Delivering for Decades

Leadership Team

Delivering today while setting you up for a better tomorrow.

Leadership Team

Paul Grod

President & Chief
Executive Officer

Jim Fonger

President, Rodan Distributed Energy Resources

Samantha Misner

VP, Finance and Business Performance

Andre Sochaniwsky

Senior Director, Technology & Enterprise Data

Jason Zimmerman

Managing Director, Rodan West

Willie Grove

Managing Director, Business Development

Will Horne

General Counsel 

Roman Grod

Director, Energy Markets

Asmin Shadir

Senior Manager, Human Resources

Kevin Schlauch

Manager, Engineering Solutions

Mykyta Vyshnevskyi

Manager, Dispatch Operations

Craig M Young

Manager, Energy Market Operations USA

Danielle Denstedt

Marketing Manager

Paul Grod

President & Chief Executive Officer

Paul has grown Rodan Energy into a leading North American energy solutions company focused on building a sustainable energy future.

Prior to founding Rodan Energy in 2003, Paul was a corporate and investment banker with CIBC World Markets and later practiced corporate finance and M&A law with Gowling WLG. He actively works with many North American energy associations and serves on the boards of the Ontario Energy Association, Energy Transformation Network of Ontario, and the IESO Stakeholder Advisory Committee.

Paul actively supports many local, national and international not-for-profit organizations and is the President of the Ukrainian World Congress. He is a member of the Law Society of Ontario and holds Bachelor of Political Science, Juris Doctor (law), and Master of Business Administration degrees.

Jim Fonger

President, Rodan Distributed Energy Resources

Jim Fonger is President, Rodan Distributed Energy Resources, a division of Rodan Energy Solutions, with full P&L responsibility.

Jim was formerly the VP of Asset and Advanced Technology Development at Ameresco Canada, a leading Distributed Energy Resource provider in Canada. With over 30 years of business leadership in both the telecommunications and energy sectors, Jim brings unique experience to his post having led the development of many energy and smart city projects. Jim also developed two groundbreaking DER projects; a LDC grid connected 5MW – 20MWh energy storage system pilot for the IESO that is Ontario’s first energy storage system providing Operating Reserve, the design and implementation of a small scale microgrid under an Energy-as-a-Service business model that made JPII Secondary School in London, Ontario both carbon neutral and a market participant, and a large scale solar and DC connected Energy Storage microgrid that is helping an island to decarbonize while providing resilience. Jim has a full understanding of the emerging technologies that help organizations and grid operators to both electrify and decarbonize.

Jim is an Economics graduate of York University.

Samantha Misner

VP, Finance and Business Performance

As VP, Finance and Business Performance, Samantha oversees accounting and finance at Rodan Energy to ensure efficient daily operations and support future growth.

Samantha brings over 12 years of experience in the energy sector and a passion for the industry. Prior to joining Rodan Energy, she held various accounting and finance roles at Northland Power and ATCO Power and provided professional services to energy clients as an auditor and consultant with Deloitte.

Samantha is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Queen’s University.

Andre Sochaniwsky

Senior Director, Technology & Enterprise Data

As Director, Technology and Enterprise Data, Andre leads all aspects of Rodan Energy’s technology development, information systems and enterprise data requirements and solutions, in support of Rodan’s business objectives.

Andre comes to Rodan with over 2 decades of technology management and consulting experience.  Most recently, he was Vice President Information Technology at Norbord and prior to that Director IT Planning and Delivery at Bell Canada where working closing with business partners he led numerous noteworthy ERP, data reporting and analytics, and new technology introductions. Previously, Andre worked as a senior consulting executive for Accenture in Canada and the US focusing on technology planning and implementations for clients in various industries, including utilities.

Andre is a retired Royal Canadian Air Force Captain and earned a Master of Business Administration from the Ivey Business School at Western University and a Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical) from the Royal Military College of Canada. He also holds a Project Management Certificate from the University of Toronto, the Project Management Professional (PMP) designation and is a Chartered Director (C.Dir., DeGroote School of Business).

Jason Zimmerman

Managing Director, Rodan West

In his role as Managing Director, Jason Zimmerman is responsible for the successful leadership, management, and growth of Rodan Energy Solutions in western Canada. Primary responsibilities include ongoing business development and overall operational management.

