A portfolio company of ACO Investment Group LLC
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Hari Achuthan is the Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of each of ACO Investment Group (ACO) Convalt Energy, Oxaio Networks and DigiCollect. ACO is the parent investment holding company of its portfolio companies including Convalt Energy, Oxaio Networks and DigiCollect. Convalt Energy founded by Hari Achuthan, is a vertically integrated renewable power company that develops, owns and operates solar, waste to power, wind, energy, power transmission and EV charging. Convalt is currently active in the United States, S.E. Asia, India and Africa. Convalt is in the process of constructing a solar panel manufacturing plant in Watertown, New York potentially making this plant the second largest solar module manufacturer in the United States.
DigiCollect Corporation, also founded by Hari Achuthan is in final stages of developing a digital ERP platform with proprietary applications for the power sector. These power system applications along with licensed patents from Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee provide the next generation smart grid technologies that are going to be absolutely critical for grid modernization and autonomous grid management supporting the eventual switch to 100% renewable generation. Oxaio Networks is seeking to develop backbone ISP infrastructure in the United States and Africa with a core focus on quantum computing technologies.
Prior to founding ACO and Convalt, Hari was a Director at Credit Suisse Asset Management in the Alternative Investment group, where he covered hedge fund, real estate and private equity strategies. Prior to his role at Credit Suisse Asset Management, he worked at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, where he led the group’s global pension strategy and transition management business providing cross asset solutions for public and corporate pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies.
In 2009, Hari was selected as one of the emerging leaders at Credit Suisse Asset Management and named one of the “Rising Stars in Public Pensions” by Money Management Letter. During his tenure at Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, the firm was consistently ranked as a top provider of pension strategies and transition management services. Hari has a B.S. in Applied Economics from Hofstra University and was a member of the Hofstra Football team from 1991 – 1994.
He has volunteered with the Jacksonville Police Athletic League and has been a frequent guest lecturer at Louisiana State University School of Business. Hari has also authored a series of papers on the transition management industry which have been published in Institutional Investor and Pensions & Investments.
Richard A. Gephardt is both an equity shareholder of Convalt and advisor of ACO. Mr. Gephardt is also President and CEO of Gephardt Government Affairs. He provides strategic advice to clients on issues before the House, Senate and Executive Branch in the federal government. Mr. Gephardt has brought successful resolution for clients on issues related to negotiations, crisis management, and strategic communications. He represents a broad array of Fortune 100 clients on Capitol Hill and before the Administration, in addition to serving as public spokesperson for clients on coalitions to bring about policy solutions to healthcare reform and climate change. Mr. Gephardt served for 28 years in the United States House of Representatives from 1976 to 2004. In his role as Leader, Mr. Gephardt emerged as one of the leading strategists of the Democratic Party’s platform and chief architect to landmark reforms ranging from healthcare, pensions, education, energy independence and trade policy. He was elected to serve as House Democratic Leader for more than 14 years, as House Majority Leader from 1989 to 1995 and Minority Leader from 1995 to 2003.
Mr. Gephardt was a colleague in the House to 49 currently serving U.S. Senators and members of the Executive Branch. He enjoys strong bipartisan relationships in the House of Representatives, serves as a trusted advisor to senior officials in the Administration and on Capitol Hill, and has counselled numerous CEOs during negotiations with labour. He has been featured in national publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, National Journal, Roll Call, The Hill and Time.
