About AIRE – Who We Are
Who We Are
What We Do – Who We Are – AIRE’s History – Contact AIRE
L to R: Steve Owen, Dave Harman, Andrea Capua, Jeffrey Scott, Landon Pennington
Staff
Steve Owen, Ph.D. founded AIRE in the spring of 2007 as an outgrowth of his work organizing the Appalachian Coalfields Delegation to the United Nations. In 2006 and 2007, he led the delegation to New York City for the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) sessions on sustainable energy. Their participation helped connect the grassroots effort to end mountaintop removal coal mining with global civil society groups. Steve has an undergraduate degree in economics, a Masters in education, and a doctorate in public policy and sustainability studies. Steve has served on the faculty of the ASU Sustainable Development program. Prior to becoming involved in sustainable development, he worked for Outward Bound (North Carolina and Colorado), as a private mountaineering guide, a Nordic ski instructor, small business owner, and in corporate training and development in the U.S. and Venezuela. Steve currently serves as AIRE’s Executive Director.
steve [at] aire-nc.org
Dave Harman has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1974, and has been semiretired since 2003. He founded and served as a board member of a community bank, was president of a $25 million division of a public company, has held the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) position in several companies, and presently works in his retirement as a business consultant focusing on planning, mergers and acquisitions. He has an economics degree from NC State University. He has also traveled to Alaska to work with native peoples in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a project to which he has been highly devoted, and for which he co-authored the book Arctic Gardens-Voices from an Abundant Land. Dave began working with AIRE in November 2009 providing invaluable leadership in strategic planning, financial modeling and forecasting. Dave currently works part-time for AIRE as the Finance Director.
dave [at] aire-nc.org
Rio Tazewell is a 2010 graduate of Appalachian State University, where he received an Interdisciplinary Studies degree in Sustainable Development and Political Science, with a minor in Appropriate Technology. During his time at ASU Rio was a leader in promoting renewable energy and raising awareness around sustainability issues. Rio met Steve Owen in 2008 and has worked with AIRE since early 2010 to develop the Education and Outreach program. Rio serves as the Director of Education and Outreach.
rio [at] aire-nc.org
Richard Fireman is a retired Emergency Physician. He has worked as a volunteer on the Steering Committee of NC Interfaith Power & Light from 2005 to 2008, and as part-time staff Public Policy Coordinator since 2009. He believes that our joy, passion, determination, and creativity are fully capable to create a sustainable earth democracy, in which the rights of all beings, both human and other than human can fulfill the highest potential of their evolutionary capacity.
richard [at] aire-nc.org
Jeff Deal currently serves as an Information Technology Specialist for Appalachian Voices, where, among other things, he worked on the iLoveMountains.org development team. An Enviro-Renewable-Energy-Geek with a bachelor’s in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, Jeff has completed graduate courses in computer science and appropriate technology. Immersing himself in the Information Technology industry for the last 10 years, Jeff has worked as a computer programmer (C/C++, JAVA, PHP, UNIX shell scripting), Relational Database administrator (Sybase, Oracle, MySQL, and DB2), and UNIX Systems Engineer (AIX, Solaris, and Linux). His renewable energy interests include energy efficiency, photovoltaics, wind energy, micro hydroelectric, solar-thermal design, and sustainable transportation. Jeff currently serves as a part-time Information Technology Director for AIRE.
jeff [at] aire-nc.org
Jeffrey Scott has over sixteen years of social entrepreneurship, land conservation and real estate experience. He is the founder of Frontline Conservation Real Estate, a non-traditional brokerage and land investment firm that places critical conservation lands into the hands of conservation-minded buyers and investors. He has founded and sits on the boards of several other socially-driven businesses in the green affordable housing and local food economy sectors. Jeffrey is a former executive director of the National Committee for the New River and chair of the N.C. Land Trust Council. He received an M.A. in Geography & Planning. Jeffrey is currently the Appalachia Regional Director for Heifer International, working to develop a sustainable regional food system. He also participates in the Appalachian Funders Network. Jeffrey has played a central role in developing the AIRE model, and currently works with AIRE as a consultant.
