George P. Sakellaris, P.E.
Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Sakellaris is the President and Chief Executive Officer, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ameresco, Inc. (NYSE:AMRC), a leading energy efficiency and renewable energy company headquartered in Framingham, MA.
A visionary and entrepreneur, Mr. Sakellaris founded Ameresco in April 2000. He aspired to build an entirely product-neutral and supplier-independent energy company that had the skills, capabilities and foresight to create independent energy solutions that went beyond just conservation; one that addressed a customer’s entire energy stream including supply and demand, energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Early in his career, Mr. Sakellaris worked at the utility New England Electric System (NEES), where he welcomed the challenge to establish NEES Energy, a company that would promote energy efficiency, thereby avoiding the need to build new power generation plants. Mr. Sakellaris then purchased the business known as NEES Energy in 1991 and renamed it NORESCO. He built NORESCO into a an industry-leading independent energy services company before selling it to Equitable Resources in 1997, where he continued to lead NORESCO and was also appointed as a Senior Vice President of Equitable Resources (NYSE:EQT), a Fortune 500 Energy Company.
Today, Mr. Sakellaris leads Ameresco, a public company, employing over 1,000. Ameresco continues to grow and thrive, and currently supports more than 70 local offices throughout North America and the United Kingdom.
With more than 30 years of experience in the energy industry, Mr. Sakellaris has worked to create budget-neutral business models for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects. Mr. Sakellaris’ dedication and influence in promoting energy efficiency dates back to his involvement with the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI) where he championed the development of demand side management (DSM) programs that were widely implemented across the country. Additionally, he was a founding member of the National Association of Energy Service Companies (NAESCO) where he served as the first president and advocated for the new industry. He remains an active NAESCO member today.
Mr. Sakellaris earned both M.B.A and M.S.E.E. degrees from Northeastern University and a B.S.E.E. degree from the University of Maine – Orono. In May 2012, the University of Maine granted him an Honorary Doctorate for his lifetime of achievements, recognizing his dedication and exemplary leadership in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Mr. Sakellaris was the recipient of the 2015 Finance Monthly CEO Award, Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2011 New England, Energy, Cleantech & Natural Resources Award. In 2012, he was named the Worcester Business Journal’s Business Leader of the Year for large businesses and also honored by The Boston Globe for Ameresco’s Globe-100 Top-performing Public Companies #29 ranking. The Boston Business Journal ranked Ameresco #31 in the Area’s Fastest Growing Public Companies and #49 in Massachusetts’ 150 Top Public Companies. In 2011, Ameresco was honored on the Forbes 100 list as one of America’s Best Small Companies and in 2010, as the New England Clean Energy Council Employer of the Year.
David J. Corrsin
Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary and Director
Mr. Corrsin is Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Ameresco. He is also the Corporate Secretary and is a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Corrsin has extensive experience with energy regulations, federal, state and local regulatory authorities, and complex energy construction and financing projects, gained through more than 23 years of energy-related legal practice. Mr. Corrsin oversees financial and regulatory issues of independent power, utility and energy conservation projects for Ameresco.
Mr. Corrsin was formerly an executive vice president of Public Power International, Inc., an independent developer of power projects in south Asia and Europe. Prior to joining PPI, Mr. Corrsin held various positions at Palmer & Dodge, LLP, where he co-founded the Palmer & Dodge Energy Group and represented independent power and energy conservation developers in the U.S. and overseas. Mr. Corrsin has also held positions at Chadbourne & Parke, Hudson Research, and the National Wildlife Federation; each position having a focus on energy.
Mr. Corrsin earned a J.D. degree from the University of Chicago and an A.B. degree in biology from Brown University.
