Our Leadership

Tom began his early career at Trane where he specialized in Process Cooling as General Manager of the Industrial Division in Houston.  He later began applying process cooling technology to Power Plants and completed the world’s first Gas Turbine Inlet Cooling project in 1987.  Tom later founded TAS to provide a completely factory engineered and prefabricated chilled water plant with guaranteed performance and improved efficiency similar to the innovations previously achieved in the power industry with the evolution of packaged gas turbine plants.  Tom has recently worked on expanding this modular concept to utilize heat from gas turbines & engines for the production of chilled water in Clean Heat & Power (CHP) systems as well as Advanced Heat Recovery (AHR) systems which convert waste exhaust heat directly into electrical or mechanical power without steam through patented Organic Rankin Cycle modular plants.  

Tom received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Arkansas.   He is a member of ASHRAE, ASME, U.S. Green Building Council, is a past Chairman of the Turbine Inlet Cooling Association (TICA), and is currently a Board member of the International District Energy Association (IDEA) and the U.S. Clean Heat & Power Association (USCHPA).  Mr. Pierson holds (7) U.S. Patents related to chilled water plant designs, Turbine Inlet Cooling, and Integrated Energy Systems and he remains active in the corporate development of new technologies related to Central Plant systems optimization, performance measurement & verification, CHP, and renewable power.

 
Mr. Hurlbert joined TAS from Pratt & Whitney Power Systems (PWPS) where he served as President and General Manager of the business unit P2 Energy. Prior to PWPS, he served as President and CEO of the PIC Energy Group. 

Mr. Hurlbert’s energy industry experience includes serving as Director of International Business Development for Stewart & Stevenson (S&S), the world’s largest third party operator of Power Plants.  S&S was acquired by General Electric and Mr. Hurlbert was named General Manager of Global Sales for GE's Contractual Services business leading the GE/S&S integrated service provider from $750 million in backlog at inception to $7 billion in backlog in 24 months.

He joined the energy industry in 1990 in a position with North American Energy Services (NAES) a leading operations and maintenance company where he led sales in the Latin and South American markets.  Prior to NAES Mr. Hurlbert served as a Valuation Manager in the Mergers and Acquisitions Group for the Geneva Companies and prior to Geneva he worked for the Ford Motor Company in their financial management program. Mr. Hurlbert has a BS degree from San Diego State and an MBA from the University of California – Long Beach.  Mr. Hurlbert is the past President and current Chairman of the Turbine Inlet Cooling Association. He was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2009 Award Winner in the Houston and Gulf Coast Area and inducted into the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization.

Prior to joining TAS, he was Director, Business Strategy for Home Depot.  Mr. Brady’s professional experience includes serving as Vice President of Risk Management as well as Vice President of Sales for Pratt & Whitney Power Systems (PWPS) in addition to 15 years of GE experience in their GE Lighting, GE Aircraft Engines, GE Appliances and GE Power Systems divisions. Mr. Brady has a BS in Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an MBA from Xavier University.

  
Prior to joining TAS, Mr. Hilberg served as Vice President of Marketing and later Aftermarket Sales for Pratt & Whitney Power Systems (PWPS).  Prior to PWPS, Mr. Hilberg served as Commercial Leader, Asia for GE Energy Services and Manager of Technical Services for North American Energy Services.  He began his professional career with the United States Navy, serving on nuclear submarines for seven years.

Mr. Hilberg has a BS in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.  Mr. Hilberg is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of California.   Mr. Hilberg is the past president of the Turbine Inlet Cooling Association  - www.turbineinletcooling.org.

Prior to joining TAS, Mr. Backlund served in progressive roles with a Houston based packager of industrial rotating equipment systems supporting various industries worldwide.  During this time his responsibilities included ASME Code Vessel / Pipe Designer, Project Engineer, Project Manager and Engineering Manager.  Mr. Backlund began his career with a manufacturer and packager of positive displacement blowers and vacuum systems, as Applications / Sales Engineer.

