Stephen Burnett,
Chairman, Co-Founder
Mr. Burnett co-founded Remote Light, Inc., in September, 1999 and Remote Light Water Company in August, 2007, both intellectual property holding companies for drinking water, wastewater, air, appliance, and other applications using ultraviolet (UV) light and optics. He was responsible for global technology licensing and managed the intellectual property portfolio of 40+ US and foreign patents. Mr. Burnett resigned his positions in May, 2012 for both Remote Light and Remote Light Water Company.
Prior to his work at Remote Light, Inc. and Remote Light Water Company, Mr. Burnett was a Financial Consultant with Smith Barney Brokerage Firm and Capital Investment Companies in North Carolina for approximately 10 years. Prior to that, Mr. Burnett was a partner with Sisters’ Catering Company and The Sir Walter Restaurant in Raleigh, NC. Mr. Burnett is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and attended Wake Forest University School of Law.
Dr. Paul Dent
Founder, Chief Scientist
Paul Dent was the Chief Scientist at Ericsson USA from July, 1990 to January, 2010. Prior to joining Ericsson, Dr. Dent was with Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications from 1987 to 1990. Dr. Dent is the #1 patent inventor in wireless communication technology, having filed 350+ US Patents, and over 1,000 technology patents in his name.
Dr. Dent’s specialties include everything in electronics, particularly RF circuits, digital signal processing algorithms, system design, missiles, satellite, hardware design, satsomms systems design, navigation instruments, yacht instrumentation, cellphones and cellular systems, military radio, crypto, solar energy, high efficiency pure sinewave converters, CDMA, TDMA, OFDM and equalizers. Also, mathematical simulation of circuits, systems and algorithms. He enjoys mathematics of finance and investing, including stocks, bonds, options (all short and long), total return, short selling mechanisms, margin calculations, regulations and taxation.
Since retiring from Ericsson, Dr. Dent has filed over 30-patent applications on behalf of Koolbridge Solar, 15+ of which have become granted. These patents and applications cover potentially disruptive renewable energy technologies, including The SMART LOAD CENTER and a new transformerless, pure sinewave, DC to AC inverter for residential and light commercial solar applications as well as multiple other inventions.
J. Phillips L. Johnston, J.D.
Vice Chairman, Co-Founder, Chief Legal Officer
Former CEO of two publicly traded companies and director of five public companies including Adams-Millis, a NYSE company for 19-years. He was named Entrepreneur of the Year by North Carolina’s Council of Entrepreneurial Development (CED) in 1995 and is the author of four published business books.
Mr. Johnston is a former CEO of two publicly traded companies: Digital Recorders from January, 1990 to December, 1999 and IDTek from January, 2001 to December, 2006. He has been a director of five public companies: Adams-Millis (NYSE) from February, 1982 to March, 2000; DRI (NASDAQ); Southern Film Extruders (NASDAQ); IDTek (OTC); and Marion Manufacturing Company (OTC), Phil brings substantial leadership experience to the Koolbridge Solar team. Phil also founded NCTA, the largest technology trade association in NC and authored 4 business books, one of which Esquire Magazine described as “the best book ever written on small business”. In 1995, Phil was named Entrepreneur of the Year by the Council of Entrepreneurial Development.
Larry Zirbel
Co-Founder
Former IBM’er and successful entrepreneur who has founded software engineering companies and is a technology consultant. A successful entrepreneur, Larry founded Software Techniques, Inc., a software engineering start-up in October, 1987, providing software development services to AT&T, Amdahl, Fujitsu, Hitachi and others. Larry also developed a Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal system for Property valuation and assessment which assesses over 12 Million properties in the US and abroad and sold the company to Thomson Reuters on December 31, 2008. Those clients include Miami-Dade, Jacksonville, Tampa, Reno, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, the entire state of Maryland, Guam, Trinadad and Cape Town, South Africa. Larry began his career as a Research Staff Member at IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Center and is a technology consultant.
Bill Griffin
President and CEO, Koolbridge Solar
Leads all strategic alliance initiatives and develops other sales channels, works with team to execute the Business Plan. Background includes many start-up and turnaround companies including CompUSA, Electrosource, ElectroStorm, and AMX. Bill Griffin is an exceptionally motivated business executive with 47 years of successful experience in business equipment, computer, telecommunications, energy, electronic control devices, and other service industries, delivering solutions to corporate, government, and education clients directly or through independent channel partners. He has demonstrated bottom line success for retail, value added reseller and manufacturing companies including startup, rapid growth and mature organizations. Bill was Regional Vice President of AMX Corporation for 11-years, held roles as CEO, President and Executive Vice President at ElectroSource over a 7-year period, and was Vice President, Government Division and Officer of the Company for CompUSA, a multi-billion computer retailer, from 1989 to 1996.
Bill works with the Executive Management of Koolbridge Solar in business development, technical support, financial analysis, business operations, sales and marketing, sales management and operations, team building, and executive briefings. Bill is a graduate of Niagara University with a BS in Economics.
Eric Hinckley
Technology Advisor, Koolbridge Solar
Eric is Chief Technology Officer of Renova Capital Partners, a private equity firm with an established track record of investing in, financing and operating renewable energy assets. Since inception in 2007, Renova has successfully developed and capitalized over $600-million of renewable energy infrastructure.
In addition to Renova Capital Partners, Eric’s experience includes:
- Former COO and SR. VP at BriteStreet Energy Group, LLC
- Former Chief Technology Officer at AES Distributed Energy, Inc.
- Former Chief Technology Officer and Sr. VP Operations at Main Street Power Company,
Inc. - Former President and Founder of Solar Resource Consulting, LLC.
- Former COO of Simple Solar Systems, LLC.
- Former Chief Technology Officer and COO of Solorado Energy, LLC.
Eric holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado and is a NABCEP (North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners) Board Certified Solar PV Installation Professional.
