BOARD OF DIRECTORSBookmark and Share

CSG attracts some of most influential, creative and dynamic thought leaders in public policy, technology, clean energy and environmental and legal affairs.

Following is a summary of the firm’s board of directors, in alphabetical order:

Brian Castelli

A member of the board since 2006, Castelli is executive vice president for programs and development of the Alliance to Save Energy. Throughout his career, Castelli has held several high level positions in the energy and environmental fields. These include federal energy liaison for the California Energy Commission, a presidential appointment as chief of staff to the U.S. DOE’s assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy, and an appointment by the Governor of Pennsylvania to lead the state energy office. He also worked for the Federal Energy Administration. Castelli is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and The Wharton School.

Stephen Cowell

Cowell founded CSG in 1984 and is chairman and CEO. Throughout his career, he has been instrumental in developing national and regional policy initiatives and has been involved in numerous award-winning conservation and renewable energy programs around the country. Cowell has helped build the industry through sound public policy, legislation, development of cost-effective programs and establishing trade ally networks. Among his many achievements, Cowell has successfully advocated for energy efficiency as an electric supply option. He also founded the country’s first “solar” electric utility, Sun Power Electric. In 2009, he was inducted into the New England Clean Energy Council’s Clean Energy Hall of Fame and in 2006, Cowell received a “Leadership in Energy Efficiency” award for his work with the New England Energy Efficiency Council. Under Cowell’s stewardship, CSG has grown into a $120 million organization with more than 750 employees and over 20 offices around the country. Cowell holds a degree from Brown University and completed graduate work at Boston University.

Mark Dyen

Dyen has been a member of CSG’s board since 1984 and joined the company in 1990. As Executive Vice President of Strategy & Products, he is responsible for developing and disseminating product best practices and management of strategic business development. He oversees leadership of groups focused on program design, research and development, market research, and internal standards for existing product lines: residential retrofit and new construction, heating, ventilation and air conditioning programs, marketing services, software sales and support, technical training, appliance recycling, and new and national products. Throughout his tenure at CSG, he has designed and implemented award-winning programs for some of the region’s largest utilities, public agencies and housing authorities. Dyen holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard College and a master’s from York University.

Mark Farber

Farber became a member of the board in 2007. Currently at Photon Consulting, a solar energy research and advisory firm, Farber was co-founder and CEO of Evergreen Solar, a manufacturer of solar power products. Farber has also served in leadership positions of several state and national solar trade associations. Before entering the solar energy business in 1988, Farber was a management consultant in the electric utility sector for 12 years. Farber holds degrees from Cornell University and the Sloan School of Management at MIT.

Mary Beth Gentleman, Esq.

Gentleman has been a member of the board since 2006. She is a partner with Foley Hoag LLP in Boston. Gentleman provides strategic regulatory and market advice to energy technology, renewable energy projects and efficiency companies as co-chair of the firm's Energy Technology and Renewables Practice. She also provides regulatory and environmental compliance advice to major generating companies. Prior to joining Foley Hoag, she served as Assistant Secretary of Energy in Massachusetts for six years. Currently, Gentleman serves as Vice President for Administration of the Northeast Energy and Commerce Association and General Counsel of the New England Energy Alliance. She holds degrees from the College of New Rochelle, the University of Massachusetts, and Suffolk University Law School.

Edward Lamont, Jr.

As a former democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, Lamont’s campaign focused on energy independence and the War in Iraq. Lamont joined CSG’s board in 2007 with a hiatus in 2010 while he ran for CT governor. He brings extensive expertise in local and national energy policy issues to the firm. Lamont is founder and president of Greenwich, Conn.-based Lamont Digital Systems, Inc. d/b/a Campus Televideo. He is a past member of the Brookings Institute and has taught at the Kennedy School of Government. Lamont is a graduate of Harvard College and the Yale School of Management.

Harvey G. Michaels

Harvey G. Michaels has appointments to the MIT Environmental Policy and Planning Program, as well as the MIT Energy Initiative, and is responsible for catalyzing research with focus on energy efficiency technology, economics, and policy. As Lecturer he is responsible for graduate teaching and development of energy strategy curricula. As creator and Principal Investigator of the MIT Energy Efficiency Strategy Project, his research team seeks to develop breakthrough approaches in business and policy for utility, community, and smart grid-enabled efficiency deployment models. These models have now been applied to community programs, and enabling an innovative finance model: the MIT/NSTAR Efficiency Forward program. Michaels also participates in the MIT Energy Initiative and the Campus Energy Task Force, and serves as an advisor to the Massachusetts utilities on community energy programs. From 1997 to 2007, Michaels led Nexus Energy Software (now Aclara Software) which builds utility efficiency and customer service Web sites, as well as Meter Data Management systems. Before founding Nexus, Michaels was president of XENERGY (now part of Kema Consulting and Con Edison Solutions), which specialized in efficiency resource studies and analysis systems.

Brad Steele

Steele has served on the board of directors since 1990. He is president of Energy Federation Inc. (EFI) a distributor of water and energy conservation products that he co-founded in 1982. Under Steele’s leadership, EFI has grown from a one-employee firm with product sales of $250,000, to a 140-person company with annual sales of $45 million. EFI also processes incentives for more than three dozen utility and energy efficiency providers across the country, issuing payments of $175 million annually on behalf of clients. In the 1980s, Steele served as executive director of the People’s Energy Resources Cooperative, a non-profit energy group that merged with two other non-profits to create CSG. He graduated from Harvard University in 1974.

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