Jeff LeSage, is a director at Convalt Energy and is a highly accomplished and skilled senior executive with extensive domestic and international tax, audit, and M&A experience. Throughout his 34 year tenure at KPMG, Jeff has had extensive involvement with Fortune 1000 clients as well as with major private equity firms and their portfolio companies. Jeff has led Boardroom and Audit Committee assignments by presenting proposals, analyses and opinions on matters including acquisitions, dispositions and spinoffs. Jeff joined KPMG in 1986 and was named to the firm’s partnership six years later but began his career in the tax and international M&A groups at Arthur Andersen. Beginning in 2010, Jeff served as the U.S. National Managing Partner of tax services at KPMG. Two years later, in 2012, Jeff was promoted and assumed his current position as Americas Vice Chairman for KPMG’s tax practice, where he oversees a team of over 10,000 partners and professionals across all tax disciplines - federal, international, state and local, as well as specialty practices such as mergers and acquisitions, private equity, economic and valuation services, and international executive services. Most notably, during Jeff’s tenure as U.S. National Managing Partner and Americas Vice Chairman, KPMG’s tax practice’s revenue has grown from $1.1 billion in 2010 to $3.0 billion presently. In addition, Jeff has held several other leadership roles at KPMG including East Regional Managing Partner for tax services, area Managing Partner for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast region and Global Partner-in-Charge of KPMG’s International Corporate Services practice leading an international team of more than 1,500 tax professionals in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. During the five years Jeff served as the Global ICS leader, he was credited with tripling the ICS’s revenues, helping to establish its strong position in the industry.
For over a decade, Jeff served on the Board of the New York City chapter of the American Heart Association, with five of those years as Chairman of the Board. Today, Jeff is a member of the American Heart Association Founders Board. Jeff also sits on the Board of The Marfan Foundation and on the Villanova University Provost’s Board. Previously, Jeff was a Board member of the Junior Achievement of Miami and was head of the Miami Chamber of Commerce. To acknowledge Jeff’s passion for community involvement, Jeff was honored by the Patriots’ Path Council of the Boy Scouts of America and received the 2018 Distinguished Citizen Award.
A Certified Public Accountant in Florida and New York, Jeff is also a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the National Association of Corporate Directors. Jeff holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting (summa cum laude) from Villanova University. Jeff resides in the New York metropolitan area and in Florida with his wife and daughter. Jeff enjoys reading, playing golf, collecting wine and watching his daughter’s tennis career flourish.
Mark Berti is an director at Convalt Energy, Inc. Prior to joining Convalt Energy, Mark spent 35 years in the banking industry where he led and developed sales trading teams with distinction for the majority of his career. When he retired at the end of 2017, his run had taken him through highly respected teams at Nomura, Baring Securities, Credit Suisse First Boston, WestLB and Mizuho Securities.
In his last role prior to his retirement at Mizuho, he was entrusted to head Mizuho’s share repurchase trading effort for the Bank’s enviable list of US blue chip corporate customers. Mark’s personalized trading expertise was widely appreciated and exemplified by many clients’ reliance on his advice when shaping their buyback programs, and the high percentage of their carefully discerned awarding of successive rotations.
In 1982, Mark was one of four college graduates in the US selected to participate in Nomura’s first ever International Training program in Tokyo and the only one designated to return to the New York office as an equities trader. Mark has witnessed the evolution of markets from people intensive trading posts with wide spreads and limited liquidity to those of the modern day with digitized speed, decimal pricing and ever more efficient size and price discovery.
Mark grew up on the east end of Long Island, endlessly enjoying the Atlantic Ocean. He attended Columbia University earning a BA in Economics and was a member of its Division I NCAA Wrestling team. He and his wife lived in New York City for more than thirty years, raising three children during that period. Together they supported numerous academic, athletic, civic and faith-based and humanity-focused organizations with their time and resources. They currently reside in Rhode Island.
Dr. Shea is an alternative energy industry veteran who is the Chief Scientist at Convalt Energy, a portfolio company of ACO Investment Group. Dr. Shea has more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of photovoltaic device design, manufacturing, and deployment, covering the entire value chain from feedstock to solar power plants, and a career-long interest in facilitating the movement of new technology from the lab to mass production.
From 2003 to 2007, and since 2017, Dr. Shea has worked as a consultant to the PV industry, recently as Technical Advisor to Convalt Energy, Inc. Dr. Shea’s work between 2003 and 2007 included spending six months as Visiting Senior Solar Energy Technologist at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC); design and installation of a PV cell factory in Cairo, Egypt; and screen print metallization materials development.
