Each of our team members has over 20 years experience in the energy business handling important aspects of commercial and wholesale energy operations for major energy companies and local utilities. We have talented engineers and energy management specialists to tackle the evolving and growing energy efficiency market. Our extensive energy industry experience and practical business know-how makes EIQ the first choice for companies serious about saving money on energy consumption. Our broad experience with rates, utilities, the power grid, building systems incentive plans and new technologies means our skill sets will enable your operation to successfully exploit potential value often overlooked by competitors who have narrow or limited practical expertise.


Group Management

A.F. Altmann: was Division President for FPL Group heading up Wholesale Energy Markets managing commercial aspects for 22,000 MW of power generation in 14 states. Helped lead the FPL efforts to grow its IPP business and retail energy expansion. Led development and acquisition efforts that moved FPL into renewable energy (wind, solar, biomass, geothermal, hydro). Supported new retail electric and gas efforts in numerous markets outside Florida. Ran a $350Mil public integrated gas company with 200,000 retail customers that was Top 15 on INC Magazine's Fastest Growing Companies. Columbia University (MBA) with 25 years successful leadership in energy business.

Joe Stepenovitch: was with FPL Group for 27 years in varied leadership roles in power transmission operations and wholesale energy business. Div VP managing all transmission system operations as well as all daily operations for fuel and energy procurement. Directed all marketing and trading of physical power and fuels for 22,000 MW of generating assets in 14 states. Responsibilities covered both regulated and unregulated assets, included both traditional and renewable resources. Has participated in leadership roles on various industry boards and committees in both power and gas. He holds a BS in Business from Barry University.

Phillip McKnight: was President of IRG Solar and has spearheaded alliance programs for IRG. He has an extensive background in project finance.  Prior to IRG, Phil was Chief Operating Officer of a major management consulting company focused on customer management solutions for Fortune 500 companies (Extraprise). Prior to Extraprise, he was President of Gemini Group where he managed startup, acquisition and turn-around of technology and financial services ventures. He led Gemini Asset Finance which managed a $3B technology and capital equipment portfolio and was IBM’s largest European business partner. Phil was also the Managing Director of ITT Global Services, launching the world's first electronic mail network (GEM) and the world's first home computing service (The Source) as well as South Florida's first and largest internet service provider (Cybergate) in 1995. He holds a BS in Computer Sciences from North Carolina State University and has been active in YPO.

Karl Zimmerman: is President of Intercon Systems, a leader in the design and installation of control systems technologies. Intercon focuses on energy management and related building controls technologies required for optimum building performance and cost savings.  Karl was past Vice President of Integrated Building Technologies, Inc. a large regional engineering and mechanical contracting firm, where he managed the low voltage division for energy management, security and fire alarm systems.  As Director of Facilities Operations for Sensormatic, Karl was responsible for a $25 million capital budget and managed the design, construction and operations of new and existing facilities including both manufacturing as well as administrative. Karl was the Senior Manufacturing Facilities Engineer for IBM in North America and a graduate of IBM’s Sales and Systems Engineering School.  He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

Ignacio Taveras: is an electrical engineer with senior level experience in the power and utility business. Ignacio holds a Masters in both Energy Management as well as Electrical Engineering from University of Pennsylvania and received his BA in Electrical Engineering from INTEC (Dominican Republic). Ignacio was manager for both Northeast US and Latin American power development at Constellation Power and Public Service Electric & Gas. He led groups in power generation and transmission and held management positions at Enron Energy Services (retail) and Reliant Energy (retail). He managed commercial energy sales to end-use customers in New England where he closed in excess of $300 Million in retail electric sales. Most recently, Ignacio was Vice President for Liberty Power in Fort Lauderdale Florida, a leading retail electricity marketer.


EIQ Leadership

Joseph A. Bennett: has many years of extensive experience in structuring and negotiating government contracts with contractors serving federal, state and municipal agencies including contractual engineering reviews, contractual compliance, documentation reviews, project management reviews, and project financing reviews and closings. His responsibilities included end to end program management involving detailed engineering reviews of complex energy efficiency and green building retrofit projects. He holds a MBA in Finance from University of Maryland and a BS Mechanical Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Robert Busker: has over 25 years of energy efficiency experience within a utility operating company. He has held management positions at Florida Power & Light Co. where he led teams, and personally conducted extensive energy conservation and efficiency programs for large commercial and industrial accounts. He developed some of the most innovative energy savings measures in Florida for major South Florida energy consumers from schools to offices to manufacturers-all of which led to substantial energy savings. He has been active in designing and implementing electrical distribution systems as well as co-gen/back-up gen for large energy consumers. After leaving FP&L, Bob joined MASTEC a major utility contractor working closely with FP&L and other Florida utilities designing electrical systems for commercial accounts. Bob holds an MBA from Florida Atlantic University and a BS from University of Florida in Industrial Engineering.

John M. Chism: has spent over 25 years in senior level positions in real estate management. John held positions of increasing responsibility within the management of Florida Power & Light Company and FPL Group. John was the FPL executive responsible for real estate and building management and operations. He played a key role in all strategic and tactical aspect of property management. FPL has a portfolio of over 4.5 Million square feet of office and commercial properties throughout Florida and several US regions. Most recently, John was a Managing Partner for a real estate consulting firm and spent six years with two major US home builders in executive roles. John holds a Bachelor in Business from Florida International University and an MBA from Barry University. John lives in Charlotte NC and is a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson and a Licensed General Contractor in the State of Florida.

