Recurrent Energy’s Leadership Team

Recurrent Energy’s leadership brings over 100 years of solar and energy project experience in project development, engineering, and structured finance for companies such as Bechtel, Calpine, American Electric Power, Honeywell, Siemens, Prevalent Power and Energy Innovations. Select biographies of the company’s executives are below.

  • Arno Harris

    Arno Harris, CEO

    Arno Harris is the CEO of Recurrent Energy, a leading developer of solar power projects for utilities and large energy users. Recurrent Energy is reinventing the business of distributed generation—using proven solar technology to meet rising energy demand with clean power plants located right where they’re needed most. Prior to Recurrent Energy, Arno was general manager of EI Solutions, serving large-scale commercial and government solar customers. EI Solutions was formed when Arno sold his pioneering solar business, Prevalent Power, to Energy Innovations in 2005. Arno’s previous experience includes founder and leadership roles for high tech startups. His background combines marketing, business development, and consulting with experience serving such clients as Berlex, Toyota Motor Sales USA, GlaxoWellcome, MCI, Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Nikon Precision, IKEA International and NBC Digital Publishing. Arno writes about solar and renewable energy on his blog Clean Energy Future.

  • Sheldon Kimber

    Sheldon Kimber, SVP, Development

    Sheldon brings over a decade of experience in energy finance and development to Recurrent Energy. He leads all North American project development, expansion, and origination activities. Formerly the vice president of finance at Recurrent Energy, Sheldon was instrumental in developing and negotiating the company’s existing projects, fund raising efforts, and joint venture agreements. Previously, he spent five years at Calpine, working on gas-fired power projects and power purchase agreements with large energy customers. He also worked as an investment banker for industrial and natural resource companies at Goldman Sachs, and in Accenture’s strategy consulting practice, specializing in power price forecasting and asset valuation projects for utility clients. Sheldon holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a BA in Economics from Kenyon College.

  • Karl Knight

    Karl Knight, Managing Director, International Development

    Karl brings nearly 20 years of global financing, M&A, and strategic partnership advisory experience to Recurrent Energy. As Managing Director, International Development, Karl is responsible for growing the company’s distributed solar project pipeline in Europe and emerging markets worldwide. Previously, he was Managing Director of Finance and Development for Regenesis Power, a commercial solar services company. Prior to entering the solar industry, Karl held several senior roles in technology investment banking at GCA Savvian, Credit Suisse First Boston and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. Karl holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business and a BA in Finance from the University of Wales.

  • Pat Caramante

    Patrick Caramante, VP, Engineering & Construction

    Pat has over 30 years experience in the power generation industry, including 10 years in renewable energy technologies. He leads Recurrent Energy’s Engineering & Construction group, which is responsible for the design, installation, and testing of Recurrent Energy’s portfolio of distributed-solar projects. He was most recently Vice President of Engineering for FirstWind LLC, where he was responsible for technical support to FirstWind’s development, construction, and operations groups. Previously, Pat was Vice President of Garrad Hassan America, the leading independent engineering/consulting firm to the global wind power industry, where he helped to grow the firm by almost 50% in two years. Pat also served as General Manager of Wind Operations at FPL Energy (now NextEra Energy), where he was responsible for the operation of over 750 MW of wind powered electric generating plants. His experience prior to joining the renewable energy industry includes time at General Electric, Con Edison of NY, EBASCO, and ABB, working in almost every aspect of power generation. Pat holds an MS in Management and a BE in Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology and is a registered Professional Engineer in the state of New York.

  • Judith Hall

    Judith Hall, VP, General Counsel

    Judith has over 20 years of power industry experience in the capacities of both legal counsel and consulting engineer. She serves as Recurrent Energy’s General Counsel, providing oversight of the company’s corporate, transactional, governance and compliance matters. Previously Judith served as Associate General Counsel of Babcock & Brown, a global infrastructure and advisory firm. Judith began her legal career in private practice with Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman where she represented energy, real estate, development and technology companies in complex transactional matters. Before law school Judith provided engineering consulting services to electric power utilities, the US Department of Energy and the Electric Power Research Institute, specializing in probabilistic risk assessment. Judith received a BS in Mechanical Engineering with honors from UC Berkeley, a JD cum laude from UC Hastings, and an LLM in Business Law from UC Berkeley Law. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and is a three-time Ironman triathlete through the Team in Training program.

  • Fred Vaske

    Fred Vaske, VP, Project Finance

    Fred brings nearly 20 years of experience in project and asset finance, valuation and consulting to Recurrent Energy. He leads the Project Finance group and is responsible for securing debt and equity financing for the company’s transactions worldwide. He was most recently Director of Structured Finance for SunPower Corporation, where he structured and negotiated power purchase agreements with U.S. commercial customers and led the sale of $100 million of solar PV project portfolios to Morgan Stanley and GE Energy Financial Services. Prior to entering the solar industry, Fred spent a decade in the big-ticket asset finance industry, including 7 years with GATX Capital where he was a Vice President in the Structured Finance group and led the financing of portfolios of aircraft, railroad rolling stock, and technology assets. Fred holds an MA in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Claremont McKenna College.

Board of Directors

  • Neil Auerbach, Director

    Neil founded Hudson Clean Energy Partners, a private equity that invests in the dynamic and fast-growing clean energy market. Prior to starting Hudson, Neil was a partner at Goldman Sachs, where he founded and managed the US Alternative Energy Business and several other businesses. He invested over $1.5 billion of firm capital in numerous investments in wind, solar energy and biofuels. Neil and his partners at Hudson, Joseph Slamm and Daniel Gross, played pivotal roles in some of Goldman’s most notable investments in the clean energy sector, including Horizon Wind, First Solar and SunEdison. Before Goldman, Neil was a managing director at Barclays Capital in New York, and launched his banking career at Morgan Stanley, where he was a principal. Neil has a LLM from New York University School of Law, a JD from Boston University School of Law and a BS from SUNY at Albany. He is a member of the CEO Council of the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE).

  • Daniel Gross, Director

    Daniel Gross is an investment partner of Hudson Clean Energy Partners. Formerly, Daniel was a Vice President at Goldman Sachs & Co. where he was a senior member of the US alternative energy investment business within the Special Situations Group. Daniel was instrumental in leading Goldman’s investment in SunEdison, First Solar, and Solar Integrated Technology. Prior to Goldman, Daniel was Senior Vice President in GE’s Energy Financial Services unit where he spearheaded the efforts to originate and execute renewable energy investments and closed over $1 billion of principal energy-sector investments during his seven year tenure. Daniel is a Fulbright Scholar and holds a Masters in Environmental Management, MBA and BA from Yale University.

  • Arno Harris, Chairman

    See biography above.

  • Erik Straser, Director

    Erik joined MDV in 1998 and specializes in investing in and building energy, materials and software companies. Prior to MDV, Erik worked at Interval Research Corp., a technology incubator funded by Paul Allen, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a technical staff member. He also consulted to several seed and early stage venture capital firms. While pursuing a PhD in mechanical engineering at Stanford, Erik led an interdisciplinary project between the electrical, mechanical, and civil engineering departments to develop a next-generation monitoring system for critical facilities. He holds a U.S. patent from his research work. From 1996 to 1998, he served as president of the Business Association of Stanford Engineering Students (BASES), Stanford’s largest student group focused on entrepreneurship and technology management.