- Christopher Smith, former Partner & CFO of SER Capital, joins Greenbacker as CFO.
- Daniel De Boer, former Head of Renewables, Allianz Capital Partners of America, joins as Head of Infrastructure.
- Carl Weatherley-White, former Advantage Capital Managing Director, joins as Head of Capital Markets.
New York, NY, February 1, 2024 — Greenbacker Renewable Energy Company LLC (“GREC” and, together with Greenbacker Capital Management, “Greenbacker”), a leading independent power producer and renewable energy asset manager, is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher Smith, CFA as Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), effective February 1, 2024. Greenbacker also welcomes Daniel De Boer as Head of Infrastructure and Carl Weatherley-White as Head of Capital Markets. These newly created roles, integral to the firm’s growth, underscore Greenbacker’s expanding strategy, capability, and commitment to investing in the energy transition.
“Chris, Dan, and Carl have joined the Greenbacker leadership team during a period of not only expansion for the company but also one of transformation, as Greenbacker enters a new growth phase,” said Charles Wheeler, CEO of GREC. “With their experience at some of the world’s leading investment and renewables firms, this high-caliber trio will help our team lay the foundation for future growth, bolstering Greenbacker’s abilities to identify opportunities to put investor capital to work across the energy transition asset classes.”
Smith is a seasoned CFO and leader, who brings over 20 years of accounting and finance experience within the energy sector to Greenbacker. Over the course of his career, Smith served as Partner and CFO at SER Capital Partners, a private equity firm focusing on sustainability. Under his tenure, the firm successfully closed on over $500 million in capital commitments, directing investments into critical areas of the energy transition, including battery storage and energy efficiency. Smith led Sunnova Energy, Inc. through its initial public offering (“IPO”) in 2019, as the company’s interim CFO & Treasurer. As Managing Director & Treasurer at Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure, he spearheaded the firm’s financial strategy and closed numerous bank and capital market transactions. As CFO, Smith succeeds Spencer Mash, who co-founded Greenbacker in 2011. Mash will remain with Greenbacker as an Executive Vice President reporting to the CEO.
As Head of Infrastructure, De Boer oversees the Infrastructure Investment team at Greenbacker, managing the company’s sustainable infrastructure project investments and optimizing GREC’s current project fleet, including identifying attractive opportunities to augment existing assets with efficiency upgrades or additional revenue stream capabilities. Prior to Greenbacker, De Boer served as the Head of Renewables at Allianz Capital Partners of America, where he oversaw every aspect of the investment lifecycle—from origination to ongoing asset management—and played a pivotal role in shaping the strategic direction of business development in the Americas. Previously in his career, De Boer established Onyx Renewable Partners within Blackstone Energy Partners and launched D. E. Shaw Renewable Investments while part of the D. E. Shaw Group’s private equity team. In the newly created Head of Infrastructure position, De Boer takes over an integral function formerly performed by Mehul Mehta during his previous tenure as Greenbacker’s CIO.
As the Head of Capital Markets, Weatherley-White will manage the financing of GREC’s diverse project portfolio. He will oversee tax equity and project financing for GREC’s pre-operational asset fleet and will also pursue opportunities to optimize GREC’s existing capital structure within the rapidly evolving infrastructure capital markets. Weatherley-White brings a wealth of experience in infrastructure financing, particularly in the renewable energy sector. Prior to joining Greenbacker, he served as the Head of Renewable Investments at Advantage Capital. In this capacity, he led the creation of the firm’s renewable energy tax credit syndication platform and played a pivotal role in originating and structuring over $1.5 billion in tax credit investments. Previously, he held the positions of CEO and CFO at VivoPower International, a global energy infrastructure firm. During his tenure, he played a key role in the company’s successful IPO on NASDAQ and, subsequently, took the helm in actively steering the organization’s growth strategy. His prior experiences include Managing Director & Group Head of Global Project Finance at Barclays Capital and Lehman Brothers and Director of Energy Structured Finance at Credit Suisse.
Greenbacker Capital Management (“GCM”), Greenbacker’s investment management business segment, recently hired a Head of Real Estate Investments, David Zackowitz, to lead its newest sustainability driven investment strategy, focused on acquiring commercial and residential property. Greenbacker’s latest quarterly results showcase considerable year-over-year increases in both AUM1, which surpassed $3.6 billion (including GCM’s managed funds), and operational project capacity,2 which topped 1,500 megawatts (enough to power approximately 260,000 homes annually).3
As of December 31, 2023, Greenbacker’s fleet of clean energy projects has produced over 8.7 million MWh4 of clean energy since 2016, in service of the company’s mission to empower a sustainable world. Greenbacker’s real assets have abated nearly 6.2 million metric tons of carbon,5 and support over 6,400 green jobs.6 Today, GCM serves as the investment manager to five energy transition-focused funds.
1 Total AUM includes GREC and GCM’s managed funds. AUM represents the underlying fair value of investments, determined generally in accordance with ASC 820, cash and cash equivalents and project level debt. These figures are unaudited and subject to change.
2 GREC portfolio metrics set forth herein are unaudited estimates and subject to change.
3 What’s in a Megawatt?, Solar Energy Industries Association.
4 Data is as of December 31, 2023.
5 EPA Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator. December 31, 2023.
6 Green jobs are calculated from the International Renewable Energy Agency‘s measurement that one megawatt of renewable power supports approximately four jobs. December 31, 2023.
