President / Chief Executive Officer

Bruce Bailey has been involved in the renewable energy and environmental fields since the 1980s and is one of the world’s leading authorities on wind and solar energy applications.  He has been project director for hundreds of contracts in the areas of renewable energy technology applications, resource assessment, meteorology, offshore development, and air quality on behalf of utility, government, and industrial clients.  Bruce is widely published and frequently gives presentations at domestic and international conferences.   He has acted as Program Chair for numerous industry conferences, was a U.S. Department of Energy Wind Program Reviewer for several years, and has been a thesis mentor and guest instructor for several universities. As President and CEO of AWS Truepower, Bruce drives business strategy.

Chief Technical Officer

Michael Brower has been involved in the renewable energy field for nearly 20 years. Early in his career he conducted research and analysis on energy and environmental issues for the Union of Concerned Scientists and as a private consultant. He was the lead author of the groundbreaking study, Powering the Midwest, which helped jumpstart wind development in the upper Midwest in the early 1990s, and wrote Cool Energy: Renewable Solutions to Environmental Problems (MIT Press, 1992) and The Consumer’s Guide to Environmental Problems (Three Rivers Press, 1999). In his roles as Principal of TrueWind Solutions and, later, Vice President and Director of Meteorology and Modeling Services for AWS Truewind, Michael led the development of the MesoMap^® and SiteWind^® mapping and micrositing systems and the eWind^® forecasting system, wrote AWS Truewind’s Manual of Procedures for resource and energy assessment, and personally led assessments of over 5000 MW of renewable energy projects. As CTO of AWS Truepower, Michael leads product development and helps ensure quality and standards across the company.

Principal / Director of Forecasting

John Zack has been involved with the development and application of physics-based numerical atmospheric modeling systems since the early 1980s. He has considerable experience in the use of advanced statistical models, such as Artificial Neural Networks, to atmospheric prediction applications.  He is an expert in both synoptic and dynamic meteorology and is very accomplished in analyzing model generated data and applying meteorological knowledge to understand and improve atmospheric modeling techniques. John is a leading authority in the application of atmospheric modeling techniques for the purpose of producing resource maps and forecasts for the renewable energy industry. He has been the principal investigator of several multi-year research projects funded by a diverse mix of federal agencies including the Department of Defense, NASA, the Department of Agriculture and Department of Commerce – NOAA. He has published numerous papers and peer-reviewed journal articles and has several years experience teaching meteorology at both the graduate and undergraduate level. As Director of Forecasting for AWS Truepower, John has a key role in forecasting product development.

Vice President of Investor and Asset Management Services

Eric White has been involved in the renewable energy, power generation, and aerospace fields since the early 1990s. Eric leads the Investor and Asset Management Services team at AWS Truepower which provides independent engineer, due diligence and performance assessment services for both wind and solar programs. Prior to this assignment Mr. White led the Consulting Services group at AWS Truepower and was instrumental in the enhancement of the company’s energy assessment practices, due diligence services and operational wind plant performance evaluation methods. His extensive background includes operational leadership and development of state-of-the-art wind tunnel laboratories and fuel cell test facilities, leadership of a composites laboratory, technical leadership of product development for advanced technology power generation products, design and evaluation of steam turbine-generators, as well as various safety, certification and reliability assessments. He is active in numerous industry groups, including member of the US Technical Advisory Group for IEC TC88 (Wind Turbines), and the IEC working group for standard 61400-12-3 -Wind Farm Power Performance Testing, and several AWEA working groups.  He has taught classes at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and is an adjunct faculty member of the Graduate College at Union College.  He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in aeronautical engineering from RPI.

Vice President of Information Services

Mark Hellbusch has been involved in software product development, scientific programming, quality assurance, information technology, and engineering consulting since the 1980s.  He has broad industry experience in renewable energy, enterprise software, automotive, healthcare, and aerospace.  Mark leads the Information Services group with a focus on subscription services which include the windNavigator, Forecasting, and openWind products.  Mark led the launch of the second generation of the web-based windNavigator with a subscription model in support of wind energy siting and assessment.  His extensive background includes implementing Software as a Service (SaaS) business models, product development for a variety software systems, implementing global development and quality assurance teams, leading engineering studies in electromagnetics and communication systems, and serving as the chief architect for large technical programs and for technology companies.

