Meet the NRG Bluewater Wind Team
| Name | Position |
|---|---|
| Peter D. Mandelstam | Founder and President |
| Kevin R. Pearce | Director, Marine Engineering |
| Douglas L. Pfeister | New Jersey |
| KC Sahl | New York |
| Dave Blazer | Maryland |
| Mike O’Brien | Great Lakes |
| Leslie Garrison | Great Lakes |
| Nancy Moore (formerly Carig) | Delaware and Maryland |
| Stephen Geiger | Marine Engineering |
Peter D. Mandelstam
Founder and President
In the wind business since 1997, Mr. Mandelstam developed Montana’s first wind farm in Judith Gap, under WPS Arcadia LLC. This 135 MW project operational since October 2005, provides all the electricity for 100,000 Montanans.
Peter served on the Board of the American Wind Energy Association for eight years, co-founding and chairing Wind Power New York (now ACENY.org) which obtained a 3,400 MW RPS in New York.
Since 2006, Peter has chaired AWEA's Offshore Group with more than 100 companies, coordinating most recently the response to the draft MMS regulations.
Peter has been featured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, the Washington Post, Bloomberg TV, Fox TV, the News Journal in Delaware, Long Island Newsday, National Public Radio, Salon.com, and numerous Delaware local weekly newspapers and radio. He gives regular trade conference and university speeches around the country, including AWEA, Harvard, Yale, MIT, Columbia, and University of Delaware.
A graduate of Harvard, he began his career as a project manager for the City of New York, building and preserving affordable housing.
Peter, a certified solar installer, was a founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Solar Technology Institute, which worked under the Pan-American Health Organization, a division of WHO doing solar-powered medical vaccine refrigerators.
In the spring of 2009, Peter was elected to the national board of the League of Conservation Voters.
Since 2000, he has served on the Board of the Greyston Bakery and non-profit Foundation in Yonkers New York that creates jobs and provides health care, day care, job training, and affordable housing. Most importantly, it bakes 18,000 pounds of brownies daily as sole supplier for Ben and Jerry's nationwide, especially its Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream.
Kevin R. Pearce
With over fifteen years of experience as a Naval Architect with private marine engineering firms, Kevin has been involved in all facets of ship design, ship repair & conversion, vessel reflagging, offshore structure design, and port logistics. He has progressive experience in structural, mechanical, electrical and habitability engineering disciplines, as well as marine transportation systems, vessel financing & valuation, and project management.
Kevin earned a B.S. in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering from Webb Institute of Naval Architecture in Glen Cove, NY. He has been an instructor at the Stevens Institute of Technology, where he also earned his Master of Engineering in Ocean Engineering. Kevin is a member of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers and was honored as their Gibbs Brother Scholar.
Kevin grew up living on a sailboat at the New Jersey shore. He has sailed all over the world on various types of commercial and private vessels ranging in size from 30' to 900'. Kevin currently lives ashore in New Jersey with his wife, Marni. They spend their spare time aboard their 18' sailboat with daughter, Hanna.
Douglas L. Pfeister
New Jersey
Doug earned his undergraduate degree at Stanford and a Master of Environmental Management from the Yale University School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, earning honors and scholarships at both institutions. He has worked in the areas of wind energy project development; energy efficiency contracting, and information management; and corporate environment, health, and safety (EHS) for such companies as General Electric, MCEnergy, Trigen Energy, and Trieste Associates.
When Doug worked for the New York City Parks Department in the 1990s, he managed the planting over 17,000 trees in the streets of New York and building hundreds of new green spaces in the city called Greenstreets. A lover of the outdoors, Doug keeps a Frisbee in the office for breaks down by the Hudson River, and goes running in the park near his home. He lives in New York City with his wife Rebekah and daughter Atalanta, born in April 2008.
KC Sahl
New York
KC Sahl joined the Bluewater Wind team as the New York Project Director at the end of 2007, after 12 years of service with the City of New York. KC brings valuable government relations and operations experience to NRG Bluewater. During his tenure with the City, KC served with the City’s Department of Parks & Recreation as an operations manager. He was the first manager of Washington Square Park, and he held titles of Park and Recreation manager and Deputy Chief of Operations and Administrator. From 2001 to 2006, KC was the Park Administrator for Riverside Park where he worked to improve the efficiency of park operations and broaden non-profit partnerships. KC completed his tenure with Parks as the Administrator of the Bronx’s Pelham Bay Park – New York City’s largest park. KC has made New York City his home since 1995, and currently lives on the lower east side with his wife and two children.
