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Members of the Rockland Management Team
Mr. Sabournin joined Rockland Capital in 2017. His primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Previously, Mr. Sabournin worked as an analyst with Moelis & Company in their investment banking group.
Mr. Sabournin holds a BA with double major in Economics and International Studies from Northwestern University.
Mr. Sanchez Romero joined Rockland Capital in 2020. His primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Previously, Mr. Sanchez Romero worked as an analyst with Barclays in their Latin America M&A investment banking group.
Mr. Sanchez Romero holds a BA in Economics and a Minor in Computer Science from Boston University.
Mr. Amoako-Gyan joined Rockland Capital in 2023. His primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Previously, Mr. Amoako-Gyan worked as an associate with Credit Suisse in their Energy and Transition investment banking group. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Amoako-Gyan worked as an energy and capital markets consultant for Guidehouse and Newton Energy Group.
Mr. Amoako-Gyan holds degrees from the University of Chicago, Dartmouth College, and his native Ghana.
Mr. Kovuru joined Rockland Capital in 2022. His primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Prior to joining Rockland, Mr. Kovuru worked as an analyst with William Blair in their Supply Chain and Commercial Services investment banking group.
Mr. Kovuru holds a BS in Biochemistry and a MS in Finance from Texas A&M University.
Ms. Lindeman joined Rockland Capital in 2023. Her primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Prior to joining Rockland, Ms. Lindeman worked as an analyst with Ernst & Young Capital Advisors in their investment banking group. Prior to that, she worked as a Business Development Manager for Cavalcade Midstream.
Ms. Lindeman holds a BS in Petroleum Engineering and a MS in Finance from the University of Texas.
Mr. McCullough joined Rockland Capital in 2022. His primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Prior to joining Rockland, Mr. McCullough worked as an analyst with Stifel in their Energy investment banking group.
Mr. McCullough holds a BBA in Finance & Business Honors from Texas A&M University.
Mr. Tiwari joined Rockland Capital in 2022. His primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Prior to joining Rockland, Mr. Tiwari worked as an analyst with Norwest Venture Partners in their Growth Equity group. He also serves on the board of FLIP National.
Mr. Tiwari holds a BS in Finance from Boston University.
Mr. Litts was a lead investment professional with Rockland Capital since its inception and was on the Investment Committee. His responsibilities at Rockland included business development, deal structuring and he was involved in the commercial management and disposition of many of Rockland’s portfolio assets.
Mr. Litts has worked in the power industry since 1998 and has led due diligence and commercial negotiations on many transactions. Prior to Rockland, he focused on acquisitions, divestitures and restructurings of independent power projects at El Paso Merchant Energy and had previously worked on independent power project restructuring transactions at Cinergy Capital. Earlier, Mr. Litts spent five years in the financial services industry.
Mr. Litts is a CFA charterholder and has a BA in Economics and an MBA in Finance both from the University of Texas at Austin.
Mr. Yeager was a founding member of Rockland Capital in 2003. His primary responsibilities include business origination, structuring and financing of Rockland projects. Mr. Yeager has been involved in the management of several of Rockland’s portfolio companies.
Mr. Yeager has over 20 years of experience, from both a commercial and banking perspective, in the domestic and international power business. Prior to joining Rockland, Mr. Yeager worked in the independent power project acquisition and restructuring business. He was one of three founders of Cinergy Capital & Trading and later as commercial lead for several successful acquisitions and restructurings of projects at El Paso Merchant Energy. In addition, he managed El Paso’s European power asset group, where he brought the restructuring model to the European IPP sector. Earlier, Mr. Yeager worked in both the Project Finance and Interest Rate Derivatives Groups at TD Securities in New York.
Mr. Yeager is a CFA charterholder and holds a BS from Rutgers University and an MBA from Duke University.
Ms. Banks began working with the Rockland team in 2010. Her key responsibilities include commercial management of Rockland’s projects and due diligence and asset valuation of Rockland’s acquisitions.
Ms. Banks has over 12 years of energy industry experience. Prior to joining Rockland, she focused on commercial development, forecasting, asset valuation, and strategic analysis at Complete Energy Holdings. Ms. Banks worked for five years at Dynegy, Inc., where she developed forecast and valuation models and detailed market trend analyses of potential M&A opportunities for the board of directors and executive management team. In addition, she managed personnel that supported asset management, investor relations, risk management and energy trading.
Ms. Banks holds a MA and PhD in physics from Rice University and a BS in physics with a concentration in mathematics from the University of the South in Sewanee, TN.
