Executive Board
Bruce Hutton
Professor of Marketing, Daniels College of Business, University of Denver (DU). Dean Emeritus and Piccinati Professor in Teaching Innovation R. Bruce Hutton, Ph.D., is the Daniels College of Business leader in sustainable development education for graduate and corporate programs. He has received numerous local, regional and national honors for his contributions in business education, applied market research and community service. In 2005, his body of work in the areas of corporate citizenship and sustainability were included in the Faculty Pioneer Featured Collection, in CasePlace.org of the Aspen Institute Business and Society Program.
Peter Mannetti
Mr. Peter Mannetti is a Managing Partner at iSherpa Capital, LLC. He joined the firm in 2001. With more than 20 years experience in telecommunications and electronics industries, his management experience includes international business development, marketing and product and sales management, and business planning. Mr. Mannetti previously co-founded and built Qwest Wireless from the ground up into a $1 billion company with over one million subscribers and in 1997 successfully … introduced the Nation’s only “One Number Service”, winning the 1999 Financial Times Global Award for Innovation In Network Design in Geneva, Switzerland.
Mr. Mannetti was a Vice President at BellSouth Mobile Data and held various management positions during his 18-year tenure at General Electric. He sits on the Boards of TensorComm and Clarity Technologies and is an Observer on the Board of Directors of Ziptronix and Aura Communications. In addition, Mr. Mannetti sits on the Board of Advisors of the Engineering School and the Bard Center for Entrepreneurship, both at the University of Colorado. He is involved in various community activities including, serving as the past Denver Area Chairman at the Friends of Scouting Campaign, Boy Scout of America; a Director of the Qwest Foundation; and a Board Member at CTIA.
Dr. John Trefny
Dr. John U. Trefny was the fifteenth President of the Colorado School of Mines. He currently serves on the Boards of the Lutheran Medical Center Community Foundation, the Red Rocks Community College Foundation, and the Denver Regional Office of the Institute of International Education.
Peter L. Edwards
Peter has been advising growth-stage technology businesses as a lawyer and venture capital investor for over 30 years. He counsels privately-held technology companies through the entire financial and legal life-cycle, from founding through multiple financing rounds and ultimately through a sale or public offering. His background as a principal investor, venture capitalist and corporate lawyer enables him to offer growth-stage companies a rare combination of hands-on, practical advice as well as technical legal guidance and execution.
Peter grew up in New York City and worked there for four years after law school. He has enjoyed living and raising a family in Colorado since 1981. He has two sons who attend the University of Colorado and are pursuing careers in science and medicine. In his spare time he enjoys snowboarding and golf.
P. Renée Desai
P. Renée Desai has 30 years of experience in creating and managing innovative housing, community, and economic development projects and programs. As a Community Affairs Officer at Bank of the West, Ms. Desai manages the Bank’s Community Investment activities in nine western states, including Colorado. Prior to working for Bank of the West, she served as a Senior Program Director and underwriter for the Enterprise Foundation, LISC and the National Council of La Raza.
She has managed financing programs which have provided more than $100 million in loans to nonprofit organizations involved in affordable housing, commercial and industrial development, as well as charter school projects. She holds a Masters degree in City Planning from the University of California at Berkeley, and received her B.A. degree from Carleton College.
Board of Directors
Vic Ahmed
Vic Ahmed is a serial entrepreneur who has successfully built several startup companies. He has the gift of translating visions and foresight into companies with specific and sizeable business opportunities. In addition, he has demonstrated the commitment and energy needed to raise angel, venture and private equity funding, assemble world-class teams and transform these visions into reality.
Matt Heimrich
Matt Heimrich is active in areas ranging from conservation efforts for local land use, to farm wind programs and, water rights of the Arkansas River. He is currently serving his third term as county commissioner for Crowley County. Matt has been serving as chair of the Southeast Colorado Resource Conservation and Development Council for four years and has been a board member since 1995. Matt has also been a member of the Colorado Energy Forum and was appointed by former Colorado governor Bill Owens to the Arkansas River Compact Administration, where he is chair of the engineering committee. Matt and his wife own and operate a 220-acre irrigated farm bythe Colorado Canal that produces forages, hay and grain.
Dr. Robert Knecht
Dr. Knecht works with the Design (EPICS) program for first- and second- year students at the Colorado School of Mines. This program requires students to explore a design methodology for resolution of authentic open-ended problems and to communicate both in written and verbal forms the results of their work. His research activities include unique reactor designs to remove components from dilute solutions, membrane technologies to remove impurities from gas and liquid streams, fluid-bed hydrodynamics for combustion/pyrolysis and neutralization processes.
Ravi Malhotra
As President of iCAST, Ravi Malhotra guides iCAST staff to partner with local communities to utilize local resources for local benefit. Through these partnerships, Mr. Malhotra applies his extensive technology and business building experience to execute on projects that promote local sustainability. He started working on community development shortly after receiving a B. Tech in Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), New Delhi, India, in 1988. Mr. Malhotra spent seven years working as a social entrepreneur developing micro-enterprises using the micro-finance model in India and Africa. He later received an MS in Engineering and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin. For the past 20 years, Mr. Malhotra has developed and established numerous sustainable projects in the U.S. and internationally. He was a member of the Western Governor Association’s Solar and Bio-energy Task Force.
Tim Scotland-Stewart
Tim Scotland-Stewart is an Energy Engineer with McKinstry. His expertise is energy savings performance contract project development. He has extensive experience with investment grade energy audits, energy analysis, computer simulation of building energy performance, design and implementation of energy savings measures, direct digital control systems design and installation, commissioning, and construction management. Tim initially studied Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from the State University of New York at Albany where he received a Bachelor of Science degree. He later received a master’s degree in Building Systems Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder. While at CU Boulder Tim worked as a service learning intern with iCAST where he performed an economic feasibility analysis of energy efficiency and solar energy systems for residential buildings in the San Luis Valley. Tim is the Co-Founder of the Friends of iCAST which connects service learning alumni with current interns and iCAST staff.
