TEAM
NPC employs a team of experienced innovative professionals with a sophisticated knowledge of energy generation, that includes physicists, mechanical and power engineers, hydrogen specialists, fabrication and prototyping experts and business development professionals.
John Pitre | Founder | Director and President
NPC was founded by internationally acclaimed inventor, artist and aviator John Pitre who also holds patents in a wide variety of business fields. Pitre contributes a documented history of success in bringing products from concept to production and distribution with global partners and licensees worldwide.
Prior to developing NPC’s extensive portfolio of technologies, Pitre’s accomplishments in the field of invention include two of the most successful fitness products of all time, the “ROM” and the “Time Works”, with combined returns in excess of $400 million. He also created a unique polymeric heat-set paint for artists that has been distributed globally for over 10 years. Pitre applied his mechanical creativity to become a pioneer in light sport category aircraft and high-speed ship hull design. He has designed, built and flown his own aircraft and now owns and flies his own helicopter.
In addition to his impressive success as an inventor, Pitre also holds the distinction of being one of the most published American artists in history, whose paintings and reproductions have sold millions of copies worldwide. Pitre's art addresses issues such as ecology, overpopulation, responsibility for stewardship of the Earth, the quest to understand the mysteries of the universe, and the fragility of life on our planet as well as man’s responsibility for it (Some of these works can be seen on the John Pitre website at www.johnpitre.com). Pitre’s inventive talents now focus exclusively on Natural Power Concepts, pursuing the company’s mission and implementing real solutions to help change the global energy paradigm toward abundant, clean, available renewable energy. As founder and President, Mr. Pitre is the lead inventor, designer and engineer, and also guides NPC through Patent and IP protection, in addition to international business development.
Don Proebstel | PhD | Director and CEO
Dr. Proebstel has moved from Director of Sustainability for Natural Power Concepts to CEO. Dr. Proebstel’s professional background includes corporate executive management positions for large-scale international development projects; finance through major international development banks such as IFC, EBRD, EDC, OPIC and others; renewable energy market analysis; as well as government level permitting for major extractives and energy projects. Dr. Proebstel is also a specialist in corporate sustainability and directs NPC on the potential environmental impacts of various device designs and implementation plans, as well as carbon offset credits and the accreditation process.
Dr. Proebstel’s employment history includes: Vice President of Gold Reserve Inc.; Senior Environmental and Social Analyst with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation; Senior Sustainability Advisor with Prizma Solutions; Senior Analyst Pike Research (now Navigant Research); Senior Environmental Analyst for AATA, International; and expert witness to the World Bank International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes.
As CEO, Dr. Proebstel is engaged in advancing international license and joint venture agreements for NPC, while guiding the company, along with Pitre, to become the leading international innovator in advanced renewable energy technologies.
Paul Skellon | Vice President for Business Development
In recent years, Paul was Vice President of Aloha Contract Services, based in Honolulu, where he brought extensive operational and Senior Management experience in the global airline industry. Prior to that, he was Vice President Corporate Communications and International Operations for Arizona-based Mesa Air Group and Vice President of Hawaii inter-island airline go! Before coming to the U.S., Paul played an integral role in the successful post 2001 restructuring of Air New Zealand, as Head of Strategic Communications and Special Projects and has made significant contributions at a number of other airlines, including Gulf Air (Bahrain), British Airways (U.K.), Hapag Lloyd (Germany), Corsair (France), Sahara Air (India) and Virgin Express (Europe). Paul was born and educated in Auckland, New Zealand where he graduated from the New Zealand College of Aviation. Paul, who holds both New Zealand and French nationalities, also has a strong background in international marketing and communications. Paul has served on the Boards of New York based @aquila and Honolulu’s South Pacific Development Group LLC, as well as serving and supporting various organizations internationally such as Rotary International, Habitat for Humanity, Hawaii Polo, AMFAR, The Life Foundation, Joyful Hearts and No More. Paul has been a contributor to a number of books by Prof Nawal Taneja including Simpli-flying and Flying Ahead of the Airplane
Ethan Okura | Director / Legal Counsel
Mr. Okura attended Columbia University Law School and began his practice as a corporate attorney in the prestigious New York City office of Clifford Chance--the world's leading Global Law Firm. While there, he worked on sophisticated and unique projects, including a $300 million Collateralized Debt Obligation (securitization) deal and a $900 million closed-end fund IPO (initial public offering). He was the sole junior associate selected to work on a special in-house project that was the first of its kind on Wall Street, a $100 million debt offering of the Clifford Chance law partnership to investors in order to raise capital for law firm growth. He also handled public and private debt and equity offerings for a variety of companies at home and abroad, including the 5th largest petroleum company in Brazil and the video game console manufacturer Atari. Since leaving New York, Mr. Okura has been directing a private practice in Honolul
Mark Victor Hansen and Crystal Hansen | Director
Mark Victor Hansen is a celebrity speaker, author, and co-creator of Chicken Soup for the Soul series, with a billion dollars in sales. A prolific writer, international speaker, and business strategist, Mr. Hansen has sold five hundred million books and spoken in seventy- eight countries around the world to over 5 million people live. Having appeared on over 5000 major TV and radio shows like Fox, CNN, and Oprah, Mr. Hansen has a vast network of business colleagues who represent networking opportunities and sales channel prospects for NPC technology development and commercialization partnerships.
