A note from Timothy F. Sutherland, Inovateus chairman of the board
T.J. Kanczuzewski, left | Timothy F Sutherland, right
For those who haven’t met me, my name is Tim Sutherland, and I’m honored to have become the new chairman of the board of Inovateus Solar. I’m also the founder of Middleburg Capital Development (MCD), a private equity company that recently made a significant investment in Inovateus.
I wanted to take a few moments to share with you the reason for our commitment to Inovateus and our plans for extending Inovateus’ leadership as a national solar and energy storage developer.
Many of you in this industry are very familiar with Inovateus co-founder and CEO, TJ Kanczuzewski. TJ has been a thought leader in the solar industry for over ten years and has influenced policy and practice in so many important ways for the benefit of so many. His character and business practices are a model of what should constitute the entirety of the solar sector. TJ and I first met through the University of Notre Dame, where I serve on the University’s board of trustees. We soon discovered that we had more than Notre Dame in common, especially in our co-commitment to protect and sustain the bounty of the earth where we, like you, serve as responsible custodians. As the Chairman of Inovateus, I look forward to working together with TJ as CEO, so together we can make a difference for our stakeholders while also benefiting our environment.
Myself, I have been in the energy space since 1972. Before MCD, I founded and served as CEO of Pace Global Energy Services, a leading global energy financial and advisory firm that was acquired by Siemens Industries in 2011. With offices in many places around the world and with project experience in over 65 countries, we supported large-scale solar, wind, and traditional energy projects. We believe our experience base will bring a great deal of insights into our plans for Inovateus.
When MCD first became involved with Inovateus, we observed a company that possessed excellent project fulfillment expertise and a customer care culture that was distinctly authentic. As we learned more about the company, we were impressed by TJ’s leadership and management, as well as Inovateus’ people, culture, and organization. It was clear to MCD that Inovateus possessed a business platform that was poised for scalable and sustainable growth. In our view, the Inovateus mantra of “Building a Brilliant Tomorrow” was already underway and fueled by a dynamic, reliable, and intelligent team.
After joining the Board, it became apparent to me that Inovateus possessed the financial, organizational, and management skills to successfully scale and operate as a much larger clean energy enterprise. And perhaps most importantly, the entire team possessed a strong desire to achieve growth and, while doing so, accomplish more for our environment. With our past experience, MCD was confident that we could help with our business experience, resources, and financial capabilities.
MCD’s investment and active involvement will provide Inovateus with several key elements that will help the company become more vertically integrated. Our mission is to further develop the project sourcing, project financing, project fulfillment, and project management capacity that is necessary to realize our leadership role in the industry. In so doing, we will engage with larger solar developers and do our part to enable fast internal financing for solar power purchase agreements and construction financing.
MCD is now more involved with day-to-day operations. Our intent is to leverage our experience in nurturing growing companies to facilitate efficient, sustainable growth for Inovateus in the Midwest market and nationally.
On a personal note, I would like to share that as a veteran of the energy industry I would like to affirm that we are at a critical flex point for the solar and energy storage industry. The transition to sustainable clean energy sources is now unstoppable. Technology, financial structures, and market demand have all now congealed for us to truly create a “Brilliant Future.” But, while unstoppable, as leaders and actors in the solar markets, we must take care to ensure that we execute in a responsible manner. I have witnessed too many countries and markets to allow their unbounded good intentions to enable policies and practices that have served to compromise the future of our industry. Some countries have wasted resources, allowed sub-optimal actors to squander good opportunities, and have allowed incentives and subsidies to favor the few and not gear themselves to work effectively alongside free-market mechanisms. When this happens, confidence in renewable energy is tarnished and the transition to a multifaceted energy portfolio that is stable and generational is compromised.
In my role at Inovateus, I hope to be a good steward and continue to ensure that sustainability remains an important feature of our brand. We will continue to lead by example with zero-waste construction, planting bee and pollinator ground cover, designing for sustainable land use, and making Inovateus operations carbon neutral by 2025.
Sustainable solar development is a triple-win benefit to our company, our customers, and to the communities that we serve.
Sincerely,
Timothy F. Sutherland
Chairman of the Board, Inovateus Solar, LLC
Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Middleburg Capital Development (MCD)
