About Mercury

Frank Alfano is President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Mercury Energy, Inc. (formerly Aquus Energy) a company he founded in 2007. He is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the company including mergers and acquisitions and partnership opportunities. 

For the past twenty-five years, Mr. Alfano has led an impressive career in finance and accounting, holding several senior management and operational positions. Before founding Mercury Energy, he was Chief Executive Officer of MTM Technologies, Inc., an IT network and voice over IP systems integrator. Previously he was Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategic Acquisitions at Interliant, Inc., an Internet services business. Prior to Interliant, Mr. Alfano was a business leader of international operations and led the Mergers & Acquisitions team at GE Capital IT Solution, the IT business of GE. Mr. Alfano started his career in public accounting, working several years in the tax department at Ernst & Young, LLP.

He is a CPA and has a BSBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Arizona.

Jared Haines is Co-Founder and President of Mercury Solar Systems, Inc. and Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at Mercury Energy, Inc. Since co-founding the Company in 2006, Mr. Haines has focused on building a new kind of solar energy company. By hiring a diversified group of highly skilled individuals and an unrivaled executive management team that all emphasize customer satisfaction and profitability, Mercury Solar Systems has evolved into a major player in the solar energy space. To date, the Company has completed in excess of six hundred projects, valued at over fifty million dollars and totaling six million watts of energy.

In addition to overseeing the business development, sales and marketing functions, Mr. Haines was integral in helping Mercury Solar Systems secure funding from Oppenheimer’s private equity and special investments division in 2008. He has also played an active role in acquiring other solar integration firms to help the Company expand its footprint in the U.S.

Prior to co-founding Mercury Solar Systems, Mr. Haines led an impressive fifteen-year sales and marketing career working most recently at British Telecom, the largest communications service provider in the United Kingdom. He previously served as President of Strategis, a start-up technology company he sold to a French-based software company in 2001.

Mr. Haines has a B.S. in Social Psychology from Tufts University. He is an active speaker on solar energy at various investment conferences, industry tradeshows, schools and other public events and is frequently quoted in the national, local and business press as an industry expert.

Anthony Coschigano is Senior Vice President, Operations of Mercury Solar Systems, a company he co-founded in 2006, and Mercury Energy, Inc. Mr. Coschigano is responsible for day-to-day operations including overall management of all solar installations. Before Mercury, Mr. Coschigano managed operations for ECNY Electric, Inc., a regional electrical contracting business he founded in 1992, and that he still owns.

He is certified in the installation of solar technologies and is a Master Electrician qualified in New York City and many localities throughout New York State and Connecticut.

Steve Ball is Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Mercury Energy, Inc. He has over fifteen years of finance and accounting experience and prior to joining Mercury was a Managing Director at Protiviti, a global business risk consulting firm. Previously, Mr. Ball co-founded Centerprise Technology Advisors, an enterprise resource planning consulting firm where he was responsible for all aspects of the business including sales and business development. Before Centerprise he was Vice President, Finance and Administration at Interliant, Inc., an Internet services business. Mr. Ball started his career at Arthur Andersen where he worked for six years in the audit and risk consulting areas.

He is a CPA and has a B.S. in Accounting from Villanova University.

Lloyd Hoffstatter is Vice President, Engineering of Mercury Solar Systems responsible for the overall design of every solar energy system installed by Mercury. He has over twenty years experience designing, engineering and installing solar photovoltaic systems. Before Mercury, Mr. Hoffstatter founded Sunstruck Design, a New York solar company in 2001.

Over the course of his tenured solar career, Mr. Hoffstatter has designed and installed over 200 solar energy systems including the first LEED platinum certified building in New York State (2nd greenest building in country 2007), the first PV/hydrogen house in the U.S. at the New York Institute of Technology/ US Merchant Marine Academy, and the first large scale school project in Long Island, NY totaling 50kW.

Mr. Hoffstatter has worked as a PV system inspector for the New York State Energy Research and Development Association (NYSERDA) and has served as an instructor for Solar Energy International (SEI). He was also one of 80 people employed by the New York State Energy Office in 1987 under the Carter Administration.

He has a B.S. in Physics from the State University of New York, New Paltz, and a M.S. in Applied Solar Energy from Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. In 2003 Mr. Hoffstatter received certification as a PV System Installer from the North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners (NABCEP).

Bob Stickney is Vice President, Sales of Mercury Solar Systems managing the company’s regional sales team. He has over twenty-five years sales and management experience. Before Mercury he led a tenured career at British Telecom and Infonet which was acquired by British Telecom in 2005.  He held a number of senior positions include Executive Vice President, Sales, Head of Sales Transformation and Integration, and Vice President of Alternate Channels. Mr. Stickney started his sales career at Tymnet, an international data communications network company, where he rose to Director, Western Region Sales.