Crystal Hansen is a business strategist and successful entrepreneur in the US and China; founder of Crystalvisionlife.com, Skinnylife.com, speaker, author of Pure Thought for Pure Results, co-author of Think and Grow Rich for Women.
Mark Victor and Crystal Hansen serve on multiple boards of innovative alternative energy companies including NPC and Principal Solar. They are also principal founding owners of Natural Power Concepts headquartered in Oahu, Hawaii. They are co-founders of Hansen Business Partners International (China) and are valuable partners in providing project and business development oversight, marketing expertise and national and international strategic connections.
Michael Aranoff | Director and CFO
Michael specializes in the areas of management accounting, financial statement analysis, and investor relations. An entrepreneur in his own right, running a profitable accounting practice for over two decades, Michael’s experience in corporate structuring and deal terms has been instrumental in securing early stage financing for numerous technology clients. Michael is a graduate of California State University at Northridge and holds a degree in Accounting and Real Estate Finance.
Tom Ritchie | Board of Advisors
As Founder and Incorporator of Pacific Rim Bank, Mr. Ritchie brings significant experience in fiscal management and provides NPC with financial guidance as well as a network of potential customer and partner contacts. Mr. Ritchie is active in several current NPC business development pursuits, including R&D contracts with United States Air Force and HCATT; development of the Collaboration and Joint Venture Agreement with ONGC to deploy NPC hydrokinetic technology in India; and others. Mr. Ritchie’s network also includes additional consultants and advisors who are assisting NPC in pursuit of technology commercialization and opportunities as identified herein.
Neeraj Jhanji | International Business Development
Neeraj Jhanji founded ImaHima, the world's first mobile social network in Tokyo in 1999. Mr. Jhanji’s pioneering patents on mobile check-in, status updates and location-based advertising were acquired by Facebook in 2013. Neeraj has lived and worked in New Delhi, Tokyo, Honolulu, Singapore, Stockholm, Vancouver, Palo Alto and speaks Hindi, Japanese, English and basic Swedish. Prior to ImaHima, Neeraj worked for Accenture in Tokyo. He holds a Japan-focused MBA from University of Hawaii (sole Indian recipient of Fujitsu Asia-Pacific Scholarship, 1995) and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Delhi College of Engineering (1993). Mr. Jhanji contributes his business expertise toward guiding international development, intellectual property issues and corporate operations for NPC.
Larry Lieberman | Corporate Secretary
Mr. Lieberman coordinates corporate communication and business development, crafts overall company messaging, oversees administration, writes company marketing and PR materials, and works with John Pitre and the Board of Advisors to plan, strategize, and execute the company vision. Mr. Lieberman is the former VP of Public Relations of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Hawaii chapter and a former director of the Hawaii Science & Technology Institute. Prior to NPC, Mr. Lieberman served as the Director of Communications for award-winning software developer Referentia Systems, Creative Director at MM&M Advertising, and an on-air personality at 97.5 KPOI FM. Mr. Lieberman has applied his renewable energy and business development expertise to develop more than $3,000,000 in successful solar energy projects with RevoluSun, Hawaii’s largest solar power installer.
