About Owl Power Company
Owl Power Company is a Massachusetts-based company that manufactures, installs, and operates clean energy cogeneration systems. The company's flagship product, Vegawatt™, is an automated, combined heat and power (CHP) system that utilizes waste vegetable oil as its feedstock.
Owl Power Company is seeking professional investment partners. If you are a Qualified investor and interested in an investment in Owl Power Company, please contact us for more details.
The Management Team
James Peret, President & CEO
James Peret is the founder of Owl Power Company. He is responsible for the engineering and development of the waste oil cogeneration system which is the basis of the company.
Prior to founding Owl Power Company, Mr. Peret worked for Insight Product Development as a product development engineer. Working with over 60 companies, with ranges in size from 2-3 individuals to tens of thousands employees, he has developed a broad and deep understanding of corporate goals and how the simplest project relates to overall corporate strategy. Extensive effort with several startup companies (4 tech startups, 3 Bio startups, 1 failed energy startup) has lead to significant understanding of the startup philosophy and the pressures to perform. While at Insight, Mr. Peret was named inventor on 3 utility patents.
At Insight, Mr. Peret was heavily involved in the development of the "Big Belly III" solar trash compactor from Seahorse Power Company (now Big Belly Solar). These trash compactors have been deployed successfully in many communities throughout the United States and abroad.
Previously, Mr. Peret worked at Teradyne, a large engineering company, as a maintenance design engineer where he gained valuable skills such as TQM, DFMA, cost reduction philosophy, and a good working knowledge of sheet metal design.
Mr. Peret holds his engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Ben Prentice, Vice President of Sales
Ben's enthusiasm, creativity and initiative have led him to become one of the area's best known green entrepreneurs. An education at Hartwick College and leading positions in the hospitality industry provided the perfect framework for Mr. Prentice to eventually combine his business development skills with his experience of applying green, sustainable practices in a professional setting.
In 2006 he opened the Grille Zone, a first-of-its kind restaurant with a Certified Green all fresh, local foods concept with virtually zero waste and an extremely low-carbon footprint. The Grille Zone opened to immediate national publicity and became the first Certified Green fast food restaurant in the United States. To achieve this notable status, the restaurant composted all waste, and used low water flow and recyclable food containers. Mr. Prentice also negotiated a unique purchase agreement to use super-energy efficient fryers in exchange for becoming a test kitchen. In doing so, he was able to save thousands of dollars in capital expenditures.
His innovative concept for a green fast food restaurant is just one example of the creative and original ideas that provide the fuel for all of Mr. Prentice's professional goals. He is able to identify groundbreaking business opportunities and translate green business into revenue-producing businesses. He has a recognized knowledge and experience of successfully implementing sustainability practices such as low water usage, use of alternative fuels, and green building. Mr. Prentice also brings experience with general management, P&L responsibility for operations, customer service, sales, marketing and public relations.
Prior to the Grille Zone restaurant, Ben's initial experience was with a major foodservice corporation in operations management followed by a project management role at a leading hospitality university. He then founded the nation's first diversity search firm for the hotel, restaurant and foodservice industries which he ran for 15 years. In his spare time, Mr. Prentice serves on the Green Team of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and the Uno Chicago Grill Green Team.
Robert J. Peret, MBA, Vice President of Field Operations
Mr. Peret has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Nichols College in 1993, a Bachelor in Management Engineering Technology and an Associate Degree in Mechanical Power Engineering from Wentworth Institute of Technology in the early 70's. He began his mechanical career as the Chief Engineer of diesel engine tug boats in the Navy at Pearl Harbor. He has over 30 years of industrial engineering experience, including program management, systems development, line layout, analysis of customer needs and development of tooling engineering cost estimates for million dollar tools.
Mr. Peret developed an exhaustive computer program to automate costing procedures. The computer program Mr. Peret developed on capacity planning was published by the Society of Plastic Engineers. Mr. Peret also developed and published user manuals on computer use, on tooling, on quoting and service manuals for assembly and packaging of various manufactured products.
