Who We Are

Christopher Recchia, Executive Director
Chris Recchia was named BERC executive director in May of 2007. He has more than 20 years of experience as an environmental leader in the development of state and federal environmental policy and the implementation of programs managing air, land, and water resources.

Recchia came to BERC after a four-year tenure as executive director of the Ozone Transport Commission in Washington, DC, where he directed a commission of 12 mid-Atlantic and northeastern states and the District of Columbia, coordinating air pollution reduction programs and policy. Prior to that, he served as Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation.

Recchia holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont, a master’s in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School, and a master’s in Natural Resource Policy and Management from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Timothy M. Maker, Senior Program Director

Tim Maker has been with BERC since its founding in 2001, serving as executive director until May of 2007. He is responsible for program development, outreach, grant administration, project management, and technical development for the organization.

He is nationally recognized as a leading expert in heating schools with automated woodchip systems. He has served as project manager for 10 schools that have installed or are installing wood-fired heating plants in Vermont, Maine, and Montana. He has also developed wood energy systems in community and public housing settings.

Before joining BERC, for 15 years Maker was principal of EEA Biomass, a consulting firm focusing on wood energy projects. He holds a BS degree in Engineering Physics from Cornell University.

Kamalesh Doshi, Program Director

Kamalesh Doshi serves as BERC's program director. Before coming to BERC in 2004, he was the deputy director for the Gujarat Energy Development Agency involved in the promotion and development of renewable energy-based projects including biomass. He has more than 27 years of experience in engineering and management consultancy for various renewable energy projects.

Doshi is currently responsible for the gasifier-based small- and medium-sized combined heat and power (CHP) demonstration projects using sawmill waste and the biomass-based central boiler heating systems on university campuses. He holds a BE in Chemical Engineering from MS University of Baroda and a post-graduate diploma in Industrial Management from the Indian Institute of Science, India.

Cindy Wyckoff, Communications Director

As BERC's communications director, Cindy Wyckoff is responsible for communications planning and implementation, graphic design and web development, and media and public relations. Over the past 15 years, her efforts have focused mainly on advancing the work of nonprofit organizations through effective promotions designed to reach target audiences for intended results.

Wyckoff’s educational background includes extensive study in high-end computer design software for print and web-based applications. She has attended numerous design seminars and has years of experience in designing visual communications items for impact, helping to advance the notion of sustainable communities. She attended the Massachusetts College of Art and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, majoring in Political Science and History.

Adam Sherman, Program Manager

Adam Sherman is BERC’s fuel supply expert. In this capacity, Sherman has conducted numerous studies that quantify and characterize the biomass resources and markets within various geographic areas. He is responsible for several program areas—regional assessments of biomass resources, developing new strategies to increase the sustainability of biomass fuels, and identifying new ways to accumulate and process low-grade wood and other biomass residues for community and institutional energy users. In addition to his work on fuel supply, Sherman frequently works with the rest of the BERC technical staff on energy projects.

Before joining BERC over three years ago, Adam was general manager at Intervale Compost Products in Burlington, Vermont for 10 years. He transformed the small recycling project into a thriving composting business. Sherman holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont.

Sarah Galbraith, Program Assistant

Sarah Galbraith assists with the development of biomass heating programs and projects, both in Vermont and nationwide. She has conducted more than 15 biomass heating project feasibility studies and has helped with the development of 'Fuels For Schools' initiatives in Vermont, South Dakota, and New Hampshire. She also works closely with BERC’s western Fuels For Schools partners. In addition to conducting feasibility analyses, Galbraith is BERC’s mapping specialist and has worked on project commissioning and air-quality permitting issues.

Before joining BERC in 2005, Galbraith worked with the Institute for Sustainable Energy, a Connecticut-based nonprofit focused on renewable energy policy development, load management, and energy conservation. She holds a BS in Biology from Eastern Connecticut State University.

Hillary Emick, Program Assistant

Hillary Emick assists other staff members with their projects. She has experience in retail and food service management. She received a BA in Political Science and a BS in Environmental Science from Johnson State College in Johnson, Vermont. Her special interests are in biogeochemistry and paleoclimatology. She conducted her senior thesis research in riparian restoration, culminating in the restoration and revegetation of an altered stream channel on the college campus.

