The Management Team Behind GridPoint Intelligence

Mark Danzenbaker has been with GridPoint since 2009 in several leadership positions. As CEO since 2016, Mr. Danzenbaker is responsible for the development and execution of the company’s mission to accelerate the world’s transition to a sustainable future by creating an intelligent energy network of grid-interactive buildings. Prior to GridPoint, Mr. Danzenbaker was with Accenture, a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Mr. Danzenbaker holds an M.B.A. from the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business and a B.S. degree from James Madison University.

Thomas Kloster, Chief Financial Officer, is a strategic finance executive with over three decades of experience enhancing the performance of tech-enabled businesses. As CFO of Gridpoint, Mr. Kloster is responsible for partnering with and supporting the company’s leaders to drive growth of our industry-leading intelligent network while directly overseeing all financial matters. He is focused on optimizing GridPoint’s financial structure to support the company’s rapid growth, driving cost initiatives, evaluating corporate and business development opportunities and managing investor relationships.

Throughout his career, Mr. Kloster has successfully enhanced the performance of multiple SaaS based tech-enabled businesses resulting in strategic sales or public equity offerings. He also has extensive experience leading corporate finance functions, raising debt and equity capital, and negotiating and integrating mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Kloster holds a B.B.A in Accounting from the University of Texas and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Melissa Blanken, Chief Marketing Officer, is a go-to-market expert with over two decades of experience boosting brand awareness and sales opportunities for fast-growing, disruptive telecom, energy, and technology companies. At GridPoint, Ms. Blanken is responsible for leading the company’s global marketing efforts, while helping to drive relationships with businesses, utilities, strategic partners and investors. She also drives the positioning and go-to-market strategy for new product launches and features.

Prior to GridPoint, she served as the head of marketing for Kajeet, a leading provider of software and hardware solutions that deliver safe and reliable internet connectivity. Before that, she held senior marketing and strategy roles at leading telecom, energy and technology companies including Nextel, Boost Mobile, Sprint, Clearwire and Constellation Energy. Ms. Blanken earned a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Washington.

Andy Brabender, Chief Revenue Officer for GridPoint, is responsible for driving company growth through the development of sales strategy and execution as the senior leader of the sales department. Mr. Brabender brings over 15 years of revenue and financial experience to GridPoint. Prior to joining, he served as the CRO for SMS Assist, LLC, VP of New Business Development for PRGX Global, Inc., and EVP of Global Sales for ServiceChannel.com, Inc., where he was responsible for high-growth sales

As EVP of Sales and Customer Success at ServiceChannel, an industry-leading SaaS platform for facilities management, Mr. Brabender oversaw the growth and development of the Go-To-Market team for a company that was sold to Fortive last summer for $1.2B. His teams included enterprise sales, mid-market sales, inside sales, solution architecture, marketing, customer success, and channel sales.

As CRO for SMS Assist, an industry leader in tech-enabled facilities services, Mr. Brabender was responsible for building out the Go-To-Market teams that included enterprise sales, solution consulting, inside sales, marketing, customer success, and sales ops. During his tenure, the team grew by 10x and was able to drive unprecedented growth and customer acquisition.

Mr. Brabender received his BS in Information Technology from Duquesne University, and his interview, Why Should CFOs Care About Facilities Management, was published in Chain Store Age at servicechannel.com.

Mike Ratliff is the chief technology officer at GridPoint, a leader in building energy management and optimization technology that decarbonizes commercial buildings and drives grid modernization. With three decades of experience in technology, Mr. Ratliff oversees GridPoint’s software, hardware, and firmware as well as product strategy and IT. He is focused on translating complex technical topics for business decision-making.

Previously, Mr. Ratliff served as chief technology officer at Comverge, a leader in integrated cloud-based demand response and energy efficiency, where he built an entire software development department and platform from the ground up and tightly integrated the hardware and software teams. As chief technology officer at Enbala, an aggregator of distributed energy resources, he was responsible for re-platforming and commercializing utility-directed distributed energy resource management systems. At CPower, Mr. Ratliff served as senior vice president of Utility Solutions, where he expanded a traditional demand response model into a utility-directed effort.

Mr. Ratliff earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Purdue University.

Jason Narod is the Chief Sales Officer at GridPoint, a leader in building energy management and optimization technology that decarbonizes commercial buildings and drives grid modernization. Mr. Narod has a proven track record of building and managing high-performing customer facing organizations in both established and early stage technology companies. He brings over a decade of experience in the energy industry to GridPoint where he is responsible for leading the strategy and execution of all customer-facing activity.

Previously, Mr. Narod managed business development at NRG Energy, a Fortune 500 power company. He also served as Director of Commercial Business Development at Locus Energy, where he helped grow the company from a small startup to the largest independent provider of solar asset monitoring solutions in the United States.

Mr. Narod earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration from the New York University Leonard N. Stern School of Business.

Thomas Nelson is General Counsel and Senior Vice President for GridPoint and is responsible for the company’s legal affairs. Previously, Mr. Nelson was Of Counsel at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, where he represented clients on a variety of intellectual property and litigation matters. Prior to that, Mr. Nelson performed engineering, sales, and marketing roles at organizations in the electronics sector. Mr. Nelson holds a B.S in Electrical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law. He is a member of the New York, District of Columbia and Virginia bars and is a registered patent attorney.