Who We Are –

Brent Beerley is President & CEO of Community Energy. Brent has 22 years of experience in the renewable energy industry in project off-take, public policy and development. Beerley was part of the original management team that built Community Energy prior to the sale to Iberdrola Renewables in 2006. At Iberdrola, he led origination efforts as a Managing Director. He has led the negotiation and execution of about 1,800 megawatts of wind and solar transactions with utilities, corporations, IPPs, and banks. Prior to Community Energy, Beerley worked for the U.S Department of Energy’s Wind Energy and Distributed Energy programs and has a degree in Integrated Science and Technology from James Madison University.

Molly Arbes is Vice President and Corporate Controller and has been with Community Energy since 2002. Molly is responsible for all aspects of accounting and finance including the strategic tax planning required in the expanding field of Renewable Energy Development. Her role in coordinating the Accounting team around complex financial transactions has led to continued success for the company.

Prior to joining CEI, Molly was the Director of Finance for the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce and has years of experience in public accounting specializing in mid-sized entrepreneurial businesses.

Molly has a B.S. in Accounting from Mount Saint Mary’s University, a Masters of Taxation from Villanova and is a Certified Public Accountant.

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Emily Burks is Executive Vice President and General Counsel and has been with Community Energy since 2011. In her role, Emily oversees the development of the western project portfolio as well as the overall legal needs of the Company. During her tenure, she has overseen the sale and financing of over 1 GW of solar projects.

Prior to joining the company, Emily worked at several law firms in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Colorado and Maine.

Emily has a B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and a J.D. from the UCLA School of Law.  She is licensed to practice law in California, Colorado and Maine.

Jay Carlis co-manages solar project and business development for Community Energy Solar in the Eastern US with a focus on origination. He led the execution of Community Energy’s 180MW of PPAs with Amazon Web Services. Jay has been with Community Energy for over ten years and has over fifteen years’ experience in the clean energy and environmental fields. Jay served two terms as President of the Renewable Energy Markets Association. He has an MBA in Marketing and Sustainable Enterprise from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC-Chapel Hill and a BA in Sociology from Haverford College.

Joel is Executive Vice President of Development in the East for Community Energy, focusing on projects in the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Northeast regions. Joel leads the Eastern team’s commercial transactions. In 2020, Joel has secured PPA’s in excess of 150 MW, and led the financial closing of an additional 80 MW of projects as well as 25 MWh of Battery Energy Storage Systems. Joel has been integral in developing and leading commercial transactions for the company’s more than 50 MW of community solar projects. Joel also serves as professor of the practice at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler, teaching Renewable Energy Project Development and Finance in Kenan-Flagler’s MBA program. Prior to Community Energy, Joel co-founded and served as the Executive Director of Nourish International, which supports the visions of young leaders committed to creating community impact. Joel holds a BS in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill and an MBA from UNC Kenan-Flagler.

Brent Alderfer is Co-Founder and Director of Community Energy, Inc., and led the company as CEO from inception in 1999 through 2020. Alderfer was an early champion of the premise that environmental and economic goals converge and led the company in its mission to deliver zero-carbon power economically on the scale and timeline necessary to meet climate change. The company culture established under his leadership continues under current management with a talented team committed to forwarding that mission.

Prior to forming Community Energy Inc., Brent served as a Colorado Public Utility Commissioner. Brent holds an electrical engineering degree from Northeastern University, and a law degree from Georgetown University.

Brent Beerley is President & CEO of Community Energy. Brent has 22 years of experience in the renewable energy industry in project off-take, public policy and development. Beerley was part of the original management team that built Community Energy prior to the sale to Iberdrola Renewables in 2006. At Iberdrola, he led origination efforts as a Managing Director. He has led the negotiation and execution of about 1,800 megawatts of wind and solar transactions with utilities, corporations, IPPs, and banks. Prior to Community Energy, Beerley worked for the U.S Department of Energy’s Wind Energy and Distributed Energy programs and has a degree in Integrated Science and Technology from James Madison University.