Donald J. Dashefsky: has over thirty-five years of business, information technology and telecommunications experience having held positions with major consulting, computer technology and telecommunications organizations. Don has performed major data center consulting engagements including data center migrations, disaster recovery, relocations, construction and energy assessments. Don has been selected as a strategic partner by a major northeast energy distributor. He has advised clients on business and technology related concerns including: streamlining/updating/reconfiguring internal operations and facilities to enhance efficiencies and reduce risk. His professional affiliations have included the Institute of Internal Auditors and The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. He is an Inventor on several US patents relating to application of GPS and wireless communications.

Dave Douglass: has over 35 years experience as a project manager with FPL in various areas. He held management positions that included Commercial Customer Service primarily in the energy conservation area. His roles also included Project Manager in FPL’s Corporate Real Estate/ Facilities and Construction Department . Dave was project development manager for site selections for substations and handled all zoning and permitting for transmission line routes. Dave managed distribution systems planning support, and worked closely with various local, state and federal government agencies. He holds a BS in Business from Barry University.

Robert V. Escalante: is an energy industry executive with proven experience in building power plants. Bob has extensive asset management and development/operations background in the Western US and predominantly with renewable energy technologies. He was recently head of the California Independent Power Producers Association. Bob was most recently Vice President for Partnership Projects for Constellation Power. He ran energy projects with combined revenues in excess of $150Mil. Prior to joining Constellation he was with Marmac Engineering in Cypress, CA where he handled all aspects of co-gen and back-up gen power project construction. Bob's work has included engineering design, costing, scheduling, permitting, licensing and development services. Prior to Marmac Bob was Power Resource Engineer with Washington Water Power (AVISTA) in Spokane, WA supervising engineering operations and equipment/vendor selection. Bob holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from San Diego State University and is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Mar Kelly: has almost 20 years of environmental and solar energy engineering experience. As one of the most active independent solar installation contractors in the MidAtlantic, Mar has been involved at all levels of project feasibility, design and implementation. She sold her firm to Astro Power that became part of GE Solar. Mar eventually went on to run sales and installation operations for a division of SunTechnics (CONERGY) in the NY area. She has been responsible for over 100 solar installs and related projects in recent years. She has been active in various industry associations such as MidAtlantic Solar Energy Industries Association, Woman Council on Energy and the Environment, Solar Energy Industry Association, ASTM Environmental Site Assessment Standards Committee, and is listed in the National Registry of Environmental Professionals. Mar earned her BS in Int'l Environmental Studies from Rutgers University.

Normand Lapierre: has over 35 years experience with FPL distribution engineering and construction departments and is versed in all processes necessary to bring commercial electric projects on line. His roles at FPL have been varied from project manager to instructor of newly hired engineers. Norm held engineering management positions for a major Florida contractor, MasTec. Additionally, Norm has experience in lighting design, quality improvement processes and telecom cable installation.

Dina M. McDermott: has over 25 years of executive management experience with strong visioning, administration, organizational and strategic leadership skills, and a proven ability to move an organization to high levels of capacity and service. Her extensive public service record spans nearly two decades serving as an appointed municipal official in various capacities. Experienced in managing municipalities, she has particular expertise in such areas as financial forecasting/analysis, grant writing/large scale fund development, construction/project management of facilities. She holds a Master of Science in Public Administration and Human Resource Management from St. Thomas University and a Bachelor of Science, in Business Communications and Marketing from Nova Southeastern University.

Linda Stepenovitch: has over 30 years of banking experience holding many leadership positions throughout her career. In her most recent role as Senior Vice President, Market Development Manger with Bank of America, she developed a strategic plan to drive an integrated leadership team to dominate the Broward and Palm Beach County markets in both revenue and brand strength. She also has worked very closely with state and local governments along with a number of nonprofit organizations to maximize community impact. Her work represents a long-term investment in helping shape public policies and corporate citizenship working closely with government officials.

Bob Walther: is President IPT and is a certified plant engineer and PE in control systems. He has 35 years of experience in strategic planning and project design in power plant/control system design as well as construction and engineering. He has been lead engineer on numerous power projects from small commercial installs to major power plants. Bob leads client relationships with owners, banks and utilities and has operated in various countries. Bob worked for Bell Labs in NY and NJ prior to forming IPT.

Andrea Whilby: has over 10 years experience in the construction industry and graduated with honors from the University of Florida, School of Building Construction. Andrea spent the first six years of her career with Centex Rooney Construction Company where she gained her knowledge and experience in Estimating/Pre-Construction, Operations, Information Technology and Operations Training Departments. During her tenure she worked as part of the project team on the Centex Rooney Corporate offices, Ft. Lauderdale High School and Burger King Headquarters in Miami. Andrea is a licensed General Contractor in the state of Florida, is a Leed Accredited Professional and holds a Bachelors degree in Building Construction from the University of Florida and a Masters in Business Administration from Nova Southeastern University.

Martin Wobig: is Manager IPT has been providing electrical engineering for power generation in the electric utility industry for over 20 years. Martin is a registered engineer in California, Texas, Wisconsin and Hawaii. Martin was a PG&E engineer designing commercial systems for utility customers and Sr engineer for large and small scale PV installations. These included a 20 MW solar field in South Korea.