Bill Meffert manages Georgia Tech’s Energy and Sustainability Services group  and oversees the development, transfer, and adoption of energy and environmental innovations and best practices for industry and business.  The group conducts more than $2 million in research annually.  He has more than 20 years of experience in providing energy conservation, technology deployment, and energy management assistance to industrial, commercial, and institutional organizations.  At Tech, he also helped develop the first energy management system standard, ANSI/MSE 2000, and has designed and presented numerous energy-related courses.

Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 1987, Meffert worked for Combustion Engineering and Thermax.  A Certified Professional Engineer, he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech and a B.A. in natural science from Covenant College.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, N.W., Suite 330
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640

Phone: (404) 894-3844
E-mail: bill.meffert@innovate.gatech.edu

Michael L. Brown, P.E., C.E.M., is a primary developer of ANSI/MSE 2000, the Management System for Energy standard, and a senior research engineer with Georgia Tech’s Energy and Environmental Management Center (EEMC).  He has over 25 years of experience providing energy conservation, alternate fuel, and energy efficiency assistance to industrial, commercial, and institutional facilities. A registered Professional Engineer and Certified Energy Manager, Mr. Brown has completed over 200 energy assessments at industrial facilities, 50 commercial energy assessments at public schools and hospitals and several energy surveys at institutional facilities including military bases, correctional buildings, and universities.  A lead instructor for training courses on implementation of the MSE 2000 standard, he also has experience in optimizing processes to reduce waste and instructs numerous technical courses related to industrial energy systems. 

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, N.W., Suite 330
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640

Phone: (912) 963-2520
E-mail: mike.brown@innovate.gatech.edu

Pierpaolo Baldisserotto, E.I.T., has worked for the Energy and Environmental Center at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute for the past six years.  During this time, he performed more than 30 energy assessments for industrial and commercial clients.  Previously, he worked as a co-op plant engineer in the automotive and textile industries.  He currently works for Energy Engineering, LLC.

Mr. Baldisserotto holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, N.W., Suite 330
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640

Phone: (404) 894-4178
E-mail: paolo.baldisserotto@innovate.gatech.edu

Valerie Dean
Administrative Assistant

Valerie graduated with a B.S in Political Science and Literature from Kennesaw State University and is attending law school.  Before coming to Georgia Tech she taught E.S.O.L in Atlanta Public Schools.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, NW, Suite 330
Atlanta, GA 30332-0640

Phone: (404) 894-2196
Fax: (404) 894-1192
E-mail: valerie.dean@innovate.gatech.edu

Holly Grell-Lawe is a senior research associate and project manager with Energy and Sustainability Services at Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. She develops and provides training, technical assistance, coaching, and system assessments to help organizations integrate environmental management and sustainability-based decision-making into their business processes. She has worked with scores of organizations to implement and attain third-party certification of environmental, quality, and integrated management systems based on the ISO 14001 and ISO 9001. She is an RABQSA-Certified Lead Auditor for both environmental and quality management systems and is a member of the ANSI/MSE 2000 Energy Management System standards development team. Prior to joining Georgia Tech in 1983, Ms. Lawe worked for the Atlanta office of McKinsey & Company. She holds a master’s degree in information management from Emory University and a B.S. in communications from Northwestern University.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, N.W., Suite 330
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640

Phone: (404) 558-5948
E-mail: holly.lawe@innovate.gatech.edu

Ed Hardison is a principal research associate with Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. For over 25 years, he has provided management and technical assistance to existing and developing industry in the areas of plant layouts, ventilation, thermodynamics, and general mechanical engineering. As an associate staff member of the Energy and Environmental Management Center he also provides companies with environmental assistance, including regulatory compliance, management systems, and ISO 14000 system implementation.  He is an RABQSA-certified environmental systems auditor.  He has also completed dozens of energy audits at industrial facilities and is certified by the U.S. Department of Energy as a Qualified PHAST (Process Heating Assessment Survey Tool) Specialist utilizing the PHAST software tool for detailed furnace analysis.  He also works in the area of quality and is an RABQSA-certified quality systems lead auditor and has assisted numerous companies seeking ISO 9000 registration.

Mr. Hardison has bachelor and master of science degrees in engineering from the University of Central Florida and is a Registered Professional Engineer in both Florida and Georgia.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
125 Pine Avenue, Suite 220
Albany, Georgia 31701

Phone: (229) 430-4210
E-mail: ed.hardison@innovate.gatech.edu

Bob Hitch, P.E., is a project manager in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute based in the Gainesville Regional Office where he provides technical and managerial assistance to area manufacturers to aid in productivity and cost reduction.  He also is an instructor for Management Systems for Energy 2000 certification courses and has completed ISO 9000 and 14000 assessments.  Prior to working at Georgia Tech, Mr. Hitch was responsible for purchasing, inventory control, environmental compliance, and facilities engineering; managed providers of insurance, professional, and legal services; and was responsible for production scheduling, inventory control, and quality control. Mr. Hitch has extensive international trading experience in product design, agency approvals, product liability control, and manufacturing specifications.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
Gainesville Region Office
Gainesville, Georgia

Phone: (770) 535-5844
E-mail: bob.hitch@innovate.gatech.edu

George H. Lee, P.E., C.E.M., is a senior engineer with Georgia Tech’s Energy and Environmental Management Center in the Macon Regional Office.  His current activities involve industrial energy audits, extensive industrial and community noise assessment and/or control, and studies to assess the value of industrial expansions or start-ups to local communities via LOCI (Local Impact) software.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
Macon Region Office
Macon, Georgia

Phone: (478) 471-5399
E-mail: george.lee@innovate.gatech.edu

Greg Rupert, P.E., has worked in the energy and environmental management field for 15 years. He has served as an associate engineer for the Georgia Tech Energy and Environmental Management Center (EEMC) and still serves as a part-time utilities engineer for MEAG Power.  In 2000, Mr. Rupert formed what is now Energy Engineering, LLC, and he currently serves as its president.  During this time, he has worked with hundreds of industrial, commercial, and governmental facilities.

A registered Professional Engineer and a certified energy manager, Mr. Rupert holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech.         

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
Macon Region Office
Macon, Georgia

Phone: (478) 471-5399
E-mail: greg.rupert@innovate.gatech.edu

Matthew R. Soderlund, program manager and research engineer at Georgia Tech’s Energy and Environmental Management Center, helps manufacturers manage energy consumption and cost.  This assistance takes the form of energy assessments and workshops that address both technical and management issues affecting energy.  One of his current roles includes being the assistant director of the U.S. Department of Energy sponsored Industrial Assessment Center (IAC) where he has coordinated over 90 energy assessments. He has also provided assistance to commercial, institutional, and military facilities. Mr. Soderlund’s prior experience was in the merchant generator sector where he worked on both power plant project development and regulatory policy.

He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Georgia Institute of Technology
760 Spring Street, N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30332-0640

Phone: (404) 894-3588
E-mail: matthew.soderlund@innovate.gatech.edu

Jim Walsh, P.E., is a senior engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Innovation Institute.  He has more than 35 years of professional experience in design engineering, applied research, technical assistance, and training.  He specializes in environmental compliance assistance and the design, operation, and analysis of pollution control, energy conversion, and waste conversion systems. 

Enterprise Innovation Institute
Chamblee, Georgia

Phone: (404) 402-3263
E-mail: jim.walsh@innovate.gatech.edu