EXPERIENCE
AND EXPERTISE
Our Team
Headwater Energy is headed by an experienced management team that brings decades of solar industry background and knowledge.
Stacie Chang
VICE PRESIDENT OF TRANSACTIONS
Stacie Chang is the VP of Transactions at Headwater via joining Aspen Creek Power in November 2022…
Stacie Chang
VICE PRESIDENT OF TRANSACTIONS
Stacie Chang is the VP of Transactions at Headwater via joining Aspen Creek Power in November 2022. In this role, she leads the debt and tax credit equity financial closings, including coordination with EPCs, equipment manufacturers, third-party consultants, law firms, banks, and investors. Stacie has extensive underwriting and transactional experience having led more than $540 million of financing in tax credit transactions. Before joining Aspen Creek, she served as a lead underwriter at US Bank for New Markets Tax Credits deploying funds to low-income communities. Previously, she held roles such as Director of Business Services for a startup, revitalizing downtown Las Vegas by leading complex real estate, legal, and risk management strategies. Stacie began her career at a boutique real estate investment advisor firm responsible for financial analytics and project management. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Southern California.
Latham Grimes
SPECIAL PROJECTS ADVISOR
Latham joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy Development and serves as Special Projects Advisor…
Lathan Grimes
SPECIAL PROJECTS ADVISOR
Latham joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy Development and serves as Special Projects Advisor, as well as on the Board. With a legal and real estate development background and over a decade in utility- scale solar, Latham gets to drill down on development strategies at Headwater, whether focusing on innovative projects (offtake or interconnection), new technologies or niche ideas with potential to scale. Prior to Headwater, from 2019-2023, Latham co-founded Oakhurst Energy and served as CEO, helping Oakhurst generate a development portfolio of 2 GW in the Southeast. Latham got his start in the solar industry in 2012 as the General Counsel of Strata Solar, where he was integrally involved in the development and finance of over 500 MW of solar projects totaling almost $1 billion. Latham is also a hands-on minority investor in solar companies with other areas of focus, including O&M, sheep grazing, C&I rooftop, energy storage software and community solar. He lives in Chapel Hill with his wife and two dogs, enjoying live music, travel, skiing, and the Tar Heels as much as he can (along with his two college age children whenever they can tag along).
Sarthak Gupta
CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
Sarthak joined Headwater via Aspen Creek Power, beginning as Chief Investment Officer in March…
Sarthak Gupta
CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER
Sarthak joined Headwater via Aspen Creek Power, beginning as Chief Investment Officer in March 2023. In his current role, Sarthak oversees capital formation and deployment for the platform as well as for its underlying asset pipeline, so as to thoughtfully grow the company’s balance sheet along with the CEO, and co-architect all key strategic initiatives. Before his time at Aspen, Sarthak has spent many years in the renewable energy finance space at Cypress Creek Renewables and Excelsior Energy Capital. At Cypress, he worked on project finance transactions across the project capital stack and supported the company’s corporate capital facility as well as its recapitalization with institutional investors. At Excelsior, he supported and then led acquisitions as well as financing of renewable energy projects across North America. Most recently prior to joining Aspen, he spent two years as an angel investor and advisor in the early-stage climate tech investment community, where he continues to be active.
Sarthak received his BSE in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton, and started his career right behind campus working at Climate Central, where he worked on climate change and renewable energy research projects.
Sam Kliewer
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Sam joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy Development, beginning as Chief Financial Officer..
Sam Kliewer
CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER
Sam joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy Development, beginning as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer in April 2022. In his current role, Sam is responsible for ensuring the execution of all major initiatives, and that, where not lead on the same, the lead has the resources necessary to effectively execute. From 2020 to 2022, Sam was Vice President at Meridian Renewable Energy where he originated and developed projects in PJM. Prior to his time at Meridian, he was VP of Development at Pine Gate Renewables where he led the acquisition and development of transmission scale projects in the southeast. Prior to Pine Gate, Sam worked in Policy & Government Affairs at Cypress Creek Renewables, and in Corporate and International Finance at Lowe’s. Sam holds a BA from Virginia Tech and an MBA from NC State University.
