Paul Zofnass, President

Paul has been a strategic and financial advisor to the CEO's in the engineering/consulting industry for the past 25 years. He founded the Environmental Financial Consulting Group (EFCG) in 1990, after 17 years in finance at Citibank and at Oppenheimer, where he was Managing Director in Investment Banking. He is an alumnus of Harvard College, Law School and Business School. He is a long-term environmentalist, having assisted Harvard to establish its Environmental Studies Program in the 1990's; he and his family contributed the Tree Identification Program to NY's Central Park Reservoir; they created a 250 acre nature preserve with a 10-mile long hiking trail in Pound Ridge, NY, 45 miles from NYC; they donated a permanent New England Forest Exhibition at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, displaying the inter-dependency of the natural systems in a forest; they have created the Zofnass Infrastructure Sustainability Program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design to develop a rating system to evaluate Sustainability as it applies to major civil infrastructure projects. He serves as a Faculty Member for Harvard's Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology; he is a member of the board of Riverkeeper, an organization formed by RFK Jr. to clean up the Hudson River; and the Westchester Land Trust. His wife has been a finance attorney for 35 years, and now serves as Corporate Development Director for the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs New York's zoos. They have two daughters, both Harvard graduates, one now at Tuck Business School, after 3 years at Goldman Sachs; the other at Bain Consulting Group in Boston.

pzofnass@efcg.com

Andrej Avelini, Managing Director

Andrej has been with the firm since 1996 and has advised on over 80+ completed merger & acquisition transactions, as well as numerous valuation, Peer Benchmarking Analysis and strategic consulting assignments in the e/c industry. He has presented to the Boards of Directors or senior management teams of over 200+ e/c firms and has addressed several industry conferences. Andrej was formerly with Salomon Brothers, Inc., a major Wall Street investment banking firm, where he worked in the telecommunications group on mergers & acquisitions and capital raising. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BBA summa cum laude degree from Freed-Hardeman University.  His wife Deborah Davis is an equestrian and competes in dressage.

avelini@efcg.com

Joan Zofnass, Director of HR & Conference Planning

Joan has been with EFCG since 1996. She directs all four of EFCG's annual conferences, and serves as Human Resources Director for the firm. She also runs a private psychotherapy practice (for patients, not clients!)   Joan holds a PhD from Adelphi University.

jzofnass@efcg.com

Dan Babitz, Associate

Dan joined EFCG in 2000. He directs EFCG's Valuation Team, our Peer Benchmarking Analysis work, and our quarterly analyses of the roughly 40 publicly-traded engineering firms. He also oversees the  Financial  Analysts. Formerly of Dominick & Dominick, Dan holds a BS Degree from Cornell University, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst. His wife is a first grade New York school teacher, and they have two young children.

dbabitz@efcg.com

Josh Lahre, Associate

Josh joined EFCG in 2007. He works on our financial analyses and modeling, preparing our Peer Benchmarking Analyses, as well as assisting in corporate research and our industry surveys.  He is  also responsible for maintaining our website, internal communications and internal databases. Josh holds a BA Degree from Harvard University, where he played on their varsity soccer Ivy League Championship team.

jlahre@efcg.com

Tyler Albright, Analyst

Tyler is the newest member of EFCG.  He is working with Dan and Josh on financial modeling and analysis, and has taken over responsibilities for our e/c industry Human Resources and Compensation Surveys and Benchmarking. He graduated with a BA Degree from Harvard University, where he was a 2-time captain of the varsity baseball team.

talbright@efcg.com

Barbara Stolper, Administrative Director

Barbara has been with EFCG since 1994. In addition to serving as administrative assistant to Paul, she serves as Controller for the firm, and overall Administrative Director. She studied at New York University. Her husband, Lenny, is a master chef.

bstolper@efcg.com

Brian Kenet, Consulting Principal

Brian joined EFCG in 2004. He heads up our Architectural and International Practices as well as EFCG’s Sustainability Initiative. Brian is a Lecturer and Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he teaches courses in Professional Practice and organizes EFCG's annual Architecture and Design CEO Conference, in conjunction with Harvard. Brian earned his bachelors degree from Harvard College and his MBA from Pace University. Brian and his wife Miryan have two young children. He is based in our New York City office and spends his summers in his wife’s home country of Spain, where he teaches at a Spanish university and works with EFCG’s European clients. Faculty Profile

bkenet@efcg.com

Diane Creel, Senior Consultant

Diane joins EFCG as Senior Consultant, following a five-year stint as CEO of Ecovation, a water filtration and processing firm, that she built from $2 million to $50 million, and sold for $200 million. However, she is best known in this industry for having served for 12 years as CEO of Earth Tech, which grew from $50 million to $1.5 billion under her leadership.  Diane also currently serves on boards of several major corporations, universities and charities. She holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in journalism from the University of South Carolina, from which she also received their Most Distinguished Alumna award from the College of Journalism.  Diane resides on her ranch in Texas.  At EFCG she will specialize in strategic advice, leadership development, board of director participation or support, and helping younger firms achieve long term growth and value appreciation, through marketing strategies and acquisition programs.

