June 5, 2012
Energy venture spins off from powerhouse firm Quinn Gillespie
Elana Schor, E&E reporter
Four veteran environmental hands at Quinn Gillespie & Associates plan to hang a new shingle next month at 38 North Solutions, a firm focusing on clean energy and technology that takes its name from the latitude of both the nation’s capital and the Bay Area.
The quartet will maintain a “strategic partnership” with the lobbying firm founded by former Clinton White House aide Jack Quinn and ex-Republican National Committee chief Ed Gillespie, according to a news release today on the founding of 38 North. Quinn said in a statement that he encouraged the group to pursue a separate endeavor focused on energy innovation that could remain associated with the larger firm.
The founders of 38 North are led by Patrick Von Bargen, who served as Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s (D-N.M.) chief of staff for more than a decade before moving to the Securities and Exchange Commission under a GOP chairman and later specializing in counsel for clean energy companies seeking to parlay venture capital into a stronger national presence.
Joining him at the new firm are Katherine Hamilton, the former president of “smart grid” group GridWise Alliance; Allyson Groff, a former spokeswoman for ex-House Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.); and Jeff Cramer, who also worked on electric grid modernization before coming to Quinn Gillespie in 2010.
The full article is available via Energy & Environment Daily (subscription only).