Send and email directly to Hillary Emick

Angela Miller, Administrative Assistant

As BERC’s administrative assistant, Angie Miller works across a wide range of areas to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. She handles all front desk responsibilities and assists the BERC staff with both administrative and project tasks. She has more than 18 years of professional experience in various fields such as real estate, insurance, healthcare, and government. Before joining BERC in 2007, Miller served as office manager for a real estate company in Maryland. She attended Frederick Community College in Frederick, Maryland, with a focus on business administration.

Send and email directly to Angela Miller

Consultants

David Wade, PE, RDA Engineering, Marietta, Georgia

RDA principal David Wade serves as BERC's engineering consultant on district energy. He is currently technical adviser to BERC on the Montpelier District Energy Project. Wade is an active member of the International District Energy Association and has designed district energy systems in communities in Utah, Connecticut, and Ohio, as well as in Central Europe. His firm, RDA Engineering, in addition to its specialty in district energy, is a general-purpose mechanical engineering and energy consulting company.

Nick Gill

Nick Gill currently serves as project manager on BERC's gasification demonstration project. He comes to our project from six years at the University of Massachusetts College of Management's Environmental Business and Technology Center (EBTC), where he worked on technology assessment and business development relating to emerging environmental technologies. While at EBTC, Gill advised MTC and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs on wind, fuel cell, and solar technologies, and related business development issues. Gill has a BS in Economics and Natural Resources from the University of California Berkley and an MA from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Board of Directors

President - Scudder Parker

Senior Program Manager
Vermont Energy Investment Corporation
Montpelier, Vermont

Prior to his current position, Scudder Parker was as the policy coordinator for Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He also worked at the Vermont Department of Public Service as director of the Energy Efficiency Division (1990-2003). There Parker helped create Efficiency Vermont, Vermont's innovative and nationally recognized Energy Efficiency Utility. He has worked consistently to support renewable energy. Parker served as a Vermont state senator from Caledonia County from 1981 to 1988.

Vice President - Steven J. Allenby

President
Allenby Associates, LLC
Proctor, Vermont

Steve Allenby has been in the energy field for more than 27 years. He worked for 14 years for an investor-owned utility in the Northeast, the last six of which, as senior vice president of operations and marketing and president of the utility's unregulated energy services subsidary. Since leaving the utility, Allenby has focused on the development and financing of government and private sector energy efficiency and renewable energy projects.

Treasurer - Erich Golschneider

Finance Manager
Dartmouth Journal Services
Waterbury, Vermont

Erich Golschneider was born and raised in Connecticut, and graduated from Bryant College in Smithfield, Rhode Island. After eight years as a CPA, he moved into financial management at home health care agencies in Connecticut and Vermont, and is now site/finance manager for Dartmouth Journal Services, a publications services company in Waterbury, Vermont. He brings a high level of nonprofit financial management experience to his role as treasurer of BERC.

Secretary - Eric Kingsley

Vice President of Research and Government Affairs
Innovative Natural Resource Solutions
Portland, Maine

Eric Kingsley serves a vice president of Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, L.L.C., a consulting firm with expertise in forest-based economic development, land conservation, and biomass energy. Kingsley has played key roles in the development, acquisition, and financing of several large-scale biomass projects. Based in Portland, Maine, Kingsley brings more than a decade of hand-on experience with biomass projects to his role at BERC.

Roger Ballentine

President and Founder
Green Strategies, Inc
Washington, DC

Roger Ballentine was a senior member of the White House staff, serving President Bill Clinton as chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force and deputy assistant to the President for Environmental Initiatives. He is a well-known environmental and energy policy advocate and analyst and is a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Ballentine is also the founder and president of Green Strategies, Inc. in Washington, DC.

Lynn Benander

President and CEO
Coop Power
Greenfield, Massachusetts

Lynn Benander is the manager of Co-op Power, a consumer-owned cooperative dedicated to building community-owned clean energy resources in the northeastern United States. Prior to joining Co-op Power, she directed the Cooperative Development Institute, an economic development nonprofit supporting the development of energy, agriculture, food, and housing-related group-based businesses in the Northeast. She brings experience in the community-scale energy industry, fundraising, and nonprofit management to the BERC board.

