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Neil has over 30 years experience in leasing, finance and international business development. He has been designing energy finance programs and arranging project-specific financings since 1984. Over the years, Neil has trained thousands of utility, ESCO, vendor sales people and public sector managers to use financing to overcome project barriers. He is knowledgeable in performance contracting, public sector and alternative financing strategies. Neil has arranged financing for more than a thousand transactions totaling over $200 million using these shared techniques. Neil currently leads Catalyst’s work with US EPA ENERGY STAR’s public and private financing initiative. Neil developed the on-line introductory financing presentations currently offered by Energy Star. His group working sessions, also sponsored by ENERGY STAR, have been presented throughout the US, and focus on energy efficiency financing alternatives and the decision-making process. These practical, plain English workshops are for financial officers, facility and energy managers and are fun to attend. The ENERGY STAR public sector initiative addresses local legal empowerment issues, financing alternatives and the decision-making process for K-12, state, local and municipal governments as well as higher education. The workshop reviews strategic considerations about performance contracting, lease-purchase financing, grants and other alternative financing solutions. Costs of Delays models are offered, addressing individual energy efficiency, indoor air quality, pollution prevention and water conservation opportunities these models are a must for any organization trying to install more projects than are included in their current budgets. The workshops have been cosponsored by the national organizations such as the Council of Great City Schools, Government Finance Officers Association, and Association of School Business Officials, among others. Neil's utility experiences include redesigning Commercial & Industrial financing programs for Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., redesigning a tax-exempt municipal school program for Northern States Power Company ("NSP") and as investment banker and advisor to NSP to structure the sale of their internal loan portfolios exceeding $30 million. He has designed and implemented financing programs for tax-exempt and commercial/industrial customers of Avista Energy and Snohomish Public Utility District #1. As a consultant to InterAmerican Development Bank's Sustainable Markets for Sustainable Energy Program in Peru, El Salvador and Mexico, Neil's practical financing recommendations help support emerging energy efficiency markets and develop energy service companies (ESCOs). Work in Mexico includes financing market analysis and fund recommendations for FIDE (Trust for Energy Efficiency Savings), including the creation of energy efficiency vendor financing and project financing programs. He began his career as an internal auditor for an international bank located in New York, NY. In 1971, he joined the International Division of Uniroyal Inc., where he became Western Hemisphere Credit Manager. In 1973, he transferred to Latin America, where he held numerous sales management positions based in Caracas, Venezuela, Cali and Bogotá, Colombia. In 1979, he transferred to Spain as Director of Marketing. From 1981 to 1983 Neil was Corporate Director of International Business Development for Burns International Security Services, Inc. In this capacity, he was responsible for international mergers and acquisitions, joint venture and licensing negotiations, establishing local leasing and financing programs, and direct sales of big-ticket consulting services. In 1984 Neil founded a vendor leasing and consulting company, which was merged with The Catalyst Group to create Catalyst Financial Group, Inc. Neil has been a guest speaker for the Association of Energy Engineers, The New England Gas Association, the Eastern Association of Equipment Lessors, National Association of State Energy Officers and the Energy & Utility Leasing Conference in Phoenix, AZ. Neil has been published widely in finance, marketing and energy publications, including Energy User News, and was a major contributor to a number of E-Source publications including Delivering Energy Services to Schools and Universities as well as "Financing Energy Installations," American Gas Association's Natural Gas & Steam Applications Manual, 1995. He is on the Board of Advisors for a capital equipment leasing company and an active member of the Eastern Association of Equipment Lessors and the Association for Governmental Leasing and Finance. He is on the selection committee of the Latino Scholarship Fund in Danbury, CT. Neil attended Gettysburg College and Long Island University at C. W. Post College. He has a BA in Finance and has completed post-graduate studies in marketing at the Arthur T. Roth Graduate School at LIU. |