Matthew Morris is a Chief Operations Officer at Convalt Energy and Lincoln Infrastructure, both portfolio companies of ACO Investment Group, where he is currently focused on development and operations including the buildout of potentially the second largest solar module manufacturer in the United States. Prior to joining Convalt Energy, Matthew was a United States Army Colonel with a distinguished 30-year career as a Logistics Officer. During his military career he conducted world-wide operations in Haiti, Panama, Europe, Republic of Korea, and five combat tours to the Horn of Africa, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Matt commanded the 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team at Fort Drum, NY where he was directly responsible for the training, welfare and morale of over 2,250 Soldiers and for managing a multi-million dollar budget. Matt also commanded a 1200-Soldier task force, the 548th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, in Afghanistan where he was responsible for providing Logistics throughout Afghanistan. Matt has extensive experience in large organizations from tactical to strategic levels of operations where he led and managed significant amounts of equipment, facilities, resources and personnel of all skills and experience. Matt was commended with two Legions of Merit and three Bronze Stars for his accomplishments and expertise in providing tactical and strategic logistics in austere and remote combat environments by leading teams and large organizations to success.
Tord Thott is a Vice President in the Office of the CEO at ACO Investment Group and Convalt Energy. He is a key resource acting with, and on behalf of, the CEO and has developed detailed insight and understanding of the company’s operations and industry through his many roles at ACO.
Tord joined ACO in 2013 and prior to becoming Vice President, he served the company across a wide array of business segments including business & renewable project development, research & development of business plans, environmental assessments, feasibility studies as well as execution of marketing strategies. He has spent the majority of his decade long career at ACO and Convalt developing utility scale renewable power projects in countries such as the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (formerly Burma), Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Kingdom of Thailand.
Tord has a proven record of accomplishments at ACO and across the company’s portfolio of subsidiaries and projects.
Richard (“Dick”) Angotti is Convalt Energy’s operations manager in the State of Maine in charge of power generation project development and construction of projects. For over fifty years, Mr. Angotti has worked in a variety of positions in the manufacturing sector. Dick’s career thus far has afforded him the opportunity to hold positions of Army Corp. of Engineers precise power-man, Mechanic, Machinist, Hydraulics and Pneumatics Technician, Computer repair Technician, Process Instrumentation Technician, Electrical/ Instrumentation Supervisor, Electrical/ Instrumentation Planner, and Field Supervisor for an Electrical Contractor.
Dick has provided electrical and instrumentation planning for large scale mill outages as well as planning for the normal maintenance of a production facility especially at Great Northern Paper Mill. Dick has developed in his career from the bottom up taking his knowledge from his mechanical career and blending it with his electrical career and now as a project manager utilizes the two together to manage engineered projects. Dick continues to develop and has earned his level 2 certification in Thermal Imaging. Thermal imaging is a non-destructive testing procedure for predictive preventative maintenance in the manufacturing and engineering world. Dick had taken on a new role as a Code Enforcement Officer for the Town of Millinocket as well as Interim Town Manager prior to joining Convalt Energy.
Jackson Pollard is a member of the Finance Team at Convalt Energy. Prior to joining Convalt in September of 2023 Jackson was a research analyst at Credit Suisse, working on the High Yield Credit Sales and Trading floor.
Jackson graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor's degree in General Studies, concentrating on Economics and Entrepreneurship in 2022.
John Phelan is a Contract Manager within the Finance team at Convalt Energy where he assists in the drafting and review of all contracts for Convalt’s various supplier, investor, and labor agreements. Prior to joining Convalt, John spent three years working as a junior contract attorney for Trustpoint.one legal services where he accumulated significant experience in contract law.
John has a B.A. in Economics from Hamilton College where he was a member of the football team and president of the chess club from 2012-2016.
John is an enthusiastic team member with pertinent legal and risk management experience.
Lin is a Project Manager at Convalt Energy and Lincoln Infrastructure, both portfolio companies of ACO Investment Group. Lin was managing supply logistics, administration and shipping arrangements for the move of a multi-million dollar solar panel factory from Oregon to New York for the subsequent buildout of Convalt's solar module manufacturing factory in the United States. Lin is also responsible for project development of the various power and construction projects being developed by Convalt Energy.
