STL Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year
Finalist
Rob Freeman
CEO
TradeWind Energy, Inc.
Matt Gilhousen
chief development officer
TradeWind Energy, Inc.
Geoff Coventry
COO
TradeWind Energy, Inc.
What do a technology entrepreneur, a musician turned engineer and a corporate attorney have in common? They lead TradeWind Energy, Inc., one of the largest developers of wind energy projects in the U.S. However, the company hasn’t always been in that position.
In the early years, TradeWind positioned itself to be a wind power development company headquartered in the Midwest. The development process began by identifying key locations and then negotiating leases on the locations in order to build site inventory. Although Rob Freeman, Matt Gilhousen and Geoff Coventry had the drive necessary to succeed, TradeWind had an uphill battle from the beginning.
As a result, it was evident that a change was necessary in order for the company to survive. As TradeWind reached an inevitable breaking point, Gilousen, chief development officer, and Coventry, COO, met with Freeman and determined that the business had a future with Freeman at the helm as CEO.
TradeWind made a strategic decision to focus its efforts on getting control of some of the highest wind resource sites in the country. The strategy has been to focus on developing the lowest possible delivered cost of electricity from wind rather than focusing on markets that have had policy directives for wind power. This strategy has proved to be a key to TradeWind’s success.
TradeWind also secured transmission rights for physical delivery of wind power from Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska to the southeast U.S. The company expects growth will come from innovative combinations of technologies in natural gas, wind and solar.
How to reach: TradeWind Energy, Inc., www.tradewindenergy.com
