Our management team is composed of industry veterans, seasoned technologists and direct marketing experts.
Daniel Yates, CEO, Founder
As CEO, Yates is responsible for the vision, strategy, and leadership of OPOWER. Before this venture, Dan was founder and CEO of Edusoft, an educational software company that provided assessment platforms to US public school districts. Dan sold the 150-person, $20M revenue company to Boston-based publisher Houghton Mifflin in 2004.
After his departure from Houghton Mifflin, Dan embarked on a year-long adventure with his wife, driving from the Arctic Sea in Alaska to the southern tip of South America. Over the course of this trip, Dan became aware of the shocking degradation of the environment, and he subsequently resolved to dedicate his life to sustaining what’s left of our beautiful natural world.
In 2009, Dan was named a "Tech Titan" by Washingtonian magazine and was a finalist for the Ernst and Young 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Dan received his B.A. in Computer Science, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Harvard University.
Alex Laskey, President, Founder
As President and Founder, Alex is OPOWER’s public face, responsible for engaging utility and government partners in OPOWER’s vision and products. He is highly sought-after as a speaker at energy-related conferences and fora throughout the country and abroad. In his role as OPOWER’s President, Alex was invited to the White House to meet with President Obama and discuss innovation and job creation in the green economy.
Prior to OPOWER, Alex enjoyed a career in politics and policy serving as a campaign manager, strategist and public opinion analyst for several candidates nationwide. Alex provided strategic consulting on several statewide ballot measures for The Nature Conservancy, The Trust for Public Land, and The League of Conservation Voters. Alex has worked for the White House and on a presidential campaign.
Before turning to politics and policy, Alex produced the award-winning feature film, Assisted Living, and worked as the director of new business and strategy for The Romann Group, a New York-based advertising agency.
Alex received his B.A. in History of Science from Harvard University.
Roderick Morris, SVP of Consumer Marketing and Operations
Roderick leads the teams who create energy savings results for OPOWER’s client base through targeted marketing campaigns and general management of client operations. He is responsible for managing all consumer marketing and analytics on OPOWER’s patent-pending customer engagement platform, as well as the program management and technology operations accountable for the core P&L of the company.
Prior to OPOWER, Roderick was VP, Marketing at Vovici, a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider of customer feedback management solutions, where he led marketing, product management, public relations, and analyst relations, quintupling organic search traffic and doubling new business pipeline. Earlier at Vovici, he managed the renewal sales team, the professional services organization, the customer support team, and customer training programs, achieving major increases in customer renewal rates, satisfaction, and profitability. Prior to joining Vovici, Roderick was the general manager for LexisNexis US Business Information Solutions. This included $150M of P&L responsibility for online research, text analytics, and SaaS products serving sales, marketing, and corporate knowledge professionals. Earlier at LexisNexis, he managed businesses in information services, e-discovery, and corporate legal SaaS solutions. At LexisNexis, Roderick built multiple high-growth businesses and consistently raised growth rates and renewal rates materially for the P&Ls he managed. Previously, he worked for Bain & Company, Microsoft, Simmons & Company, and Corporate Executive Board.
Roderick earned an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin
Wellford Dillard, VP of Finance
Wellford provides strategic management of OPOWER’s finance, recruiting, HR, and operations groups. Before this position, Wellford served as the Chief Financial Officer of Acumen Solutions, where his leadership played a significant role in driving organic revenue growth of more than 120%. Prior to joining Acumen Solutions, Wellford served as the Chief Financial Officer at TMA Resources, the leading provider of association management software to the nonprofit sector. Earlier still, Wellford was a VP at WWC Capital Group, where he provided merger and acquisition advisory and equity placement services to software and IT services firms. Wellford’s career began as a financial analyst at Ernst & Young and an equity research associate at Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group.
Wellford received his B.A. from the University of Memphis and his M.B.A. from the University of Maryland. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the School for Ethics and Global Leadership in Washington, D.C.
Ben Foster, VP of Product
Ben manages the creation, design, and delivery of OPOWER’s products, ensuring that the company continues to build the industry’s leading suite of energy information services. He is responsible for managing the company’s products from a variety of perspectives, including features and functionality, user experience, and overall roadmap.
