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.
Ken Gilbert
Chief Technology Officer
Licensed Professional Electrical Engineer in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C., Master Electrician in Virginia. Member and current Electrical Sub-committee Chair, Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) Exam Development Committee for the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), Project Manager, Building Systems, Control Systems Design, Construction, Business Development, Marketing Strategy, Global Expansion, Technical Enablement & Education, Policy & Procedure Development, Estimates. Experience in Residential, Commercial, Institutional, Governmental, and Industrial Project Design and Implementation.
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
Mr.Hinckley joined Koolbridge Solar as a Technology Advisor and Board member in 2019. Mr. Hinckley currently is Chief Technology Officer of Sustainable Living Innovations, a real estate building technology platform. Eric oversees the product development group, software, and hardware engineering groups, as well as back-office technology infrastructure; he has been their CTO since June 2018.
Eric has a 15-year tenure in the energy industry, having started and worked for several public and private companies as President, COO, and CTO. Before jumping into real estate and power engineering, he worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Additionally, he formed a successful multi-family real estate development company, which he sold in 2003. After overseeing a residential solar company in 2008, he joined Main Street Power Company in 2010 as its Chief Technology and Operations Officer, overseeing the deployment of over 100 megawatts and $400 million in solar projects throughout the United States, Canada, and Africa. After selling Main Street Power in 2015 to AES Corporation, Eric became the Chief Technology Officer of AES Distributed Energy.
Additionally, working with partners such as Tesla, Panasonic, BYD, SAFT, LG Chem, BluePlanet, Generac and Samsung, he has deployed lithium-ion-based storage systems throughout the United States, both in concert with photovoltaic systems and as stand-alone systems. Eric has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado, is a solar NABCEP-certified professional, and has 10 patents to his name.