Mr. Backlund has a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Missouri with an MBA from the University of Houston.

After graduating from Texas Tech University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, he began his career as a Graduate Field Engineer designing and repairing turbo-machinery foundations in the process and petrochemical industries.   

Thereafter, Mr. Kariker spent 10 years in engineering, designing, managing, and commissioning projects involving packaged rotating equipment systems for the power generation, process and petrochemical industries.  He held positions in application engineering, field service, project engineering and project management.  Throughout this segment of his career he was heavily involved from a development and execution perspective on packaged equipment systems, involving electric motor and reciprocating engine driven compressed air; compressed gas; vapor recovery; compressed nitrogen; gas heating and treatment; and refrigeration. 

Mr. Bennett brings with him a wealth of experience in project related businesses with over 25 years of experience in design engineering, engineering management, project management, operations management, and P&L leadership. Prior to joining TAS, Mr. Bennett held various senior management positions with Siemens Energy & Automation, Infrastructure Logistics Division from 1998 to 2009, including project management, operations management, and P&L leadership.

Mr. Bennett earned a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

After graduating from Texas Tech University with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1994, Russell began his career as a project engineer with the gas turbine division of Stewart & Stevenson in Houston, Texas.  While with Stewart & Stevenson he worked as an Applications Engineer and ultimately as a Sales Engineer in the gas turbine compressor arena until GE acquired the gas turbine division of Stewart & Stevenson in 1998.  After the acquisition Russell worked as a Project Manager and in early 2000 he was chosen to lead a Supply Chain team instrumental in the ramp up of the GE Energy Aero Houston facility during the North American power “bubble”.  In early 2000, Mr. Thompson was promoted to an expat assignment in Budapest, Hungary tasked with creating a project management organization for a Greenfield production facility. Upon returning to the states in 2002 Russell worked in various leadership positions in the Sales and Commercial Operations organizations of GE Energy’s Aero Energy division.
 
Mr. Thompson has developed relationships across the global power industry having traveled to over 26 countries outside of the United States in support of power projects.  He has lead commercial operations teams having closed over 2 Billion USD in contracts for new turbine equipment and services.  He has an extensive understanding of the Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) market having participated in multiple contract negotiations for “turnkey” construction projects.

Jim joined TAS as the Healthcare and Life Sciences Vertical Market Leader in September 2008 where he had an opportunity to focus on the growth of the Healthcare Market sales team and broaden its vertical market accessibility. After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Jim worked for 21 years at a major equipment manufacturer focusing on innovative control and equipment designs for chilled water and hot water systems for Commercial HVAC Applications.  Jim worked extensively in the field with Consulting Engineers and Owners, and was one of the first people in the industry to Propose Variable Evaporator Flow as a design method. Jim has helped implement variable flow evaporator systems in over 400 installations worldwide in systems as large as 12,000 Tons. Jim also helped drive the Engineering efforts behind Standard Products and cost efficient construction methods as a Vice President of Engineering in a custom manufacturing environment.
 
Mr. Schlachter has a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Cincinnati, and has a long history of involvement in ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers).

After graduating from Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering in 1988, Mr. Hummel began his career as a production engineer with GE’s aircraft engine business in Cincinnati, OH where he held numerous positions in manufacturing, services, quality, and customer service prior to moving to GE Energy in Atlanta, GA.  While with GE Energy, Mr. Hummel served as a Commercial Director, Commercial Leader, and Sales Leader in energy services with a focus on originating strategic, long term service contracts.   Mr. Hummel has an M.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and an EJD degree from Concord Law School.

Prior to joining TAS he was the Director of Projects for the Jumeirah Hospitality Group responsible for the project management of capital works within the hotel portfolio. Originally from England, Mr. Farrington has been working in the Middle East for 15 years with experience in Jordan, Oman and the UAE. He has worked with Tarmac Construction involved with building and civil contracts in the Middle East and UK. Mr. Farrington has a BSc (Hons) in Quantity Surveying and Construction Economics from the University of Salford and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.