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Meet Our Team

FastGrid Management Team

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Eric Hafner, P.E.

Managing Principal & Chairman

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Eric Curry

Managing Principal & CEO

FastGrid Engineer of Record Engineering Team

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Torrey Graf, P.E.

Chief Engineer

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Brady Burgason, P.E.

Vice President, Kansas City Office Leader

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Nwene Ogwu, P.E.

Staff Engineer

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Mirza Ali, P.E.

Senior Engineer

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James Brown, P.E.

Senior Engineer

FastGrid Engineer of Record Design Team

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Chad Highland, E.I.T.

Senior Design Manager

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Gregg Looney

Senior Design Manager

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Nektarios Kasidiaris

Associate Designer

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Curt DuRocher, NABCEP

Associate Designer

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LJ Foster

Associate Designer

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Jonathon Estes

Associate Designer

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Simon Khater

Senior Designer

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Jamarian Johnson

Senior Designer

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Alex McCarty

Senior Designer

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Leah Glaser

Senior Designer

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Matt McAullife

Senior Designer

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Zackary Portz

Assistant Designer

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Parker McGinnis

Assistant Designer

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Cordell Collins

Assistant Designer

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Austin Hawes

Assistant Designer

FastGrid Operations Team

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Ian Graham

BESS SME

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Cortney Heinen

Manager, Development Engineer

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Jordan Masayesva

Senior Designer

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Oumarou Zakariyaou

Assistant Designer

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Luke Peterson

Assistant Designer

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Noah DaBreo

Executive Intern

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Jessica Patrick

Project Manager

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McKenna Miller

Project Coordinator

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Kellsie Hardy

Operations Manager

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Rachel Daut

Office Coordinator

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Eric Hafner

Managing Principal & Chairman

Eric has led multiple engineering teams in the design of electrical distribution, low voltage communications, microgrids, and renewable energy systems for multiple market sectors. While at NRG, Eric led the engineering team in the execution of renewable energy projects located in the US, Haiti, and Guam. He also led the Emerging Technologies group that created and launched the FastGrid Solo product, a containerized hybrid power system blending renewable energy with energy storage and traditional diesel technologies.

Eric Hafner is a certified Professional Engineer in multiple states and holds three provisional patents related to energy storage and hybrid power systems. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from The University of Wyoming.

Eric Curry

Managing Principal & CEO

Eric has wide experience across traditional power, renewables, and industrial sectors. He launched NRG's distributed solar generation business, spearheading the strategic investment of several hundred million dollars, as well as forming and directing multiple joint ventures with strategic partners, and led numerous acquisition teams. In addition, he has successfully developed utility scale projects internationally as well as high profile ventures with the National Football League.

Eric holds a B.S. in Finance cum laude from the University of Houston, and an MBA from Rice University. Eric is also a veteran of the United States Navy where he was deployed in the Pacific Ocean and the Persian Gulf theatres.

Torrey Graf, P.E.

Managing Principal & CEO

Torrey is a licensed Professional Engineer with 11 plus years of solar engineering experience in the electric utility industry ranging from renewables to traditional power generation. Torrey's experience includes providing owner's engineering support, electrical design, cost estimating, value engineering analysis, and construction monitoring for energy, government, municipal, and various other projects in addition to leading multidisciplinary projects and teams for the past seven years.

Torrey has also worked on various utility scale solar projects performing work ranging from detailed design, commissioning/performance field engineer, feasibility and due diligence studies, owner's engineering, and energy project modeling.

Torrey is a thought leader in the renewable energy industry and a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He is also passionate about teaching and training teams of engineers and designers while also fostering young engineers' skills.

Torrey holds a Bachelor and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University.

Brady Burgason

Vice President, Kansas City Office Leader

Brady serves as an innovative electrical engineer for solar energy projects with over 13 years of experience in design, engineering, and project management. Through a pertinent and diverse project portfolio, and substantial survey/assessment experience Brady is well-founded as a personable problem-solver who quickly establishes professional rapport with clients and team members.

Brady's diverse background includes work overseas and spread across the contiguous United States in the following sectors: military, government, correctional, healthcare, education (K-12 and higher-ed), commercial and aviation.

This background includes projects ranging in construction cost from 5-digit figures to over $2 Billion, with design-to-construction completion constraints that are equally diverse.

Brady is a licensed professional engineer in multiple states with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering from Baylor University

Nwene Ogwu, P.E.

Staff Engineer

Nwene is an electrical engineering with a broad experience in design, coordination, and operations of projects. She has 12 plus years of experience as an electrical engineer with 10 plus years in the renewable energy industry.

In addition to working as an Engineer of Record for Utility scale battery storage and PV projects, she has performed interconnection studies, harmonic studies, design review, RFP process and more for multiple renewable energy projects.