Michelle Manion

Climate and Energy Program Manager
Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management
Boston, Massachusetts

Michelle Manion is the program manager of the Climate and Energy team at NESCAUM/NESCCAF. She specializes in economic analysis of environmental and natural resource policy, with a focus on energy and climate change policy. In particular, she has extensive experience in economic modeling, including the use of regional models to estimate the economic impacts of environmental policies and initiatives at the regional level. She has also managed projects for a variety of governmental and nonprofit clients including the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of the Interior, the World Bank, the World Commission on Dams, and Conservation International.

Rick Tillotson

Vice President and Director
Tillotson Corporation
Dixville Notch, New Hampshire

Rick Tillotson is the vice president and director of Tillotson Corporation, which is the owner of Tillotson Farms & Forests in Hereford, Quebec and Cannan, Vermont, and of the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, Dixville Telephone, Tillotson Rubber (and its biomass energy facility and rubber factory), and the forest lands of the certified Balsams Tree Farm, in Dixville, Colebrook, Columbia, and Stewartstown, New Hampshire. Tillotson engages himself in many nonprofit and community organizations in northern New Hampshire's Coos County as well as a number of charitable foundations. He is also active in the Tillotson North Country Foundation, Inc. and The Poore Family Foundation for North Country Conservancy.

Don Wichert

Director of Renewable Energy
Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation
Madison, Wisconsin

Don Wichert is the director of the Focus on Energy Renewable Energy Program at the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation in Madison, Wisconsin. He manages the state's $4 million renewable energy public benefits program. Wichert has worked in the environmental and energy fields for 25 years, most of it with the Wisconsin Division of Energy as chief of the Energy Resources Section.


