MISSION
Our mission is to help the nation transform into a clean energy economy – which is critical to our country’s economic competitiveness, national security, and preservation of natural resources.

TEAM

VALUES STATEMENT
We believe that what we do with what we have been given is the central question of human endeavor, as individuals or as a team. We believe this applies to:

• Relationships with each other, customers, investors, friends, family and God.
• The Environment we create with the world’s rich and diverse resources.
• The Talent and Skills deployed each day.
• The Capital invested in us and by us.
• The Time spent in the pursuit of commerce, community, family, leisure, and faith.

We are committed to the stewardship and enablement of each of these life domains with the highest integrity, respect and optimism for potential despite any failure to achieve what we know to be possible. For the strength and wisdom to move ever forward in this human endeavor, we believe that we, as all humans, must look outside ourselves to God for grace and power more abundant than we could ever imagine or desire.

AFFILIATIONS
Abundant Power Group is involved with many important trade and policy organizations serving the clean energy economy, including:

TEAM

Shannon Smith, CEO and Managing Partner
Direct : 704-271-9884
Email: ssmith@abundantpower.com

Shannon Smith is the founder and President of Abundant Power Group, headquartered in Charlotte, NC. Shannon founded Abundant Power Group in 2008 after over 20 years in the financial service and private equity industries. Prior to Abundant Power, Shannon was Managing Partner and founder of Blue Point Capital Partners (1998-2008). Blue Point is a private equity company that has made over $1.0 billion in investments. Blue Point’s focus is control investments in closely held enterprises. Shannon supervised offices in Charlotte, Cleveland, Seattle and Shanghai, China, and was also responsible for the fund’s investments in the Southeast. Shannon invested across numerous industries in companies ranging from $25 million to $500 million in revenue. From 1990 to 1998, Shannon was a principal at Bowles Hollowell Conner & Co, a leading investment bank serving middle market companies in Charlotte, NC

Shannon is a board member of the Southeast Board of Environmental Defense Fund, and a member of the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association and the Leadership Council of the American Council on Renewable Energy. Shannon has served on numerous corporate boards. Currently Shannon serves on the Operating Executive Committee of Blue Point Capital as well as William M. Bird Company and McCoy Sales.

Shannon holds a BA in Philosophy and Economics from Wheaton College. He was a Rotary Scholar at the Universite De Lille in Lille, France in French language and History. Shannon received his MBA in 1990 from the Darden School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.

Shannon is married and has four children (two sets of twins).

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TEAM

Randy Choplin, Managing Director, Abundant Power Community Energy
Email: rchoplin@connectview.com

A pioneer in the industry, Randy Choplin is widely recognized as a driving force in bringing the promise of renewable energy platforms and programs to low income communities. Currently, Mr. Choplin brings his passion for the green economy to government agencies, including local governments, K12, and higher education institutions, inspiring them to embrace and execute on the vision of energy efficiency and sustainability in their communities.

In his role as Managing Director of Abundant Power Community Energy, he serves as as the key organizational strategist as he simultaneously leads the company’s market development efforts. A frequent speaker at municipal conferences, Mr. Choplin also lectures regularly at the University of North Carolina School of Government, interacting with officers from local and state governments from all over the Southeastern United States.

Prior to joining Abundant Power Group, Mr. Choplin was the founder and CEO Clover Energy, an Energy Development group focused in the Southeast, with high profile projects like Make it Right NOLA, in Louisiana. He is also known for his efforts to found and build well-known venture backed technology startups WindChannel Wirelss, Mediaspan, and nSyndicate; growing those companies to successful exits via mergers and acquisitions.

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TEAM

Greg Montgomery, Managing Partner, Abundant Power Capital
Direct : 704-271-9889
Email: gmontgomery@abundantpower.com

Prior to joining Abundant Power as a Managing Partner, Greg was the Founder and Managing Director of MCF Advisors in Charlotte, NC, a boutique investment banking firm providing mergers and acquisitions advice and capital formation strategies to privately-held middle market businesses, with a focus over the past several years on the energy industry, and particularly renewables including the solar, methane, biodiesel and carbon credit sectors. Previously he was the Managing Director of the Royal Bank of Canada’s internal investment banking unit for its commercial banking operations based in Charlotte, NC, and prior to that a co-founder and Managing Director of Capital Investment Partners, a private investment banking firm focused on small to middle market transactions in Raleigh, NC. Previously, Mr. Montgomery practiced corporate and securities law in Raleigh, NC and Baltimore, MD. He received a JD/MBA from Tulane University, a BA in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia, and his preparatory education at the Hotchkiss School.

