Avy Stein is a co-founder and the Chairman of Lincoln Renewable Energy. He is also a managing partner of the private equity firm Willis Stein & Partners. From 1989 through 1994, he was a Managing Director of Continental Illinois Venture Corporation, a subsidiary of Continental Bank Corporation, responsible for managing the firm with John Willis. From 1980 through 1983, Avy was an attorney with Kirkland & Ellis. From 1984 to 1985, he was President of Cook Energy Corporation, an oil and gas exploration and production company, and Vice President of Corporate Planning and Legal Affairs at Cook International, Inc., a conglomerate that was previously listed on the American Stock Exchange. In 1985, he founded and was the CEO and majority shareholder of Regent Corporation, which focused on making and managing acquisitions in the electronic security and personal emergency response industries. From 1988 until joining CIVC in 1989, Avy served as a special consultant on acquisitions, dispositions and restructurings to the CEO of NL Industries, Inc. (NYSE) and its affiliates, international companies with sales in excess of $2 billion. He serves on the boards of directors of Aavid Thermal Products, CompuPay, Education Corporation of America (Virginia College), Merit Health Systems, Roundy's Supermarkets and VelociTel.
Avy has served as Vice Chairman and Treasurer of the Ravinia Festival and as a member of its executive committee. He is a member of the Board of Directors and executive committee of the Steppenwolf Theatre, the University of Illinois Foundation and the Chicago Humanities Festival. He has lectured at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, the University of Illinois, Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and the Venture Capital Institute. He is an attorney and a Certified Public Accountant. Avy received a law degree from Harvard Law School and holds a B.S. in Accountancy from the University of Illinois.
Declan Flanagan is co-founder and CEO of Lincoln Renewable Energy. Previously
Declan served as CEO of E.ON Climate & Renewables North America
Inc., a subsidiary of E.ON AG, the world's largest investor owned
utility. Declan joined E.ON in 2007 through its acquisition of
Airtricity North America where he also served as CEO.
Declan held various senior management positions with Airtricity in Europe before relocating to the United States in 2003 to establish Airtricity North America. In four years from a standing start, Airtricity North America grew to a valuation of $1.4 billion when sold to E.ON. During Declan's tenure with E.ON he led the deployment of over $3 billion in project investment and the company grew its U.S. renewable generation portfolio eightfold, becoming a Top 5 owner of wind power capacity in the US with an operating portfolio of over 1,700 MW. As a Board member of E.ON's global renewables business, Declan also worked on E.ON's investments in solar PV, solar thermal, biomass and offshore wind power.
Declan is a non-executive director of Velocitel Inc., a telecom and energy focused engineering company and Sorian Inc. an early stage company focused on wind blade technology. Declan is also active in industry groups and serves on the advisory board of the Chicago Clean Energy Trust, is a former member of the Board of the American Wind Energy Association and has served as Grand Final Judge in the MIT Clean Energy Prize. Declan holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, an M.Sc. from the University of Ulster and a B.Sc. in Environmental Science from the National University of Ireland.
Chris Boehm is a co-founder and a Non-Executive Director of Lincoln Renewable Energy. He is also a Managing Director of the private equity firm Willis Stein & Partners. He serves on the boards of directors of Aavid Thermal Products, CompuPay, Merit Health Systems, Roll Coater, and VelociTel. Prior to joining Willis Stein in 1996, he was in the investment banking division at Salomon Brothers Inc, where he was involved with a variety of mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance transactions. Chris received an MBA from Harvard University's Graduate School of Business Administration and holds a B.S. in Finance and Accountancy from Miami University.
Chris is a member of the boards of directors of the Children's Memorial Foundation, the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Foundation, the Rush University Medical Center Associates and the Western Golf Association.
Jim Estes is a co-founder and Non-Executive Director of Lincoln Renewable Energy. He is Chairman & CEO of Velocitel, Inc., a leading provider of engineering services to the wireless telecommunications industry. Velocitel is also a provider of EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) services to the solar PV industry for large commercial and industrial rooftop PV arrays, as well as utility scale ground mount PV arrays. Mr. Estes has 25 years of experience in the wireless communications and high tech industries. Prior to Velocitel, he was an officer of Motorola, Inc.
Mr. Estes has a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and an MBA in Business Policy and Finance from the University of Chicago.
Ken DeAngelis is a Non-Executive Director of Lincoln Renewable Energy. He is a founder of Austin Ventures, having served as a general partner since 1981. During his 30-year career at AV, Ken has worked with companies at all stages of development in a wide range of industries. In recent years he has focused on technology-enabled service businesses as well as internet and digital media companies. Ken currently serves as a director on the boards of Asset International, HomeAway, Lincoln Renewable Energy, MIQ Logistics, Newgistics and Port Logistics Group. Early in his career, Ken was with the Merchant Banking division of the Bank of Boston.
Ken received his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his BA from Harvard University. He has been active in the Austin community for many years and is currently a board member of the local PBS affiliate, KLRU-TV, and is a past-chairman. He is a member of UT Austin's Development Board and the Advisory Council of the UT McCombs School of Business, serving as recent past-chairman. He also serves on the Board of Governors, Hyde Schools, headquartered in Bath, Maine.
Clark Jernigan is a Non-Executive Director of Lincoln Renewable Energy. Clark, venture partner, joined Austin Ventures in 2001 and focuses on hardware, clean tech, and technology services investing. Previously, he spent four years with Cirrus Logic as vice president and general manager of the communications products division and vice president of new business development. Before joining Cirrus Logic, he spent twelve years in product development engineering at AMD and one year as a sell-side research analyst at Alex Brown, covering electronics manufacturing services.
Clark holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, an MS in electrical engineering from Rice University and a BS in electrical engineering from Texas A&M University. He also serves on the board of the Busby Foundation, which supports central Texas ALS sufferers and their families, and is an advisory board member of the Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship.
Dennis Thomas is an advisor to the board of Lincoln Renewable Energy. Dennis has spent 30 years specializing in the area where business and government interact. For the last fifteen years, he has provided strategic and public affairs consulting services to the energy and telecommunications industry from his firm based in Austin, Texas.
Dennis is a former member of the Advisory Board of Airtricity North America where he worked closely with management on strategic development, acquisitions and transmission policy both before and after the sale of the company to E.ON in 2007. Dennis previously served as Chairman and Commissioner of the Public Utility Commission of Texas for four years. Prior to his appointment in 1984, he served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget and then as Deputy Executive Assistant to the Governor of Texas. From 1977-1981, Dennis was a founder and principal in PLANERGY Inc., a demand-side energy management firm based in Austin, Texas.
As a different venture, Dennis and his wife, Barbara, have reopened a 1901 Country Inn they restored. Known as The Antlers, the 18-accomodation Inn is located 60 miles northwest of Austin in the Texas hill country on the banks of Lake LBJ, in Kingsland.
Dennis holds a Ph.D. in Management and Energy Policy, an M.A. in Public Administration and a B.B.A. in Finance, all awarded by the University of Texas at Austin. He has taught at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas.
© 2012 Lincoln Renewable Energy
