As Director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center at NREL, Richard is responsible for the management of the teams accountable for the Engineered Innovation Initiative, the Industry Growth Forum, the Venture Capital Advisory Board, Investor Networking Initiatives, Regional and National Incubator Programs, and the NREL Commercialization Assistance Program. He will also coordinate IEC’s work with the Mentor-Protégé program, the Small Business Subcontracting program, and the development of the Center for Renewable Energy and Economic Development (CREED).
Richard lives in Golden, Colorado. He received a Bachelor’s Degree from the University of New England (AU) in Agricultural Economics, and Business and Economics.
Mr. Ware serves as Managing Director of ARENA. Prior to joining ARENA Michael D. Ware served as co-founder of Advance Capital Markets, Inc. a private investment firm with a long and successful track record in the energy and power industries.
He has served as an advisor to private equity funds, international energy firms, independent power companies, electric utilities as well as a number of successful entrepreneurial enterprises. Mr. Ware served as an advisor to Good Energies (GEI) from 2003-2006 and as a Managing Director from 2007-2010. With former partner at Good Energies (and ARENA Principal) Greg Kats, he managed many of GEI’s venture capital and project investments in North America. These transactions included solar PV, solar thermal, wind, green buildings, energy efficiency and renewable resource assessment technologies.
Mr. Ware has arranged financings for wind, solar, hydro, biofuels, biomass and geothermal projects and has guided several companies from start-up, through venture financing, and later growth stages including the IPO process. He is an adjunct professor at the George Washington University where he teaches courses on energy and clean technology.
Mr. Ware served as an officer in the U.S. Air Force from 1968 -1973. He holds a BA from the University of Detroit and an MA from Ohio State University, where he was a fellow at the Mershon Center for National Security Studies.