dcreel@efcg.com

Dave Myers, Consulting Principal

Dave heads our Construction Practice services. He comes to EFCG with 34 years of experience in the engineering, construction and government services arena, including CEO of Washington Group International's power group, President of Raytheon Engineers & Constructors and head of  a number of  business units for Fluor  during his 24 year career there . Dave was also with Cerberus Capital Management for several years including being chairman and CEO of one of their billion dollar portfolio companies.  He holds a BS degree from the United States Naval Academy, a MSEE degree from the United States Naval Postgraduate School and a MS in Administration from the University of California, Irvine.  He is based in Corona del Mar, California, and is married with 2 grown children. 

dmyers@efcg.com

Ted Lower, Senior Consultant

Ted Lower joins EFCG as Senior Consultant, following 18 years of experience in the e/c industry, after a similar period at Union Carbide, where he had a number of executive line leadership roles, initiated the company’s environmental businesses and served as the corporate officer responsible for strategic planning.  While in the e/c industry, he was President and COO of EA Engineering, and then EVP of ICF Kaiser, both positions he held in the 1990's, and for which he is known for development of global alliances.  He has since been consulting primarily in the leadership and organizational development areas, which is his focus at EFCG.  Some of Ted’s specialties include strategic planning and assessment, executive development and board governance, executive teamwork and mentoring, and the importance of organizational culture in leadership success. He has a PhD in Business Administration from the NYU Stern School, as well as two masters degrees (business administration, computer applications) and four undergraduate degrees (civil engineering, law, business administration and Spanish/economics). While functioning globally, he resides in Las Vegas. Ted and his wife have two grown sons, the older of whom is in medical technology development and commercialization and the younger is the team photographer for the Arizona Cardinals. 

tlower@efcg.com

Paul Dougas, Senior Consultant

Paul is partnering with EFCG following his 15-year tenure as CEO of Sinclair, Knight Merz (SKM), in order to help develop our practice in Australia and Asia Pacific, where he's had 40 years of experience in the e/c industry.  He stared his career at Melbourne Water as a process engineer.  In 1978, he joined SKM, where he held ever increasing management responsibilities, culminating in him becoming CEO in 1996.  During his time as CEO, SKM has grown from $60 million to $1.2 billion in revenue, and while revenue increased 20 times, profits increased 30 times in this period, making SKM one of the most profitable and fastest growing firms in the industry.  He has lead SKM in identifying, completing and integrating over 60 M&A's.  Paul has a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering degree from Melbourne University, and a Masters in Engineering Science from University of New South Wales.  He also has also completed executive education courses from Stanford and Harvard.  Paul will serve as our partner in Australia to advise our North American and European clients expanding in Australia and Asia-Pacific, as well as to advise Australian and Asia-Pacific-based e/c firms looking to grow and expand internationally, needing assistance in benchmarking, improving profitability and organizational effectiveness, dealing with ownership and leadership transitions, valuations, and capital raising.

pdougas@efcg.com

Chip Elitzer, Senior Consultant

Chip and Paul have worked together as clients and colleagues, for over 30 years. Chip has been a member of the EFCG team since its inception, specializing in merger & acquisition ("M&A") assignments, and over his career has been involved in over 100 such assignments. Formerly of Rothschild Inc., and with over 30 years of investment banking experience, Chip also holds an MPA from Princeton and a BA from Dartmouth College. His office is based in western Massachusetts. He is married, and has three grown boys.

celitzer@efcg.com

Paul Woodruff, Senior Advisor

Paul is best known in our industry as the founder of ERM, one of the most profitable and successful environmental, health and safety consulting firms in the world, with gross revenues approaching roughly $700 million in 2010. He started in 1977 and served as CEO until his retirement in 2001. The dozens of activities that he is undertaking in his "retirement" include boards of many community, banking, educational, charitable, and professional enterprises and foundations, in addition to a number of ongoing entrepreneurial activities.  He is the recipient of dozens of professional awards and honors for his efforts and accomplishments in the field of civil and environmental engineering. His home is Malvern, PA, and he and his wife, Dr. Marcia Woodruff, an ordained Presbyterian minister, have six children and 20 grandchildren. About 15 years ago he launched The ERM Foundation as a 501(c)3 public charity and continues to serve as a Director. He is particularly focused on promoting sustainability and corporate social responsibility for our industry, and has offered to help in the dissemination of information between e/c firms interested in benefitting from this communication. His first undertaking is to coordinate information between in-house foundations (both public and private), for e/c firms who wish to participate. 