Lin is a graduate of Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art and Planning and has worked with various local government and community groups on economic development and built-space design within New York State. Prior to his work in New York, he worked in his hometown with the Yangon Regional Government and Yangon City Development Committee on municipal boundary formalization, urban space reclamation and grey water/waste water management. Throughout his career, Lin has worked in many fields including logistics, economic development, community planning and as a translator/interpreter within the international steel, construction materials and automotive industries.
Thomas Slomski is an Operations Manager at Convalt Energy and Lincoln Infrastructure, both portfolio companies of ACO Investment Group, where he is currently focused on construction and operations. Thomas is responsible for the development and buildout of potentially the second largest solar module manufacturing plant in the United States located in Watertown, NY. Prior to joining Convalt Energy, Thomas was a U.S. Army Captain with a distinguished 23-year career as an Engineer Officer in the Corps of Engineers. During his military career he conducted world-wide operations in Kosovo, Bosnia, Kuwait, and Iraq.
Thomas commanded Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 41st Engineer Battalion at Fort Drum, NY where he was directly responsible for the training, welfare and morale of over 150 Soldiers. Thomas has extensive experience in many fields including logistics and engineering focusing mainly on environmental and geological subjects in the field. Thomas was commended with the Meritorious Service Medal, Combat Action Badge and the Gold Badge Recruiter award for his accomplishments while serving.
Jessie Walters is the Operations Manager of Maintenance at Convalt Energy and Lincoln Infrastructure, both portfolio companies of ACO Investment Group, where he is currently focused on maintenance of the fleet and factory operations. Jessie, in his role, is focusing on preventative maintenance of the company’s equipment while systematically collecting, analyzing and archiving data to better prepare for future operations. Prior to joining Convalt Energy, Jessie was a United States Army First Sergeant with a distinguished 24-year career as a Mechanical Maintenance Supervisor.
During his military career he conducted world-wide operations in Kosovo, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Qatar along with five combat tours to Iraq and Afghanistan. Jessie’s final position with the U.S Military was as the 10th Mountain Division Inspector General Noncommissioned Officer in Charge at Fort Drum, NY. He was directly responsible for providing the United States Forces-Afghanistan Commanding General and Fort Drum Commanding General with ongoing assessment of readiness, capabilities, emerging trends, and recommendations for issues and problems requiring intervention by the Inspector General for over 20,000 Soldiers, family members, and civilians.
Jessie has extensive management experience in managing personnel and equipment. As a First Sergeant, Jessie was the senior non-commissioned officer for three companies, responsible for the individual training, and professional development of over 500 Soldiers. As a Maintenance Control Sergeant, he expertly managed a brigade’s maintenance program with over 10,000 pieces of equipment, significantly increasing the effectiveness and readiness while supporting the brigades’ tactical operations. Jessie was commended with a Legion of Merit and two Bronze Stars for his unparalleled achievements.
Jaswant Singh is a Senior Vice President at ACO Investment Group He is also a Director and Corporate Secretary for ACO’s portfolio companies domiciled in Singapore namely: Convalt Energy, DigiCollect and Oxaio Networks. Jay has over 18 years of professional experience having held multiple management roles with experiences in Portfolio Management, Finance and Resource & Energy Markets. Initially starting his career as a Consultant within the superannuation and pension fund industry with WestPac Group – Asgard in 2003. From 2005-2017, He moved on to take on Commercial and Major Infrastructure Project Management roles with Citic $9.6 Billion Sino Iron project and managed sustaining capital PMO Portfolio for BHP Billiton Iron Ore.Jay has also been a Commercial Controller of one of the world’s largest natural gas project–$54 Billion Chevron Gorgon LNG and Thai National Oil Company – PTTEP in Australia
He has also built an extensive network throughout his career with in-depth understanding of Transformational Technology Innovation, Major Infrastructure Projects and the Renewables Market Industry.
Jay holds a BCom in Accounting & Finance –Distinction in Finance Portfolio Management and Technologies from Curtin University – Australia. Additionally, He also holds a Professional Certificate in Project Management.
