Our Team
Brad Zerbe has over thirty years of experience in grant writing, fundraising, lending, and business consulting.
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He is the former political director for the nation's largest PAC, and finance director for the chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. He is a former registered federal, state, and state procurement lobbyist. He has worked for three of the nation's five largest financial institutions in securities and banking compliance.
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Brad is the former director of communications for the state of Arizona’s IT agency, and Arizona State University’s education technology think tank. He has graded grants in national competitions and served as Chairman and CEO of nonprofit organizations.
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Brad has written successful federal, state, corporate nonprofit, charitable trust, community, and private foundation grants for tribal governments, public and private companies, nonprofit organizations, and local governments in the fields of renewable energy, battery storage, broadband, transportation, housing, education technology, public safety, and animal rescue.
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He has done grant research and white papers on a number of topics including driverless vehicles, robotics, energy storage, plastics recycling, wastewater nanotechnology, transactive energy, the electric grid, currency trading, and collateralized securities for renewable energy projects.
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In college, he competed in debate, finishing second in the nation, and won his school's highest scholarship for leadership.
Brad with the president of the Navajo Code Talkers Association at a Marine Corps event held at
the Heard Native American Museum in Phoenix, Arizona. The Navajo Code Talkers won eight Congressional Medals of Honor and were given credit for making a decisive contribution to key battles in the Pacific during WW II. Brad’s Grandfather negotiated the Treaty on Okinawa and the Treaty on Japan, and Brad lived with him in the U.S. Ambassador’s residence in Tokyo.
Ron Perla is a business consultant, financier, real estate developer and author. He has assisted in the startup of over 30 companies ranging from real estate, finance, energy, electronics, entertainment, and hospitality.
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Ron has been the managing member of Red Rock Investment Group an opportunity fund specializing in the acquisition, financing and development of undervalued real estate assets and sustainable energy opportunities in the Southwest United States. He was also the managing member of Red Rock Recycling, an advisory firm which lent expertise in the areas of development, site planning, and government relations for renewable energy projects.
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Ron was the Chief Underwriter for Markour Funding and Investments, a private lender located in Scottsdale, Arizona and Chief Financial Officer for Scottsdale Canal Development, a development company which assembled, financed, master planned and entitled over 1.2 million square feet of LEEDS certified, mixed use projects in Arizona. Prior to that, Ron managed the commercial loan department for Global Wide Capital, a Mesa based Mortgage Company with over 150 employees.
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Ron has been involved in loans and development projects totaling over $1.2 billion.
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Wendy Strain is an experienced renewable energy grant writer, having written multiple successful applications in the areas of alternative fuels, water filtration, motorized transportation, oceanic research (oil spill recovery, red tide), and economic development initiatives.
She is also a former English professor and has advanced degrees in technical writing and rhetoric from Texas A&M University as well as graphic design with specialization in visual rhetoric.
Wendy is committed to improving economic conditions domestically and internationally while working toward an environmentally sustainable proactive society.
TJ Stockbridge is an electrical and solar contractor with over 30 years of experience. He has successfully completed over 30 million dollars worth of solar and electrical projects within the state of Arizona.TJ specializes in design-build solar projects.
TJ has studied martial arts for 42 years and earned his fifth-degree black belt and masters degree in 2000.
TJ likes to bring his never give up attitude to all the projects he is involved in.
Dillon Lewis has managed dozens of renewable energy projects including as an EPC, involving engineering, procurement, construction, and also ITC financing.
He has developed over 20MW of projects, installed over 15MW and financed over 10MW, which includes large scale solar canopy projects.
Dillon was one of the founders of an online renewable energy bidding and information exchange with over 2,500 members, funding over $42 million in solar projects.
