Leadership

Jeffrey Perlman is the CEO, President & Founder of Bright Power. An experienced energy auditor, energy analyst, and solar-energy-system designer, Jeff is as happy in a boiler room or on a rooftop as he is in a corporate boardroom. He has built Bright Power from a single rented desk in a shared office to the substantial enterprise that it is today. Jeff was named to Crain's New York 40 Under 40 Class of 2018, a 2019 Environmental + Energy Leader 100 honoree, and is in the top twenty power players recognized by City & State’s Energy & Environment Power 50 list.

In addition to his work at Bright Power, Jeff serves on the board of the New Alternatives Fund, a mutual fund that invests in renewable energy. He has taught as adjunct faculty at NYU, CUNY, and Pratt. Prior to founding Bright Power, Jeff worked with Greg Kats at Capital E, with whom he co-authored “The Costs and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings,” a ground-breaking report that used economic cost/benefit analysis to show that building healthy, energy-efficient, and environmentally responsible buildings makes economic sense.

Outside of improving the sustainability and comfort of the built environment, Jeff is an accomplished clarinetist. He lives in Manhattan with his wife and three sons, with whom he enjoys making milk carton solar cars and soda bottle rockets.

Jeff has a B.S. in Applied Physics from Yale University.

As the Chief Customer Officer, James’ primary focus is to ensure that Bright Power’s clients succeed in their energy and water management efforts. This includes overseeing and supporting Bright Power's company strategy, account management, client services, business development, and partnerships.

In his time at Bright Power, James has focused on advancing Bright Power’s position as the premier provider of comprehensive energy and water management services to local, regional and national real estate owners, developers, managers, and lenders. This work has ranged from creating portfolio-wide energy action plans to developing property level efficiency and power generation projects.

James’ previous experience includes having worked at Morgan Stanley and Associated Renewable. He received a B.A. in History from the University of Pennsylvania.

Jamil enables Bright Power to use technology for good, creating more efficient and effective tailored solutions for our clients.  With experience across areas of technology and energy efficiency, Jamil’s strengths lie in connecting technology solutions to increase and enhance collaboration.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Jamil served as the CTO at BlocPower where he managed the development of their platform, lead product development, and built strategic partnerships to drive the company’s mission.

Jamil is a board member of CultureHub, a center for art and technology that connects communities around the world. When he’s not rooting for the Yankees, he’s spending time with his family, writing, and producing one of his two podcasts.

He received his B.S. in Computer Engineering from Columbia.

Colleen leads our National operations, ensuring our clients with large portfolios across the United States have an easy way to manage their energy and water, even if they are geographically dispersed. She also drives new service lines that can better meet the needs of large portfolio clients.

Previously, Colleen served as Bright Power’s Chief of Staff and as Director of Energy Analysis. As Chief of Staff, Colleen guided and refined Bright Power’s strategic mission, ensuring all members of the team meet and exceed the organization’s goals. As Director of Energy Analysis, she supervised a staff of seven to show clients how well their buildings performed. She also managed EnergyScoreCards Minnesota, a study on the effects of energy benchmarking for multifamily buildings in Minnesota.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Colleen worked as an energy engineer at TRC Energy Services developing and managing energy efficiency programs within New Jersey’s Clean Energy Program. She also worked at Iberdrola Renewables, planning and overseeing construction of large-scale wind farms throughout the US.

Colleen loves to spend time in the great outdoors, usually hiking with her husband, two young kids, and dog. She has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.

Andrea leads the operations of the New York business unit. Pairing her deep technical expertise in building sustainable, high performing projects with an ability to create and execute efficient business processes, Andrea’s goal is to ensure the financial success of the business unit while delivering strong, proven services to our New York-based clients. Andrea is also very active in the industry, consulting with government agencies, green building programs, clients, and product manufacturers to ensure efficiency and sustainability goals can be met through proper goal setting and alignment.

Prior to her role as Executive Vice President, New York, Andrea led the New Construction division, which she co-founded after seeing an opportunity to expand Bright Power’s offerings to build green multifamily buildings from their conception. In her role as Director of New Construction, she managed team members working on ground-up new construction and commissioning projects, supervised long-term strategic planning for the division, and helped cultivate client relationships.

