Our Team
SolAmerica’s leadership team has a passion for solar energy. With a unique blend of entrepreneurship and management experience in renewable energy, real estate development, finance, and construction, we understand the challenges facing businesses and utilities as they launch into a renewable energy future.
SolAmerica
R. Stanley Allen
Anne-Marie Avinger
Jay Bayer
Jeff Bos
Tully Blalock
John Buffington
Morgan Campbell
Patrick Carlberg
Peter Corbett
Bakary Coulibaly
Clay DeFriece
Alex Duckworth
David Franklin
Johnae Gamboa-Walker
Sarah Hogsed
Katie Kearney
Travis Mount
Connor Noonan
Corey O'Brien
Lance Painter
Meywin Perez-Rivera
Ryan Peters
Brent Pollard
Andrea Priester
Brett Sanborn
Danny Saavedra
Matt Short
Eric Sieckmann
Catherine Sloane
Mike Soboslai
Zack Stephens
Dan Stevenson
Ore Tomori, CPA
Peter Vania
Chapman White
Karl Wiedenmann
Alyssa Winkler
Jenise Wright
Tony Yonnone
Executive Team
R. Stanley Allen
Stan is a successful entrepreneur and executive having founded or co-founded four companies and raised more than $300 million in private and public financing. Stan has been CEO of American Quality Cable, Applied Video Technologies and First Mile Communications, all companies focused on delivering building-centric technology solutions analogous to the distributed renewable energy market. Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, Stan was a real estate consultant for Coopers & Lybrand and a real estate investment analyst for Wellington Management Company of Boston. Stan currently serves on the Board of the South Carolina Solar Business Alliance. Stan holds a BA and MBA from the University of Virginia.
Tully Blalock
Tully joined SolAmerica in 2017 as Vice President and General Counsel. Prior to SolAmerica, he practiced law with King & Spalding, where he was in the firm’s complex business litigation group and handled an array of business litigation and advisory matters. In addition to his legal experience, Tully previously worked in the corporate finance group of a global telecommunications company and directed and managed an e-commerce business. Tully graduated from Washington and Lee University with a B.A. in Economics and earned his J.D. from the University of Georgia School of Law.
Peter Corbett
Pete has 30 years of experience in the solar installation, construction and contracting industries. Pete is a NABCEP Certified PV Installer TM , a LEED AP BD+C, and is OSHA 30 Hour Certified. Pete is the President of the Georgia chapter of the Solar Energy Industries Association, and plays an active role in the Georgia Public Service Commission and state legislature in working to expand opportunities for solar energy in Georgia and the Southeast. Prior to joining SolAmerica, Pete was Managing Director of NewSolergy a company providing solar PV installation services for commercial and residential PV installations. Pete was also President of Corbett Holdings, Inc. a developer of retail, office, and mixed use real estate and co-founder and Partner of MetroGroup Development. Pete previously had development, construction and contracting experience with Branch Properties, Miller & Solomon General Contractors, and J Raymond & Associates General Contractors. Pete holds a BS in Building Construction from Texas A&M University.
Eric Sieckmann
Eric has 10 years of experience in the Renewable Energy, Merchant IPP, and Regulated Utilities spaces working for firms including Duke Energy and NRG. His roles have included leading debt and equity capital raises, commercial and financial transaction structuring, trade floor support, financial analysis, and operations forecasting. Before his MBA, Eric worked as a Materials Engineer for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics company. Eric’s educational background includes holding an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, an MS in Materials Engineering from Auburn University and a BS in Materials Engineering from Purdue University.
Matt Short
Matt has over 15 years of business development, operations and leadership experience in the energy and construction industries. Prior to joining SolAmerica, Matt held business development and leadership positions at M+W Energy, Petra Systems, Southland Industries, and Johnson Controls where he worked with clients to develop and build large scale financed energy efficiency and renewable energy projects throughout the US. Prior to entering the energy sector, Matt was President of CW Hurt Contractors, a leading commercial construction company in Charlottesville VA. Matt holds a BA and MBA from the University of Virginia.
Ore Tomori, CPA
Ore Joined SolAmerica from REEF Parking where she was most recently VP & Corporate Controller. Prior to REEF, Ore was Corporate Controller at Airserv Corporation, a provider of aviation industry solutions. Ore has ten years of Public Accounting experience in the Atlanta office of Deloitte & Touche where she was promoted from Associate to Senior Associate, Manager and finally Senior Manager. Ore’s experience includes Treasury and Cash Management, managing banking and lending relationships, working with external auditors, systems implementation, process improvement, financial reporting & compliance, budgeting, transactional and technical accounting, and maintaining effective internal controls. Ore holds a BA and an MPA in Accounting from Georgia State University, is a Certified Public Accountant in Georgia as well as being certified in International Financial Reporting Standards.
Zack Stephens
Zack oversees origination of the company’s development assets from site control through off-taker identification. Prior to joining SolAmerica, Zack was a director at Unison Site Management, the leading aggregator of telecommunications tower lease assets in the United States, where he was instrumental in the origination, underwriting, and monetization of over $1B in assets. Zack holds an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business and a BA from Davidson College.