Mr. Bergeron began working with the Rockland team in 2020. His key responsibilities include commercial management of Rockland’s projects in the United States and United Kingdom. He is also involved in due diligence and asset valuation of Rockland’s acquisitions.
Mr. Bergeron has over 19 years of energy industry experience. Prior to joining Rockland, he worked in real-time power trading, as well as East cash power trading with Entergy-Koch and Merrill Lynch Commodities Power Trading Group. For the last nine years, he was Manager of the Northeast Power Desk for Entergy Nuclear Power Marketing.
Mr. Bergeron holds a BS from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
Mr. Becker began working with the Rockland team in 2021. His key responsibilities include commercial management of Rockland’s projects in the United States and United Kingdom. He is also involved in due diligence and asset valuation of Rockland’s acquisitions.
Mr. Becker has over 19 years of industry experience. Prior to joining Rockland, he managed the commercial affairs for the Texas, New England and Canadian power asset fleet of Engie NA. Since 2002, Mr. Becker has been with Engie in roles including gas supply, power sales, commodity hedging and asset management.
Mr. Becker completed the Energy Risk Management Graduate Program and has a BBA in Finance both from the University of Houston.
Ms. deLaunay began working with the Rockland team in 2014. Her key responsibilities include commercial management of Rockland’s projects and due diligence and asset valuation of Rockland’s acquisitions.
Ms. deLaunay has over 20 years of energy industry experience. Prior to joining Rockland, she developed and managed the Energy Management Agreement Business for Merrill Lynch Commodities Power Trading group for the last ten years.
Ms. deLaunay holds a BS in Electric Engineering with a concentration in Management Information Systems, programming and network design from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.
Mr. Feemster joined Rockland Capital in 2016. He oversees asset management and plant operations activities at various Rockland-owned power plants.
Mr. Feemster has over 35 years of experience in the power generation industry that includes construction/startup, operations, maintenance and asset management. His experience also includes over 10 years as a plant manager. Prior to joining Rockland, his experience includes various positions with Houston Lighting and Power, Dynegy, InterGen, General Electric, NAES, and ProEnergy Services.
Mr. Feemster is a graduate of the Army Intelligence School and has an AA from Westshore Community College.
Mr. Gerhart joined Rockland Capital in 2018. He oversees asset management and plant operations activities at various Rockland-owned power plants.
Mr. Gerhart has over 30 years of experience in the utility industry. His experience includes positions in operations, asset management, construction and project management. Prior to joining Rockland, Mr. Gerhart held senior and executive level positions with several entities in the power industry.
During his career, Mr. Gerhart has developed a diverse background in the regulated and non-regulated utility industry serving in operations, asset management, construction and project management, both domestically and internationally. Prior to joining Rockland, Mr. Gerhart held senior and executive level positions with Seminole Electric Cooperative, GDF Suez and Foster Wheeler.
A U.S. Navy veteran, Mr. Gerhart earned a MS in Business Administration from Concordia University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering.
Ms. Havens joined Rockland Capital in 2017. She supports the asset managers in overseeing asset management, regulatory compliance, and plant operations activities.
Ms. Havens has over 20 years in the power generation industry with a diverse background in operations and maintenance management, project management, Environmental Health & Safety management, and administrative operations. Prior to joining Rockland, she held various positions at Sabine Cogen, L.P., Air Liquide Large Industries U.S., LP, and has experience as a legal assistant.
Ms. Havens holds a GSP designation through the Board of Certified Safety Professionals having earned a BS in Occupational Safety and Health from Columbia Southern University.
Mr. Hoffman joined Rockland Capital in 2021.
Mr. Hoffman oversees the IT infrastructure at Rockland’s corporate office and various Rockland-owned power plants.
Mr. Hoffman has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry that includes designing, implementing and delivering scalable IT infrastructures across many industries such as oil and gas, emergency response, healthcare, legal, non-profit, finance and power generation. Prior to joining Rockland, his experience included working in the managed service provider space for 19 years, serving multiple roles as a network engineer, systems administrator, consultant, disaster recovery specialist and a trainer for both staff and clients.
Mr. Hoffman has an AS in Computer Network Systems and holds several IT certifications with professional industry standard vendors such as Barracuda, Cisco, Datto, Microsoft and WatchGuard.
Mr. Lee joined Rockland Capital in 2023. His primary responsibility is Performance Engineering for various assets in the Rockland fleet.
Mr. Lee has over 17 years experience in the power generation industry including commissioning, operations, maintenance and plant management. Prior to joining Rockland, he held various positions with Caithness Energy, Northern Star Generation, CAMS and Ethos Energy.
Mr. Lee holds an Honorable Discharge from the U.S. Navy.
