Clean Edge Team

Ron Pernick

Ron Pernick, co-founder and managing director of Clean Edge, is an accomplished market research, publishing, and business development entrepreneur with more than two decades of high-tech experience. He is also the co-author of the highly acclaimed book The Clean Tech Revolution (Collins, 2007). At Clean Edge he has co-authored more than two dozen reports on emerging clean technologies and has worked with a range of clients including multinationals, start-ups, government agencies, and investors. He oversees many of Clean Edge's strategic initiatives including the co-production of the annual Clean-Tech Investor Summit, the creation and management of the NASDAQ® Clean Edge® stock indices, and the development of the U.S. Clean Energy Leadership Index. Prior to founding Clean Edge, he ran his own environmental web consulting practice and earlier helped build the brands of such Internet pioneers as Internet In A Box, Preview Travel, The WELL, and Yahoo! Ron is a regular speaker at U.S. and international conferences and has developed and taught MBA-level courses at Portland State University and New College.

Clint Wilder

Clint Wilder, senior editor, joined Clean Edge in 2002 and plays a leading role in the production of the firm’s research and publications. He co-authored The Clean Tech Revolution (HarperCollins, 2007), the widely praised book that USA Today called "one of the few instances in this genre that shows the green movement not in heartstring terms, but as economically profitable." The Clean Tech Revolution has been translated into seven languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, German, Korean, and Hebrew. Wilder has covered the high-tech and clean-tech industries as a business journalist for more than two decades and is a frequent speaker and panelist at industry events in the U.S. and overseas. He is also a blogger for the Green section of The Huffington Post, a facilitator in the Energy and Climate Change track of the Clinton Global Initiative, and a founding member of the Clean Economy Network.

Bryce Yonker

Bryce Yonker, director of business development, works with Clean Edge clients to find the research and advisory solutions that best fit their needs. In heading up the business development, sales, and marketing efforts, Bryce is often the first line of contact between Clean Edge and its customers with a primary focus on the U.S. Clean Energy Leadership Index, sponsorship of the annual Clean Energy Trends report, and associated advisory services. Prior to Clean Edge he was vice president of business development for the Software Association of Oregon where he spearheaded many initiatives to support the software and technology industry and the association’s 25,000+ professional membership, including serving as the founder of the Clean Technology Alliance. Bryce is a founder and board member of nonprofit Smart Grid Oregon. In his spare time Bryce enjoys the outdoors most often with a fly-rod in hand. He holds a bachelor degree in business administration from Pepperdine University and is enrolled in an international MBA program at IE in Spain.

Trevor Winnie

Trevor Winnie, senior analyst, is involved in a range of activities at Clean Edge, including working on the firm's stock index products (CELS and QWND) and supporting Clean Edge staff in the preparation of reports and consulting projects. Trevor's past work experience includes work with JP Morgan Chase and freelance work with NuWire Investor, an online alternative investment journal. As a contributing staff writer for NuWire, Trevor covered investment news related to developments in the clean-tech industry. He has a BA in Economics with a minor in Communications from Lewis & Clark College.

Sean Sosnovec

Sean Sosnovec, research and marketing associate, provides research assistance on the firm's U.S. Clean-Energy Leadership Index™, Clean-Energy Trends and Clean-Tech Job Trends reports, and the firm's stock index products. Sean is also involved in preparing other market reports and supporting consulting projectsand business development activities. Sean developed a passion for the clean-tech industry after doing consulting work for MotoCzysz – an Oregon based EV Company. Prior to Clean Edge, Sean also accumulated more than two years of experience in the high-tech sector with Coaxis. He has an MSc in Political Economy from the London School of Economics and a BBA in Finance from Gonzaga University where he also played Division 1 soccer.

Sasha Friedman

Sasha Friedman, marketing coordinator, has worked in the clean-tech sector since 2004. At Clean Edge, he develops and publishes web and email communications for the CLEANWATCH newsletter family, manages the top level Clean Edge domain, and provides a range of web and social media marketing support. Prior to joining the Clean Edge team, he worked for SeQuential Biofuels. Sasha received his BS in Business Administration with a specialization in Finance and Marketing from the University of Oregon. He is currently studying to get a degree in mechanical engineering.

Emily Ferguson

Emily Ferguson, bookkeeper and office manager, helps Clean Edge with its general accounting, payables and receivables, and back-office logistics and organization. She has been lending support to offices in high tech and environmental sectors for almost a decade, including Green Empowerment, The Brentwood Group, Ltd., and Living Earth Gatherings. Her administrative skills include accounting, research, databases, and web design. As a lead organizer with Portland Peak Oil, a grassroots group dedicated to preparing the local community for the post-carbon era, she helped facilitate the passage of the nation's first resolution creating a peak oil task force. Before settling in Portland in 1998, she lived in the Boston metro area, Tennessee, and Iowa.

strategic advisors

Joel Makower

Joel Makower, co-founder of Clean Edge, is a leading strategist on clean technology and sustainable business practices. He is also chairman and executive editor of GreenBiz Group, producer of GreenBiz.com, an acclaimed web portal on business and the environment, as well as other websites, conferences, and business information services. He is a former nationally syndicated columnist; a bestselling author or co-author of more than a dozen books, including Strategies for the Green Economy (2008); and author of the blog "Two Steps Forward," on green business and clean technology. He lectures on these topics around the world and advises more than a dozen for-profit and nonprofit organizations.

Alan Caplan

Alan Caplan, strategic advisor to Clean Edge, has played leading business and legal roles in organizations that use technology to improve people's lives. Trained as a corporate, securities and intellectual property attorney, Alan has helped build emerging businesses in the fields of wireless communications, Internet commerce and media, and aerospace. Alan served as Amazon.com's first General Counsel, helping to guide the company through its initial public offering in 1997, and later as a Vice President and General Manager of Amazon's Kitchen, Payments, and Corporate Development groups. Alan is a graduate of The University of Michigan Business School and The University of Chicago Law School.

Nick Rothenberg

Nick Rothenberg, strategic advisor to Clean Edge, heads business consulting firm 2Be, LLC (www.2Be.com), located in Portland, Oregon. The firm aligns business strategy with human factors, helping to drive the success of organizations through the success of their people. 2Be has worked with a wide range of companies and their leadership teams, from nonprofits and start-ups to industry leaders including Comcast, DreamWorks, Laika, Nike, and Umpqua Bank. Nick's experience combines an advanced degree in anthropology, a background in technology and media, and several successful business ventures. His work has been featured in Inc. Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, Oregon Business, and WIRED Magazine. Nick is a graduate of Harvard University and holds a Masters from USC.