Meet Our Team
Meet the leaders of EDF Renewables North America.
- About UsAbout UsWe’re committed to providing future generations with the means to power their lives in the most economic, environmental and socially responsible ways possible.
- What We DoWhat We DoWe are a market-leading, independent power producer and service provider, delivering: wind (onshore and offshore), solar photovoltaic, storage, and electrical vehicle charging.
Tristan Grimbert
President & Chief Executive Officer
About
Tristan Grimbert oversees EDF Renewables throughout North America driving the company’s success across its four primary business lines: Grid-Scale Power, Distribution-Scale Power, Asset Optimization, and Onsite Solutions operating as PowerFlex. With an impressive track record of 18 gigawatts (GW) of renewable projects developed and 14.6 GW of projects under service contracts, EDF Renewables North America has firmly established itself as a respected leader in the renewable energy industry.
Under Mr. Grimbert’s leadership, commencing in 2004, EDF Renewables North America has experienced remarkable growth with revenues increasing fourteen-fold. He spearheaded strategic expansions into Canada and Mexico, in 2007 and 2010 respectively, and led several successful acquisitions which played a significant role in driving growth. In 2018, Mr. Grimbert played a pivotal role in the establishment of Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, LLC, a joint-venture company formed in collaboration with Shell New Energies US to develop a lease area located off the coast of New Jersey. And later the formation of Mid-Atlantic Offshore Development, LLC joint venture to construct an onshore transmission facility in support of offshore wind energy.
Mr. Grimbert has served on several boards of directors; currently serving on Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind and the American Clean Power Association (ACP). His dedication to the industry was exemplified during his tenure as Chairman of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) Board in 2017 and 2018.
Mr. Grimbert’s career began in sales and international consultancy. He is a graduate of Institut National Agronomique Paris Grignon and holds a management degree from Insead. He spent seven years prior to EDF Renewables as President and CEO of Mensi SA, a wholly owned subsidiary of EDF, and later with Trimble Navigation Limited.
Sandi Briner
Vice President, Marketing & Communications
About
Sandi Briner leads the Marketing & Communication efforts for EDF Renewables North America.
In this role, she directs the planning, development and execution of EDF Renewables North American internal and external communication strategies including business development marketing, media relations and public affairs activities.
Prior to joining the company in November 2007, she worked in the financial sector managing the sales & marketing efforts for the retail division of large regional bank in the Midwest. Sandi holds a Master’s degree from Miami University (Ohio) and Bachelor of Business Administration from Ohio University.
Tina Chen
Chief Human Resources Officer
About
Tina Chen leads EDF Renewables’ Human Resources team in North America. In her position, Tina is responsible for overseeing the strategy for Talent Acquisition, Learning & Development, Total Rewards, HR Business Partners and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for all North American employees.
Prior to joining EDF Renewables in 2022, Tina spent 17 years with the Sempra Energy family of companies in roles of increasing responsibility in HR including People Research, Organizational Development, Talent Management, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and HRBP. She was head of HR for the Sempra Renewables area for five years.
Tina received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of California Berkeley and her Master’s and Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University.
Dalen Copeland
Vice President, Digital Technology
About
Dalen Copeland leads EDF Renewables’ Digital Technology team in North America. In her position, Dalen is responsible for delivering the organization’s digital transformation enablement, infrastructure, enterprise platforms and integrations, software solutions, data & analytics, cybersecurity, service desk, and architecture capabilities.
Dalen’s career at EDF Renewables began as legal counsel in 2006. After a time in the company’s Rotational Training Program, she took a permanent position in O&M Business Development in 2012 where she led sales and customer account management efforts, and oversaw the business analytics, administration, and strategic growth for the Asset Optimization group throughout the Americas.
In 2020 she became Vice President Strategic Initiatives, leading Asset Optimization’s large-scale initiatives to enable organization development and strategic success. In this position she oversaw AO’s digital transformation, continuous improvement, strategic initiatives, and technical training teams. Prior to EDF Renewables, Dalen worked in corporate and securities law for several international law firms including Paul Hastings, LLP and Foley & Lardner, LLP.