Brian Fisher is an Operations Manager of Lincoln Infrastructure, the construction division of Convalt Energy where he is currently focused on construction and factory operations. Brian, in his role, is focusing on systematically collecting, analyzing and archiving data to better prepare for future operations. Prior to joining Convalt Energy, Brian was a United States Army Sergeant First Class with a distinguished 27-year career as a Mechanical Maintenance Supervisor.
Throughout his military career, Brian conducted operations across the globe, including in the Republic of Korea, and Germany, and two combat tours in Iraq. His final position with the U.S. Military was as the Noncommissioned Officer in Charge of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team support operations maintenance at Fort Drum, NY. In this role, he was directly responsible for analyzing and implementing maintenance operations on over 10,000 pieces of equipment totaling over 250 million dollars. Additionally, he was responsible for the professional development of 500 soldiers and conducting compliance inspections, reporting to both the 2nd Brigade Combat Team Commander and the Commanding General of Fort Drum. Brian's expertise in maintenance management earned him the Forces Command Award for Maintenance Excellence.
As a Sergeant First Class, Brian served as the senior maintenance non-commissioned officer in the logistics cell for the largest Sustainment Brigade in the Army, including 5 battalions covering Germany, Poland, Italy, and Kosovo. In this role, he was responsible for the individual training and professional development of over 800 soldiers. As a Maintenance Manager, Brian expertly managed a brigade’s maintenance program with over 10,000 pieces of equipment, significantly increasing the effectiveness and readiness while supporting the brigade's tactical operations. His efforts earned him the European Theater Army Award for Maintenance Excellence twice. Brian was also commended with two Meritorious Service Medals, the Army Ordnance Corps Samuel Sharpe Award for his contributions to maintenance management, and The International Society of Logistics "Demonstrated Senior Logistician" award.
Aaron Randall is a Quality Control Manager at Convalt Energy, where he is currently focused on supporting the implementation of supply chain operations. Aaron is responsible for defining and refining processes to maintain both efficiency and quality throughout production.
Prior to joining Convalt Aaron gained experience in production with BAE Systems Inc. as an Assembler building and inspecting circuit cards for DoD aircraft components, and a Material Handler managing inventory and inspecting electronic components for quality control. Aaron has completed 2 years of coursework in Mechanical Engineering at Binghamton University and is currently working towards completion of a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a focus on Supply Chain Management.
Aaron served a distinguished 10-year career as an Infantry Staff Sergeant in the US Army. During his career he conducted worldwide operations in Afghanistan, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, and Romania. As a Stryker Master Gunner he was responsible for the training and readiness of dozens of vehicle crews on advanced gunnery techniques, doctrine, and technical procedures. He also implemented a new training program for over 300 personnel on new weapons platforms. Aaron’s final position in the U.S. Military was the 2nd Cavalry Regiments Operations Sergeant, where he was responsible for overseeing the operations center for an organization of over 4000 soldiers spread across more than 20 countries.
Karen Seitz founded Fusion Partners in January 2010, a global advisory and private placement firm (associated with BTIG). In May 2018 Karen formed her own broker dealer, Fusion Partners Global LLC. The firm raises capital for private companies and alternative investment fund managers globally from institutional investors.
Prior to founding Fusion Partners, Karen worked at Goldman Sachs & Co from 1997 - 2009. During that time, she led the Pensions, Endowments and Foundations Group for North America, serving as a liaison between the largest strategic institutional investing clients of the firm and the various divisions of Goldman Sachs. Karen became Managing Director in 1999 and a Partner in 2004. From 1995 – 1997, she was VP of Strategic Marketing and Business Development at Morgan Stanley & Co. Prior to Wall Street, for almost 10 years, Karen worked for GE Company (1986) and then GE Capital (beginning 1990).
In addition to running her broker dealer, Karen serves on six non-profit boards, as follows: the Board of Directors of The Saber Six Foundation (2022); the Board of Trustees of Iona University (2020); Vice Chair of the Museum of American Finance (2015); Center for a New American Security (2019); buildOn (2012); and The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation (2005).