Ultimately, Andrea’s mission is to continuously improve the standard of energy efficiency and sustainability best practices across the development, design, and construction industries.

Andrea is an active volunteer for GreenHomeNYC and is a proud member of the Women in Construction advocacy group. She also is a 2019 Environmental + Energy Leader 100 honoree.

Andrew McNamara leads our California operations, after co-founding Bright Power’s first satellite office in Oakland in 2015. He manages and nurtures his team of engineers and project managers, and drives Bright Power to be a leader in California. Since joining Bright Power in 2006, Andrew quickly rose to Vice President in 2008 and became a member of the Board of Directors in 2013. Andrew led the firm’s sustainability and solar practices from 2008 to 2013 and the Engineering Division from 2013 to 2015.

He has worked on hundreds of projects from coast-to-coast, including over a dozen heat pump water heater electrification retrofits in California as well as Via Verde—a groundbreaking 220 unit complex in the South Bronx that was recognized by the Urban Land Institute as a Global Project of the Decade in 2013.

Andrew formerly was an adjunct faculty member at NYU. He has a dual degree in Physics and Engineering from the University of Rochester. He also is a 2020 Environmental + Energy Leader 100 honoree.

Greg joined the company in 2008 as the third employee and has been instrumental in Bright Power’s continued growth and success. In his current role as Executive Vice President of Sales, Greg is focused on expanding Bright Power’s customer base by cultivating relationships with new customers that could benefit from our Find, Fix, and Follow approach to energy and water management. Greg is relentless in his desire to truly know a prospective customer in order to ensure that the services we can offer align closely with the needs and goals of their organization. When there is a good fit, Greg works on behalf of his customers to harness the full breadth of Bright Power’s expertise to deliver the three “Cs:” resident comfort, cost savings, and carbon mitigation.

Throughout his long tenure at Bright Power, Greg has led in the development of many energy-efficiency and renewable-energy projects, thanks to his deep expertise in commercial real estate, project finance, energy-related building systems, and energy incentive programs. Most notably, Greg worked with Arcadia Property Management to develop a $5M energy and water retrofit project at The Woods Apartments, a 1,800 unit apartment complex in San Jose, CA.

Prior to co-founding the California office, Greg was the Vice President of Bright Power’s Existing Buildings Division, managing a large team of energy engineers and field technicians providing energy services to our New York clients. He brings extensive field experience in building audits and his expertise in lighting design, mechanical systems, and construction management to help new clients understand the impact of energy and water efficiency on their portfolio.

Jon Braman provides technical oversight, team coordination, and assistance with incentives to transform energy analysis into energy savings. He creates straightforward ways to communicate complex patterns of building energy use via our energy benchmarking software, EnergyScoreCards, which he helped develop and launch. His team's mission is to make sustainable buildings and operation the norm through the cultivation of industry partnerships, pilot programs, and research.

Jon’s extensive research on green buildings appears in Greening our Built World: Costs, Benefits and Strategies (co-authored with Greg Kats, Island Press, 2009) and the 2006 Capital E report, “Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits.” He also led the EnergyScoreCards Minnesota study and the Energy & Water Savings in Multifamily Retrofits report. He collaborates with partners like CPC, the Building Energy Exchange, and Affordable Community Energy Services to help explain the benefits of energy efficiency and to catalyze new ways to bring efficiency to scale.

Previously, he has worked at Good Energies, a leading investor in renewable energy and green buildings, with State Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGS) and on a sustainable homestead in Hawaii.

Jon is in pursuit of practical strategies to reduce environmental impacts and save money: strategies that can be replicated across the industry to help achieve critical carbon reductions to mitigate global warming. When not putting these into practice at Bright Power, he communicates them to a wider audience via beats and rhymes as a ukulele hip-hop artist.

Jon has a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale University.