Project Portfolio Reports New Projects/Programs Who We Are Contact Us Home
SERVICES Program Design Vermont Fuels For Schoolss Clean Energy Funds State Energy Planning for Biomass Forest Fire Hazard Reduction Assessment & Implementation Biomass Energy Feasibility Studies Biomass Energy Project Development Biomass Energy Project Management TECHNOLOGY Applications School Wood Heating Central Wood Heating Farm Methane Industrial Combined Heat and Power Technology Development Gasifier Commercialization Biomass Fuel Issues INFORMATION Benefits & Issues Forest Sustainability Emissions and Air Quality Climate Change Economic Development	Home > Who We Are Who We Are Staff Christopher Recchia, Executive Director Chris Recchia was named BERC executive director in May of 2007. He has more than 20 years of experience as an environmental leader in the development of state and federal environmental policy and the implementation of programs managing air, land, and water resources. Recchia came to BERC after a four-year tenure as executive director of the Ozone Transport Commission in Washington, DC, where he directed a commission of 12 mid-Atlantic and northeastern states and the District of Columbia, coordinating air pollution reduction programs and policy. Prior to that, he served as Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation. Recchia holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont, a master’s in Environmental Law from Vermont Law School, and a master’s in Natural Resource Policy and Management from Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Send an email directly to Chris Recchia Timothy M. Maker, Senior Program Director Tim Maker has been with BERC since its founding in 2001, serving as executive director until May of 2007. He is responsible for program development, outreach, grant administration, project management, and technical development for the organization. He is nationally recognized as a leading expert in heating schools with automated woodchip systems. He has served as project manager for 10 schools that have installed or are installing wood-fired heating plants in Vermont, Maine, and Montana. He has also developed wood energy systems in community and public housing settings. Maker is the author of Wood-Chip Heating Systems: A Guide for Institutional and Commercial Biomass Installations (1.6MB PDF), and co-author of Heating Communities with Renewable Fuels: The Municipal Guide to Biomass District Energy, a joint publication of the US Department of Energy and Natural Resources Canada. Before joining BERC, for 15 years Maker was principal of EEA Biomass, a consulting firm focusing on wood energy projects. He holds a BS degree in Engineering Physics from Cornell University. Send an email directly to Tim Maker Kamalesh Doshi, Program Director Kamalesh Doshi serves as BERC's program director. Before coming to BERC in 2004, he was the deputy director for the Gujarat Energy Development Agency involved in the promotion and development of renewable energy-based projects including biomass. He has more than 27 years of experience in engineering and management consultancy for various renewable energy projects. Doshi is currently responsible for the gasifier-based small- and medium-sized combined heat and power (CHP) demonstration projects using sawmill waste and the biomass-based central boiler heating systems on university campuses. He holds a BE in Chemical Engineering from MS University of Baroda and a post-graduate diploma in Industrial Management from the Indian Institute of Science, India. Send an email directly to Kamalesh Doshi Cindy Wyckoff, Communications Director As BERC's communications director, Cindy Wyckoff is responsible for communications planning and implementation, graphic design and web development, and media and public relations. Over the past 15 years, her efforts have focused mainly on advancing the work of nonprofit organizations through effective promotions designed to reach target audiences for intended results. Wyckoff’s educational background includes extensive study in high-end computer design software for print and web-based applications. She has attended numerous design seminars and has years of experience in designing visual communications items for impact, helping to advance the notion of sustainable communities. She attended the Massachusetts College of Art and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, majoring in Political Science and History. Send an email directly to Cindy Wyckoff Adam Sherman, Program Manager Adam Sherman is BERC’s fuel supply expert. In this capacity, Sherman has conducted numerous studies that quantify and characterize the biomass resources and markets within various geographic areas. He is responsible for several program areas—regional assessments of biomass resources, developing new strategies to increase the sustainability of biomass fuels, and identifying new ways to accumulate and process low-grade wood and other biomass residues for community and institutional energy users. In addition to his work on fuel supply, Sherman frequently works with the rest of the BERC technical staff on energy projects. Before joining BERC over three years ago, Adam was general manager at Intervale Compost Products in Burlington, Vermont for 10 years. He transformed the small recycling project into a thriving composting business. Sherman holds a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of Vermont. Send an email directly to Adam Sherman Sarah Galbraith, Program Assistant Sarah Galbraith assists with the development of biomass heating programs and projects, both in Vermont and nationwide. She has conducted more than 15 biomass heating project feasibility studies and has helped with the development of 'Fuels For Schools' initiatives in Vermont, South Dakota, and New Hampshire. She also works closely with BERC’s western Fuels For Schools partners. In addition to conducting feasibility analyses, Galbraith is BERC’s mapping specialist and has worked on project commissioning and air-quality permitting issues. Before joining BERC in 2005, Galbraith worked with the Institute for Sustainable Energy, a Connecticut-based nonprofit focused on renewable energy policy development, load management, and energy conservation. She holds a BS in Biology from Eastern Connecticut State University. Send an email directly to Sarah Galbraith Hillary Emick, Program Assistant Hillary Emick assists other staff members with their projects. She has experience in retail and food service management. She received a BA in Political Science and a BS in Environmental Science from Johnson State College in Johnson, Vermont. Her special interests are in biogeochemistry and paleoclimatology. She conducted her senior thesis research in riparian restoration, culminating in the restoration and revegetation of an altered stream channel on the college campus. Send and email directly to Hillary Emick Angela Miller, Administrative Assistant As BERC’s administrative assistant, Angie Miller works across a wide range of areas to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. She handles all front desk responsibilities and assists the BERC staff with both administrative and project tasks. She has more than 18 years of professional experience in various fields such as real