Claire Hughes Johnson
Ms. Johnson has served as a director since July 2021. Johnson brings more than two decades of experience directing product innovation, go to market and operational strategy for a range of technology industry leaders. Johnson is currently on the executive team at global technology company Stripe. Over the last six years, she’s helped Stripe grow from under 200 employees to more than 4000 globally. Along the way, she's led a number of teams including business operations, sales, marketing, people and international expansion. Prior to joining Stripe, she spent ten years at Google, leading various business teams including the launch and operations of Gmail and Google Apps. She was also the Vice President responsible for Adwords mid-market revenue globally, Google Offers and the business operations of Google’s self-driving car project. Committed to advancing the empowerment of women in technology, Johnson served as the co-lead and executive sponsor of Women@Google, the company’s largest global employee network. During her tenure, Johnson scaled the organization, expanding it to over 4,000 active members from offices around the world.
Jennifer L. Miller
Ms. Miller has served as a director since February 2015. Since September 2015, Ms. Miller has served as Chief Business Sustainability Officer of Sappi North America, the U.S. subsidiary of Sappi Limited, a producer of coated fine paper. From 2002 to August 2015, Ms. Miller held senior management positions at Sappi North America, including Executive Vice President – Strategic Marketing and Executive Vice President – Publishing. She also serves on the board of directors of Sappi Fine Paper North America.
Charles R. Patton
Mr. Patton has served as a director since April 2023. He brings more than three decades of leading corporate sustainability initiatives, overseeing public policy and affairs, and enhancing business operations for a number of organizations across the industry.
Mr. Patton served as the Executive Vice President, External Affairs of American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NASDAQ: AEP), one of the largest electric utility organizations in the U.S. serving 5.4 million customers across 11 states until July 2022. In this role, Patton oversaw American Electric’s customer service, regulatory, communications, safety and culture training, and federal public policy. Also under his purview, he led compliance and corporate sustainability initiatives for the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), a not-for-profit international regulatory authority whose mission is to assure the effective and efficient reduction of risks to the reliability and security of the grid. Prior to this role, Patton also served as the President and Chief Operating Officer at two of American Electric’s largest subsidiaries, including Appalachian Power Company and AEP Texas. Other roles have included the Director of Richmond Federal Reserve Bank and serving more than 10 years as a regulatory and policy analyst for Houston Industries, the parent company for Houston Lighting & Power.
In addition to his Board role at Ameresco, Patton also actively serves on the Board of Sterling Infrastructure, Inc., Messer, Inc., and Messer Construction Company.
Nickolas Stavropoulos
Most recently, Mr. Stavropoulos served as president and chief operations officer of Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) – a position he held from March 2017 through September 2018. Under his leadership, PG&E solidified its reputation as one of the most reliable utilities in the United States. Mr. Stavropoulos originally joined PG&E in 2011 and held two other leadership positions in its gas organization. At the time of his departure, PG&E’s gas business was the only North American utility to have earned or qualified for the industry’s four third-party certifications for safety.
Before joining Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Mr. Stavropoulos served as executive vice president and COO of National Grid from 2007 through 2011. Mr. Stavropoulos has also held senior leadership roles at KeySpan Energy Delivery, Colonial Gas Company and Boston Gas.
Joseph W. Sutton
Mr. Sutton has served as a director since 2002. Since 2000, Mr. Sutton has been the manager of Sutton Ventures Group, LLC, an energy investment firm that he founded. In 2007, he founded and has since led Consolidated Asset Management Services, or CAMS, which provides asset management, O&M, information technology, budgeting, contract management and development services to power plant ventures, oil and gas companies, renewable energy companies and other energy businesses. From 1992 to November 2000, Mr. Sutton worked for Enron Corporation, an energy company, where he most recently served as vice chairman and as chief executive officer of Enron International.
Frank V. Wisneski
Mr. Wisneski has served as a director since May 2011. Prior to retiring in 2001, Mr. Wisneski was Partner and Senior Vice President at Wellington Management Company, L.P., an institutional asset manager serving clients globally, where he had worked since 1969. Since retiring, Mr. Wisneski has served as a trustee or director of several non-profit organizations.