MEET OUR TEAM

We are a team of dedicated professionals, passionate about our business of fighting climate change. 

“We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors. We borrow it from our children.”

Larry Thrall is the founder and managing director of Vireo Energy, a renewable energy financial services firm. Services at Vireo include capital placement for renewable energy funds, project finance for a variety of renewable energy technologies, venture capital placement, power purchase agreement negotiation, development consulting and other consulting services related to renewable energy. Through his strong industry knowledge and experience in renewable energy project finance, Larry’s accomplishments include securing first time project finance for a variety of new technologies including of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) and LED lighting technologies. Larry started his career in banking with the William E. Simon group, helping acquire five banks and Savings and Loans. He then started Rimpau Enterprises, a consulting firm that developed a strong presence in energy management and the ESCO market with clients including the Department of Defense, State of California, Marriott, Chevron Energy Solutions, Schneider Electric, Johnson Controls and many more. Larry holds a Bachelors degree in Business Finance from the University of Southern California. Larry lives in Malibu, CA with his wife and two children.

Kris Thabit has over 20 years of experience in all aspects of real estate, business operations and company startups. Kris has intimate experience with the challenges related to entitlements, construction, raising capital, working with government and growing and operating a business. He uses this experience and vast contacts to assist Vireo clients to evaluate and create successful projects. Prior to joining Vireo Energy, Kris founded American Airports Corporation (the largest airport management company in the United States), Red Viking Insurance (a California admitted P&C insurance company), and Flavor 4 U (a consumer products company). In addition, he served as VP of American Golf Corporation (the largest golf course management company in the world). Kris is also a founder and chairman of the finance committee of Oaks Christian, a school he helped develop from inception. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Economics from Harvard University.

Edric Guise – has recognized expertise in alternative energy, public/private finance, new technology applications, transportation and land use planning, environmental policy, and related political representation. In particular, Mr. Guise has extensive experience with application of clean energy and environmental technologies, new transportation planning regulations, the California and federal Clean Air Acts, and analysis of proposed new land use law and regulations. This experience includes: organization of local government, industry and environmental input to the regulatory application of clean air laws, marketing and business development for environmental technology companies, analysis of legislative proposals at the federal, state and local levels. The breadth of Mr. Guise’s experience with energy agencies, air quality and regional transportation organizations, land development and automotive industry representation and political consulting provides him with a comprehensive understanding of the increasingly complicated and interdependent fields of energy, air quality, transportation and land use planning and the ability to safeguard both public and private sector interests.

Gordon Dickson has 25+ years of experience as a CEO, senior business development executive and attorney in real estate finance and acquisitions, clean technology commercialization and digital media. Gordon brings a multi-disciplined understanding and experience level to energy efficiency and renewable power projects as a clean tech entrepreneur, licensed real estate finance professional and environmental compliance, litigation and transnational attorney. Mr. Dickson founded and financed clean tech startup CDE Resources then lead sales and marketing achieving over $6M in revenue in the first year. He practiced law for six years at Morgan Lewis and Baker & McKenzie as well as running his own law firm. He has both trial and appellate litigation experience and represented a renewable energy client against a major utility company. He is a licensed attorney and real estate professional and received his law degree from Georgetown University.

Clifford C. Cheng has over 23 years of experience in project management, real estate development and property and asset management and possesses a diverse skill set and a lengthy list of industry achievements. Before joining the Vireo Energy team, Mr. Cheng was a real estate developer, investor and entrepreneur. Previously he held senior management positions at Grubb & Ellis Company, Washington Mutual Bank and American Savings Bank. While a newcomer to the renewable energy industry, Mr. Cheng relies on his vast real estate and banking experience in the structuring and development of large scale solar projects for commercial applications. He holds a Bachelors Degree in English from the University of California at Berkeley.

Scott Kitcher worked in the fields of investment banking, investment management and investor relations which total nearly 20 years in the financial services industry. Most recently, he held the position of V.P. at Liolios Group, Inc. where he led the build-out of the firm’s cleantech vertical. In this role, he was responsible for accessing cleantech investors, building relationships with cleantech companies and analyzing and monitoring the cleantech space and its constituents. Previously, he was V.P. of Eaton Vance Management where he led the Western U.S. institutional sales, marketing and client service and was the national representative for Hong Kong-based partner, Lloyd George Management. In these capacities, he was a lead participant in various investment management products, including domestic equity and debt, Asia equity and hedge funds. This experience afforded him the opportunity to speak on investing in Asia at several international investment conferences. Prior to EVM, he headed the Western U.S. investment banking group for Yamaichi International (America), Inc., where his duties included underwriting, buy and sell side analysis, consulting, investor relations, mergers and acquisitions and other business development for Japanese and U.S. clients. Scott received his BA from Stanford University.

Mark John Vannuki attended USC where Vannuki received a BS in The Entrepreneur Program. In 1989 Vannucchi founded Premium Source Merchandising and established a strong network of contacts throughout Asia along with an office in Hong Kong. Mark followed this into opportunities in recyclable commodities such as PET, Steel, Copper and other materials that are reusable or have value when reconstituted. Primarily, The Company purchased PET in various forms and sold it to buyers in Asia who then re-fabricated the PET into toys and other items. Vannucchi secured contracts for millions of tons of steel for sale to Chinese customers from other parts of the world. In late 2010 Vannucchi joined Thrall at Vireo Energy as Vice President of New Business Development. Mark is currently involved with several projects in various parts of the world and in the U.S. as well. His extensive contacts around the world, his knowledge of global business trends, and his involvement with government officials around the world have proven to be a big asset at Vireo.

Monty Minchin spent the first part of his career in promotions and marketing, working a number of years as a manager for media pioneer and mogol Dennis Holt and Western International Media, Inc. (now part of Interpublic Group, IPG).  The next twenty years of his career was spent as a educator. Monty has a masters degree in education from Pepperdine University and has worked for Berlitz, UCLA and Harvard-Westlake School. As well,as a board member of the Minchin Foundation, he has helped to found two premiere high schools in Southern California.  Monty is also involved at UCLA (where he received his BA in Economics), as a member of the Chancellor’s Society and various other philanthropic organizations. Currently, Monty is a managing partner of i-PrepU, an online educational platform to support high schools in the US and abroad, and he is an advisor to Vireo Energy, supporting endeavors in Africa for solar energy and education.

Our Office

30441 Morning View Drive Malibu, California 90265