• COMPANY OVERVIEW
• LEADERSHIP TEAM
• BOARD OF DIRECTORS
• ADVISOR TEAM

Leadership Team

Our management team reflects a powerful mix of experience from the fields of energy, consulting, procurement, corporate development, technology, sales, and marketing. We share a passion and philosophy that by improving the quality of energy in the United States – and around the world – we can help shape a more sustainable future for all.

• Michael Gorton - Chief Executive Officer / Chairman
• Kenneth Allen - Chief Operating Officer
• Dave Cary - Interim Chief Financial Officer
• R. Michael Martin - Executive Vice President, Business Development
• Dan Bedell - Executive Vice President Marketing & Corporate Development
• Rick Borry - Chief Technology Officer
• Jorge Aizcorbe - Executive Vice President, Strategic Alliances

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Michael Gorton
Chief Executive Officer / Chairman

A quintessential entrepreneur, mentor, and company builder, Michael Gorton has proven to be a strategic visionary, impacting the telecommunications, music, and healthcare industries. As founding CEO of Teladoc, the nation's leading telehealth company, Michael pioneered a health care model in which members had access to telephonic physicians who could review medical records, treat, and prescribe medication that today supports the new paradigm in health care reform. As a founder and leader of Principal Solar, Michael applies his business expertise, scientific education, and training to the renewable energy sector – a strong voice and proponent of solar power.

Prior to this, Michael served as a partner of the Texas Acceleration Group (TAG), an entity formed to assist startup companies. Michael and other TAG partners founded Palo Duro Records to promote unknown country artist Shelley Laine.  Within three years, Laine became the number one ranked independent artist in country music, was nominated for Best Female Artist in 2002, and put six songs on the charts.

In 1993, Michael founded Internet Global, a company that delivered the first DSL network and one of the first VOIP networks at a time when few people predicted the profound impact the Internet would have on communication and society. Prior to this, Michael worked as a project engineer at Dallas Power & Light dealing with power plants, distribution, transformer management, and integration of renewable energy into the grid. 

Fueled by his passion for education, Michael has taught college courses in math, astronomy, and physics and published two novels and dozens of articles on topics ranging from physics to healthcare. 

Michael earned his B.S. in Engineering from Texas Tech, his M.S. in Physics from the University of Texas at Dallas, and his Juris Doctorate from Texas Wesleyan University.

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Kenneth G. Allen
Chief Operating Officer

Kenneth G. Allen brings a wealth of knowledge to Principal Solar from his experience as team leader in Administration and Engineering at Texas Utilities and later at Texas Independent Energy. Kenneth spent 30 years as a manager at TXU Energy, one of the nation's largest electricity generation companies.  During that term, Kenneth oversaw construction of several gigawatts of generation.  After leaving TXU, Kenneth joined Texas Independent Energy, an entrepreneurial startup, where he spent nine years managing gas-fired facilities and selling electricity to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas.

Kenneth draws on his experience chairing Safety Committee upgrades and ensuring compliance with government and state regulatory agencies; developing a safety handbook; and implementing protection measures to meet regulatory requirements. Additionally, Kenneth is an experienced director of accounting and administrative review teams to streamline procedures, accounting, policies and procedures, and methods of purchasing and distributing materials. 

Kenneth earned his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from New Mexico State University. 

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Dave Cary
Interim Chief Financial Officer

Dave Cary is a critical blend of classic chief financial officer and entrepreneur.  He has significant depth and breadth of corporate finance, accounting and Wall St. experience and skill as well as the passion for driving early stage company growth.

Dave's past five years were as the Chief Operating Officer at TDI Technologies, a privately held software company.  Through most of the 2000s, Dave served as the Chair of the Audit Committee of Neon Systems (NEON: NASDAQ) where he oversaw the Sarbanes Oxley implementation and was involved with acquisitions and the eventual sale to another technology company.   From 1992-1999, Dave was with i2 Technologies where he managed the financial and administrative functions in this rapid pace environment and was also heavily engaged in revenue negotiations, hiring, training, legal matters, acquisitions.  Dave led the company's highly successful1996 Initial Public Offering, with a valuation of $1 billion, as well as other major financial transactions.  During his time at i2, the company grew from start up to 3,800 employees across twenty-eight countries. Dave's approach to i2 financial management was a combination of what he had learned in the real estate business and the manufacturing business.