Prior to joining the City of New York, KC served at the US Embassy’s Department of US and Foreign Commercial Service in Paris. After completing college at California State University at Chico, KC traveled extensively in Europe and then served with the Peace Corps in Kenya. KC was born and raised in northern California as an avid runner and outdoorsman. As serious mountaineers, KC and his wife have climbed peaks in throughout the United States, Africa and Chile (where he proposed to her atop the Torres del Paine).
Dave Blazer
Maryland
A life-long resident of Maryland, Dave was the Executive Director of the Maryland Coastal Bays National Estuary Program (MCBP), a nonprofit organization and public-private partnership that protects the natural resources of Maryland’s coastal bays. As the MCBP Executive Director, he was responsible for overseeing initiatives to implement a long-term management plan indentifying strategies necessary for the protection of Maryland’s coastal resources.
David’s background is in fishery management issues, working as a biologist with the Department of Natural Resources and in environmental education as a science teacher and outdoor educator. He has expanded his work to address issues related to air and water quality, habitat, global climate change and land use, and now has extensive knowledge of policy, regulatory and legislative activities in Maryland. He served as the Legislation and Regulations Chief for the Maryland Fisheries Service and as the Chesapeake Bay Commission Maryland Director.
David completed his Bachelors Degree in Biology from Towson University and continued his education at the University of Maine School of Law where he completed a concentrated program focusing on Marine Resources Law. Dave and his family currently live in Ocean Pines, Maryland.
Mike O’Brien
Great Lakes
Mike has over twenty years of experience in government and private enterprise in both the for-profit and non-profit arenas. His areas of expertise are governmental relations and public policy, business development, project design, and construction management.
After serving for six years in the United States Marine Corps, Mike graduated from Washington University and completed his studies in Paris, France where he then worked for Deloitte & Touche. He has worked for the senior U.S. Senator in the state of Missouri, as well as serving as Deputy Commissioner for Strategic Planning under Mayor Richard Daley of Chicago. Recently, Mike created and led the real-estate and construction operations of a major transportation company, with multiple development projects in the Great Lakes region.
An avid outdoorsman, Mike lives near the western shores of Lake Michigan, and knows first hand the beauty and value of the natural resources of the Great Lakes region. As NRG Bluewater’s Project Director for the Great Lakes, Mike is excited to bring clean, renewable energy to his home region.
Leslie Garrison
Great Lakes
Leslie has worked on issues related to energy and the environment throughout her entire educational and professional career. A New Jersey native, Leslie first worked with Bluewater Wind on the company’s East Coast projects as an intern in Hoboken, NJ. After completing her degree in Environmental Policy at the University of Michigan, Leslie found a new sense of place in the Great Lakes region and has continued to pursue her interest there in finding solutions to environmental issues through sustainable business development.
She has worked on climate and energy campaigns for the Sierra Club and worked for the Great Lakes Commission on wind energy development in the bi-national Great Lakes region. While at the Commission, Leslie worked on the issue of regional transmission as a major roadblock to large-scale wind development in the Midwest as well as the emerging interest in offshore wind energy development in the Great Lakes.
Leslie spent nine months living in Thailand and traveling throughout Southeast Asia. As a result, she continues to study Thai language and to backpack through the world’s most stunning natural assets, reserving a heartfelt partiality for the Great Lakes. As NRG Bluewater’s Deputy Director for Great Lakes Project Development, Leslie looks forward to seeing the Great Lakes economy grow and diversify into the clean energy industry.
Nancy Moore (formerly Carig)
Delaware
Nancy was previously Executive Director of Early Stage East, an entrepreneurial development organization, where she built the non-profit from an all-volunteer group to a fully-staffed year-round organization serving fledgling businesses throughout the northeast. She is the Chair of the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club. She has served as a board member of the University of Delaware Kent-Sussex, Alumni Club, the Philadelphia Area New Media Association (PANMA), and as a member of the Career Advisory Board at Goldey-Beacom College.
A life-long resident of Delaware, Nancy currently resides in Sussex County. She is a graduate of the University of Delaware, and has spent her entire career within the state.
Stephen Geiger
Stephen received his masters in Ocean Engineering from MIT. Since then, he has worked as a naval architect and marine engineer, most recently supporting Kevin Pearce in analyzing project sites and analysis of technical issues.
Stephen is an Eagle Scout, and has an extensive knowledge of computer technologies. He was also his high school Valedictorian.
