Dean Baumgardner
Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer,
Former Executive Vice President, Wind Capital Group

Mr. Baumgardner has more than 25 years of experience in renewable energy and utility operations. As founding partner in Wind Capital Group, a Midwest based developer and operator of wind farms, Mr. Baumgardner served as Chief Development Officer and also directed technical services and construction on 1 gigawatts of wind energy projects.

Prior to WCG, Mr. Baumgardner served as business development manager at RMT (now IEA), an engineering and general contractor in the wind industry. His experience further includes 20 years with Alliant Energy, a US Midwest utility in various senior management positions involving electrical and natural gas operations, strategic planning and economic development. Mr. Baumgardner holds advanced degrees in community development and regional planning.

Tom Carnahan, 
Co-Founder & President
Founder and Former Chairman and CEO, Wind Capital Group
Former Chairman, American Wind Energy Association

Tom Carnahan is an attorney, businessman and community leader with extensive experience in both the workings of government and private sector innovation.

In 2005, drawing inspiration from his rural Missouri upbringing, Mr. Carnahan founded Wind Capital Group and became a leading developer, owner and operator of utility-scale wind farms in rural America. Under his leadership, Wind Capital Group developed nearly 1000 megawatts of projects, and set in motion over $1B of investment in rural America. Today he remains involved in the renewable energy industry as an investor, and is a board member and former Chairman of the American Wind Energy Association. He has testified on Capitol Hill and appeared on CNN, Fox Business News, ABC World News, MSNBC, NPR and other major outlets as an expert on energy, public policy and development.

Mr. Carnahan has a B.A. degree in International Relations from William Jewell College, including one year of study at Cambridge University, and holds a juris doctorate from the University of Missouri--Columbia School of Law.

Lisa Carnahan, 
Vice President of Strategic Planning

Lisa Carnahan is a businesswoman, investor and philanthropist and serves as Upepo Energy’s Vice President of Strategic Planning.  In her role, she focuses on community development, site identification and the application of the company’s Environmental, Social and Governance practices.  

Ms. Carnahan helped establish Wind Capital Group as a leading developer of wind projects in the United States and was the initial team lead responsible for community, landowner and siting issues on the 150MW Lost Creek Wind Project. 

Prior to her work at Wind Capital Group, Ms. Carnahan was a financial analyst for The Boeing Company at its headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri.  She currently serves as the Founder and President of the Prufrock Foudnation, which is dedicated to the advancement of cultural institutions and creating opportunities for underserved communities domestically and abroad.  She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from St. Louis, University.

Maliva Mahiga,
East Africa Project Manager

Maliva Mahiga is Upepo Energy's East Africa Project Manager based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Previously, Maliva worked at InfraCo Management Services where he was involved in the early stage development of infrastructure projects in sub-Saharan Africa. Mr. Mahiga also worked for NAI Project Management in their real estate development division in New York.

Moreover, Mr. Mahiga worked for ETG FZC, a privately funded project development company, with offices in Tanzania, where he evaluated early stage opportunities in the Mining, Energy and Agriculture in Western and Eastern sub-Saharan Africa.

Maliva attained at Bachelor of Science (Bsc.) in Chemistry and Law from The University of Bristol, in the Untied Kingdom and a Masters of Laws (LL.M.) from Georgetown University Law Center, in Washington D.C.

Steve Wolfgram, 
General Manager, East Africa

Steve Wolfgram is a businessman, a conservationist and an energy project developer. He has over 30 years of experience in the energy industry working on wind, biomass, hydroelectric and natural gas fired projects. Most recently he was a Vice President at Competitive Power Ventures where he led development on wind farms in the U.S. and Canada and on a natural gas fired project in the Midwest. Prior to that, he was an energy business consultant and V.P. and Chief Administrative Officer at PG&E’s National Energy Group.

Mr. Wolfgram has been involved with a variety of business, conservation and human development projects in Africa for the past 25 years.  He has conducted rural research, supported schools, helped create a village water system and spent a decade on the board of a large ecosystem conservation/human sustainability foundation in Africa. He conducted his doctoral research in remote villages in Central Africa, and later published a book that examined the challenges of human development in the context of sustaining valuable ecosystems.

Mr. Wolfgram has a B.S. in business and a Ph.D. in public administration and public policy.