A longtime upstate NY resident, Chad Dehmler is a PMP-certified project manager who has assisted NYS ITS to mature the Chief Portfolio Office to provide project management assistance to various NYS agencies. His past experience ramping up projects brings an element of continuity to this local startup. His past business credentials include an MBA in Information Technology as well as a BBA in International Business, he has also been involved in multiple ventures as a project manager and consultant. Being a resident of Cohoes, and a frontline witness to the devastating damage caused by water chestnuts in the river, he had an idea and a solution. He thought of how he could turn the problematic water chestnuts into some form of useful material, i.e. energy.