TEAM
The NorthWinds team puts a wealth of knowledge and experience at the hands of its clients.
J. Garth Klimchuk, Managing Partner
Mr. Klimchuk is responsible for the formation and management of NorthWinds Renewables and its affiliates and has over twenty years of financial advisory and project development experience in the renewable energy, power, utility and oil and gas industries in which he has sourced and executed over $3 billion of public and private financing transactions and over $2 billion in M&A transactions. Over the last five years, Mr. Klimchuk has focused on providing M&A and capital raising services exclusively to renewable energy developers with an emphasis on wind and biodiesel projects in which he has sold, on behalf of developer clients, over 2,000 MW of wind energy projects and assisted several clients in securing and structuring both development and project-based capital. In addition, Mr. Klimchuk has lead the development of NorthWinds' biodiesel projects in which he has overseen the engineering, site selection, permitting, financial analysis and technology design activities in several Northeast states. Mr. Klimchuk was founder and Senior Managing Director of CENATAR Advisory Group, LLC, an advisory firm focused exclusively on the utility, renewable and energy technology sectors. Prior to founding CENATAR, Mr. Klimchuk was a partner of BOVARO Partners, LLC a boutique investment bank in which he focused on power, utilities and renewable energy financing and M&A advisory assignments. Prior to BOVARO, Mr. Klimchuk was Managing Director and head of Berenson Minella’s Power and Utility Group as well as a member of the power and utility groups of CIBC World Markets, JP Morgan, Chem Systems and Kidder, Peabody & Co.
Mr. Klimchuk received an M.B.A. in Finance from the Wharton School, an M.S. in Energy Management and Policy from the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Geology from Brown University.
James Haber, Managing Director
Mr. Haber is co-founder of Juno Investments LLC a private equity firm focused on the acquisition of controlling interests in companies in highly regulated industries such as defense, homeland security, medical devices, and infrastructure. Prior to founding Juno, Mr. Haber was the founder and President of a corporate finance boutique located in New York that executed tax structured transactions. Over the last seven years, Mr. Haber has successfully consummated dozens of transactions involving finance and/or acquisition related strategies. He has been involved in financial services since 1978. A certified public accountant, Mr. Haber is a member of the AICPA and the New York Society of CPA’s.
Mr. Haber received a B.S. degree in accounting from Brooklyn College and a M.S. degree in taxation from Pace University in New York.
Jonathan Fitzgerald, Managing Director
Mr. Fitzgerald, based in Portland, OR, will lead NorthWinds' clean technology investment banking efforts. Mr. Fitzgerald has over twenty years of investment banking experience in which he has sourced, lead and executed a wide variety of large and complex transactions across multiple industries with a focus on the energy sector. Most recently he led Morgan Joseph's cleantech banking practice and previously served as the Interim-CEO of Harvest Wind Limited, a development stage wind turbine manufacturer based in Oregon. He also served as a Board Adviser to iSense Corporation and Trustwater LLC. Mr. Fitzgerald was Co-Head of Capital Markets origination for North America at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in which he oversaw the origination of loan, bond and equity products for the firm's key corporate relationships across multiple industry sectors and had direct client coverage responsibility for the Regulated and Un-Regulated Energy Sectors. He was also a member of the firm's Capital Markets Management, Credit and New Business Committees. Prior to joining Dresdner, Mr. Fitzgerald worked in New York and London at Credit Suisse First Boston where he won multiple Deal of the Year awards on behalf of his clients.
Mr. Fitzgerald received a B.A. with Distinction from Bowdoin College, an MSc (Econ) from The London School of Economics and Political Science and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School.
Sean P. Rheuben, Managing Director, NorthWinds Advisors
Mr. Rheuben has over fourteen years of international investment banking and legal experience in the renewable energy, oil & gas and coal industries in which he has been involved in over $10 billion of transactions. Over the last five years, Mr. Rheuben has been a lead negotiator for equity and debt based financings of large energy projects, has established critical power marketing and hedging strategies, raised over $1 billion of debt and equity capital, and been responsible for developing new infrastructure and renewable energy investments as a senior member of the finance team of Acciona Energy North America Corporation, a large renewable energy developer, as a Vice President within the Capital Markets Strategies Group of Bank of America, and a Director within the Asset-Based Structured Finance Group of the Société Générale Group. Specific transactions included the tax equity financing of the 180MW Tatanka wind project, lead advisor and negotiator to Ormat on the sale and leaseback of a 30MW geothermal facility, and various investments in coal-fired facilities and oil & gas production platforms. Mr. Rheuben is a member of the New York State Bar and prior to joining Société Générale he practiced as an attorney for four years at Clifford Chance and Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy in New York.
