Our Team

Successfully developing utility scale energy projects demands a capable team with expertise in renewable energy technologies, engineering, project finance, business development, permitting, and investment banking. Pacific Light and Power has gathered a team of experts in their field with the ability to execute strategic plans and build the project.

Principals

  • Dick Roth - Chief Executive Officer
    While in high school, Dick won an Olympic gold medal and set multiple world records in swimming. After being educated at Stanford University, he entered into business as an entrepreneur in 1971, starting and running the largest natural food enterprise at the time, including supermarkets, restaurants, a wholesale distribution center, and a juice processing plant. In 1980 he accepted a position as ranch manager of a 585,000-acre ranch in the high desert of Nevada. After selling his cattle in 1989, Dick joined the Covey Leadership Center in Provo Utah, where he worked for Stephen Covey as a Senior Consultant until retiring in 1997. He and his wife Susan are co-founders and the principal investors of Pacific Light and Power. He and Susan live in Park City, Utah and Princeville, Kauai.

  • Bill Leedy - Chief Operating Officer
    Bill Leedy has enjoyed a successful career as a senior executive, corporate officer and team leader with more than 35 years of experience in business and project development in the power generation, energy conservation and related industries. Most recently Bill served as Vice President and Executive Director for non-nuclear generation plant development for Constellation Energy, a Baltimore, MD based Fortune 500 Company. He played a leading role in the development and acquisition of Constellation’s substantial portfolio of renewable projects which include solar, geothermal, wind and hydro technologies. Bill also served as Vice President Business Development for Constellation Operating Services, a Constellation subsidiary and leading supplier of third party power plant operation and maintenance services. In addition to his 20 year career with Constellation, Bill held positions of leadership with Cielo Wind Power, an Austin, TX based wind power development company; Meridian Investments, a Boston, MA based investment bank specializing in energy project finance; Environmental Elements, a Baltimore, MD based supplier of industrial waste to energy and water treatment facilities; Energy Conservation and Controls, a Baltimore, MD based energy management and conservation firm; and Trane, a Lacrosse, WI based heating and air conditioning equipment manufacturer. Bill holds an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and a Masters in Business Administration from Loyola College.

  • Palo Luckett - Chief Development Officer, Managing Member
    Palo was raised in Venezuela and Brazil and received his degree in International Relations from Tufts University in 1990 after which he returned to Venezuela to manage his family’s farming operations. In 1995, he co-founded the Randall Stewart Group, a web design studio in Buenos Aires with two Argentine partners where he was responsible for marketing and sales. In 1998 he founded ITC Ventures, an early stage technology investment group in Santiago, Chile which later grew to have offices in Santiago, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. He was responsible for Business Development, served as Regional Director for Argentina and served on the board of MapCity.com, a web based mapping service. In 2001, he moved to Kauai where he was co-founder and Principal Broker for Koa Properties Land & Homes. He is co-founder of Pacific Light and Power.

  • Pamela Miller - Vice President, Project Development
    Pamela earned her BA in Russian Language and Literature in 1993 from UCLA. She spent 10 years in the traditional power sector working for the AES Corporation as a project developer on 2500 MW of power projects (coal, hydroelectric and natural gas) around the world. Pamela lived in Kazakhstan, London, Uganda and Cameroon working on large-scale financings with private banks and multi-lateral organizations, including the World Bank, International Finance Corporation, and the African Development Bank. She has garnered significant environmental permitting experience on a hydropower project in Uganda. Pamela has been coming to Kauai throughout her life, and finally settled on the North shore of Kauai in 2005. She is lead project developer for Pacific Light and Power.

  • Kyle Hunker, MBA - Vice President, Finance
    Kyle has spent the last 5 years in the Clean Technology space. As a manager at a technology company focused on remote monitoring in the energy industry Kyle was involved with financing the company and developing new markets. He recently completed his MBA at Babson College, concentrating in strategy and finance. While at Babson Kyle consulted in the energy industry and was Student Co-Chairman of the 2008 E3, the largest student run Cleantech conference in New England. Before joining Pacific Light and Power, Kyle worked at a leading Cleantech VC firm where he evaluated deal flow, performed due diligence and conducted market analysis.

  • Canen Ho’okano - Community Relations
    Canen Ho’okano has been and remains deeply involved with the island community of Kauai. His family has lived on Kauai and Niihau for more than seven generations and has worked for the Robinsons up to the present. Canen was born in 1973 in Waimea, Kauai, and was raised on the east side. He graduated from Kapaa High in 1991. Canen’s signature advocacy project has been his nearly 10 years of effort to preserve Koke’e State Park. He is the co-founder of Na Ki’ai o Koke’e, a community group dedicated to eradicating invasive plant species from the park grounds. As a long-standing member of the Koke’e Leaseholders Association, a decade of work culminated in 2008 in the Hawaii State Legislature, with the passage of House Bill 2872; this bill preserved access by the community to the recreational residences located in Koke’e State Park, and established the Koke’e Advisory Council. Canen currently serves as its first Chair. Canen crafted this bill primarily with State Representative Roland Sagum and State Senator Gary Hooser, with input from State Representatives Mina Morita and Jimmy Tokioka. The bill passed both houses of the Hawaii Legislature unanimously. For the last 11 years he has been Trailmaster for the Kauai Labor Day Hare and Hound Ride. He has served on the West Side Watershed Committee and is working with Randy Wichman and the Bishop Estate on the Napali Coast Archeological Survey. He also designs and builds traditional Polynesian canoes with the Wai’oli Voyaging Society.