Lis manages the documentation and processes relating to financial, contractual, and operational aspects of Bright Power’s construction projects in her role as Construction Financial & Operations Director. Her attention to detail and experience in project management ensures projects run smoothly for our clients.

Having worked at Bright Power since 2017, Lis has held various roles supporting the operations of construction and retrofit jobs across the country.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Lis worked for organizations such as SunEdison, Standard Pacific Homes, and Centex Homes where she created and streamlined processes, worked directly with utilities, and engaged key stakeholders for effective projects.

Lis lives in California with her two teenage daughters and enjoys spending time in Lake Tahoe hiking.

Dave runs the Audit & Feasibility and the Design & Implementation teams at Bright Power, overseeing existing building energy audits, retro-commissioning, and specialty energy- and water-related feasibility studies.

Dave relies on his experience in building science, energy modeling, and construction management to investigate the complexities of buildings.

Before coming to Bright Power, he worked as a construction manager, utility program administrator, and energy auditor.

In his free time, Dave dabbles in graphic design and lexicography. He loves soccer, camping, biking, and volleyball.

Dave has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maryland.

As Director of Retrofit Installation for California, Aron manages the installation of energy and water improvements for our West Coast clients. Aron ensures their projects are completed on time, on budget, and with savings.

With decades of experience in energy and water retrofits, Aron has a vast knowledge of efficiency measures and their impact on multifamily properties. Prior to joining Bright Power, Aron served as the Corporate Director, Engineering and Utilities at Caesars Entertainment Corporation. There he managed the facilities engineering over 40 properties across the country, developed and implemented large central plant optimizations, retro-commissioned systems, and ensured the efficiency and sustainability of the properties.

He has also had various roles in other organizations including being an energy manager on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. and national operations manager for energy services at Siemens Building Technologies group. Outside of work, Aron’s hobbies range from scuba diving to chess.

He received his B.S. from Boston University, attended Whittier Law School, and is a Certified Energy Manager.

Carmel manages teams working on ground-up new construction, rehabilitation, and commissioning projects. She also directs long-term strategic planning for the new construction division and helps cultivate client relationships.

Additionally, Carmel provides oversight for high impact, unique projects that require deep experience, technical guidance, and detail. Daily activities of her division include working with project teams to optimize design and building operation, conducting construction phase inspections and performance testing, and complying with relevant programs such as ENERGY STAR, LEED, NYSERDA, Enterprise Green Communities, and Passive House.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Carmel served as the Sustainability Director at The Levy Partnership, where she led a team performing a variety of sustainability services, as well as research and development projects.

Carmel has a B.S. in Architecture and is a Certified Passive House Consultant (CPHC), a LEED Green Rater, and a RESNET HERS Rater. She also is a Board Member for New York Passive House. When she isn’t inside focusing on the built environment, she can be found exploring and enjoying the great outdoors; usually hiking with her dogs.

Samantha helps building owners, managers, and operators reduce utility and operations costs through a targeted approach using on-site training, remote monitoring, and technical support to strengthen each organization’s capacity to make critical planning and repair decisions.

Formerly serving as the Director of Housing Development and Sustainability at Selfhelp Community Services, Samantha managed facilities operations and energy performance for the Selfhelp portfolio and provided technical coordination for new development and construction projects. She has also helped to develop a Technical Service program, focusing on portfolio benchmarking, energy audits, construction management, and technical review to assist affordable housing owners throughout New York City.

She spearheaded the development of The Green Capital Needs Assessments (GCNA), used for long-term energy-related and non-energy-related planning and budgeting, developed training sessions for building staff, and deployed an interactive engagement program to educate tenants.

Samantha has a B.S. in Architectural Engineering and proudly co-founded BLISS, a group meet up for Boss Ladies in Sustainable Services. When she is not at work, you can find Samantha cooking, running and training for marathons, or taking her dog Brooklyn on long walks. She has been to 43 states and has a goal to get to the remaining seven by running races in each of them!

Evan is the Director of On-Site Generation Consulting at Bright Power and plays a key role in project development, design, scoping, pricing, and construction planning. He collaborates with clients from a preliminary consulting phase to meet project renewable energy goals and help our clients navigate the NYC regulatory environment. He works on numerous cutting edge projects, including solar on new construction buildings, cogeneration, battery energy storage, and microgrid resiliency projects.

