News > Cascade Appoints Independent Board Members

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Cascade Appoints Independent Board Members

December 5, 2022
New board members bring diverse perspectives as well as deep commitment to time-honored values.

Portland, Oregon: Cascade Energy, Inc. announces the appointment of two new board members, Uma Gopaldass and Prasad Padman.   

The journey to diversifying the Cascade Energy board has been years in the making. Since the company’s inception in 1993, the board has been internal-only, made up of the original Cascade founders. The addition of the first two independent board members brings the total number of board members to six. Furthermore, this fulfills a key 2022 corporate goal: Meaningfully diversify our Board of Directors. It also represents successful progress towards fulfilment of the ESOP purchase agreement provisions by which Cascade became 100% employee owned. The provisions foresee an increase in the size of the Board to seven directors by November of 2023, three of which will be independent. (“Independent” is defined as excluding current and former employees; family of current or former employees; or anyone who has received compensation from the company within 12 months.) 

This director search has been a long and winding five-month adventure. We cast our net wide, consulted with professional experts in training and placing directors, and called on our networks.  “We know that we will benefit greatly from the addition of independent directors. They bring very different backgrounds and perspectives, along with a wealth of experience and knowledge that will surely make us better,” says Dan Brown, CEO. “They will also guide our biggest decisions and improve our performance through their objective view of our market, our operations, and our customers.”  

Umadevi Gopaldass is a leader in natural resources, energy, construction, manufacturing, and technology industries with 30+ years of global operating experience. She is well regarded for driving transformation of global supply chains, capital developments, and international risk governance. Uma champions diversity, inclusion, and talent engagement. She was awarded “Woman of the Year” by the National Association of Professional Women as a result of her excellence, commitment, and passion in bettering leadership. 

Prasad Padman has over 20 years of experience in the energy industry, including industrial energy management for large process facilities. He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Moog, Inc. Prasad is a deep strategic thinker with an ability to balance governance with a forward-looking agenda. In addition, he has vast experience in translating innovative ideas into commercially viable businesses – from ideation to scaling.  

Cascade Energy, Inc. brings unrivaled expertise to industrial energy efficiency, offering utilities and facilities novel ways to meet their sustainability, emission reduction, decarbonization and/or energy savings goals. Specializing in energy efficiency program design, training and coaching, carbon tracking and reporting, Cascade is a 100% employee-owned company, known throughout North America and Canada for high-quality work and a values-centered culture.  

 

Media Contact:  

Karalyn Kenton
Vice President of Market Development
karalyn.kenton@cascadeenergy.com
720-378-6514

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