Barry McConachie

Founder and CEO

In 1995, Barry founded Multimedia Development Corporation (MMD), and grew the firm into a leader in data provisioning systems and internet-voice soft-switching. Customers included MCI Telecommunications, WorldCom, Samsung and Tecnet consortium.

In 2000, he led MMD through a private merger with Dallas-based Efficient Networks in excess of 9-figures. In an executive management role with Efficient Networks, he changed the strategic focus of Efficient by moving from a core of low-margin hardware revenue into higher value systems and software products.

A year later in 2001, Barry was instrumental in the $1.5 billion dollar acquisition of Efficient Networks by Siemens AG. Barry joined Siemens as VP of Service Management where he stayed on until his entrepreneurial outlook inspired him to leave Siemens and found several new ventures including voice-over-IP, wireless solutions, real-time notification and GPS tracking companies.

In 2008, Barry founded Global Climate Strategies (GCS) out of a well researched recognition of the opportunity to profitably improve air quality by identifying, originating and financing carbon and alternative energy projects. Today, GCS has a development pipeline of energy efficiency, biopower, biogas, transportation fuel-switching, and forestry projects in the United States and Latin America.

For the past decade and a half, Barry has been a successful technology entrepreneur in Texas, leading businesses from early stage startup, through successful acquisitions and mergers with large public corporations. Barry has initiated a variety of engineering and development teams that he positioned to take advantage of emerging markets, but holds his greatest anticipation for the success of his current GCS venture.


Jeff Smith

Director

Jeff oversees business development and the project management of GCS’s development pipeline. As part of the GCS team, Jeff has worked with the UNFCCC in the revision process of AMS II. J. - leading GCS to become the first entity in the world to be validated and issued VCS carbon offset credits using this CDM methodology for energy efficient lighting. Smith manages PDD authoring, CER/VER sales to compliance and voluntary market exchanges, VERPA / ERPA term sheet origination and negotiation, and manages project due diligence for GCS’s development pipeline.

Jeff came to GCS with over 17 years of executive sales and marketing experience ranging from publishing to start up software companies. He started his career in New York City in publishing and soon became swept up in the technology revolution and turned to managing sales activities for highly technical software development magazines.
Given the opportunity Mr. Smith chose a VP of Sales position with a software start up in Chicago. Three years of transitioning the firm from Smalltalk to Java and consulting could not keep him away from his home state of Texas. Since his arrival he has built a number of technology consulting firms before joining GCS.


Liz Grieco Cunningham

General Counsel and Director, Latin American Operations

Liz has dedicated her nearly 20 year professional career to the advancement of domestically produced renewable energy. After graduating with honors from Villanova University School of Law in 1991, she relocated from her East Coast home to Texas. As a State of Texas General Land Office Attorney in the Energy Division, Liz worked with General Counsel's office on multiple renewable energy/alternative transportation fuel development projects and renewable energy land transactions, including the first utility scale wind project in the state. In 1992 – 1993, she was tapped by her boss, Texas General Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, to assist with his directive to Chair President Clinton’s Federal Fleet Conversion Task Force. Created by Executive Order #12844, this Task Force was charged with developing and recommending a coordinated public private effort to leverage the buying power of the federal government and market presence of the federal fleet, to significantly accelerate the manufacture of alternative fueled vehicles and the refueling infrastructure needed to power them. Following this experience, Liz continued her work in private industry in the Austin offices of two national law firms, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan and Brickfield, Burchette and Ritts, during which time she represented, among other interests, non-profit public utility corporations navigating through deregulation of the electric industry, transition to becoming privately held, stock companies; assisted in tracking, and analyzing significant state and federal legislative developments, and counseling clients re: potential impacts and strategic development.

In addition, she has more than a decade of in-house corporate counsel experience working with C-level management to identify, assess, strategically plan for, and create interest and growth in the waste energy resource recovery side of the largest independently owned recycling company in the United States. In particular, Liz has been central to efforts accelerating commercial and governmental acceptance of the recycling company’s residual, non-recyclable, high BTU content waste as a fuel feedstock in addition to biomass.



Jeff Otto

Vice President

Jeff is an energy finance professional focused on carbon and alternative energy project development. His role at GCS includes structured asset finance (specifically non-recourse debt and tax equity), project due diligence, risk management, originating and negotiating investment opportunities, corporate strategy, and business development.

While earning his MBA, Jeff worked for Element Markets, LLC, a clean energy independent power producer and environmental markets liquidity provider. He originated and modeled landfill gas-to-energy opportunities in the Southwest U.S., and performed business development for EM’s biopower group.

Jeff received his MBA in Energy Finance from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin. As the former president of the McCombs CleanTech Group (CTG), Jeff focused on CleanTech-related University of Texas curriculum - where he earned the Dean’s Service Award for his efforts. Jeff co-produced “The CleanTech Opportunity for Central Texas” short film in April, 2009. While working at the Austin Clean Energy Incubator, Jeff was the lead author of “Carbon Pricing and the Transition from Voluntary to Mandatory Markets” which was presented to the CleanTX Forum at Austin City Hall, March 12th 2008.

From 2004-2007, Jeff was a lead business analyst at Merrill Lynch in New York City where he project managed various technology integration projects for the municipal bond derivatives trading and structuring desks. Jeff holds a BS in Information Sciences and Technology from The Pennsylvania State University.