Nwene has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Tennessee State University and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and is a registered Professional Engineer in several states.

Mirza Ali, P.E.

Senior Engineer

Mirza has expert knowledge in oversight, coordination, management support and technical expertise for all aspects of Utility and Renewable energy projects. These include engineering and design of collector systems, interconnect substations, utility switchyards and transmission interconnects. During his career, he has managed large, highly complex and unique utility, renewable energy, and industrial projects.

Mirza was successful in completing 172 Brown field and 33 Green field EPC projects at a total cost of $66 Million.

He has also completed SCADA, Smart Grid, Substation security, Wind farm/collector substation projects, and transformer monitoring projects for:

  • AEP
  • BG&E
  • FP&L
  • OG&E
  • PG&E
  • Duke Energy

Mirza is a licensed Professional Engineer with a license in Ontario, Canada and certifications in OSHA 30, Project Management (PMP), Construction Management, and PVsyst Primavera.

James Brown, P.E.

Senior Engineer

James started his career as a Reliability Engineer with Ameren. During his tenure there he has worked on several roles such as Subtransmission System Planning Engineer, System Protection Engineer, and a Distribution Engineer.

In these roles he has gained various skills including:

  • Developing protection scheme relaying and metering diagrams
  • Developing schedmatics and wiring diagrams of SCADA monitoring and control of the electric system
  • Performing long range planning studies
  • Performing power-flow studies and under frequency load shedding analysis

James has a thorough knowledge of Power System Analysis, modeling and conducting load flow studies, along with knowledge of calculating SCAF scores. He also has a PE in the state of Illinois.

Chad Highland, E.I.T.

Senior Design Manager

Chad has 12+ years designing electrical distribution and lighting for multiple solar projects, warehouse and multi-floored buildings and associated exterior parking and site. Previously with DLR Group and Kraemer Consulting Engineers, Chad has also completed projects including open office call centers up to approximately 175K square feet, assisted living centers, industrial manufacturing facilities, retail, hotels, and schools.

During his tenure at FastGrid, he has led teams of 2 to 4 Electrical Designers on several projects across the United States including a 60MW portfolio solar project located in Michigan consisting of four ground mounted power plants.

Chad Highland has completed his EIT status with the State of Arizona.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University of Science and Technology and is currently pursuing his Professional Engineering License.

Gregg Looney

Senior Design Manager

Gregg brings more than 33 years of experience with specialization in electrical design and construction to support plant engineering, design, construction, integration, and maintenance.

Previously with First Solar, Gregg has heavy experience in large scale grid PV solar and process control/instrumentation design in projects ranging from 50MW to 500MW with grid interconnection voltage from 69kv to 500kv. Gregg's career has also included time with Stirling Energy Systems where he was an EPC Electrical Designer as well as serving as an Electrical Designer at Arizona Public Service, Arizona's largest electric utility.

At FastGrid, Gregg is responsible for leading the design teams on several large and highly complex projects

Gregg completed a 4-year Apprenticeship at JATC for IBEW and previously held licenses as a Journeyman Electrician in several states.

Nektarios Kasidiaris

Associate Designer

Nektarios joined FastGrid as a recent graduate working to get into the renewable energy industry. During his time at FastGrid, Nick has provided design support to the team using AutoCAD drafting and simulation software. While working under senior leadership, Nick has worked on several projects where he has been instrumental in modeling, study design/work, and overall electrical design on portfolio and single site projects ranging from 10MW to 300MW. Additionally, he has a background in property management and construction.

Nick graduated from Arizona State University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical System Engineering. He is currently pursuing his Professional Engineering license.

Curt DuRocher, NABCEP

Associate Designer

Curt holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Northern Arizona University. Upon graduating he entered the MEP world of engineering design for the construction industry with the sole focus of entering the clean energy sector.

Over the course of 6 years of design drafting and 2 years of project management he has completed numerous designs consisting of power distribution, lighting and equipment install. His project experience includes but is not limited to the design of large warehouses, restaurants, and industrial manufacturing facilities. Curt has worked as the lead designer and project manager on four solar projects.

LJ Foster

Associate Designer

LJ comes to FastGrid from Burns & McDonnell doing Electrical Design work on a variety of projects including, but limited to:

  • F35 flight simulators
  • Middle eastern office campus and hotels
  • Big Tech data centers
  • Water treatment plants
  • Metal plating shops for Rolls Royce turbines
  • Airport terminals

LJ has always wanted to work on renewable energy projects rather than the military industrial complex and jumped at the opportunity to help design Utility Scale solar and BESS projects throughout the United States. While at FastGrid, LJ is focusing his energy on designing utility scale solar projects.