Mr. Lucier joined Rockland Capital in 2022. He oversees asset management and plant operations activities.
Mr. Lucier has over 25 years experience in the power generation industry including construction/startup, operations, maintenance and asset management. Prior to joining Rockland, he held various positions with WIN-Waste Innovations, NextEra Energy, GDF Suez, International Power, Calpine and the Merchant Marine.
Mr. Lucier holds a BS in Marine Engineering and MS in Facilities Management from Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Mr. Moreno joined Rockland in 2022, as Senior Compliance Specialist.
Mr. Moreno has over 28 years of experience in Environmental, Health, and Safety compliance, including 20 years of compliance management in the electric power and steam generation industry, 5 years in manufacturing and 3 years in Agency Investigation, most recently as a Title V Air Compliance Investigator at the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Mr. Moreno has a MS in Environmental Management and a BS in Finance from the University of Houston – Clear Lake.
Mr. Paff joined Rockland Capital in 2014. He oversees asset management and plant operations activities at various Rockland-owned power plants.
Mr. Paff has over 30 years of experience in the power generation industry that includes development, construction, engineering, operations, maintenance and asset management. Prior to joining Rockland, his experience includes various positions (domestic and international) with Marubeni Power International Inc., MPR Associates, Calpine, Intergen, Sithe Energies and General Dynamics Electric Boat Division.
Mr. Paff has a MS in Mechanical Engineering and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Clarkson University.
Mr. Ramirez joined Rockland in 2022. His primary responsibility is providing support to the Asset Management Team.
Prior to joining Rockland, Mr. Ramirez worked for a Turbine Service group, specializing in Instrumentation, Controls and Electrical Systems on Gas, Steam and Nuclear Turbines in North and South America.
Mr. Ramirez served four years in the U.S. Air Force and has many years experience working in refinery and chemical plants.
Mr. Strutt joined Rockland’s UK generation company, Whitetower Energy Limited (“Whitetower”), as CEO in 2019. He oversees asset management and plant operations activities at the various Whitetower power plants in the UK.
Mr. Strutt has over 20 years of experience in the power industry worldwide that includes development, engineering, operations and asset management. Prior to joining Whitetower, he held Senior Management positions with Rolls-Royce in their Energy and Marine divisions. Mr. Strutt’s experience also included reciprocating engine development, heading up a Technical Services division and working on new technology sectors.
Prior to the power industry, Mr. Strutt’s career was in the marine engineering/shipbuilding sector for both commercial and naval marine projects working for Vosper Thornycroft and Babcock.
Mr. Strutt is a graduate of the school of marine engineering Southampton and additionally holds environmental and health and safety qualifications.
Mr. Tulk joined Rockland Capital in 2021. He oversees asset management and plant operations activities at various Rockland-owned power plants.
Mr. Tulk has over 27 years experience in the power generation industry. Prior to joining Rockland, his experience includes various positions with Stewart & Stevenson, General Electric, Aquila, Caithness Energy, Ethos Energy and NAES. Mr. Tulk is technically versed with GE LM2500, LM5000, LM6000 and Frame 7E units.
Mr. Tulk served in the U.S. Navy from 1987 to 1991 and received an Honorable Discharge.
Mr. Yaeger joined Rockland in 2020. He serves as the General Manager over Rockland’s MISO fleet and also has chief responsibility for marketing, originating and hedging those assets. He also has project development responsibilities and serves on RFP response teams.
Mr. Yaeger has over 30 years of experience in the energy industry and prior to working for Rockland, he was employed with Ameren and Peabody Energy. He has served in various roles including Director of Transportation, Director of Project Development, Project Manager & EPC Contract Administrator, Manager of Generation Fleet Optimization, Manager of Real-Time Trading and Transmission Marketing among others. Mr. Yaeger has also had numerous board affiliations including among them the National Coal Transportation Association and the Surface Transportation Board Rail Energy and Transportation Advisory Committee.
Mr. Yaeger holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Missouri University of Science & Technology and an MBA from Saint Louis University. Scott is also a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Missouri.
Mr. Zelik joined Rockland Capital in 2018. He oversees asset management and plant operations activities at various Rockland-owned power plants.
Mr. Zelik has over 30 years of experience in the combustion and power industry. He has a wide range of experience in power generation including power generation associated with hazardous waste and trash incineration, land-fill off gases, coal-fired and oil-fired boilers, petroleum coke fired CFB’s, gas-fired and oil-fired turbines, refinery gases, hydroelectric dams, and photovoltaic arrays. Mr. Zelik was as a NAES Corporation project manager and plant manager for 10 years at Rockland facilities. Mr. Zelik’s career spans over 40 years working for various organizations including PPG Industries, Von Roll, Laidlaw, GWF Power, Foster Wheeler, NAES Corporation, and WorleyParsons.
