leadership

Ciaran O’Brien - Chief Executive Officer Based in Wind Capital Group’s Chicago office Ciaran O’Brien brings 20 years of energy and project finance experience to Wind Capital Group. Prior to joining Wind Capital Group, Mr. O’Brien worked with Airtricity in both Europe and the United States and was one of the founders of its North American business unit. During his tenure at Airtricity, Mr. O’Brien

successfully led over $2 billion of equity and debt fundraisings. Mr. O'Brien's experience includes working for Anglo American PLC in their base metals division and with Deloitte in Ireland. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ireland.

Thomas S. Carnahan - Chairman of the Board Tom Carnahan is the founder and Chairman of the Board of Wind Capital Group. In 2005, he drew upon his background in law, politics, development, and farm management and partnered with Missouri farmers and rural electric cooperatives to develop the state’s first wind farm. Since then, Wind Capital Group has developed nearly 1,000 megawatts of wind power in rural America.

Mr. Carnahan is the incoming Chairman of the American Wind Energy Association. He served on President Obama’s National Finance Committee during the last election and enjoys staying active in state and national politics. In 2011 Mr. Carnahan was listed as one of the Most Influential St. Louisans by the St. Louis Business Journal.

With his roots in the Midwest, Mr. Carnahan has a passion for American innovation, rural economic development and U.S. energy independence. It is part of what fuels Mr. Carnahan’s vision for a clean, renewable energy future. As a spokesperson for wind energy, Mr. Carnahan has testified on Capitol Hill and appeared on CNN, Fox News, ABC World News, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR and other major networks as an expert on wind energy, public policy and development.

Mr. Carnahan has a B.A. degree from William Jewell College and a juris doctorate from the University of Missouri School of Law.

 

Robert Craig - Chief Financial Officer Robert Craig joined WCV in October 2009. Based in WCV’s Chicago office, Mr. Craig brings 20 years of corporate strategy and development expertise and capital raising experience to the Company. He is responsible for the for the evaluation of corporate funding requirements and associated capital

raising efforts to support the Company’s growth plans. 

Prior to joining Wind Capital Group, Mr. Craig was an investment banker with Banc of America Securities, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers where he worked with energy and power companies providing advisory services for strategy development, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and general corporate finance matters.  He successfully originated, structured, negotiated and executed a wide range of strategic M&A transactions (representing over $45 billion in value) and public and private financings (representing over $50 billion in value). He began his career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse providing auditing services to emerging growth companies.

Mr. Craig earned a MBA – Finance from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and a BBA – Accounting from the University of Notre Dame.

 

George M. Knapp - General Counsel George Knapp is responsible for planning and directing all aspects of Wind Capital Group’s legal affairs and managing the company's real estate and contract administration groups. Prior to joining Wind Capital Group, Mr. Knapp was a Senior Counsel with FPL Energy, where he served as lead counsel on renewable energy project development, financing,

acquisitions and divestitures, restructurings and asset management.  

Prior to joining FPL Energy, Mr. Knapp resided in Washington, DC, serving as a partner in several major international law firms. Mr. Knapp represented project sponsors, financial institutions, governments and other key energy project participants and played a leading role in contract negotiations, financings and energy transactions in more than 40 states and 40 countries.  

Before entering private practice, Mr. Knapp served as Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Pipeline Rates at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.  
 
Mr. Knapp is past chair of the American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources and the International Energy Transactions Committee of the Energy Bar Association.He is admitted to practice in California and the District of Columbia. He received his law degree from George Washington University and his undergraduate degree, magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, from the University of California, Los Angeles.

 

David Boyce - Executive Vice President, Development & Operations David Boyce is responsible for project development, operations, power marketing and turbine procurement strategy. Prior to this position, Mr. Boyce was a Senior Vice President of Finance at Wind Capital Group, responsible for power marketing, turbine procurement,

acquisitions, and project financing. Prior to joining Wind Capital Group, Mr. Boyce had a senior finance role at E.ON Climate & Renewables and Airtricity, focused on tax investments, acquisitions, and project finance. He has also held past energy-related senior employment positions at CoBank, Americas Power Partners and Skygen/Calpine.