Staff

Key Staff

Kevin Wolf, Chief Executive Officer

For the past 15 years, Kevin has been the principal consultant in his own company that help businesses and their organizational strengths and weaknesses, improve their communication, better utilize the web, and be more successful in achieving their mission and goals. During this time Wolf and Associates also built a successful business that uses open source software to develop web libraries for environmental information.  This business has been turned over to his partner.  Kevin's extensive experience facilitating consensus-based stakeholder processes in California's water "wars"  provides him with skills in listening and moving forward decision making under adverse conditions.  His experience as a consultant to and as a working board member with many businesses and non-profits gives him practical knowledge of how good boards and organizations work.  Kevin first invested in WHC in 1990.  He began working as a consultant without pay for the company in 1998.  Kevin earned a B.S. in Zoology from UC Davis in 1980.

Robert Thomas, Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer

Robert managed the Energy Conservation and Wind Energy Programs for the US Navy in the 1970s.  Later in 1980 thru 82, he was manager of the Wind Energy Program for the California Energy Commission and is recognized as a key figure in the development of the wind energy industry in the United States.  He holds a B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Michigan and has completed engineering graduate wind energy related research at the University of California, Davis. Robert has conceived, patented, developed and built all of the Wind Harvest Company designs to the point of commercial development. He has developed the analytical tools needed to measure and calculate turbine performance and to analyze turbine economics. He has defined and recognized worldwide wind turbine markets. He lives in Ventura California where the headquarters and "skunk works" for the Wind Harvest Company will be established. Robert has been compelled to work toward establishing a world wide wind industry as well as developing the technology to advance that dream recognized in the early 70's that the world must develop renewable energy to advance the well being of the planet and its people.

George Wagner, Co-Founder, President

A former prosecutor with the City of Los Angeles, and an attorney in private practice, George was co-founder and President of the California League of Conservation Voters, and Executive Director of the Jung Institute of Los Angeles.  He was also co-chairman of the campaign for the California Coastal Protection Act. He has been a leader in the environmental movement for several decades.  He holds a B.S. from UCLA and a Law Degree from Southwestern Law School.  George has shared administrative duties of the Wind Harvest Company with Robert Thomas for the past 20 years. Through his capital raising abilities, George has insured that WHC has continued its valuable research and development work and that international patents were secured. He lives in Point Reyes, California and manages the WHC administrative office there. George will be a key person in insuring that WHI will be properly funded and make sure that the interests of the WHC and WHI stockholders will be properly served.

Charles Post, Director of Government Relations

Chip has over 30 years experience in environmental, legal and political issues.  As a former California Deputy agencies responsible for California's natural resources.  He has served on the Hermosa Beach City Council and held the position of City Attorney of Redondo Beach.  As a private attorney Chip has represented groups in land use and environmental matters.  He works half time with Wind Harvest as the Director of Government Relations where he helps handle local government permits and contracts among other assignments. He lives in Bolinas, California and works with George Wagner in Point Reyes.

Consultants

Richard L. Simons, Principal Windots LLC
Rich has been a consulting meteorologist since 1977, at which time he co-authored the first study of wind energy potential for the State of California.  He was actively involved with California wind farm development in the 1980s including serving as Principal Investigator for various wind research programs by government, utility and private industry. Rich's specialties are: identification of high wind sites, wind data analysis, micro-sitting, wind energy resource assessments, and evaluation of existing wind farms.

Garrad Hassan
WHI has hired the world renowned wind energy consulting and engineering firm Garrad Hassan to assist them in a number of ways.  One of their first projects is to develop a road map for advancing the Windstar 1400 turbines through Germanischer Lloyd international certification. Another project is to develop a road map for creating the computer models needed to determine where best to place Windstar arrays within wind farms and evaluate the hypothesis that these arrays will not create problems for existing horizontal axis turbines on the site.

Lila Purinton has nearly 20 years of experience working in marketing communications, public relations, and business development.  For the past ten years, Lila helped start-up companies with their strategic business planning and media strategy.  She is a former Associate Publisher/Advertising Director of two award-winning national magazines, Mother Jones and Medical SelfCare, and was Marketing & Communication Director for the Marin Agricultural Land
Trust, the first of its kind and model for all subsequent land trusts in the nation. 

John H. VandenBosche, Principal Engineer with Chinook Wind
Mr. VandenBosche is a skilled mechanical engineer who has extensive experience in the wind energy industry and is a registered US patent agent.  He presently runs his own consulting firm called Chinook Wind where the majority of work is for wind farm project developers with site prospecting and wind resource assessment.  He also has done due diligence research and performance testing on a number of wind turbines on behalf of clients who are considering purchases or ensuring warranty obligations.  Other areas in which he has worked include:  power curve measurements, assistance with turbine commissioning, SCADA system planning, design, and installation, evaluation of wind turbine retrofit options, investigation of lightning damage and icing effects, and development of operation and maintenance strategies. From 1996  1998 he provided engineering consulting services to the wind energy industry in California and to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.  A major focus of the work was field-testing of wind turbines.   In 1996 he received Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Texas at El Paso.

Advisory Board