Leadership Team

PureSky is led by a passionate leadership team of industry veterans with extensive backgrounds in renewable energy asset development, project and structured finance, power and commodity trading, risk management and engineering.

Jared_Donald
President and CEO

Jared Donald

As President and CEO of PureSky Energy, Jared is responsible for the strategy and execution of the company's business model. With 20 years of renewable energy experience, Jared’s teams have developed, sold, built and/or financed over 650 MW of solar PV and energy storage projects in North America. As an experienced negotiator he has led M&A activities, negotiated complex contracts, deployed millions of dollars and is able to maintain effective oversight of PureSky's operations.

Jared holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a n MBA in finance and strategy. Prior to joining PureSky, Jared held many senior executive and consulting roles within some of the worldʼs most prominent solar companies. Jared set up solar module and racking manufacturing facilities in North America, ran a North American solar EPC division and restructured non-core businesses for a global solar developer. He served as the Chair of Board of Directors for the Canadian Solar Industry Association and is a former member of the Stakeholder Advisory Committee of the Ontario Independent Electricity System Operators (IESO).

Nicole LeBlanc
Chief Operating Officer

Nicole LeBlanc

As the Chief Operating Officer of PureSky Energy, Nicole is responsible for the overall organization, optimizing all internal processes across departments and project milestones. In addition to platform management, she oversees project due diligence for M&A acquisitions, MIPA closing, debt and back-leverage financial closings, construction and post-operation obligations.

Nicole gained a B.A. in Political Science, International Affairs and History from the Northeastern University. After working in the NGO world, Nicole entered the solar industry and found her passion in renewables and its real-world global impact. With over a decade of experience, she has held positions working across commercial B2B loans and supplier distribution, community solar acquisition and management, asset management, intercompany operations, and structuring M&A transactions.

Chris Howson
Chief Financial Officer

Chris Howson

As the Chief Financial Officer for PureSky Energy, Chris is responsible for leading the finance and accounting functions for the company, including financial planning and reporting, tax planning and compliance and treasury.  Before joining PureSky, Chris served as Chief Financial Officer for Renewable Systems Americas, where he led strategic planning, financial planning and analysis, project finance, accounting and tax, risk management, mergers and acquisitions and information technology.  Prior to shifting his focus to the renewables sector, he worked for Newmont Corporation, a global gold mining company where he served as CFO-North America, Chief Accounting Officer, and VP of Internal Audit.  He started his professional career in public accounting at KPMG LLP, where he was a partner in charge of the Denver Advisory Services practice, working with global Fortune 500 and mid-market companies on projects related to corporate governance, risk management, process improvement and mergers and acquisitions.

Gregg.Cassarini
Vice President, Structured Finance

Gregg Cassarini

As Vice President of Structured Finance Gregg is responsible for leading all of PureSky Energy's renewable energy financing activities including project finance, structured finance, equity capital raises and other capital funding activities.

Gregg has a Bachelor of Business Administration from James Madison University. With over 20 years of project finance experience Gregg has extensive experience in capital structuring, M&A and financial modeling. Prior to joining PureSky Energy in 2019, Gregg worked at several other renewable energy companies including Jinko Solar and Renewable Energy Systems (RES).

Derek.Moretz-1
Vice President, Development

Derek Moretz

Derek is the Vice President of Development for PureSky Energy, leading the team’s origination and development efforts across the US. With close to two decades of experience in renewables, Derek has worked on everything from utility wind, solar and storage technology and has deployed over 100 projects representing approximately 2 GW. His team at PureSky includes a deep bench of land originators, subject matter experts, and developers advancing projects from concept to construction.

With degrees in Sustainable Technology and Construction Management from Appalachian State University and an MBA from North Carolina State University, Derek has held many leadership roles within the sector including Director of Development at Recurrent Energy and Chief Development Officer at Encore Renewable Energy.

Taras.B
Vice President, Design and Delivery

Taras Bezchlibnyk

With over 25 years of national and international experience, Taras is a seasoned excutive responsible for the delivery and management of PureSky’s renewable energy assets covering design, engineering, optimization, procurement, project management, project delivery and asset management. This has included over 200 MW of community solar projects with over 70 MWh of DC coupled battery storage. Taras ensures a risk managed approach to projects and services.

Taras holds degrees in Physics and Math from the University of Toronto. Much of Taras success has been focusing on driving complex and high-risk change for organizations, ensuring they are successfully managed, implemented and adopted. His extensive, diverse experience in building and leading Operations, PMO and Quality Assurance teams includes risk management, project portfolio management, program & project management, construction management budget management, resource management and quality assurance. Prior to PureSky, Taras was responsible for building, directing and managing the Strategic Plans, Operations and Project Management Office at several companies, including AMP Solar Group, Partsroom Ltd, TMX Group (formerly Toronto Stock Exchange), Intria Items Inc., City of Toronto and Reuters Information Services. He was also responsible for Quality Assurance and Testing at Symcor Inc and TMX Group.

Nicholas Topping
Vice President, Community Solar

Nicholas Topping

As the Senior Director of Community Solar at PureSky Energy, Nicholas leads all aspects of our customer acquisition and management activities for community solar farms across the US. Since joining PureSky in April of 2020, Nicholas has successfully built a market leading team that has acquired and managed thousands of customers across dozens of new solar farms.

Nicholas holds B.S. degree in Aviation Management from Metropolitan State University in Denver, Co. His career journey in the solar industry started as a Sales Consultant for SolarCity in 2014 and quickly moved into a Sales Manager role in San Francisco. Within a few short years, Nicholas was leading a team of more than 70 sales consultants and six sales managers across Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada as a Sales Director for Tesla's residential solar division. Prior to diving into the renewable energy industry, Nicholas worked in a variety of industries from entrepreneurial real estate and construction endeavours to retail management.

Bill.Hoebel-3
General Counsel, US

Bill Hoebel

As General Counsel, Bill leads PureSky’s legal effort, managing all aspects of its legal affairs. Bill has over a decade of experience as General Counsel for solar developers and installers, having assisted with the development and finance of over 250 megawatts of solar installations throughout the United States.

Bill received his juris doctorate from the University of Denver, graduating with high honors, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado. After graduating from law school, Bill joined an AmLaw 100 law firm in its corporate transactional and international trade practices and, following that, was an associate at a sophisticated boutique firm focused on mergers and acquisitions in the natural resources industries.