Jonathon Estes

Associate Designer

Jonathon has 7 plus years of experience as an electrical designer and design engineer with 2 plus years of experience working on solar design. He is passionate about the renewable energy space and is excited to leverage his education and work experience to help build utility scale solar designs.

Jonathon has a Bachelor of Science degree in Renewable Energy/Business Management from John Brown University.

Simon Khater

Senior Designer

Simon is a renewable energy electrical designer with knowledge in renewable energy technologies including solar, thermal, wind, tidal wave, hydroelectricity, geothermal, biomass, waste, and hydrogen, in addition to energy and environmental review and audits.

While Simon's focus is in mostly residential and commercial size solar PV systems, he is very eager to work on large utility scale solar PV systems. Simon also has a Master of Science in Renewable Energy Engineering from the Brunel University London.

Jamarian Johnson

Senior Designer

Jamarian has three years of experience working in the solar industry. During that period, his work included independent engineer reviews for utility-scale solar facilities, energy production estimations, and preliminary solar development support.

Jamarian holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Arizona and his EIT.

Alex McCarty

Senior Designer

Alex possesses over 5 years of experience in engineering design and drafting. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Renewable Energy Technology, with an Economics and Public Policy focus and a minor in Environmental Studies, from Illinois State University.

Following graduation, Alex began pursuing a career in controls design and industrial automation, where he gained a passion for electronics and drafting. Through this position, he became skilled in materials procurement, wire coordination, and as-built creation for industrial control panels. He learned the ins and outs of electrical design, honing his AutoCAD skills through the drafting of wiring diagrams, single line diagrams, communications diagrams, BOM's, PLC I/O lists, and 2D component layouts.

Leah Glaser

Senior Designer

Leah graduated from Florida Polytechnic University in 2018 with a BS in Electrical Engineering. She has brought 1+ years of utility scale solar design experience and 3 years of electric distribution design experience to FastGrid. Leah wants to continue assisting the push for cutting-edge sustainable technology, to offset the use of fossil fuels and make a positive impact on the environment.

Matt McAullife

Senior Designer

Matt graduated from University of Missouri with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a minor in mathematics. Matt comes from the building world where he specialized in retail, restaurant, and grocery electrical design. He has 6 plus years of experience as an electrical design engineer working on various types of projects. Matt is passionate about the environment and renewables. He is looking forward to expanding his knowledge on renewable energy and using his previous work experience to help build utility scale solar designs.

Zackary Portz

Assistant Designer

Zackary is a recent addition to FastGrid and is eager to start his career in Engineering and Renewable Energy for which he is passionate about.

Zackary has a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Arizona State University and is currently pursuing a master's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from ASU.

Parker McGinnis

Assistant Designer

Parker is a recent addition to the FastGrid team. He is a technically oriented team player with a background in physical sciences, specifically, geological, hydrological, and environmental sciences. Though his background is focused on the physical sciences, Parker is eager to enter into the world of Renewable Energy and Solar/Battery design. He is working as a Project Coordinator and is helping facilitate the engineering and design team in Kansas. These duties include:

  • Participating in project design meetings
  • Plan and help the Project Manager manage team goals, project schedules, and new information
  • Help to coordinate information and team members to keep workflows on track
  • Manage project related paperwork
  • Directing project correspondences to correct team members

Parker has a Bachelor of Science of Earth Science with a minor in Geography from the University of Arkansas.

Cordell Collins

Assistant Designer

Cordell graduated in 2019 from Kansas State university with a B.S. in Architectural Engineering where he learned the background knowledge in all building systems (Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, Structural, and Special Systems). Cordell was most intrigued by electrical so that is what he focused on and spent three years in electrical design for buildings where he specialized in lighting design.

Cordell is looking forward to expanding his knowledge on renewable energy and solar design and hopefully making the world a greener place

Austin Hawes

Assistant Designer

Austin has a background in residential photovoltaic system design, working on projects in various areas around the United States. This work included system design generation and optimization, design package creation in AutoCAD to be used for permitting, and project auditing with construction planners to ensure systems produced by the design team met local AHJ requirements and guidelines.

Austin also has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.

Ian Graham

BESS SME

With over 10 years in the renewable energy industry, Ian brings a long record of experience in microgrids, large scale wind, large scale solar, and battery storage. The first 3 years of his career were developing and building microgrids using wind, natural gas, diesel, and battery storage. Then he transitioned on to providing solutions for the wind industry as an Owners Engineer on utility projects in the US.

The next period of his career was focused on product and project development for battery storage. Reviewing, modeling, and designing >1000 projects for a variety of clients providing them with project analysis, equipment selection, fatal flaw analysis, resource modeling, and the engineering and design packages.

His experience covers the whole range of project activities through development, engineering, design, project management, and operations.

