Stories are just beginning to emerge about microgrids and distributed energy systems that are keeping critical services up and running despite Hurricane Harvey’s best efforts to do them in.
Twenty-one convenience stores and gas stations in the Houston area remained open thanks to an unusual microgrid system designed by Enchanted Rock (ERock). The Texas-based company installs natural gas generators at commercial sites, which it aggregates into virtual power plant microgrids.
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
McAndrew brings over 36 years of experience in the electricity business, ranging from large, complex nuclear plants to small, distributed electric generation.
McAndrew’s introduction to energy was in engineering and operations on two US Navy nuclear power surface ships, the USS Eisenhower and USS South Carolina. He spent six years operating and maintaining nuclear propulsion plants and qualified as a Naval Nuclear Chief Engineer for the Nimitz Class aircraft carrier. After his time in the US Navy, McAndrew worked as a maintenance support engineer for the Southern Company at their Plant Farley nuclear business, where the cost of loss of electricity to critical loads is extremely high. He then shifted to the financial side of energy, helping several energy merchants build profitable energy trading and risk management operations. At his last merchant energy company, Calpine, McAndrew also supervised the commercial startup of many new natural gas combined cycle power plants
McAndrew received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Texas A&M, Masters Equivalent in Nuclear Power Operations from the US Navy, and a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Chief Revenue Officer
Jayesh has also led sales organizations in the utility scale solar market, and in the telecom industry. Jayesh has a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (India), and an MBA from the University of Colorado.
Chief Operating Officer
President of Enchanted Rock Electric, LLC
Thais Grossi joined the team in 2016 and has been responsible for shaping the culture and employee experience while leading all aspects of Enchanted Rock’s operations including Safety, Human Resources, Microgrid Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC), Supply Chain, and others. She is passionate about bringing inclusion and diversity away from the edge and into the core of Enchanted Rock’s priorities and operating model.
In her role, she drives execution, scalability, and leads the hiring, development, and engagement of the best and brightest. Prior to Enchanted Rock, Thais developed world-class organizations and operations internationally in the offshore oil & gas industry with special focus on aligning people strategies with business goals. Thais speaks 4 languages and received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Rio de Janeiro State University. She is a proud wife and mother of 2.
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Technology Officer
Chief Strategy Officer
Executive Vice President of Asset Management
President
Corey Amthor joined Enchanted Rock in 2014 and brings 26 years experience in the commodity trading and risk management business, 18 of those years spent exclusively in energy.
Corey has held senior trading/manager positions at Calpine, ConAgra, Dupont/Conoco and Statoil. Corey’s tenure as Vice President, Trading and Risk Management, at Calpine resulted in a broad understanding of the energy marketplace through owning P&L responsibility of a large portfolio of electric generation, natural gas production, natural gas pipelines and electrical transmission. At ConAgra, Corey was responsible for price risk management of ConAgra’s $150 MM electricity budget that encompassed over 300 facilities. His primary responsibilities included identifying with plant managers ways to economically optimize energy usage at the plants, negotiation with utilities for the most economical energy prices and clarifying plants energy price risks in relation to long-term contractual agreements. Corey holds a BS in Agricultural Economics, 1989, and an MBA, 1991, both from the University of Missouri.
Sameer has over 15 years of experience in industrial and climate technology. He joined Energy Impact Partners (EIP) in 2015 and has since led the firm’s investments efforts across cybersecurity and distributed energy. His investments at EIP include Arcadia, Attivo, Dragos, Enchanted Rock, Finite State, Mosaic, Opus One, Particle, Powin, RapidSOS, Swimlane, Trifacta, and Urbint. Prior to EIP, Sameer spent five years at Evercore in the firm’s Power and Renewable Energy Group where he advised clients on over $15bn of M&A transactions. Prior to Evercore, Sameer spent three years at GE Capital’s energy venture capital group focusing on industrial and clean tech investing. Sameer has a dual degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Florida and currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Executive Vice President of Business Development
Tucker received a Master’s in Business Administration from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Arts from the Plan II program at the University of Texas.
Partner, Executive Director of Construction
Tarter completed the IBEW/NECA electrical apprenticeship program, and he currently holds Master Electrician Licenses in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Virginia.
Executive Vice President of Engineering
Chief Commercial Officer
Schurr holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Davis and a Master’s in Business Administration from St. Mary’s College in California. He is also a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California, and he is a co-inventor on seven patents related to distributed energy.
Vice President Accounting and Controller
Vice President of Engineering
General Counsel
Bobak Fatemizadeh joined the Enchanted Rock team in 2019 as General Counsel. Bobak is responsible for managing Enchanted Rock’s legal, compliance, and corporate governance matters and advising its Board of Directors. Prior to Enchanted Rock, Bobak was in the corporate practice groups of Vinson & Elkins LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP where he practiced mergers and acquisitions and securities law. Bobak holds a Bachelor of Arts from Boston College and received his Juris Doctor degree from Columbia Law School.
President of Enchanted Rock Operations
Pete DiSanto joined the Enchanted Rock team in 2020, bringing 20 years of experience managing and building field service operations specifically for the nuclear and fossil power generation industry. At Enchanted Rock, DiSanto is responsible for 24/7/365 fleet operations, the safe execution of all fleet maintenance activities, network control center operations, environmental compliance, and financial management of Enchanted Rock Operations. DiSanto received a Master’s in Facility Management and a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering, both from Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Senior Vice President of Sales
Senior Vice President, Marketing
Kenneth has received his Bachelor of Science in Physical Sciences from the University of Southern California.