Karen earned a BS degree from Iona University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Mr. Pollard is the CEO of CVP with over thirty years of experience in Leveraged Finance and Stressed/Distressed Debt. Previously the Head of the Credit Suisse Credit Investments Group ("CIG"), overseeing its $17 billion of High Yield Bond, Leveraged Loan, CLO, and Distressed Debt investment portfolios. Prior to managing CIG, Mr. Pollard was the Co-Head of Credit Suisse's Global Leveraged Finance Group, which included Credit Suisse’s High Yield Bond, Leveraged Loan and Distressed Debt businesses. Mr. Pollard served on the Management Committees for both Credit Suisse’s Securities Division (Fixed Income and Equities) and for Credit Suisse’s Asset Management Division. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Pollard was the Co-Founder and Head of DLJ’s Leveraged Loan Group and Distressed Debt Group, and Head of European Loan Trading and Distressed Debt at Citicorp Securities. Mr. Pollard is a CFA and the former Chairman of the Loan Syndication and Trading Association (“LSTA”). Mr. Pollard received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Michigan and is currently on the Advisory Board to the University’s College of Literature, Science and Arts.
Currently a Managing Director at Credit Suisse and responsible for the Global Currencies business and Short Term Interest Rate Trading. Prior to his current role he was Co-Head of the Equity Department for the Americas as well as responsible for equity capital markets risk globally. He is the co-chair for the committee that governs and commits capital to illiquid equity exposures (such as financial market structure holdings and pre-IPO exposures) for the Investment Bank. After graduating from Yale with a BA in Economics, he started his career at Citadel Investments in Chicago focusing on convertible bond arbitrage strategies, convertible credit trading, and equity derivatives trading. Todd moved from Citadel to Credit Suisse in Hong Kong where he spent 9 years and held a number of roles in the Credit Suisse Equity Department culminating with responsibility for all of the bank's equity derivatives and convertibles business as well as equity trading and execution across Asia Pacific. In 2006 Todd relocated to New York with Credit Suisse where he assumed global responsibility for equity share trading across block trading, program trading, electronic trading, syndicate block risk, as well as the convertible bond group in 2007.
Bertil Tiusanen, a senior advisor at ACO is currently a Director General and CEO at Lanekassen, the Norwegian State Education Loan Fund in Oslo, Norway. Mr. Tiusanen also serves on the board of Respect Europe of Sweden AB that offers market-leading services and tools within sustainable development and climate, and in SIVA- The Industrial Development Corporation of Norway.
Mr. Tiusanen is also Chairman of the Board in CBRE-Atrium a real estate services company in Norway.
Dr. Manish (Kiran) C. Jotwani is a shareholder and senior advisor of Convalt Energy assisting Convalt in its growth. Dr. Jotwani is currently the Medical Director of an ambulatory surgical center, where he performs minimally invasive procedures for the dialysis community. With over 20 years of experience he has been able to integrate his medical knowledge and extend his expertise into a leadership position. His position on the Medical Advisor Board for Azura Vascular Care allows him to mentor and facilitate the professional development of over one hundred physicians in the fields of vascular surgery, interventional radiology and interventional nephrology.
Dr. Jotwani was an original partner in American Access Care, which was acquired by Fresenius Medical Care in 2011. This acquisition has forged his vision as an entrepreneur not only within the healthcare sector, but towards other areas of business including energy, technology and real estate. Dr. Jotwani's strong personal approach in facilitating relationships with investors, entrepreneurs, developers and financial organizations will promote the continued development of Convalt Energy.
Madras Seshmani Ramachandran is a senior advisor at ACO. Mr. Ramachandran is a former CEO and Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Ltd (IOCL). He is a Mechanical Engineer by qualification and started his career in Ashok Leyland before joining IOCL as a Manager Trainee in 1969. He has handled diverse assignments during the career with IOCL including supply logistics, shipping, commercial, sales operations and international trade.
He was the chief of the Oil Coordination Committee the de-facto Regulatory Body under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas during 1998 – 2000. He joined IOC’s Board in 2000 as Director Business Development and took over as CEO and Chairman in the year 2002.