Mr. Rheuben received his Masters of Applied Finance from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia and his Bachelor of Laws (J.D. equivalent) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
Susan Purdue, Executive Vice President-Engineering, NorthWinds Biodiesel
Ms. Purdue will be responsible for completing all engineering and design of NWB’s process technology and balance of plant and will play a critical role in completing all permitting, designing and implementing NWB’s safety and training programs, overseeing construction and startup of the facilities and implementing each facility’s operational programs. Ms. Purdue has spent the last seven years designing, engineering and constructing three large scale biodiesel facilities in the Gulf Coast region of the US which included the largest facility in the country, Renewable Biofuels 180 mm gpy plant located in Port Neches, TX. Prior to these activities, Ms. Purdue was Senior Process Engineer with Careba Engineers in which, in addition to the above activities, designed several large scale power projects. Prior to Careba, Ms. Purdue was Project Scheduler for Gemma Power Systems in which she prepared, monitored and updated engineering and construction schedules for fast-tracked power projects in CA and FL. Prior to Gemma, Ms. Purdue was Principal Process Engineer for Parsons Main in which she was involved in a multitude of complex pulp and paper engineering projects. Prior to Gemma, Ms. Purdue was Process Engineer for Jaako Poyry, Kimberly-Clark and International Paper.
Ms. Purdue received a B.S. in Pulp and Paper Technology from North Carolina State University.
Philip L. Kampf, Jr., Managing Director, NorthWinds Advisors, Juno Investments
Mr. Kampf was co-founder and Principal of NorthWinds Advisors’ predecessor company, Gemini Securities Group. Previously, Mr. Kampf was a Vice President and a founding member of Bank America's structured transactions group in Chicago where he specialized in cross-border financings. Over the course of his career, Mr. Kampf has closed approximately 30 tax-oriented transactions which involved the private placement of lease/project equity which were driven by after-tax yield requirements of the investors, debt transactions where the focus was on the after-tax cost of funds to the issuer and a number of acquisitions which had unique tax issues. Prior to founding the BankAmerica group in 1995, he was responsible for equity private placements and the execution of leases and project financings in Continental Bank's lease and project finance advisory group. Prior to joining Continental Bank, he was a financial analyst in the Property Finance Group of LaSalle Partners Limited.
Mr. Kampf holds a B.A. in International Studies from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. from the J.L. Kellogg School of Northwestern University.
Mr. John Huber, Managing Director, NorthWinds Advisors, Juno Investments
Mr. Huber is a key member of Juno Investments which is the primary investment arm of NWA and NWB. Prior to co-founding Juno, Mr. Huber was the CFO for Juno’s previous business holdings. Mr. Huber has extensive experience in the financial services industry, both in public accounting and in private industry. As a tax manager at Arthur Andersen, he gained extensive experience in the owner managed business area, as well as in the real estate, banking, equipment leasing and manufacturing industries. Upon leaving Arthur Andersen, he became chief financial officer of one of his clients, an investment company which sponsored the formation of numerous investment entities. Mr. Huber returned to the field of public accounting in 1989, when he established his practice which later merged to form the firm Weeks, Holderbaum, Huber & DeGraw, LLP. In 2001 he left the firm to join Juno as CFO.
Mr. Huber holds a B.S. in Business Administration from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and attended graduate studies in taxation at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. He is a member of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Mr. Huber is a director of Galion LLC and Advanced Ordinance LLC.
Mox Tan, Managing Director, NorthWinds Advisors, Juno Investments
Prior to co-founding Juno Investments, Mox was one of the founders and Principal of NorthWinds Advisors’ predecessor companies, Gemini Securities Group. Previously, Mox had been a Managing Director and head of BankAmerica’s structured financial products and corporate finance advisory groups. Prior to 1986, he was a corporate finance and securities attorney with Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York. Mox also spent four years in government, where he was the head of enforcement (Northeastern Region) for New Jersey’s Division of Water Resources. Mox holds a B.Sc. from M.I.T. in Mathematics, an M.S. in Mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School. Mox is a director of PDM Bridge LLC, Galion LLC, Advanced Ordnance LLC, CyberExtruder.com, Inc., Optim and Millivision Technologies.
Mr. Tan holds a B.Sc. from M.I.T. in Mathematics, an M.S. in Mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and a J.D. (cum laude) from Harvard Law School.
Harris E. Trock, Financial Analyst, NorthWinds Renewables
Mr. Trock’s responsibilities include research, financial modeling and drafting of advisory client marketing materials and also assists in business development within NorthWinds’ biodiesel development subsidiary. Prior to joining NorthWinds, Mr. Trock worked in marketing, real estate portfolio management and international logistics. Mr. Trock holds a BS Degree in Applied Economics and Management with a concentration in Agribusiness from Cornell University’s School of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
© 2009 NorthWinds Renewables LLC