Dalen obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bryn Mawr College, Master of Science degree in Organization Development from Pepperdine University and received her Juris Doctor from Tulane University.
Raphael Declercq
Executive Vice President, Onsite Solutions | CEO PowerFlex
About
Raphael provides leadership for the Onsite Solutions business unit of EDF Renewables North America, which operates under the brand PowerFlex.
Raphael has responsibility over the teams and legal entities for our behind-the-meter activities. In his strategy role, he has a focus on identifying and supporting analysis on growth opportunities and risks of EDF Renewables businesses in North America.
Prior to transferring to the North American headquarters in 2011, Raphael worked for EDF Renouvelables in Paris as Deputy Executive Advisor. Earlier in his career, Raphael was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company where he primarily focused on the energy and heavy industry sectors. Raphael holds Masters in Management from HEC Paris business school and CEMS (Community of European Management Schools).
Art Del Rio
Vice President, Technical Services
About
Art Del Rio is Vice President of Technical Services, and serves as Chief Technical Officer for North America, a pivotal role in setting and implementing the strategic direction of the company’s renewable energy technology strategy. He is responsible for ensuring optimal performance, quality, cost, and advancing technology evolution to capture leading levelized cost of energy to ensure our partners are offered optimal power prices.
In this role he leads the oversight and management of several teams including Innovation & Technology Commercialization, Engineering, Strategic Procurement, Solar & Storage Product Management, Wind Product Management, Measurements & Testing, and Wind Energy teams.
Art has over 25 years of experience in management, business development, project management and operations. Previously he served as Vice President of Strategic Procurement where he oversaw the procurement of all major equipment and was responsible for securing industry leading prices, commercial terms, and technologies from global Tier-1 suppliers for wind, solar and storage.
Prior to joining EDF Renewables in 2008, Art spent over 12 years managing business development and operations for various multinational banking/finance organizations.
Max Hardage
Chief of Staff
About
Max Hardage is the Chief of Staff for EDF Renewables North America, where he is responsible for strategy and operational efficiency. He began his career at EDF Renewables in 2017 as part of the Company's Rotational Training Program. He has held several roles in the Grid-Scale Power business, including Valuation & Analytics, Storage Product Management, and Strategic Initiatives.
Previously, Max worked in e-mobility at Walmart and Tesla and as a process engineer at BP.
Max holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Georgia Tech.
Mark Johnson
Executive Vice President, Asset Optimization
About
Mark is the Executive Vice President of Asset Optimization in San Diego, California. He joined EDF Renewables in March 2019 as the Vice President of Technical Services.
He began his career in 1992 as a Field Engineer for GE working on gas turbine installation and commissioning. Those roles were followed by assignments in 1996 as an engineer in Accessory Systems Engineering and later as a Black Belt. Mark first joined GE Renewable Energy in 2002 in the reliability engineering function where he was responsible for RCA Programs and continuous improvement of the Wind Fleet. In 2004 the role expanded into leading Global Fleet Support Engineering, combining the strengths of a globally diverse workforce from China, Europe and the US. In 2007, he led the Onshore Systems Engineering and played a key role in the launching for the Mark Vie, 1.6-82, and the 1.6-100. Mark was the Senior General Manager for Onshore Wind from 2011 to 2015. Mark lead the Global Hydro Engineering organization based in Grenoble France from 2015 to 2018.
He received his bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from North Carolina State University and his MBA from the University of South Carolina.
Joshua Pearson
General Counsel
About
Joshua Pearson is General Counsel for EDF Renewables North America, overseeing all Legal matters for the company, including the development, construction, ownership and operation of its projects, all litigation matters, and the corporate and administrative aspects of the Legal function.
Prior to Josh’s appointment as General Counsel in 2022, Josh was the VP, Legal and Associate General Counsel for EDF Renewables North America for 12 years, during which time his day-to-day responsibilities included negotiating, drafting, and critical review of M&A transactions, power and environmental attribute offtake and derivatives transactions, permitting and environmental matters, interconnection and transmission agreements, equipment procurement and EPC contracts, debt and tax equity financings, as well as operations and maintenance and asset management agreements.