Patrick P. Leibach
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Patrick joined Headwater via Aspen Creek Power, beginning as CEO at Aspen in September 2022…
Patrick P. Leibach
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Patrick joined Headwater via Aspen Creek Power, beginning as CEO at Aspen in September 2022. In his role, Patrick is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the organization and its strategic plan, but he still gets to have fun and manage transactions from time to time. Prior to Headwater, he worked at Cypress Creek Renewables from 2014-2022. During his time at Cypress, Patrick worked across every company function, with focuses on development and transactional work, where he was responsible for scores of successful deal executions across the spectrum of corporate and project work. Prior to Cypress, Patrick was an attorney with Jones Day from 2011-2014, where he worked on public and private M&A transactions across industries with aggregate transaction value in excess of $75 billion. Patrick received his BA from Middlebury College and his JD from Columbia Law School. When he’s not riding the solarcoaster, Patrick is most often found enjoying the outdoors with his wife, daughter and dog, generally with a fishing rod (but no fish) in hand.
Cullen Morris
VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT
Cullen is the Vice President of Development at Headwater Energy. Prior to its merger with Aspen Creek Power…
Cullen Morris
VICE PRESIDENT OF DEVELOPMENT
Cullen is the Vice President of Development at Headwater Energy. Prior to its merger with Aspen Creek Power, Cullen led the development team at Oakhurst Energy Development, drawing on over a decade of project management and utility-scale solar development experience gained as founder and partner at Cooperative Solar and, before that, as Vice President of Development at Strata Solar. At Strata, Cullen built and managed a pipeline of over 150 solar projects – more than 100 of which have been built in North Carolina to date. Cullen has managed projects in every stage of the development process and trained many others in the solar industry to do the same. Cullen is a former member of North Carolina Sustainability Energy Association’s Board of Directors and has taught graduate classes on renewable development at Duke University and North Carolina State University. Cullen holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Virginia Tech and a Master of Energy Management from Duke University. Cullen maintains work-life balance by blowing off steam on his mountain bike or racing his motorcycle at various racetracks in the Southeast US.
Jay Nemeth
CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
Jay is currently the Chief Development Officer at Headwater Energy, but before his move to renewable…
Jay Nemeth
CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER
Jay is currently the Chief Development Officer at Headwater Energy, but before his move to renewable energy development as a co-founder of Oakhurst Energy, Jay’s entire career was in the electric utility industry. Working with utilities and corporations to structure innovative offtake products was the culmination of more than twenty years of varied utility experiences. Jay had roles leading long-term resource planning and then portfolio management for the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation, where he also ran GreenCo Solutions and managed Renewable Portfolio Standard obligations on behalf of twenty-two electric cooperatives. Jay worked as a natural gas and emissions trader for Progress Energy (now part of Duke Energy), with additional roles during his tenure in wholesale power market forecasting, enterprise risk management, and supply chain strategy. Jay started his career working as a consultant and later as a product manager for a company whose software tools were widely used by utilities in the US and across the globe for forecasting and resource planning. His training as an engineer has served him well as he continues to seek solutions where risks are evaluated, and the needs of all stakeholders are met in the most effective and efficient manner. Jay graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in Electrical Engineering.
Cooper Norris
DEVELOPMENT ATTORNEY
Cooper joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy Development in May 2023 as Development Attorney…
Cooper Norris
DEVELOPMENT ATTORNEY
Cooper joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy Development in May 2023 as Development Attorney. His role involves overseeing site specific project zonings, regulatory compliance, and other land use issues that arise in the development process. Prior to Headwater, Cooper worked as a Staff Attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Disaster Relief Project, where he represented low-income residents with real property, land use, and regulatory matters related to hurricane recovery.