Gerry Salontai, Senior Consultant

Gerry joins EFCG, with over 30 years in the e/c industry, including 11+ years as CEO of Kleinfelder, the $300 million San Diego-based employee-owned e/c firm from which he just retired. Under his leadership revenues grew 5 times, and the firm was transformed from a small regional firm, to a nationally diversified firm, through a combination of internal growth, acquisitions, systems integration, and management development.  He holds a Bachelors degree from California State University, Pomona and an MS in civil engineering from Long Beach State University and has completed an Executive Management Program in business from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He is based in California, and has 3 grown children and 4 grandchildren.  At EFCG he will be specializing in strategic planning, leadership and management development, and operational management and risk-minimization.  

gsalontai@efcg.com

Bob Wilson, Senior Consultant

Bob  has been working with EFCG for over 10 years as a Senior Consultant. He specializes in OCCP's, IOT's and A/R Management Improvement assignments. He has 35 years of experience in the e/c industry, including 25 years as CFO of Woodward Clyde, through its merger with URS.  He also serves on a number of boards of directors of e/c firms, including from time to time serving as chairman.  He holds a BS Degree from the University of California at Berkeley. He is a licensed CPA and a member of AICPA. Bob is based in Northern California where he lives with his wife Leslie. They have four children and 9 grandchildren.

bwilson@efcg.com

Kim Early, Senior Consultant

Kim  joined EFCG in 2007 and has recently taken on a CFO position in the industry. Prior to that, Kim served as CFO of Earth Tech for 15 years,  where he negotiated and oversaw the acquisitions and integration of over 20 engineering/consulting firms. He also served as President of Earth Tech's global water business. Kim earned a  BA degree from Ohio State University, and an MBA from the University of Michigan.  He is based in Long Beach, California  where he is married and has a son who is an attorney. Kim specializes in strategic and financial advice to e/c firms and merger and acquisitions work. 

Les Buck, Senior Consultant

Les Buck joins EFCG following his recent retirement from Halcrow, where he spent a total of 31 years, including the last 13 as a main board director, and continues to serve as a Trustee to the Halcrow Trust.  During his career at Halcrow, he operated as the Managing Director of the transportation business group, the President and Regional Managing Director for North America, and a main board director with the responsibilities of major project development; risk, health, and safety; and sustainability and technical development.  In the mid-1980s, he spent four years with CH2M Hill, and became a PE in the State of Florida. Les gained his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Leeds in 1972, and became a chartered civil engineer in 1976. He became a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1976, a Fellow in 1992, and has recently been nominated as the Vice Chairman of the Management Panel. With EFCG, Les will concentrate on business strategy, operational management support, and mergers and acquisitions advisory work. Now based in Oxford, England, he is married with three sons in their twenties. Les has worked mainly in the UK, but has also worked in the United States, Canada, the Middle East and Latin America.

bucklg2005@yahoo.co.uk

José Luis Gil Diaz, Senior Consultant

José  Luis serves as a liaison between EFCG and its growing list of clients in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries. Jose Luis Gil Diaz, PhD, is also Tenured Professor of Environmental Technology and Engineering at the University of Cantabria in Santander, Spain. José Luis also served as Minister for the Environment in the Regional Government of Cantabria. He coordinates the work of the UNESCO Chair in Environmental Engineering, a program that supports technology and knowledge transfer to developing nations in South America.  He is based in Spain. 

jlgildiaz@efcg.com

Bob Dunlap (in memoriam):

Bob passed away in Jan 2009, after working with EFCG as a Consulting Principal for about five years, where he specialized in helping our clients with corporate strategy and leadership development. Prior to joining EFCG, he was CEO of one of the more successful e/c firms in the industry, Retec, which he founded in 1985, and grew  to about  $100 million in revenues, before selling to Thermo-Electron.  He held a PhD from Carnegie, where he also served as a professor. He was beloved by all his clients and colleagues, and will be sorely missed by us.