RAFAEL COVEN

President

GreenSpark combines Rafael’s passion to help customers achieve major improvements in economic and environmental performance through the large-scale deployment of clean technology solutions. 

When he founded GreenSpark, he had already garnered 20+ years of experience in cleantech as a manager, entrepreneur, institutional investor, and management consultant.  He has worked with startups, the Fortune 500, governments, and investors in strategy, marketing, business development and helped them to evaluate, create and build new markets and businesses. He has also made investments from $1M to $120M and managed over $700 million in environmental and energy technology companies.

He has led projects in Europe, Latin America and Australasia for companies such as Philips Lighting, Abengoa, and Whirlpool in energy-efficiency, renewable energy, and environmental technology.  Before GreenSpark, he ran a cleantech consultancy and had co-founded a developer of enterprise software for energy & environmental management.  Consulting for Deloitte, ITCA, among others, his clients have included institutional, private equity investors, large and small firms, governments, and NGOs.  

Rafael earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School and a BA in Economic Development from The University of Michigan.  He is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, Cleantech Network, the advisory board of ISEN NUvention Energy - a  Northwestern University and United States DOE Argonne National Laboratory joint venture, Clean Economy Network, and Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance.

 

THOMAS WIESER, P.E.

VP & Regional Manager

Based in Chicago, Tom has over 10 years of experience in the energy and sustainability fields as a manager, entrepreneur, and management consultant. 

Before GreenSpark, he also spent another 12 years as a project manager and management consultant and worked with companies large and small, and venture capital firms to manage the implementation of enterprise-wide IT solutions for supply chain, inter-departmental decision making & scheduling, process improvement (ISO 9000, lean & six sigma), and running project management offices. 

At Inland Steel (now ArcelorMittal), Tom was an engineering project manager in Inland’s energy & environment group.  There he was responsible for planning and implementation of capital projects in HVAC, co-generation, energy procurement, and ground-source heat exchangers for several million square feet of production, R&D, and office space.

Tom has a Master's of Engineering Management and an MBA from Northwestern's McCormick and Kellogg Schools respectively.  He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan State University and did graduate work in energy engineering/management at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

He is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, U.S. Green Building Council, Project Management Institute (PMI), and the Chicago Sustainable Business Alliance. Tom is also working to obtain both Professional Project Manager (PMP) and USGBC LEED certification.  

 

KASHIF CHAUDHRY, P.E. 

Project Manager

Kashif has over 20 years of strategy and management consulting experience and another five years electrical engineering. He has worked extensively with clients in the chemical and life sciences industries, both in North America and Europe. He has consulted on a variety of issues from strategy formulation, product commercialization and market segmentation to organizational effectiveness.

Previously, he was a vice president in Gemini Consulting's Life Sciences practice and a global account executive for two of its global life sciences clients.  His clients have included major chemical and life sciences companies.  Prior to Gemini, he was a lead design engineer for Hughes Satellite. 

He holds a MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, Masters Degrees in Business and Engineering Management from Northwestern University, and a BS in Electrical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University.

PAUL MISTOR, P.E.

Project Manager

Paul has over over 20 years of global industry and management consulting experience.  He has worked extensively with clients in the supply chain optimization and global sourcing in North & Central America, Europe and Asia. He has consulted and led implementation projects in a variety of areas including strategy, value chain optimization, global sourcing, and information technology.

Previously, he was a Principal Consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers focused on enterprise software implementation and process improvement. Prior to that Paul was in plant operations management with Sara Lee/Hanes.  Before earning his MBA, Paul was a lead electrical engineer with Westinghouse Electric.

Paul has an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School and a BS in electrical engineering from The University of Michigan where he was a standout athlete.