Mitch Ewan | Senior Advisor
Mr. Ewan is a senior manager at Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, and consults NPC on technology, operations, and business development issues. Mr. Ewan has been a corporate executive of several publicly traded companies, a Naval and Submarine Commander and successful entrepreneur. Mr. Ewan provides liaison with military and national research groups and is instrumental in Project development. Mr. Ewan is a graduate of the Royal Military College of Canada where he earned a degree in Applied Science. After a successful naval career that included command of submarines and a destroyer, Mr. Ewan entered private industry where he has served in a variety of senior executive positions including senior management (Board Member, VP & GM) of publicly traded companies. His hydrogen and fuel cell career spans over 28 years. He led the team that designed and built the Green Car, the world’s first PEM fuel cell powered automobile. For the past 12 years Mr. Ewan has been on the staff of the University of Hawaii’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute (HNEI) as the Hydrogen Systems Program Manager where he is helping to develop HNEI’s hydrogen and fuel cell programs.
Quinn Fortune Lee | Founder and President NPC | Energy Pty Ltd Australia
Quinn holds a B.E in Electronic Engineering in China and a M.S. in Engineering from University of New South Wales, Australia. Quinn is an active member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) WA chapter and is also the board member of several Australian Chinese Associations. With more than 12 years experience in business management and development, Quinn has applied a broad spectrum of international networking, market research, development strategies and alliances to achieve diversified success through her establishment and ownership of multiple businesses in different countries including: ITI, Australia (A licensed international recruitment & labor hire company since 2005); Custom Steel, Australia (An international steel trading & fabrication company since 2008); Fortune 888 Migration, China & Australia (A licensed migration & consulting company since 2005); and Fortune Investment Group, China (an investment company focusing on property development & renewable energy). As a major shareholder of NPC Inc. (USA) and the sole founder of NPC Energy Australia, Quinn is now dedicated to advancing NPC technologies in the Australasia Region. Quinn also assists both NPC Global and NPC Energy in finance and positioning towards IPO.
Dr. Hari P. Nair | Director of Projects for Natural Power Concepts
Dr. Hari P. Nair, has been recognized by Cambridge Who's Who for demonstrating dedication, leadership and excellence in business management. Utilizing 35 years of experience in Project Management, Dr. Nair is a seasoned professional in his field. While serving as the Director of Projects for Naiomi International Inc., he worked with groups, oversaw projects from inception, configured and aligned production equipment with production output and ensured quality runs through WRAP testing. Having worked extensively at the global level, he has specialized in turnaround management in diversified industries like the apparel & clothing industries, plastics, glassware etc. He voluntarily taught Economics and Statistics to socio-economic backward students in his spare time while in India. He was also a 'ghost writer' for several academic books on Economics, Project Management and Statistics. Dr. Nair received his Ph.D. in Economics and Business Management after completing Masters in Economics and Business Administration. In addition, he is a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and attained certification in Aboriginal Management Practices. He is a member of the British Institute of Management, UK, Project Management Institute, USA and the Aboriginal Financial Officers Association of Canada. He attributes his success to his dedication, commitment and passion for his profession. Cambridge Who's Who is an exclusive membership organization that recognizes and empowers executives, professionals and entrepreneurs throughout the world.
Mark Hinrichs | Chief Engineer
Mr. Hinrichs develops finely detailed engineering in the most advanced computer engineering programs, creates machine shop drawing files based on initial NPC conceptualizations, and coordinates production of parts as needed. Mr. Hinrichs is also highly skilled in the utilization of sophisticated CNC production machinery, and applies his expertise in physics and mathematics for NPC technology development and commercialization.
LEGAL COUNSEL
Geoffrey Ossias | Securities Counsel
Geoffrey M. Ossias is a Partner at DLA Piper. His area of practice is emerging companies in a broad rage of technology driven sectors. He was Sr. Counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporate Finance in Washington D.C. prior to his corporate law practice. He has more than 20 years of experience working with early stage companies in the Internet, IT, life sciences, biotechnology, cosmetics, renewable energy, real estate and financial services sectors.
Scott Watkins | Intellectual Property Counsel
Mr. Watkins is Of Counsel and sharholder at Polsinelli 1401 Eye Street, N.W., Suite 800 Washington, D.C. 20005. He represents NPC in a variety of areas including intellectual property litigation, patent prosecution, and strategy, international contracts and license agreements for NPC.
KEY ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS
Mitch Ewan, Advisory Board and Project Development: Harri Nair, Middle East and India: and Niranjin Bilgi, Project development India and Nepal. Additional consultants and advisors include: Abas Goodarzi, President & CEO US Hybrid, Bobby Kimball, Grammy award winning musician and publisher.