jeffrey [at] aire-nc.org
Landon Pennington works as an AIRE project manager, in addition to being an instructor of Spanish at Caldwell Community College. Raised in Albemarle, NC, Landon now lives with his wife Cassie and daughter Maya in Boone. They are currently building a NC Healthy Built home in downtown Boone. While working on a masters in spanish Landon also worked on a second M.A. from ASU–Appropriate Technology with a specific focus on photovoltaics. He spent many recent summers in northern Alaska, working with friends and colleagues Harvard Ayers and Dave Harman to raise awareness for the indigenous people who live on the energy frontline of North America. He was also a co-author of Arctic Gardens: Voices from an Abundant Land. Landon has also traveled extensively in Latin America and hopes, in the near future, to use his interest for the environment and energy in the developing world.
landon [at] aire-nc.org
Maureen Jackson is the part-time administrative assistant for AIRE. She has over 20 years of professional administrative support and bookkeeping experience. Maureen is a non-traditional student at Appalachian State University, where she is majoring in Sustainable Development.
maureen [at] aire-nc.org
Board of Directors
Jeff Boyer, Ph.D. – Chair, is an anthropologist and founder of the Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program at Appalachian State University. In addition to his decades of research in Honduras, he specializes in rural sustainable development in Appalachia.
Jeff Deal – Vice Chair Please refer to Bio in Staff section above.
Caroline Gandy – Secretary has a double master’s degree from Appalachian State University, with concentrations in Sustainable Development and Geography & Planning. Her academic research and community involvement focus on issues of land ownership, affordable housing, and farmland preservation in Southern Appalachia.
Dave Harman – Treasurer Please refer to Bio in Staff section above.
Steve Owen, Ph.D. Please refer to Bio in Staff section above.
Brent Summerville, P.E. is a professional engineer and holds a master’s in Appropriate Technology, with a focus on renewable energy. He is currently Research Director for the Small Wind Certification Council. Prior to that, he directed the Western North Carolina Renewable Energy Initiative at his post in the Appropriate Technology department at Appalachian State University.
Joe Smith is an engineer at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. He is an ASU graduate with a master’s in Appropriate Technology. While at Appalachian State, his studies focused on renewable energy technology. He has a degree in aerospace engineering, has worked for Alaska Aerospace Development Corporation, plays bagpipes, is a licensed pilot, and has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania. Joe recently moved to Germany where his wife is working on her post-doctorate in Geology. Joe is involved in off-shore wind engineering during this period.
Consultants and Advisors
Inquiring Systems, Inc. – Sonoma, CA (strategic planning and business management consulting) S. Loren Cole, Ph.D. is the founder of Inquiring Systems. He is the founder, leader and contributor to many of the most important social issues of our time, including resource use and energy conservation, environment, civil rights and social justice, education, organic farming, hunger, refugee issues, low-income employment and training, equitable trade, international development, and other pertinent issues and conditions that effect people, communities and ecosystems. Loren is one of the founding members of Earth Day and was co-coordinator of the first Earth Day activities on the UC-Berkeley campus in 1970.
di Santi, Watson, Capua & Wilson – Boone, NC (transactional law, project counsel, organizational matters) Andrea Capua, Esq. is a business attorney who consults with community-owned renewable energy companies, and is also often-cited in state energy policy literature as the County of Watauga (NC) attorney whose memorandum to the county commission interpreted the North Carolina Mountain Ridge Protection Act such as to make wind power legal. Watauga subsequently became the first county in North Carolina to pass a wind permitting ordinance.
Johnson, Price & Sprinkle, PA (JPS) – Asheville, NC and Boone, NC (certified public accountants specializing in renewable energy tax matters) Tige Darner, CPA is AIRE’s renewable energy tax specialist.
Energy Center, Appalachian State University – Boone, NC. Helps AIRE with critical energy policy research and other business related energy issues.