Prior to OPOWER, Ben was Vice President of Product Management for Adchemy, a leader in digital advertising technology. There he was responsible for the company’s entire product suite supporting lead generation and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings. Ben defined the company’s product strategy and roadmap, collaborating with engineering and research teams to construct the industry’s first end-to-end modular online ad optimization platform. Before joining Adchemy Ben led dozens of consumer-oriented product management efforts spanning disciplines of marketing, merchandising, search, structured data, and technology integration. He has also held various product management positions at companies such as eBay, Webvan, ThoughtWorks, and Barra.
Ben was a top scholar at the University of California at Berkeley, from which he holds a B.A degree in Statistics.
Jeremy Kirsch, VP of Client Solutions
Jeremy has been leading high-performance teams, working with customers and partners, and building businesses for over 12 years. Prior to joining OPOWER, Jeremy was an executive in the Viisage Secure Credentialing business at L-1 Identity Solutions (NYSE:ID). While at Viisage, Jeremy held a series of positions including VP Sales and Business Development and VP Marketing and Strategy. Jeremy’s team was critical in the division's rapid growth from $67 million to more than $100 million in annual revenue through expanded direct sales.
Jeremy has also held a leadership role at Art Technology Group (NASD: ARTG) and was a founder of InvestTree.com. Both companies developed Jeremy’s experience in bringing new products and services to the market. Earlier in his career, Jeremy was a Special Operations Officer in the U.S. Navy, where he served as a member of elite Mobile Diving and Salvage Unit Two. He completed his naval service with the rank of Lieutenant.
Jeremy received his B.A. in Economics from Stanford University and his M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Marc Solomon, VP of Consumer Marketing and Analytics
Marc brings extensive direct marketing experience from Capital One, where, as VP of Enterprise Marketing Strategy, he focused on building deeper customer relationships through cross-sell and Internet marketing strategies. Prior to this role, Marc was VP of Upmarket Card Marketing Strategy and was responsible for direct marketing programs to acquire new customers. He managed a $250MM+ marketing budget and a team of 45 that developed targeted marketing campaigns. Marc also led the development of Capital One’s first credit-card loyalty miles and cash programs.
Earlier in his career, Solomon was an Associate at Booz-Allen & Hamilton in the Energy and Chemicals Group, where he advised major electric utilities.
Marc received his B.S.E.in Operations Research, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Jeff Barrett, VP of Engineering
Jeff Barrett has over fifteen years of technology leadership experience including key roles within start-up, turnaround, and established environments. As OPOWER’s Senior Director of Engineering, Jeff Barrett manages the technical vision and delivery of OPOWER's core Software as a Service (SaaS) product.
Prior to joining OPOWER, Jeff was the Technical Director at Vanno, The Company Reputation Index. While there he worked closely with the two founders to turn a product vision into a polished, production SaaS that tracked 5,500 companies across 25 aspects of corporate reputation. Previously, he was Director of Engineering at Finaplex (acquired by Broadridge), where he was responsible for the delivery of a suite of SaaS Wealth Management applications. While at Finaplex he managed a large, multi-national team delivering solutions to clients like The Royal Bank of Canada and First Union.
Jeff holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Institute of Technology.
Ogi Kavazovic, Sr. Director of Marketing and Strategy
Ogi Kavazovic is responsible for developing and coordinating the company's overall marketing approach. He works closely with the sales and product teams to help refine the company's strategic positioning.
Prior to joining OPOWER, Ogi was a senior management consultant at Katzenbach Partners, where he had extensive experience in corporate strategy development for clients in the utility sector, including working with one of the nation’s leading competitive utilities to develop a Smart Energy business plan.
Ogi started his career as a software engineer, developing risk and asset management systems for major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Ogi was also one of the lead architects of a "smart field" data management platform for Schlumberger Information Systems, the foundation of which are incorporated into Smart Grid data management systems today.
Ogi received his B.A. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from Harvard University.
Michael Sachse, Sr. Director of Regulatory Affairs and General Counsel
Michael Sachse is the primary liaison for OPOWER and public partners. Michael represents OPOWER in front of public utilities commissions, governors, mayors, and state legislators, and also oversees OPOWER’s legal work. Michael’s efforts have been instrumental in developing public-private partnerships for OPOWER, including helping our utility partners use stimulus funding for their efficiency programs.
Prior to joining OPOWER, Michael was a litigator at leading New York law firm Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler and law clerk to Chief Judge Edward Korman in the Eastern District of New York. In 2008, Michael served as Communications Director for the campaign of now Congressman Jim Himes.
Michael received his B.A.in History, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Amherst College and his law degree from Harvard Law School.