Cortney Heinen

Manager, Development Engineer

Cortney provides development engineering expertise for both utility scale solar as well as energy storage projects for FastGrid clients. In addition, she is an expert at energy analysis and simulation leveraging multiple software platforms. Previously she held positions in design engineering and project management, with a mechanical engineering focus. Cortney holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology.

Currently, she is responsible for leading a team of three development engineers working on development engineering and owner's engineering on anywhere from 1 to 200 projects per year and over 1GW's of solar and battery storage projects in the United States.

Jordan Masayesva

Senior Designer

Jordan is a project development engineer with experience in utility scale solar and energy storage projects in the continental US and Puerto Rico. Jordan provides his development support through his skills in CAD and energy/site optimization. Jordan is also extremely proficient in PVsyst simulations. He also has a complementary technical background in welding and residential electrical. Jordan holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Arizona University.

Oumarou Zakariyao

Assistant Designer

Oumarou is a recent graduate of Saint Cloud State University with a Bachelor or Science in Electrical Engineering. In his prior roles, he worked on a variety of projects and companies. He is proficient in several software platforms such as Helioscope, AutoCAD, PVsyst, GIS-GSA, Energy Toolbase, Solar Anywhere, and SolarGIS. While using these platforms he was been responsible for performing scaling, model layouts, and PVsyst simulations. Oumarou is a member of the National Society of Black Engineering (NSBE).

Luke Peterson

Assistant Designer

Luke graduated from the University of Nebraska with a BS in mechanical engineering. After graduation, he chose to enroll in a master's program to pursue his interest in renewable energy. He completed his Master of Engineering in Advanced Energy Systems at Colorado School of Mines in December 2022. As part of his graduate program, Luke worked with professionals from the National Renewable Energy Lab and developed his knowledge of the energy industry and solar energy. Luke is passionate about renewable energy and excited to begin his career in utility-scale solar PV at FastGrid.

Noah DaBreo

Executive Intern (Based in Phoenix, Arizona)

Noah is a current Arizona State University student studying automotive systems engineering. He is onto his third year at FastGrid and has learned to be proficient in AutoCAD as well as preliminary solar and BESS layouts at the utility scale. Noah also has experience with building computers and has built over 10 high performance workstation machines for our employees during his time here. He continues to expand his knowledge on renewables and electrical systems while also building his skills with AutoCAD. After graduation Noah plans to continue in the renewables industry until eventually switching over to the automotive design world.

Jessica Patrick

Project Manager

Jessica has over 6 years of solar project management experience for residential homes across 4 states to start, and personally built up two markets on her own to cover 6 markets simultaneously.

She was responsible for managing 300-400 projects at any given time and personally ensured each client was provided with a seamless experience from start to finish. After excelling in her project management position, she was promoted to the Director of Quality Assurance, managing 5 separate teams to guarantee each member of her company was up to date on the latest product specs and trained on all standard operating procedures.

Jessica was responsible for constantly monitoring market trends to correct any decline in productivity, as well as acknowledging her team's success regarding all positive market trends. Jessica strives to consistently learn new things in her industry and has invested countless hours in her solar and electric knowledge.

She has completed her hours and received her certification for Enphase Energy, and she is currently working towards her PMP certification. Jessica's passion has always been large scale utility projects and when the opportunity arose to join a fast-growing esteemed company, she jumped at the opportunity.

McKenna Miller

Project Coordinator

McKenna has joined the FastGrid team as an intern assisting our Project Manager in her role to improve processes, tracking of vital information, and data management. During her time here, she has worked on process improvements to our RFI process, project management, and change order tracking. She has interests in Process Optimization and Efficiency and MATLAB experience.

McKenna is currently a senior at Arizona State University, majoring in Engineering Management with a focus on Environmental Engineering. Her goal is to utilize her degree in a way that can preserve the beauty of nature.

Kellsie Hardy

Operations Manager

Kellsie Hardy is the current Office Manager of FastGrid. In her role as Office Manager, she handles the day to day operations of all FastGrid locations. This includes being responsible for Human Resources, AP/AR, scheduling, licensing, payroll, etc.

In her time with FastGrid, she has re-vamped the invoicing and billing system, began tracking all overhead expenses including business development, as well as implementing organizational processes throughout the business.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management from Northern Arizona University and has a background in recruiting and headhunting. Kellsie has previous experience working at start-up companies and being one of the first 10 people hired. She also has a love of reading and plans to open an independent bookstore in the future using the knowledge gained at FastGrid.

Rachel Daut

Office Coordinator (based on Phoenix, Arizona)

Rachel is the current Office Assistant of FastGrid. In her role, she assists in various office duties including maintaining office appearance and supplies for employees, organizing meetings and travel, and non-confidential requests from FastGrid employees. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Strategic Communication from Northern Arizona University. Rachel loves word searches and hanging out with friends and family.