Tony Yonnone
Tony has been developing and building renewable energy projects since 2008, prior to which he served seven years on active duty in the US Navy as an EOD Officer and three years in grad school. He worked for EDP Renewables, NextEra Energy Resources, and GE Renewable Energy before joining SolAmerica in 2020. Tony holds a BS from the US Naval Academy, a JD from Georgia State University, an MCRP from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School.
Advisory Board
Mark Bell
Mark is Managing Principal in the Atlanta office of Diversified Trust, a private wealth advisory firm with $5 billion under management. Mark previously served as Chief Investment Officer and remains a Director of BlueArc Capital Management, an asset manager for family offices. Mark has held other positions with McKinsey & Company, Brand Banking Company and D.E. Shaw & Company where he developed the organization’s private equity investment strategy including the firm’s renewable energy group. Mark, a Fulbright Scholar, graduated from Stanford University and earned Doctorate and Master’s degrees as a Marshall Scholar from Oxford University. He has been named Atlanta and Georgia’s “40 Under 40” by the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Georgia Trend magazines. Mark serves on the Board of Visitors at Emory University where his is also an Adjunct Professor of Finance and Senior Research Fellow at the Goizueta Business School. He also serves on the Carter Center Board of Councilors and the Atlanta Ballet Advisory Board.
Becky Blalock
Becky has significant experience and contacts in the utility sector having spent 33 years at Southern Company (NYSE: SO) most recently as the Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer where she directed IT strategy and operations and led more than 1,100 employees. During her career at Southern, Becky provided broad leadership in many positions including accounting, finance, marketing, corporate communication, external affairs, the office of the CEO, and customer service. She serves on the boards of Emory Healthcare, the Georgia Health Sciences University, CSI Laboratories, and Mercer University’s Stetson School of Business and Economics. A graduate of Leadership Atlanta and Leadership Georgia, she was named a Fellow of the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation in 2001. Becky successfully completed the Program for Management Development at Harvard University. She holds a master’s degree with honors in finance from Mercer University and an undergraduate degree in business administration from State University of West Georgia.
Robert M. Chapman
Bob is Chief Executive Officer at CenterPoint Properties Trust. CenterPoint is a Chicago-based company focused on investment in industrial property and related rail, road and port infrastructure. Prior to joining CenterPoint, Bob held executive positions with real esstate firms across the country, and most recently as Chief Operating Officer of Duke Realty Corporation (NYSE: DRE), one of the largest REITs in the world. Prior to his role as Chief Operating Officer, Bob was Executive Vice President-Southeast and Midwest and Executive Vice President-Acquisitions and Dispositions for Duke. Prior to Duke, Bob held senior management positions at The REEF Funds, The Walken Company, Lincoln Property Company and Gerald D. Hines Interests. Bob is currently a Director of RockTenn Company one of the leading integrated manufacturers of corrugated and consumer packaging with more than $10 billion in annual revenue. Bob has an AB and MBA from Stanford University.
George Mori
Prior to co-founding SolAmerica in 2009, George managed strategic development for high-growth firms in several industries, including real estate and internet technology. Most recently, George was a senior executive with Novare Group, an Atlanta-based real estate firm focused on large-scale, mixed-use development, and EzGov, Inc., an internet solutions provider to government. Previously, George practiced law with Alston & Bird and, earlier in his career, worked in consulting with Accenture. George recently served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Georgia Conservancy and is a member of Leadership Georgia. George has a BA from Duke University and a JD from the University of Georgia.
John O'Neal
John is Senior Vice President, Supply Chain and Specialty Products at RockTenn (NYSE: RKT), where he oversees RockTenn’s Containerboard Supply Chain group and has P&L management for three businesses: white top, foodboard and pulp. Before joining RockTenn, John served for 16 years in various executive roles for Mirant Corporation, a merchant energy company, where he gained extensive experience in corporate strategy, commercial operations, risk management, commodity trading, asset optimization, regulatory policy and plant operations. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and operations research from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as an MBA from the Gouzieta Business School at Emory University.
Jeff Small, Jr.
Jeff brings substantial industrial real estate, institutional finance, and corporate leadership experience to SolAmerica, along with a passion for renewable energy development. Jeff is currently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MDH Partners, and is the former President and CEO of M.D. Hodges, one of Atlanta’s largest industrial development firms. He served as CEO of M.D. Hodges for eight years before orchestrating the sale of Hodges to Blackstone Real Estate Advisors in 1999. From 1999 to 2004, Jeff led the firm for Blackstone before directing the sale of Hodges again to ING Clarion, resulting in an IRR of more than 26% to Blackstone. Jeff is the grandson of M.D. Hodges, the founder of the company which bears his name. Prior to joining Hodges, Jeff practiced corporate law at the Atlanta law firm King & Spalding. He is a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School and a summa cum laude graduate of Yale University.
Michael Whiteside
Michael is Vice President of Business Development for Enervision, one of the leading national consulting firms with a focus on Electric Membership Cooperatives. Prior to joining Enervision, Michael was President of GreenPower EMC which represents the interests of 38 Georgia Electric Membership Cooperatives for procurement of renewable energy. Michael is past President and Chief Executive Officer of Coweta-Fayette EMC, one of the largest EMCs in the state. He was also President of Relyco Resources, Inc., a commercial and residential security subsidiary and Coweta-Fayette Natural Gas, Inc. Prior to joining Coweta- Fayette, Michael was a consulting engineer for Southern Engineering Company of Georgia.