Evan first joined Bright Power as an Energy Engineer in 2014 and most recently held the Senior Project Manager role before he began leading the On-Site Generation Consulting Team. Evan has managed over 7 MW of solar projects in five states over his career in the renewable energy industry.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Evan worked at Solaire Generation, a solar carport design and installation company, and worked on the award-winning Whole Foods Gowanus and Konterra projects. Evan also worked at Altaeros Energy, a Boston-based wind energy company. Prior to joining the renewable energy industry, Evan worked in the yacht and commercial vessel design industry.

Evan holds a B.S.E. in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from the University of Michigan. Since 2015 he has also been an adjunct professor of solar and renewable energy at NYU. Outside of work, Evan is a competitive sailor and enjoys cooking, hosting dinner parties, travel, and all things culinary related.

Clifford is the Director of Consulting at Bright Power. He analyzes energy and building data to provide insight into how well buildings perform and enable our National clients to take action to improve buildings. Leveraging our energy benchmarking software, EnergyScoreCards, and his background in engineering and project management, Clifford helps clients actively manage energy in buildings, identify opportunities, and measure results.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Clifford held roles at Nova Group, SolarKal, and Four Points Energy Solutions, among others. He has experience in construction, energy auditing, facilities management, energy benchmarking, solar energy, and building science. His deep knowledge of how buildings work, and how they are maintained and managed, allows him to bridge the gap between building owners, asset managers, property managers, and operations and maintenance staff.

Clifford is a former Merchant Mariner and holds an Unlimited Master Mariners License. When Cliff isn’t working he enjoys woodworking and tinkering in his shop where he builds furniture and collects and restores antique tools.

Jeannine analyzes energy and building data to provide insight into how well buildings perform and enable our New York clients to take action to improve buildings. Leveraging our energy benchmarking software, EnergyScoreCards, she helps clients actively manage energy in buildings, identify opportunities, measure results, and adhere to New York City and State energy laws.

Jeannine joined Bright Power as a Senior Energy Analyst and most recently held the Deputy Director of Analysis role before she began leading our New York Analysis team.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Jeannine worked for Arlington County in Virginia where she did energy benchmarking, emissions tracking, and community energy planning.

Jeannine has a B.S. in Urban and Regional Studies and a Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University. When not at work, Jeannine plays clarinet in the Grand Street Community Band in Brooklyn and is a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (Did you know there’s solar on the historic DC headquarters?). She also loves exploring the world through food and travel.

Caleb ensures our clients receive a consistent, high-quality approach to energy analysis. He does so by working with both Energy Analysts and clients, developing and optimizing tools. Caleb works with Bright Power’s Technology and Data teams to build and support EnergyScoreCards, our energy benchmarking software. Additionally, Caleb manages a team of Energy Analysts who support our National clients.

Caleb joined the Bright Power team in 2013, quickly rising into leadership roles. In his tenure, he has helped to develop the Energy Analyst team and provided in-depth support to clients across the country. Prior to joining Bright Power, Caleb worked in other sustainability roles.

Caleb has a B.S. in Biology from West Virginia University and received his M.S. in Environmental Science and Management from Duquesne University.

Alice develops and delivers projects designed to leverage diverse areas of Bright Power’s expertise to pilot new service offerings and to develop markets with strategic partners. She specializes in projects relating to unlocking and mainstreaming creative financing opportunities for green and energy-efficient buildings and in creating practical tools to improve the efficiency and accuracy of energy management.

In her tenure at Bright Power, Alice has worked with partners like Fannie Mae, CPC, Breaking Ground, and SAHF to communicate the benefits of energy efficiency and to catalyze new ways to bring efficiency to scale. In partnership with CPC, Alice worked to create the CPC VeriFi tool, a free web-based calculator that makes it easy for building owners to explore building improvement options and how to finance those upgrades. As a consultant to Fannie Mae’s Green Finance team, Alice provided technical advice and designed tools to support the rapid growth of its Green Loan portfolio.

