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Technology Team

Valerie Schafer, P.E

Chief Technology Advisor, DOVET creator

Ms Valerie Schafer is a Licensed Professional Engineer with more than 35 years of experience. Ms Schafer has a BS in chemical engineering with honours from University of Virginia and is an OSHA-authorized safety trainer and a Root Cause Failure Analysis leader. Valerie began her career at ExxonMobil where she served as the head of an international network of gas treatment plants and audited refineries for energy optimization. Ms Schafer has held positions of Process Engineering Manager and Vice President of Engineering having supervised multi-cultural teams. Ms Schafers areas of expertise include leading concept studies, thermodynamic modelling, engineering design, contractor design review, and plant construction, commissioning, operations, and troubleshooting. Ms Schafer has led risk assessments and incident investigations and worked closely with power plants in roles such as Lead Process Engineer at one of ExxonMobil’s largest refineries and as Operations Superintendent of a gas plant in Kurdistan, Iraq. Ms Schafer has lived and worked in the Middle East, Asia, South America, Europe, U. K. and Canada and is well-versed in American and international design standards.

Recent efforts by Ms Schafer have culminated in the creation and optimization of DOVET, the Company's cornerstone technology asset. DOVETs importance in contributing to the renewed enthusiasm for Solar Tower developments across the globe cannot be understated. 

Norman Oliver

Advisor

Norm Oliver began his professional career in the energy industry as a combat nuclear power plant operator and instructor aboard U.S.S. Enterprise. Following honorable discharge and university degree studies, he was recruited by Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) in corporate strategic planning. During the next decade, Norm held positions of broadening responsibility in staff and line positions including investor relations, deregulated wholesale contract negotiations, and supply chain logistics optimization. In 1991 he answered the entrepreneur’s call and subsequently served in C-level and board roles in innovative internet trading, exploration big data management software, AI, and retail power marketing firms among other startup ventures. Since 2012 he have served on the Apollo Development board. Norm holds B.S. and M.S. engineering degrees from M.I.T. and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Bryan Pregler

Energy Consultant

Bryan Pregler has over 20 years of experience in the energy industry. Bryan currently serves as the CFO of Terrain Water Solutions which performs oilfield wastewater disposal and oil reclamation services. Bryan began his career with Williams Companies in the energy commodities trading group including management of electrical generation assets and electricity trading across all regions of the United States. He worked with KPMG in the energy consulting group working directly with energy executives supporting M&A transactions, business strategy, profitability improvement and finance strategy. Client companies include TXU, British Petroleum, Spectra Energy, Sierra Pacific Power, Exxon Mobile, Shell and ConocoPhillips. Bryan graduated from Oklahoma State University in 1999 with degrees in Accounting, Finance and MIS and obtained his MBA in 2003.

Dr Ilan Kuppusamy

Advisor

Professional Experience Chief Executive Officer (2010 to present):

Dr Ilan Kuppusamy has developed innovative transformation strategies to secure and manufacture specific building materials and Solar Cells using modern State of art Nano-Technologies. Administrated cross-functional team to develop quality control & monitoring to integrate in production and process effectively. Dr Kuppusamy has also implemented the best manufacturing practices, developed Nano-Wind technology for rural energy supply and developed technologies for water and waste water treatment and transferred technologies to government agencies.