Rob has 20 years of experience investing in, financing, and managing energy assets. From 2016 to 2020, Rob was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cogentrix Energy, a leading power asset manager. Previously he has held investment underwriting roles with The Carlyle Group and ArcLight Capital Partners, two leading energy investors. In the span of his career, Rob has overseen the investment of over $1 billion of equity investments in power and midstream assets throughout North America and Europe.

Mr. Howard received a BA from Duke University and MBA from Yale University.

With 20 years of diverse experience in the field, Meaghan Nocella is a seasoned Human Resources professional with a wide range of expertise. Her skill set spans strategic planning, organizational development, talent acquisition, compensation, employee relations, compliance, talent development, executive coaching, and program design.

Before joining ClearGen, Meaghan served as Senior Vice President at U.S. Bank, where she supported clients of various sizes and functions. She has worked with stage zero start-ups as well as mature, geographically dispersed organizations with over 10,000 employees. Meaghan’s focus has been on developing and executing talent strategies, fostering strong cultures, leading large-scale business transformations, designing innovative talent management programs, and supporting mergers and acquisitions.

Meaghan holds a BS in Human Resource Management from the University of Cincinnati and has also attended Xavier University’s MBA program.

Zaq brings 15 years of experience in energy-related development, construction, acquisition, and operations. Prior to joining ClearGen, Zaq was the General Counsel of Entropy Investment Management, a specialty energy investment and management company specializing in asset finance, private equity investments, and arbitrage investments primarily in renewable and alternative energy spaces in North America, South America, and the Caribbean. During his time with Entropy, he also served as the Chief Operating Officer of two utility-scale food-waste-to-energy anaerobic digesters in Charlotte, NC and Johnston, RI. Zaq began his career at McGuireWoods LLP where he represented banks, utility companies, and renewable energy developers on real estate, finance, and energy projects.

Zaq received his BA from Furman University and his JD from Campbell University, Norman Adrian School of Law.

Sterling Scott brings extensive experience across renewable energy, corporate, and real estate finance to her role as Assistant General Counsel at ClearGen. She supports the Company’s acquisition, financing, and investment activity, advising on transaction structuring, diligence, and execution across ClearGen’s distributed generation and community solar platform. 

Prior to joining ClearGen, Sterling served as Senior Counsel on the M&A and Finance team at Pine Gate Renewables, where she acted as lead in-house counsel on solar and solar-plus-storage acquisitions and portfolio transactions across multiple U.S. markets. Her work included advising on complex, multi-asset transactions, joint ventures, and credit facilities, as well as supporting investment committee and senior leadership decision-making. Earlier in her career, Sterling practiced in commercial real estate and infrastructure finance, representing developers, lenders, and institutional clients on a wide range of transactions. 

Sterling received her J.D. from Charlotte School of Law and her B.A. from North Carolina State University. 

Akash Patel brings more than a decade of investment and project finance experience across the renewable energy sector to his role as Chief Investment Officer. He has led underwriting and evaluation efforts for over 1 GW of distributed generation and storage projects, spanning commercial C&I, community solar, and PV+BESS portfolios. Akash’s work blends analytical rigor with practical, hands-on collaboration, shaped by years of close partnership with developers, lenders, and capital providers to advance high-quality projects and infrastructure assets from diligence through close. 

Before joining ClearGen, Akash served as Vice President of Investment Management at Distributed Solar Development (DSD), where he helped build a project financing team responsible for underwriting, capital raising, financing, and portfolio management.  

Akash previously held investment roles at H.I.G. Capital and CIT Group, where he structured and executed more than $2.5 billion in transaction volume across renewable energy, power generation, and infrastructure.  

Mr. Patel graduated summa cum laude from Rutgers Business School with a B.S. in Finance and a minor in Economics.

Dan McDermott is Vice President, Asset Management at ClearGen, responsible for overseeing the company’s renewable energy investment portfolio and driving long-term asset performance. With deep experience in renewable energy operations, financing, and asset management, Dan has spent his career optimizing project and portfolio value across a range of clean energy investments. Before joining ClearGen, he held leadership roles with United States Solar Corporation, Syncarpha Capital, and Radian Generation. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of South Carolina.

Jason has over 15 years of experience in risk management, finance, and accounting at power and natural gas utilities, as well as, public accounting. While at Duke Energy, Jason supported the development and execution of enterprise risk management to quantify operational, financial, project, and strategy related risk. In a role in forecasting, Jason established a governance structure and policy for Capital Investment Planning to ensure efficient use of the capital spend. While at Piedmont Natural Gas, he managed corporate accounting, internal reporting, accounting systems, and business valuations.

Mr. Benoit earned a BA from Elon University and MBA from Wake Forest University. He holds an active CPA license in North Carolina.