Mr. Montgomery is a member of the North Carolina and Maryland State Bars and is a registered representative and investment advisor with Securities Network, LLC and holds his Series 7, 65, and 24 licenses. He has been a founder of and served as a director of numerous privately held companies. He is a member of the Board of Directors and ex-President for the Charlotte chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth. He is also a member of the Board of Managers for Camp Thunderbird which is affiliated with the Charlotte Greater Metropolitan YMCA and the Head of the Outreach Committee for St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Gastonia, NC, where he resides with his wife and two children.

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TEAM

Lori Collins, Director of Program Development
Direct : 704-271-9545
Email: lcollins@abundantpower.com

Lori Collins is responsible for building out environmental financing programs for consumer and commercial needs. She has over 20 years experience in financial services marketing and product development, particularly in building new businesses. Lori was a member of the original Executive Team at LendingTree that grew the company from $7 million to $476 million in revenue over seven years. As SVP and General Manager, she led sales, product management, client relations, and areas of marketing and technology for the core business.

Prior to LendingTree, Lori was head of marketing for Bank of America’s mutual fund business, which grew assets from $28 to $68 billion during her tenure. Lori also served as VP at Fidelity Investments in Boston, where she launched the first mutual fund marketplace and drove assets from zero to more than $9 billion in three years. Previously she was a director of marketing at American Express Company in New York. Lori earned her MBA from Kellogg at Northwestern University, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Lori is Chairman of Environmental Grants for the Women’s Impact Fund in Charlotte and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

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TEAM

Dank Pinckney, Managing Director, Abundant Power Solutions
Direct : 704-271-9890
Email: dpinckney@abundantpower.com

Francis “Dank” Pinckney has extensive experience in the mortgage and consumer finance industry in both the origination and servicing/default channels of the business. He served as an Executive Vice President for HSBC Holdings, PLC on the executive management team that oversaw all aspects of managing the HSBC owned and third party mortgage loan portfolios. He had direct management responsibility for compliance risk, quality assurance and counter-party risk for the organization. Mr. Pinckney is a former partner is the national law firm of Katten Muchin and Rosenman, and specialized in the practice areas of mortgage, consumer finance, and counter party risk.

Mr. Pinckney is a licensed attorney in the state of North Carolina. He received his JD from University of South Carolina and undergraduate degree from Washington & Lee University.

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TEAM

Cherie Santos-Wuest, Managing Director, Abundant Power Solutions
Direct : 203-507-3737
Email: csantos@abundantpower.com

Cherie Santos-Wuest has over 20 years' experience in financing and structuring institutional investments and development/construction projects; has expertise in pension fund investments, commercial real estate portfolio and asset management, and large-loan mortgage origination. Cherie has In-depth background in sustainable real estate and cleantech venture capital investments. Cherie was a Managing Partner of Celadon Venture Advisors - Real Estate Investment Advisory, focusing on Real Estate and Alternative Energy investments.

Cherie is a former Director of the Global Social and Community Investments for TIAA-CREF where she was responsible for management of and investments in equity/debt portfolio for $600 million Socially Responsible Real Estate, and $50 million Green Building Technology venture capital investment programs. She previously served on multiple advisory boards and investment committees, including Impact Community Capital, a for-profit CDFI created to make impact-related RE investments in the Western states and across the country, and currently serves on the Advisory Board for Wall Street Without Walls, and serves in active Council leadership at the Urban Land Institute.

