years of experience including building equipment for a biophysics lab, engineering in the e-paper industry (several patents pending), creating prototype HAZMAT suits for medical personel in environmentally hazardous situations, designing and building furniture. He is very curious, especially about how pieces fit together to make an effective functioning unit.
Demetrious holds Sc.M in Engineering, Sc.B. in Mathematics-Physics and A.B. in Music from Brown University.
Jacqui Manzi ::Software Engineer. Jacqui designs and develops GELI’s software user interfaces and web technologies. She holds a BS in Computer Science from Wentworth Institute of Technology, where she specialized in algorithms and user interface design. While attending school she advanced her software engineering skills through contracted software development for Harvard Medical School. She is an avid experimenter and tinkerer in technology, having built numerous interactive electronic art projects. These experiences have driven her passions for elegant and intuitive software interfaces.
Margarita Colmenares :: VP, Business Development. Margarita has extensive experience working with Fortune 100 companies and brings over 30 years of experience from the public, private and non-profit sectors. As a public servant, she has served twice as a political appointee in two Presidential administrations in Washington D.C. She was the first executive-on-loan from Chevron Corporation to the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE), as National President. Her pathway to becoming an engineer has been chronicled in many publications targeting young women and minority youth. She is an advocate for energy efficiencies and renewables, distributed generation and networked storage, smart grids and transitions to a low carbon society. Margarita is also the founder of Think Verde, a consulting firm and has directed sustainability initiatives for the Sacramento City Unified School District . She is a board member of the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS). She graduated from the School of Engineering at Stanford University.
Libby Dodd :: Director of Business Communications. Libby’s experience spans nearly three decades of marketing management in business-to-business distribution and in R&D organizations commercializing “disruptive” technologies. As an independent consultant, she has collaborated with executives to map out concise go-to-market plans and to clearly communicate the company’s strategic vision and competitive advantages to investors, customers, and the media. Her ability to think analytically and write persuasively have been developed through her professional work and by attaining BA in English from the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, as well as an MBA from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
Heather Ford :: Industrial Designer. Heather Ford is an Industrial Designer at Growing Energy Labs Inc. At GELI, Heather is responsible for the design development cycle of the Energy ComputerTM platform and the GELI Energy Module (GEM) and constantly works with GELI Engineering and Marketing to integrate technologies and requirements. She appreciates and applies open innovation and a forward thinking path to all GELI products.
In addition to her responsibilities at GELI, Heather teaches Yoga and is currently pursuing graduate studies in Product Design at the California College of the Arts. Her background includes operating an interior design business, being a professional fine artist and art directing for film. Her early career was as an advertising project manager for the firm TBWA\Chiat\Day.
Aaron Burns :: CFO. Aaron Burns provides accounting and financial services. A Northern California native, Aaron Burns is a dedicated professional with over 15 years of experience in small, medium, and large business accounting, finance, computational analysis and business modeling. Aaron’s specialties all aspects of private enterprise financial and cost accounting, pro-forma financial preparation, capital structuring, NetSuite administration, accounting system migration, financial urgent-care scenarios, turnaround management, start-ups.
Aaron’s current clients include Upper Playground, SunStream Networks, Ricker Thermline, Race Karts Inc., Precision TV, and XOGEN among others. Aaron’s previous positions have been as Financial Analysis with Chevron Lubricants, Director of National Operations at Premium Capital Funding and the Vice President of Marketing at Topdot Mortgage.
Erin Shaw :: Executive Assistant. Erin assists the GELI Team in producing technical and project management documents, streamlining production and installation of Energy Computer Networks, and articulating the many benefits of firm, locally generated renewable energy for everyone. She has a degree in Creative Writing and enjoys the pioneering ethos of product development and intellectual property. Inspired by the confluence of consciousness and technology, Erin enjoys using her creative writing skills to make energy systems comprehensible and participatory as GELI brings the grid to life.
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