He has a B.S. in Finance from Fairfield University and a M.B.A. from Fordham University.

Richard White has served as a Director and the Chairman of the Company’s Board since August 1, 2008 and is one of the Series 1 Directors.  Mr. White is a Managing Director and head of Oppenheimer’s Private Equity Investment and Special Products Department. He is currently a member of the board of directors of Escalade, Inc., G-III Apparel Group Ltd., Draper Laboratories, and Lakes Entertainment, Inc. His experience includes serving as President of Aeolus Capital Group LLC.; Managing Director of CIBC Capital Partners; Managing Director and a General Partner of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.; Managing Director and Partner of Ardshiel, Inc.; and as a consultant in the Management Consulting Services department of Coopers & Lybrand.

Mr. White has a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.B.A from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Frank J. Alfano is a founder of Mercury Energy and was appointed its President and Chief Executive Officer and a Director upon its founding on August 7, 2007.  He is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the Company including mergers and acquisitions and partnership opportunities. 

For the past twenty-five years, Mr. Alfano has led an impressive career in finance and accounting, holding several senior management and operational positions. Before founding Mercury Energy, he was Chief Executive Officer of MTM Technologies, Inc., an IT network and voice over IP systems integrator. Previously he was Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Strategic Acquisitions at Interliant, Inc., an Internet services business. Prior to Interliant, Mr. Alfano was a business leader of international operations and led the Mergers & Acquisitions team at GE Capital IT Solution, the IT business of GE. Mr. Alfano started his career in public accounting, working several years in the tax department at Ernst & Young, LLP.

He is a CPA and has a BSBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Arizona.

J. Jared Haines has served as the Company’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Secretary and Director since August 1, 2008. He also serves as the President of Mercury Solar Systems, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary he co-founded in 2006.

Mr. Haines has focused on building a new kind of solar energy company. By hiring a diversified group of highly skilled individuals and an unrivaled executive management team that all emphasize customer satisfaction and profitability, Mercury Solar Systems has evolved into a major player in the solar energy space. To date, the Company has completed in excess of six hundred projects, valued at over fifty million dollars and totaling six million watts of energy. In addition to overseeing the business development, sales and marketing functions, Mr. Haines was integral in helping Mercury Solar Systems secure funding from Oppenheimer’s private equity and special investments division in 2008. He has also played an active role in acquiring other solar integration firms to help the Company expand its footprint in the U.S.

Prior to co-founding Mercury Solar Systems, Mr. Haines led an impressive fifteen-year sales and marketing career working most recently at British Telecom, the largest communications service provider in the United Kingdom. He previously served as President of Strategis, a start-up technology company he sold to a French-based software company in 2001.

Mr. Haines has a B.S. in Social Psychology from Tufts University. He is an active speaker on solar energy at various investment conferences, industry tradeshows, schools and other public events and is frequently quoted in the national, local and business press as an industry expert.

Leonard J. Fassler has served as a Director of the Company since August 1, 2008. Mr. Fassler is also the Chairman of the Energy Services Providers, Inc. He is the Founder and Chairman of Convergence Technologies, Inc. His experience includes serving as Co-Chairman of Vytek Corporation; Co-Founding and serving as Co-Chairman of Interliant, Inc.; Co-Founding and serving as Co-Chairman of AmeriData Technologies, Inc., which was acquired by General Electric Capital Corporation; Co-Founding and serving as Co-Chairman of Sage Broadcasting Corporation; and Founding and serving as an Executive Officer of TIE/Communications, Inc.

Timothy Greener has served as a Director of the Company since August 1, 2008 and is one of the Series 1 Directors.  Mr. Greener was a senior executive of First Service Corporation, where he had senior operating responsibilities in a service company that has made hundreds of acquisitions.  He currently owns and operates two service related companies in Florida.

Peter Kaufman has served as a Director of the Company since August 1, 2008 and is one of the Series 1 Directors.  Mr. Kaufmann spent a significant part of his career at Comdisco, a technology services and leasing firm.  He brings significant sales and marketing experience to Mercury Energy and has been helpful in assisting the Company evaluate and establish a customer financing function.

Robert Lowenthal has served as a Director of the Company since August 1, 2008 and is one of the Series 1 Directors. Mr. Lowenthal is a Senior Managing Director at Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. responsible for the Firm’s Taxable Fixed Income Trading business.  He has been with Oppenheimer since January 1999 and was the Firm’s Chief Information Officer until 2007.  He has played a key role in over 10 of the Firm’s acquisitions and currently sits on the Executive Committee and the Risk Management Committee. 

Mr. Lowenthal has a bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.B.A from Columbia Business School.