Before i2, Dave worked at Southmark Corporation; a real estate based financial company. Southmark was a very aggressive deal-oriented organization which eventually reported $9 billion in assets. Dave was the corporate controller of the Public Syndications group and as such, was responsible for the cash management of thousands of properties. Dave periodically reported to the Board on an unofficial but routine basis to explain cash resources.  Dave also headed the transfer of two large companies from the Bay Area to Texas.

In 1984, Dave joined General Portland, Inc. ("GPI") a large cement and construction materials manufacturer where he served in various accounting functions. Dave was involved with some of the joint ventures with the State of Texas and also, at one point, involved with running the plants during a labor strike.

Dave began his adult life in the infantry where he served four years as a squad leader. He first cut his accounting teeth as a KPMG auditor.  He holds a BS in Accounting from San Francisco State and an MBA from Southern Methodist University.  Dave is an amateur historian who enjoys bicycling, hiking, and spending time with his wife and children. He has also helped create a grass roots ad hoc organization to protect the civil rights of parents against unwarranted governmental intrusion.

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R. Michael Martin
Executive Vice President, Business Development  

R. Michael Martin, a long-time and passionate supporter of renewable energy and sustainability practices, has over 20 years experience in the information technology industry in diverse business development roles, most recently leading sales efforts of Aquire's strategic workforce planning solutions. During his successful tenure, Michael consistently provided high-value solutions to large enterprises for strategic aspects of their operations. A key to Michael's success has been creative problem-solving with senior management of large corporate customers.

Michael previously led i2 Technologies' largest strategic partnerships, which spearheaded the company's dramatic growth. Additionally, Michael worked in the systems integration and consulting field primarily with SHL Systemhouse (now a part of HP/EDS) and as a sales leader at Unisys Corporation.

Michael earned his B.B.A. in International Business from The University of Texas at Austin, which included a year of study at the Université de Paris. 

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Dan Bedell
Executive Vice President Marketing
& Corporate Development  

Following a lifelong interest in renewable energy, Dan Bedell co-founded Capstone Solar, a think tank for solar professionals to exchange ideas on policy and technology and a platform for peer to peer branding, micro-networking and interactive solar webinars.

Dan previously worked on mergers and acquisitions in the global materials industry, integrating newly acquired businesses into a standard corporate footprint at Lehigh Hanson, Inc.  Prior to that, Dan was COO and Director of Business Development for a Dallas-area construction company that was an early entrant into the "green" building market and the rooftop solar installation market.  In that capacity, he was an advocate and evangelist for distributed solar generation in the state of Texas.  He now brings that same passion for the inevitable mainstream adoption of solar power to Principal Solar. 

Dan holds his B.B.A. in Economics from the University of North Texas where he graduated cum laude and spent a semester studying international finance in the UK.

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Rick Borry
Chief Technology Officer

Rick Borry is a co-founder of Capstone Solar, where he produced a series of online conferences around the needs of solar professionals. In addition to his role at Principal Solar, Rick serves as an advisor for Solar Logic at the University of North Texas in Denton.

While at Capstone Solar, Rick founded Webvent.tv, which is credited as the first platform to build communities around online conferences.  Most recently, Rick was the Chief Software Architect for Certain Software beginning with their acquisition of his online event registration startup, Register123.com.  At various stages during that tenure, Rick worked in every department while the company grew to over 150 employees around the world.

Rick earned his Doctorate in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and his B.S. from Clemson University. Rick has worked as a research associate for Dupont in Delaware and an environmental engineer for Hoechst Celanese in South Carolina.

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Jorge Aizcorbe
Executive Vice President, Strategic Alliances

Jorge Aizcorbe brings to Principal Solar an entrepreneurial background of founding and growing companies. Jorge has innate skills in negotiation, focusing on the individual across the table, and leveraging knowledge and experience.

Jorge's expertise has generated over $1 Billion for companies such as Chase Capital Partners, Bechtel Industries, Scotts Miracle Gro and Madison Dearborn Partners. Jorge's career began with W.R. Grace & Co. in Corporate Development and Merger & Acquisitions. Jorge founded Solar Systems of Arizona, one of the nation's earliest solar companies, as well as biotech innovator Kerrys Domeliead and Twyford Labs, and fiber optic company Optreon.

Social issues have always been important to Jorge, who has provided long-standing support of the Make-a-Wish Foundation and the Wildlife Conservation Network. 

Jorge earned his B.B.A. from the University of Florida.

 

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