Cooper received his BS from Florida State University in Economics, with a focus on sustainable development, and his JD from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. When not at his desk, you can likely find him near a body of water sailing or fly fishing.
Michelle Rivas Ramos
INVESTMENT ASSOCIATE
Michelle joined Headwater via Aspen Creek Power in
October 2023 as an Investment Associate…
Michelle Rivas Ramos
INVESTMENT ASSOCIATE
Michelle joined Headwater via Aspen Creek Power in October 2023 as an Investment Associate. Her role at Headwater comprises conducting an array of financial analyses including project valuation and capital structure optimization in a variety of renewable energy projects as well as financial corporate planning. Prior to Headwater, she held various roles in the Canadian pension landscape. In her roles at CN Investment Division and PSP Investments she performed due diligence on new investments and asset management across Real Assets portfolios. She started her career at Devimco Immobilier where she led a variety of financial analyses for real estate projects at different stages of development. Michelle received her BCom from McGill University with major in Finance and minor in Economics and is currently a CFA Level III candidate.
Brian Romero
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Brian joined Headwater via Aspen Creek Power in November 2022 as Director
of Development…
Brian Romero
DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT
Mark Scaer
ASSOCIATE PROJECT MANAGER
Mark joined Headwaters via Oakhurst Energy Development in May of 2023 as an Associate Project and..
Mark Scaer
ASSOCIATE PROJECT MANAGER
Mark joined Headwaters via Oakhurst Energy Development in May of 2023 as an Associate Project Manager. Mark is responsible for completing various due diligence tasks on originated projects. These responsibilities include managing yield study requests, environmental studies coordination, tracking project milestones, and completing interconnection and RFP submittals. Mark analyzes available data to help provide insight on the regulated and deregulated markets where Headwater develops projects. Prior to joining Oakhurst Energy, Mark worked as an Assistant Project Manager at Gannett Flemming, and was responsible for the workflow of project submittals and RFIs between the various engineering disciplines. Mark holds his BA in Economics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
Luke Syka
INVESTMENT ASSOCIATE
Luke joined Headwater through Aspen Creek Power, beginning as an Investment Associate in November…
Luke Syka
INVESTMENT ASSOCIATE
Luke joined Headwater through Aspen Creek Power, beginning as an Investment Associate in November 2022. In his current role, he manages project financings, investor reporting, and corporate liquidity, and takes the lead in project valuation efforts for acquisitions and competitive offtake pricings. He is also responsible for developing Headwater’s quantitative toolkit and the integration of accounting, finance, development, asset management, and corporate management systems. Since 2014 and prior to joining Aspen Creek, Luke worked in a variety of disciplines in the energy transition field such as climate researcher, energy engineer, consultant, investment banker, and renewable energy developer at organizations such as The Scripps Institution of Oceanography, AECOM, Whitehall & Company, and BayWa R.E. Solar Projects. Luke received his BS in Environmental Engineering from the University of California San Diego and an MS in Mechanical Engineering Energy Systems from Columbia University with a focus on energy policy and economics. He is a former Division I NCAA water polo athlete and competed professionally in Germany after undergrad.
David Vines
ASSOCIATE PROJECT MANAGER
David joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy as an Associate Project Manager in January 2023…
David Vines
ASSOCIATE PROJECT MANAGER
David joined Headwater via Oakhurst Energy as an Associate Project Manager in January 2023. In his current role, David focuses on origination and project development. Before joining Headwater, David began his career working in the nonprofit sector focusing on western public lands conservation projects through his background in geospatial analysis, data management and cartography. At Headwater, David hopes to use these skills to push for a broader transition to renewable energy. David received his BA in Anthropology from North Carolina State University and his MA in Geography and GIS from Appalachian State University. When he’s not finding the next solar site you can likely find David paddling, skiing or biking.
Contact Us to Get Started
No matter where you are in the development process, we’re ready to partner with you on your renewable energy project.