Alice has previously been an energy engineer and project manager at Bright Power and Ecological, before its acquisition by Bright Power in 2015.

She enjoys playing drums in her band in Brooklyn and experimenting with different visual art media. Alice has a B.S.E. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University.

Adrian develops and manages Bright Power’s technology products. With experience across the organization in a variety of functions, Adrian’s deep understanding of the business’ operations, processes, and teams allow him to truly create and optimize for the end-user.

Prior to this role, Adrian held different positions at Bright Power, including Project Manager for On-Site Generation projects, Manager of Applied Technology, Data Manager, and Energy Analyst. Adrian was a Sustainability Analyst for Ecological prior to Bright Power’s acquisition.

Adrian is a devoted gardener who focuses on growing heirloom seeds and he plays in a pool league. He received his B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael leads Bright Power’s Data Team, ensuring that our clients can make sense of their complex and vast utility data. He manages relationships with our existing set of external data providers and seeks out new sources to further streamline data flow. He also works across teams at Bright Power to help better utilize our own data, leading to data-driven decision making.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Michael worked at ICF as an Energy & Sustainability Specialist, supporting the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® program. He has also held roles at ACEEE, The Solar Foundation, and the Congressional Research Service in Washington, D.C.

When not at work, Michael enjoys playing guitar (he has yet to receive any noise complaints from his neighbors!), spending too much of his paycheck on concert tickets, and traveling to new cities in search of awesome food and cleverly-named IPAs.

He received a B.A. in Political Science and History from Duquesne University and an M.P.P. from The George Washington University.

Juan leads, organizes, and optimizes Bright Power’s technology stack as the Director of Information Technology. Since Juan joined in February 2020, he has implemented technology that has enabled Bright Power’s workforce to stay connected regardless of their physical location.

Before joining Bright Power, Juan served Sabra Dipping Company for over seven years in a variety of IT roles. There he designed the internal IT project management framework and managed the global service desk.

Outside of work, Juan enjoys writing music on his guitar, engineering audio in his home studio, and playing Cards Against Humanity with his friends and family.

Betsy drives the organization’s marketing strategy, concentrating on digital and event marketing to tell Bright Power’s compelling story. Betsy hones Bright Power’s messaging and brand to simplify and condense complex ideas and information.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Betsy led the digital and event marketing efforts at The Energy Project, a boutique consulting firm focused on solving organizations’ most challenging human capital problems. Betsy also served as a special events manager and fundraiser for the American Cancer Society in Philadelphia where she raised over $1.3M in the fight against cancer during the height of the financial crisis.

Betsy is an avid traveler and dog lover. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with her husband and toy poodle. She received a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Allison leads the growth, development, health, and safety of Bright Power’s staff in her role as Director of Human Resources. She has over ten years of experience building and leading human resources in high growth environments.

She first began her career in human resources at a rapidly expanding hospitality group called Aurify Brands where she built the HR department and partnered with leadership to open 40 restaurants across the nation. She then followed her passion for fitness and wellness to Brooklyn Boulders, an adventure lifestyle company that builds and operates urban climbing, fitness, and community centers. At Brooklyn Boulders, she focused on building a high performing HR team, putting in place efficient and effective HR processes, while implementing innovative culture initiatives.

Allison has a B.S. in Psychology from Binghamton and M.S. in Industrial Psychology from Baruch. She also is a certified leadership coach by the International Coaching Federation (ICF) and holds a certification in human resources leadership from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Outside of work, Allison tries to spend as much of her free time as possible outdoors. She enjoys hiking, kayaking, and traveling.

Pristine is the legal counsel for Bright Power, managing the company's contracts, insurance, and intellectual property, as well as managing risk and ensuring legal compliance in all of Bright Power's operations.

Prior to joining Bright Power, Pristine was an intellectual property attorney and an environmental engineer. She graduated from Columbia University with a B.S. and received her J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Pristine is Co-Chair of the Board of the Fifth Avenue Committee in Brooklyn.