estate, insurance, healthcare, and government. Before joining BERC in 2007, Miller served as office manager for a real estate company in Maryland. She attended Frederick Community College in Frederick, Maryland, with a focus on business administration. Send and email directly to Angela Miller Consultants The BERC team includes consultants who work for us regularly on a contract basis. David Wade, PE, RDA Engineering, Marietta, Georgia RDA principal David Wade serves as BERC's engineering consultant on district energy. He is currently technical adviser to BERC on the Montpelier District Energy Project. Wade is an active member of the International District Energy Association and has designed district energy systems in communities in Utah, Connecticut, and Ohio, as well as in Central Europe. His firm, RDA Engineering, in addition to its specialty in district energy, is a general-purpose mechanical engineering and energy consulting company. Nick Gill Nick Gill currently serves as project manager on BERC's gasification demonstration project. He comes to our project from six years at the University of Massachusetts College of Management's Environmental Business and Technology Center (EBTC), where he worked on technology assessment and business development relating to emerging environmental technologies. While at EBTC, Gill advised MTC and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs on wind, fuel cell, and solar technologies, and related business development issues. Gill has a BS in Economics and Natural Resources from the University of California Berkley and an MA from Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Board of Directors President - Scudder Parker Senior Program Manager Vermont Energy Investment Corporation Montpelier, Vermont Prior to his current position, Scudder Parker was as the policy coordinator for Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility. He also worked at the Vermont Department of Public Service as director of the Energy Efficiency Division (1990-2003). There Parker helped create Efficiency Vermont, Vermont's innovative and nationally recognized Energy Efficiency Utility. He has worked consistently to support renewable energy. Parker served as a Vermont state senator from Caledonia County from 1981 to 1988. Vice President - Steven J. Allenby President Allenby Associates, LLC Proctor, Vermont Steve Allenby has been in the energy field for more than 27 years. He worked for 14 years for an investor-owned utility in the Northeast, the last six of which, as senior vice president of operations and marketing and president of the utility's unregulated energy services subsidary. Since leaving the utility, Allenby has focused on the development and financing of government and private sector energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Treasurer - Erich Golschneider Finance Manager Dartmouth Journal Services Waterbury, Vermont Erich Golschneider was born and raised in Connecticut, and graduated from Bryant College in Smithfield, Rhode Island. After eight years as a CPA, he moved into financial management at home health care agencies in Connecticut and Vermont, and is now site/finance manager for Dartmouth Journal Services, a publications services company in Waterbury, Vermont. He brings a high level of nonprofit financial management experience to his role as treasurer of BERC. Secretary - Eric Kingsley Vice President of Research and Government Affairs Innovative Natural Resource Solutions Portland, Maine Eric Kingsley serves a vice president of Innovative Natural Resource Solutions, L.L.C., a consulting firm with expertise in forest-based economic development, land conservation, and biomass energy. Kingsley has played key roles in the development, acquisition, and financing of several large-scale biomass projects. Based in Portland, Maine, Kingsley brings more than a decade of hand-on experience with biomass projects to his role at BERC. Roger Ballentine President and Founder Green Strategies, Inc Washington, DC Roger Ballentine was a senior member of the White House staff, serving President Bill Clinton as chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force and deputy assistant to the President for Environmental Initiatives. He is a well-known environmental and energy policy advocate and analyst and is a Senior Fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. Ballentine is also the founder and president of Green Strategies, Inc. in Washington, DC. Lynn Benander President and CEO Coop Power Greenfield, Massachusetts Lynn Benander is the manager of Co-op Power, a consumer-owned cooperative dedicated to building community-owned clean energy resources in the northeastern United States. Prior to joining Co-op Power, she directed the Cooperative Development Institute, an economic development nonprofit supporting the development of energy, agriculture, food, and housing-related group-based businesses in the Northeast. She brings experience in the community-scale energy industry, fundraising, and nonprofit management to the BERC board. Michelle Manion Climate and Energy Program Manager Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management Boston, Massachusetts Michelle Manion is the program manager of the Climate and Energy team at NESCAUM/NESCCAF. She specializes in economic analysis of environmental and natural resource policy, with a focus on energy and climate change policy. In particular, she has extensive experience in economic modeling, including the use of regional models to estimate the economic impacts of environmental policies and initiatives at the regional level. She has also managed projects for a variety of governmental and nonprofit clients including the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Department of the Interior, the World Bank, the World Commission on Dams, and Conservation International. Rick Tillotson Vice President and Director Tillotson Corporation Dixville Notch, New Hampshire Rick Tillotson is the vice president and director of Tillotson Corporation, which is the owner of Tillotson Farms & Forests in Hereford, Quebec and Cannan, Vermont, and of the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, Dixville Telephone, Tillotson Rubber (and its biomass energy facility and rubber factory), and the forest lands of the certified Balsams Tree Farm, in Dixville, Colebrook, Columbia, and Stewartstown, New Hampshire. Tillotson engages himself in many nonprofit and community organizations in northern New Hampshire's Coos County as well as a number of charitable foundations. He is also active in the Tillotson North Country Foundation, Inc. and The Poore Family Foundation for North Country Conservancy. Don Wichert Director of Renewable Energy Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation Madison, Wisconsin Don Wichert is the director of the Focus on Energy Renewable Energy Program at the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation in Madison, Wisconsin. He manages the state's $4 million renewable energy public benefits program. Wichert has worked in the environmental and energy fields for 25 years, most of it with the Wisconsin Division of Energy as chief of the Energy Resources Section.
Biomass Energy Resource Center P.O. Box 1611 Montpelier, VT 05601 ph. 802.223.7770 contacts@biomasscenter.org