Mr. Atkinson has 31 years of public company, corporate finance experience. He spent over 23 years with Sierra Pacific Power Resources, currently known as NV Energy. During his tenure he was directly responsible for financial forecasting, planning, and finance. As Vice President and CFO, he spearheaded efforts in the financial markets and in the regulatory arena to fund ongoing operations, refinance maturing obligations, and fund construction expenditures for two of the fastest growing utilities in the Country. More recently, Richard served as CFO for US BioEnergy, a major ethanol producer. While there, he was instrumental in completing $477 million of project financing to fund the construction of new Ethanol plants as well as an Initial Public Offering of the Company’s common stock.

In addition to his role as CFO at Gradient Resources, Richard holds a Board seat with Capstone Turbine Corporation, a leading producer of low-emission micro turbine systems. Richard received an MBA at the University of Nevada, Reno, as well as a Bachelor of Science at the University of Oregon.

David Lloyd – Senior Vice President & General Counsel

Mr. Lloyd was appointed Sr. Vice President & General Counsel on May 3, 2011.  Prior to joining Gradient, Mr. Lloyd served in various capacities for NRG Energy, Inc., in its Western Region corporate offices, including Regional General Counsel and Director, Community Affairs for 12 years, where he was actively engaged in permitting, developing, financing, operating and transacting large steam plants, cogeneration, biomass, hydro, wind and waste to energy projects.  Before joining NRG, he was a partner in the energy group of Stoel Rives LLP, a western law firm with a large utility and renewable energy practice, for 6 years.  Prior to that, he was General Counsel for Pacific Generation Company, a PacifiCorp independent power subsidiary, formed by the merger of Utah Power & Light Company with Pacific Power & Light Company.  He was a General Counsel for Energy National, Inc., the UP&L independent power subsidiary that merged into Pacific Generation Company.  He has participated in the development and financing, operations and sales of various renewable and cogeneration plants in the US and Canada.  While in Southern California, he was Board Vice Chair of the Carlsbad Chamber for public policy, on the Executive Committee of the Board for the San Diego North Economic Development Council, a member of the SANDAG TransNet Independent Taxpayer Oversight Committee, a member of SANDAG’s Energy Working Group, and on the boards of environmental and social charities.  He received the Environmental Steward Award from the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce in 2010, and the Carlsbad Chamber Corporate Citizen Award 2010.  He has a J.D. from the University of Utah where he was Managing Editor of the Utah Law Review, and was briefly an Assistant Professor of Law at the BYU Clark Law School.  He is married to Jeanne Harrington-Lloyd, a real estate broker and interior designer, and has two children.

Mr. Lessard has worked in power plant operations and energy sector development for 22 years. Most recently, he served as the Chief Financial Officer and VP Americas for EnDevCo, Inc. Prior to joining EnDevCo, Mr. Lessard served as Vice President, Americas for Globeleq, Inc., where he led the company’s business development activities in Latin America. Under his direction, Globeleq successfully entered the power markets in Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. Mr Lessard was directly responsible for originating, negotiating and closing 5 greenfield and M&A transactions representing over $300 million, together with several bond and bank financings.

Mr. Lessard has also served as Principal and Vice President for Hart Energy International, a start-up power development company focused on the emerging markets. From 1994 to 1999, he was Regional Managing Director of Coastal Power Company, where he managed regional business units in Southeast Asia and the northeast United States. Mr. Lessard holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and an MBA in finance from Texas A&M University.

Mr. Manuel has over 30 years experience in the energy industry. From 1980 to 1987, he held oil and gas drilling and production engineering positions at Chevron, then moved into Chevron’s geothermal operations as an engineer from 1987 to 1990. In 1990, Mr. Manuel continued engineering duties as an oil and gas subsea drilling engineer, before joining CalEnergy in 1991 as Operations Manager at the 270 MW Coso Geothermal Power Plant in Southern California. From 1991 to 1997, Mr. Manuel held increasingly responsible geothermal management positions, including Vice President of Geothermal Operations over CalEnergy’s 585MW geothermal portfolio, which included Coso, Imperial Valley, Desert Peak, Roosevelt Hot Springs well field and Beowawe. From 1997 to 1999, Mr. Manuel served as VP Indonesia and later Chief Operating Officer, Asia, for CalEnergy in Jakarta, Indonesia, and was responsible for well drilling, resource engineering, power plant construction, and operations and maintenance planning for three 400MW concessions at Dieng, Patuha, and Bali, Indonesia. In 1999, Mr. Manuel joined Calpine as Vice President – Geothermal, where he was responsible for nineteen geothermal units (880 MW) at The Geysers geothermal field. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Manuel held various senior management positions at Calpine, overseeing operation of nearly 28,000 MW of gas turbine based generation. From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Manuel provided power industry consulting services in the U.S. and Middle East, and held positions of Senior VP and Chief Technology Officer at Advanced Power Projects. Mr. Manuel joined Gradient Resources in September 2010. Mr. Manuel holds a Bachelors of Engineering degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.