Vice President of Operations

Nicki Armsby has been involved in the fields of Finance and Human Resources since the mid-1990s. As VP of Operations, Nicki leads accounting, human resources, information technology, facilities and legal & compliance matters for AWS Truepower. Nicki began her career at AWST as Controller in August 2007. Prior to joining AWST, Nicki worked for the US Department of Defense in Garmisch, Germany as their Finance Manager where she was responsible for all aspects of finance and accounting.  In 2001, she served as the Controller for a local welding and gas distributorship here in the Capital Region. Nicki has Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in Management with concentrations in Finance and Human Resources from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Director of Research

John Manobianco has been involved in the field of applied meteorology and atmospheric science since 1988. As Director of Research and Technical Services at AWS Truepower, John is responsible for managing and sustaining basic and applied research projects to support company objectives and client-sponsored initiatives. Prior to this assignment, as Director of Meteorology and Modeling, John led all aspects of the company’s meteorological work, including analysis of wind, solar and other meteorological data, assessment of energy resources on both regional and local scales, resource mapping, and estimation of energy production from wind and solar projects. John’s extensive career in the meteorology and atmospheric science fields includes nearly fifteen years at ENSCO, Inc. During his tenure with ENSCO, John was a program manager for NASA’s Applied Meteorology Unit and later promoted to Director of Advanced Technology.

Director of Wind Developer Services

Mr. DeLuca leads the Wind Developer Services group at AWS Truepower, which supports the company’s core services areas of resource assessment, energy assessment and project consulting for both wind and solar programs. Prior to this role, as Assistant Director of Project Services, Mr. DeLuca managed a number of large client relationships and a wide range of wind energy projects on both an international and domestic scale.  His project management experience covers the complete project development lifecycle including site identification, wind plant design and optimization, mesoscale and microscale wind mapping, wind resource assessment, and due-diligence quality wind plant energy production reports. Mr. DeLuca has six years of experience in the application of meteorological measurement and analysis techniques to the wind energy and forecasting fields. Mr. DeLuca holds a masters degree from the University at Albany in Atmospheric Science.

Director of Solar Services

Marie Schnitzer’s career spans twenty years in the renewable and alternative energy power generation technology fields. As Director of Solar Services for AWS Truepower, Marie provides strategic direction and technical expertise in the development of the company’s solar business plans including; resource and energy assessment, feasibility studies, and solar system design and verification.  Her extensive background includes operational leadership, technical leadership in product development of advanced materials and power generation products; as well as various process improvement and methods development within manufacturing, research and supply chain areas. Marie’s diverse experience in the management of alternative energy programs and experience working with government agencies makes her an asset to both public and private sector initiatives.

Director of Sales and Marketing

Amber Trendell leads company-wide activities for sales and marketing at AWS Truewpower. In this role Amber provides strategic planning support for the account management and sales groups to build new business relationships and expand the company’s customer base. Amber also leads the marketing group and all associated efforts for the company including branding, public relations, thought leadership, customer satisfaction and related activities. Prior to this role Amber held the position of Marketing and Communications Manager at AWS Truepower. Amber came to AWS Truepower with diverse experience in marketing and communications in the publishing sector. She holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Electronic Media, Arts and Communication from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Chief Engineer

Dan Bernadett’s career, which began in the late 1980s, includes a broad range of renewable energy applications and disciplines including: wind energy and photovoltaic systems, system design and integration, siting and project development, mechanical and electrical (both AC and DC) subsystems, field installation and data acquisition, maintenance, due diligence, aerodynamics, financial analysis, reporting, and technical training.  His career at AWS Truepower began in the early 1990s and since that time Dan has been the project manager for several thousand megawatts of projects in the U.S. and Canada. This experience encompasses numerous wind and solar technology and resource assessment studies for both domestic and international clients. Dan is a licensed professional engineer in the State of New York.

Chief Meteorologist

Mike Markus has been involved with the application of meteorological measurement and analysis techniques to the renewable energy and air quality fields since the early 1980s including multiple years of experience in atmospheric research and remote sensing for severe storms. Mike has conducted comprehensive wind resource and energy production prediction assessments for hundreds of projects.  He has managed numerous meteorological monitoring projects involving site selection, permitting, instrumentation, and data analysis and reporting. In addition, Mr. Markus has experience with wind mapping, GIS and expert system forecasting tools. His knowledge of the North American wind resource and vast experience with the interpretation of wind flow characteristics over complex terrain and siting of prospective wind power plants makes him a powerful asset to the AWS Truepower team.