Cherie earned BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia, Master of Science in Architecture from Yale University and Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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TEAM

Derek McGarry, Director, Abundant Power Solutions
Direct : 704-271-9886
Email: dmcgarry@abundantpower.com

Derek has extensive experience working with engineering firms in North Carolina and California. Prior to joining Abundant Power Group as a Principal, he was the President and founder of Refresco, a Charlotte-based engineering consulting firm, which targeted energy efficiency projects in the existing buildings sector. Over the past 10 years, he has successfully managed and designed mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems for commercial, municipal, institutional and multifamily projects, including district energy plants. The first engineer in North and South Carolina to become a LEED Accredited Professional (since 2001), he has designed systems and performed energy/economic analysis for multiple LEED certified projects, including many ‘firsts’ in the Carolinas.

Project highlights include the recommendation and design of the then-largest solar thermal array in the U.S., at the University of South Carolina (Green Quad), the mechanical design concepts for a flex-space 700,000SF R&D facility in San Francisco, and the recommendation and creation of a Revolving Loan Fund in Union County, NC, to upgrade existing municipal buildings.

Derek has served on the Boards of the Southern Piedmont Chapter of ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) as well as the Charlotte Region Chapter of the US Green Building Council. He received his BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University. Derek and his wife are raising their daughter in Charlotte, NC, where they both grew up.

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TEAM

Blake Clifton, Principal, Abundant Power Capital
Direct : 704-271-9874
Email: bclifton@abundantpower.com

Blake Clifton is a Principal of Abundant Power Group. Blake has over ten years of private equity, investment banking and renewable energy experience, spanning: transaction diligence and execution, leveraged buyouts and growth equity investments, fundraising, and project development. Blake has experience originating and negotiating renewable energy investments and hands-on portfolio monitoring skills. Prior to joining Abundant Power Group, he worked with the Hastings Climate Leaders Fund, a private equity fund focused on renewable energy generation assets, and prior to that with Intrinergy LLC, a renewable energy project developer. Blake began his career in investment banking with Stephens, Inc. and Thomas Weisel Partners, and then Liberty Partners, a middle-market buyout firm.

Blake holds an MBA from the Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, and a Bachelor of Arts in English (Concentration in Applied Mathematics) from Davidson College, North Carolina, where he played Division-I tennis. Blake is a “Big Brother” in the Big Brother Big Sister Program and is on the Board of Directors of Street Soccer USA, a non-profit organization that utilizes soccer and community-based programs as vehicles to eradicate homelessness.

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TEAM

Scott Pearson, Principal, Abundant Power Capital
Direct : 704-271-9902
Email: spearson@abundantpower.com

Scott Pearson is a Principal with Abundant Power Group. Scott has extensive experience conducting corporate and real estate transaction due diligence, making private equity investments, monitoring portfolio companies and properties, and restructuring non-performing assets. Prior to joining Abundant Power Group, Scott worked with Cherokee Investment Partners, a private equity firm focused on the acquisition, remediation, and sustainable redevelopment of brownfield properties throughout North America. Scott began his career as an investment banking analyst within the mergers & acquisitions group of First Union Securities, Inc. and subsequently worked for Wind Point Partners, a private equity firm that acquires middle-market businesses across a broad range of industries. Scott also spent a year in Kigali, Rwanda working with World Relief, an international aid and development organization. While in Rwanda, he helped transition a small agricultural pilot program into Ikirezi Natural Products, a community interest company that partners with farmers' cooperatives to pioneer the production of organic essential oils in Rwanda.

Scott graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia with a BA in Economics (concentration in Finance) where he was an Echols Scholar and earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School. Scott and his wife reside in Charlotte with their two children.

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TEAM

Bracken Hendricks, Senior Policy Advisor, Abundant Power Solutions
Direct : 202-682-161
Email: bhendricks@americanprogress.org

Bracken currently acts as a policy advisor to a major Washington, DC think tank, unions and pension funds, administration and Congress. He served in the Clinton Administration in the Office of Vice President and Department of Commerce. Bracken also advised the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's Energy Advisory Task Force, and other federal, state, and local policymakers and elected officials.

Bracken earned a Master's Degree in Public Policy and Urban Planning from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School.

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FOUNDATION
The Company has allocated a portion of profits to a foundation, Abundant Hope, which will provide support to organizations focused on providing sustainable natural resources to areas of economic and energy poverty.

We intend to allocate a portion of our profits each year to build the impact of this foundation.