Mr. Zelik has BS in Chemical Engineering from Penn State University.
*Employee of third-party contractor
Mr. Beyrand joined Rockland Capital in 2021. His responsibilities include reviewing and preparing financial information and accounting schedules, including financial statements for Rockland’s various funds, investment entities, and management company.
Mr. Beyrand has over 12 years of combined accounting experience in various roles. He was a Manager in the assurance services group at Whitley Penn LLP, as well as a Senior Associate within the assurance services group at RSM US LLP, and a Manager in the assurance services group at Pattillo, Brown, & Hill, L.L.P.
Mr. Beyrand is a CPA with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy and holds a BBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Ms. Fowler joined Rockland Capital in 2020. Her responsibilities include reviewing and preparing financial information and accounting schedules, including financial statements for Rockland’s various funds, investment entities, and management company.
Ms. Fowler has over 20 years of combined accounting experience, most recently as a Controller with National Oilwell Varco (“NOV”). She was responsible for revenue recognition compliance and financial reporting and analysis for the global sales team for the last eleven years, and prior to that was Plant Controller for NOV’s drill pipe manufacturing plant in Navasota, Texas.
Ms. Fowler is a CPA with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy and holds a BBA in Accounting from Texas A&M University.
Mr. Heflin has over 9 years of combined accounting experience in various roles. He was an Associate in the audit services group at Grant Thornton LLP as well as a Senior Associate and Manager within the tax services groups at Seitz, Demarco & McGovern, PLLC and Middleton Raines Zapata LLP. In addition, Mr. Heflin worked as a Director & Senior Accountant in the power generation division at Consolidated Asset Management Services.
Mr. Heflin is a CPA and holds a BBA in Finance and a Master of Business Administration from Texas A&M University.
Ms. Marugg joined Rockland Capital in 2018. Her responsibilities include reviewing and preparing financial information and accounting schedules, including financial statements for the funds’ portfolio companies.
Prior to joining Rockland, Ms. Marugg was a Financial Reporting manager at Carriage Services, Inc. Ms. Marugg was in charge of financial reporting and analysis.
Ms. Marugg is a CPA with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy and holds a BBA in Accounting from Sam Houston State University.
Ms. Portillo joined Rockland Capital in 2017. Her primary responsibilities include entering financial close information and journal entries into Rockland’s accounting software, assisting with financial statement preparation and performing treasury management functions for the funds, investment entities, and the Management Company.
Previously, Ms. Portillo was an Accounts Receivable Specialist and spent prior years in various accounting positions. Ms. Portillo holds a BBA in Accounting from University of Houston Downtown.
Ms. Samperio joined Rockland Capital in 2020. Her primary responsibilities include cash management, entering journal entries and processing payments for Rockland’s various funds and management company.
Previously, Ms. Samperio held accounting positions at San Jacinto River Authority and The Boeing Company. Ms. Samperio received her BBA and MS in Accounting from Texas A&M University.
Ms. Warnke joined Rockland in 2010. Her responsibilities include the smooth running of Rockland’s corporate offices, including facilities management, vendor services, equipment, communication and IT services. In addition, Ms. Warnke is responsible for the planning, development, organization and execution of corporate conferences and events.
In addition, Ms. Warnke works with the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer on a variety of matters affecting the firm, its funds and the portfolio companies; she also serves as Rockland’s Business Continuity and Information Security Officer.
Previously, Ms. Warnke was an administrative member of JP Morgan’s Principal Investments group. Ms. Warnke holds a BA in Communication from Stephen F. Austin State University.
Mr. Harlan is a Co-Managing Partner, a founding member of Rockland Capital and is on the firm’s Investment Committee. He is responsible for deal origination, management, strategy and business operations. Mr. Harlan has served on the board of most of Rockland’s portfolio companies.
Since 1982, Mr. Harlan has experience in all aspects (M&A, commercial, technical and operational) of the electric power business. Prior to founding Rockland in 2003, he focused on the independent power acquisition and restructuring business at El Paso Merchant Energy and Cinergy Capital & Trading. Earlier, Mr. Harlan was involved in building a power marketing and trading business for Koch Industries and has over ten years of electric power marketing and power plant engineering experience with Delmarva Power.
Mr. Harlan has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech and an MBA from the University of Delaware.