Joint Venture Partner

  • Ram Power, Inc. (RPI) - Hezy Ram, MBA, MSc. ME - Chief Executive Officer,
    Ram Power’s business model is based on the experience of the senior RPI team, including decades in project development and operation both in the USA and internationally. RPI brings extensive project development experience in renewable energy, including site acquisition, permitting, power plant construction, power purchase agreements, transmission, project operation & maintenance, financing and tax monetization. RPI’s team members have developed a portfolio of operating renewable energy projects in the US totaling over 400 MW.

    Hezy Ram established RPI in January 2008 to continue to be a leader in the geothermal and solar thermal industry. Hezy was with Ormat Technologies, Inc. for twenty-eight years. As Executive Vice President of Business Development, he was responsible for Mergers and Acquisitions and greenfield development of geothermal and other technology projects. Specific areas of responsibilities included:
    • Development of Puna Geothermal Venture - 30MWe geothermal plant.
    • Acquisitions of competing IPP’s and developmental projects.
    • Finance & leveraging of acquired or developed projects.
    • Financing in debt or equity markets to permit future flexibility.
    • Negotiating contracts with utilities.
    • Initiation and overseeing greenfield development.
    • Coordinating the necessary resources to execute projects.

Engineering

  • Nexant Consulting - Babul Patel, Ph.D
    Babul Patel has over thirty years of professional experience working in the field of power generation and energy delivery for Bechtel and Nexant. Dr. Patel has participated in the engineering design, equipment specification, bid preparation, bid evaluations, construction support, startup, plant acceptance testing, operator training, and plant operation for various EPC projects. Babul has worked on emerging technologies such as advanced gasification, fuel cells, and micro-turbines. He has been working on variety of solar thermal and thermal energy storage system projects for last four years. He holds an MS in Chemical Engineering and Ph.D. in Engineering from the University of Nebraska. Dr. Patel is a registered Professional Chemical and Mechanical Engineer and is a member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and American Institute of Chemical Engineers.

Legal/Land Use Permitting

  • Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati - John Pierce, Esq.
    Founded in 1961,Wilson Sonsini, a firm of 650 attorneys, is the premier legal advisor to technology and growth enterprises worldwide, as well as the investment banks and venture capital firms that finance them. The firm’s renewable energy practice is built on it’s leadership in the fields of intellectual property counseling and patents, venture capital finance, project finance, technology transactions, mergers and acquisitions, and real estate and environmental law. It’s renewable energy project finance team has the specialized knowledge and skills needed to help sponsors secure the financing they require to start and grow their complex and sophisticated ventures.

  • Harvey Cohen, Esq. - Site Acquisiton/In-House Counsel
    Harvey L. Cohen is a Princeville, Kauai based attorney specializing in real estate and business law. Prior to moving to Hawaii in 1999, Harvey was a partner with the Boulder Colorado firm Dietze and Davis, P.C., specializing in land use and municipal law. In 1994 harvey received the “Young Lawyer of the Year” award from the Boulder County Bar Asssociation. From 2003 through 2007, He served as President of the Board of Directors for the Kekahu Foundation, the licensee for KKCR, Kauai’s community radio station. Harvey currently serves on the Board of the Kauai Comunity Health Alliance and on the Advisory Board of the Kauai Public Land Trust.

  • Belles Graham Proudfoot Wilson & Chun, LLP has been retained as part of our legal team.

Tax Benefits/Finance

  • Deloitte Tax, LLP (Honolulu, HI)
    Greg Furuya, Partner-in-Charge
    Deloitte is a leader in its Energy and Utilities Practice with more than 1,500 practitioners in the United States, serving the top 10 Fortune 1000 utility and energy companies, and providing accounting, finance and risk enterprise services to nearly 80 percent of the Fortune 500. Deloitte’s Technology and Energy practices work cooperatively to provide a range of integrated services to emerging energy companies.

Insurance

  • AON Limited, UK - Philip Veale, Ben Sheppard
    AON is the leading global provider of risk management services, insurance and reinsurance brokerage, and human capital consulting. AON’s industry-leading global resources, are delivered locally through more than 500 offices in more than 120 countries. AON was ranked by A.M. Best as the No. 1 global insurance brokerage in 2007, based on brokerage revenues, and voted best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary and best employee benefits consulting firm in 2007.