Josh received his BA from Dartmouth College and his JD from The University of San Diego School of Law. He spent eight years working at two nationally recognized law firms before joining EDF Renewables in 2009.
Gerardo Pérez Guerra
Vice President & General Manager, EDF Renewables, Mexico
About
Gerardo Pérez Guerra joined EDF Renewables México in November 2014 as Vice President & General Manager, reporting to Tristan Grimbert, President and Chief Executive Officer.
Gerardo’s over 25 years’ experience in the energy sector includes 23 years with Siemens México. For Siemens he held the role of Business Director for the Mesoamerican Energy Market for 13 years. In that role, Gerardo was responsible for sales strategy, negotiation and profit of sales for five divisions and a sales volume of 1.5 Billion USD annually.
During this past year, as Acciona’s Director of Windpower for México and Central America, Gerardo is proud to have led the charge to the signing of a nearly 300MW project in North México and closing an agreement with Actis for the design, engineering and construction of a 50MW wind project in Oaxaca.
Gerardo’s overall wind business development expertise and proficiency in relationship management with industrial sector companies, EPC's, fund investment companies, off takers, developers and government entities, is sure to lead to success as he assumes responsibility for the overall operation and development of EDF EN México’s renewable energy project portfolio and daily operation of the organization.
Ryan Pfaff
Executive Vice President, Grid- and Distribution-Scale Power
About
Ryan Pfaff leads EDF Renewables' Grid- and Distribution-Scale Power activities in North America across multiple technologies, including solar, on- and offshore wind, energy storage, and hydrogen. With over 25 years of international renewable energy and finance experience, he has played a key role in the commercialization of over 12 GW of renewable generation facilities globally.
Prior to joining EDF Renewables in 2012, Mr. Pfaff served in a variety of roles with the AES Corporation over the course of seven years, most recently VP & Head of Global Wind Development. Other AES roles included, VP – North America Business Development, Managing Director - Renewable Generation, and serving on AES’ Global Development Steering Committee.
Mr. Pfaff began his energy career in 1997 with privately-held IPP SeaWest Windpower, where he was a key member of the management team responsible for the turnaround and sale of SeaWest to AES in 2005. Prior to joining the energy industry, Mr. Pfaff worked in commercial banking with Credit Suisse First Boston and Union Bank of California (now US Bank).
Mr. Pfaff holds a B.S. in Business Administration, concentration in Finance, from San Diego State University. He serves on both the Board and Executive Committee of the Solar Energy Industries Association, as well as Atlantic Shores Offshore Wind, an EDFR/Shell joint venture.
Luis Silva
Chief Financial Officer
About
Luis Silva is the Chief Financial Officer for EDF Renewables North America joining the company in late 2013. In this position he is responsible to develop and implement the financial strategy for EDF Renewables as well as oversee the day-to-day operations of the corporate finance teams throughout North America. Mr. Silva also has under his purview the Project Finance team that focuses on raising capital in the tax equity and debt markets as well as the Portfolio Strategy Team that focuses on strategic divestitures and partnerships for the operating fleet of the Company.
Mr. Silva brings nine years of experience working within the EDF Renewables group prior to joining EDF Renewables North America, having been the CFO for EDF Renewables’ Turkish subsidiary (Polat Enerji) between 2009 and 2013. In this role, he managed all the financial activity of the company while representing EDF Renewables’ interest and participation in Turkey. Mr. Silva served EDF Renewables Portugal from 2005 to 2009 having taken the positions of Financial Controller and subsequently Assistant CFO.
Prior to joining EDF Renewables, Mr. Silva worked as a financial auditor in the Assurance and Advisory Business Services group with Ernst & Young in Lisbon, Portugal.
Mr. Silva holds an Economics Degree from Universidade Católica Portuguesa and a post-graduate degree in Financial Instruments, Institutions and Markets from Euronext Lisbon.
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