Mr. Deutch is a Partner at NGP Energy Capital Management, L.L.C. (NGP). Founded in 1988, NGP is a family of private equity investment funds with $20 billion of cumulative equity commitments organized to make equity investments to the energy industry. Mr. Deutch has invested in the energy technology sector since 1997 and his extensive experience includes early to late-stage investments in renewable energy, power quality/reliability, distributed generation, energy management and control, and power electronics. Mr. Deutch is also Managing Partner of NGP Energy Technology Partners (NGP ETP) which he founded in 2005 with NGP. From 2015 to 2018, Mr. Deutch was Partner, COO, and President of Social Capital, a $1.8 billion Silicon Valley-based investment firm, where he helped launch SC Public Equity Partners and Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp. From 1997 to 2004, Mr. Deutch was Managing Director at Perseus, L.L.C., where he led or co-led the firm’s energy investing activities and was a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. At Perseus, Mr. Deutch helped launch Perseus CDO I Limited, Perseus Acquisition-Recapitalization Fund, and Perseus-Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund, L.P. From 1986 to 1988, Mr. Deutch was a financial analyst in the Mergers & Acquisition Department of Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc. Mr. Deutch is a board member of Form Energy Inc., Voltus Inc., Community Energy Inc., TPI Composites Inc. (NASDAQ:TPIC) and Switchback II Corporation (NYSE: SWBK-UN). He is a former board member of, among other companies, American Wind Capital, Beacon Power, Evergreen Solar, Renewable Energy Group, and SatCon Technologies and was a Strategic Advisor to Switchback Corp. Mr. Deutch is a member of the External Advisory Board of the MIT Future of Storage Study, the Board of Governors of the Folger Shakespeare Library and the Board of Trustees of the Menlo School. He previously served on the Advisory Board of the MIT Future of Solar Study and the Boards of the International Center for Women, the Washington Performing Arts Society and Capital for Children. Mr. Deutch holds a J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School and a B.A. in Economics from Amherst College, where he was elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Mark Farber is co-founder of Cedar Energy Investors, which finances solar power systems for small commercial and nonprofit organizations. At Photon Consulting, he advised global solar companies and investors on solar markets and strategy. He was a co-founder of Evergreen Solar, makers of crystalline silicon solar power products, where he served as CEO for almost a decade. Before entering the solar energy business in 1988, Farber was a management consultant in the electric utility sector for 12 years. In addition to Community Energy, he is on the Board of Shift Energy, a solar developer based in Japan, as well as E4TheFuture, an energy policy and program nonprofit. He holds degrees from Cornell University and the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Dave Kirkpatrick is a Managing Director and co-founder of SJF Ventures, which focuses on high growth, positive impact ventures. Dave helped lead SJF’s capitalization of four funds totaling $260 million starting in 1999.  Dave’s portfolio engagements include Terabase Energy, ROOM, Waycare, Voltaiq, Living Earth, ENTOUCH Controls, and Community Energy, as well as exited companies TransLoc, NEXTracker, groSolar, CleanScapes, B.B Hobbs, and Foxfire. Dave’s industry focus areas include solar energy, energy efficiency, recycling & reuse, and mobility. Dave also serves as the founding co-chair of the Impact Capital Managers, a network of private capital fund managers in the U.S. and Canada investing for financial returns and impact.

Prior to SJF, Dave founded and managed two other successful enterprises – KirkWorks, a cleantech investment research firm; and SunShares, a solar energy and recycling company. Dave was named the 2005 CDVC Practitioner of the Year by the Community Development Venture Capital Alliance and Recycler of the Year in 1996 by the National Recycling Coalition.

Dave earned a BA in Physics and History from Duke University in 1982 and an MBA from UNC Kenan Flagler Business School (KFBS) in 1991. He was named KFBS Executive MBA Alumnus of the Year in 2010.  He enjoys gardening, kayaking and trying to learn Spanish.

Bruce Usher is professor of professional practice and the Elizabeth B. Strickler ’86 and Mark T. Gallogly ’86 Faculty Director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at the Columbia Business School, where he teaches on the intersection of financial, social, and environmental issues.