He has vast experience as direct supervisor of engineering and non-engineering staff as well as serving as coordinator and trainer of international field engineering staff. For over 15 years, he taught fluid power transfer for Fitchburg State College. He has served as Technical Program Chair and Paper Selection Committee Chair for several years for the Society of Plastic Engineers' (SPE) Annual Technical Meeting. He also served as Chairman of the Board of the Injection Molding Division of the Society. He received the "Engineer of the Year" award from SPE in 2008.
The Advisory Board
Richard Lucash, Lawrence Associates
Richard M. Lucash is a partner in Lawrence Associates, a management consulting firm. He has had a long career as a high-tech attorney. He founded a prominent "boutique" high tech law firm and was a senior partner in a large national firm before making a career change to management consulting and serving on advisory boards of technology companies. Rick has focused on organizational, capital formation, founder and management compensation and other legal and business issues for high technology companies, and has advised the organizations and individuals who invest in those companies. He has been actively involved with the venture capital and angel investor community. His involvement with raising capital includes his formation of the LaunchPad angel investment group. Rick's experience includes working with companies involved in a wide range of technologies, including computer software and medical devices, alternative energy, Internet-based electronic commerce and interactive media, and nanotechnology applications. He holds degrees from MIT (BSc, Physics) and Cornell Law School.
Jack Lindsey, SunBelt International
Jack Lindsey is a Chairman and CEO of SunBelt International, a management consulting group located in Boston, MA. Mr. Lindsey is an experienced international multi-industry executive with a concentration in rapid growth enterprises, brand management, turn-around situations, and startup companies. Specializations include mergers and acquisitions involving technology innovations. Background includes consumer products, agribusiness, publishing, military, space electronics, solar energy, and oil industry projects, including refineries; board level strategy formulation, and external infrastructure in roles ranging from principal, board member or as a board consultant. Competencies include major financing, mergers and acquisitions along with legislative initiatives. Clients include companies and or governments in Saudi Arabia, Romania, United Kingdom, Spain, Morocco, Japan, Korea, PRC, Taiwan, Philippines, India, Mexico, Canada, and the national US market.
Jack Kutner, BigBelly® Solar
Jack Kutner is Chief Operating Officer for BigBelly® Solar, an expansion company that manufactures and sells unique solar products, most notably BigBelly® Solar Compactors. Jack has managed the growth of BBS from a start-up to its current position with sales in 32 states and 15 countries. Prior to joining BBS in 2005, Jack was active as a consultant and investor in a variety of businesses with an environmental agenda. Jack left a twenty year career in the financial services industry in 1999 when he resigned his position as President and CEO of First Data Investor Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of First Data Corp., following the company's sale for $1.1 billion. Mr. Kutner served as President at FDIS for 3 years, following 7 years as company COO, a ten year period during which the company grew almost tenfold. Prior to FDIS, Jack held senior management positions at American Express and Merrill Lynch. Jack's background is in operations and general management with extensive experience with technology, software development, sales and marketing, and strategic planning./p>
McCarter & English, Attorneys at Law
Owl Power Company has selected McCarter English to provide complete legal services to the company. McCarter & English, LLP is a firm of over 400 lawyers with offices in Boston, Hartford, Stamford, New York City, Newark, Philadelphia and Wilmington. In continuous business for more than 160 years, They are among the oldest and largest law firms in America.
McCarter's stability, growth, and success reflect a culture in which, time and again, integrity, selflessness, hard work, and an understanding of their clients' businesses and objectives have achieved powerful legal outcomes and real world successes. They view their history, however, not as a source of satisfaction, but as a platform for continuous improvement, and they've earned a reputation for constantly seeking innovative, efficient, and effective ways to attain our client's goals.
McCarter & English has been chosen as the law firm of clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to mid-market and emerging growth companies to individual people.
For InquiriesBen Prentice,
Vice President of Sales,
Owl Power Company
120 Mill Road
Boylston, MA 01505 USA
Phone: 1-508-636-4645 (4OIL)
E-Mail: bprentice@vegawatt.com
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