Mr. Maiz is a Co-Managing Partner, a lead investment professional with Rockland Capital since early 2003 and is on the Investment Committee. He is responsible for the origination, evaluation and closing of Rockland acquisitions and has taken the lead on the commercial management of several Rockland portfolio companies.
Mr. Maiz has worked in the domestic energy industry since 1998. Mr. Maiz has both technical and commercial experience. Prior to joining Rockland, his focus was on executing acquisitions, restructurings and divestitures of independent power projects at El Paso Merchant Energy, where he led and supported several successful transactions. Prior to El Paso, Mr. Maiz spent eight years with the Royal Dutch/Shell group of companies. The commercial roles he held included both power plant development at Coral Energy and the acquisition and development of domestic natural gas properties at Shell Exploration and Production Company.
Mr. Maiz holds an MBA from Tulane University and a BS in Engineering from the University of South Florida.
Mr. Beach rejoined Rockland in 2013 after having worked with the firm from 2006 through 2010. His primary responsibilities include origination, evaluation and structuring of investment transactions. He is also a member of the Investment Committee. Between Rockland positions Mr. Beach worked with Partners Group, where he was an Investment Manager focused on the origination and management of power and infrastructure investments.
Previously, Mr. Beach worked for two years as an analyst in the Global Energy and Power Group in the Investment Banking Department of Merrill Lynch. There he worked on mergers and acquisitions, as well as equity and debt financings.
Mr. Beach holds a BA in Mathematical Economic Analysis and a MA in Chemistry both from Rice University.
Mr. Zapalac has been an investment professional with Rockland Capital since 2003. His primary responsibilities at Rockland include origination, evaluation and structuring of investments. Mr. Zapalac also plays a key role in the management of the commercial affairs of Rockland’s portfolio companies.
Since 2001, Mr. Zapalac has worked in the energy industry. Before Rockland, he was involved in acquisitions, restructurings and divestitures of independent power projects at El Paso Merchant Energy. During his time at El Paso, Mr. Zapalac was involved in transaction due diligence, structuring, negotiations and valuation. Previously, he worked as an engineer in the oil field services industry.
Mr. Zapalac received a BS in Engineering and an MBA in Finance both from the University of Texas at Austin.
Ms. Meche is Rockland’s Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for the financial management and administration of Rockland, its funds and portfolio companies.
Ms. Meche joined Rockland in 2010 serving as Controller Portfolio Companies until June of 2019. She has over 29 years of experience in finance and accounting; primarily focused within the energy sector since 2004. Prior to joining Rockland, Ms. Meche was Controller for Complete Energy and also worked several years as a manager in the financial reporting group at Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., a then publicly-held waste services company. Ms. Meche was also previously a Manager with Arthur Andersen LLP.
Ms. Meche is a CPA with the Texas State Board of Public Accountancy and holds a BBA from the University of Houston.
Mr. Ramirez joined the Rockland team in 2019. He oversees the firm’s asset management, plant operations and is involved in technical due diligence efforts for Rockland acquisitions.
Mr. Ramirez has over 25 years of experience in the power generation industry. Prior to joining Rockland, he managed a fleet of operating assets in North America for ENGIE North America. Mr. Ramirez’s experience includes various positions in operations, maintenance, asset management, and field experience.
Mr. Ramirez served in the United States Navy from 1992 – 2001, graduated from Northwood Business University with a BBA in Management and holds an AS in Marine Engineering.
Mr. Peterson joined Rockland Capital in 2010. His primary responsibilities include origination, evaluation and structuring of investment transactions.
Previously, Mr. Peterson worked as an analyst for UBS Investment Bank. There he focused primarily on M&A and financing transactions in a variety of industries.
Mr. Peterson holds an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin and a BS in Accounting from Brigham Young University.
Mr. Smith joined Rockland in 2016. His primary responsibilities include evaluation and analysis of investment transactions.
Previously, Mr. Smith worked as an investment associate at Zelnick Media Capital, a middle-market private equity firm focused on the media and communications sector. In addition, Mr. Smith worked as an analyst with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in their Power and Utilities investment banking group.
Mr. Smith holds a BS in Finance from Penn State University.
Mr. McMullan is Rockland’s General Counsel where he is responsible for all legal and regulatory aspects of Rockland, its funds, and its portfolio companies.
Mr. McMullan joined Rockland in 2022. He has over 20 years of energy experience representing private equity firms, commodity trading houses, developers, and construction companies. Prior to joining Rockland, he was General Counsel at Hudson Sustainable Group and was Associate General Counsel at EDF Energy North America. He also spent several years as a shareholder in private practice developing, building, buying, selling, and financing energy assets.
Mr. McMullan received a BBA in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and a JD from Harvard Law School.