Prior to joining Rodan, Jason worked for TransAlta Corporation where he held several positions. He has also held several business development and marketing roles at Avocent Canada Corporation, Cendec Systems Inc., and Lexis Nexis Canada.

Jason holds a Bachelor of Commerce, specializing in Marketing from the University of Saskatchewan.

William Grove

Managing Director, Business Development

In his role as Managing Director of Business Development, Willie is responsible for leading Rodan Energy’s offerings to Canada’s largest and most sophisticated energy users in the commercial, industrial, municipal, and institutional markets. With over 8 years of demand management experience from various jurisdictions within Canada, he has managed hundreds of megawatts of load and their usage to maximize revenue and savings opportunities.

In the Demand Response sector, he is regularly published and considered one of the most knowledgeable professionals in the country. He has helped customers of all sizes by understanding their business needs and providing opportunities for organizations to participate in demand response initiatives across North America.

Willie holds an economics degree from the University of Waterloo.

Will Horne

Director, Legal and Regulatory Affairs

Will is responsible for legal, regulatory, and stakeholder matters at Rodan. In this role, Will manages a broad variety of corporate functions, from commercial contracting, to strategic acquisitions, to risk management.

Prior to joining Rodan, Will practiced with McCarthy Tétrault LLP’s national energy and power group in Toronto. Before that, Will served as a Policy and Parliamentary Affairs Advisor to the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, and practiced with Stewart McKelvey in Atlantic Canada. 

Will is called to the bar in Ontario and Prince Edward Island, and holds bachelor’s and law degrees from Dalhousie University.

Roman Grod

Senior Manager, Energy Markets

Leading the Energy Markets team at Rodan, Roman spearheads the effort to provide unparalleled energy solutions throughout the deregulated markets of North America. Leveraging his comprehensive knowledge of regulatory frameworks across various ISOs and his adept team leadership, Roman has played a pivotal role in establishing Rodan as the foremost Demand Response aggregator in Canada.

In addition to his responsibilities at Rodan Energy, Roman holds the position of Chair for the AEMA’s Canada Committee. In this capacity, he passionately advocates for the enhancement of grid efficiency, cost-effectiveness, resilience, reliability, and environmental sustainability. Roman’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Roman actively contributes to the community and was recognized as one of the “Top 30 Under 30” in the Ukrainian Diaspora in 2021.

Asmin Shadir

Human Resources Manager

Asmin Shadir is responsible for managing day-to-day matters within Rodan Energy’s Human Resources department. She has 18 years of progressive human resources experience. As a client-focused HR leader, she will support the leadership team in employee relations, performance management, talent acquisition, organizational development, engagement, total rewards & recognition, and all aspects relating to HR.

Asmin has expertise in developing, implementing, and leading HR strategies, programs and initiatives across a range of industries including the service industry, manufacturing, logistics and HVAC. Notably she has worked for 3M and Entertainment One and has held various roles including HR Manager and Senior HR Business Partner before joining Rodan Energy.

Asmin holds a Bachelor of Human Resource Management from York University and is a passionate Human Resources Leader committed to driving strategic initiatives aligned with operational objectives to harness the power of our people and maximize business results.

Kevin Schlauch

Manager, Engineering Solutions

Kevin is an electrical engineer registered with PEO and APEGA with over 20 years of professional experience. He brings expertise in electrical substations design, traction power substations, arc flash, electrical protection, and protective device coordination, as well as experience in field service engineering, including hands-on testing and commissioning of low, medium, and high voltage electrical systems.

Before working at Rodan Energy, Kevin was a Senior Engineer with the Light Rail & Power team at ENMAX Power Services Corporation (EPSC). He was the project manager and stamping engineer for the Traction Power Upgrades project and served as the lead professional engineering mentor for the EPSC Engineer In Training (EIT) program, which included mentoring, delegating duties, providing feedback and performance evaluations for the EITs.

Kevin’s experience in a leadership role extends to field operations. He was a Field Services Engineer and then a Power Systems Engineer at Eaton Yale Company (formerly Cutler-Hammer). In Field Services, he led commissioning and shutdown projects, which included providing direction to subcontractors and meeting strict deadlines to ensure quality customer service. In Power Systems, he trained and mentored new hires in the fundamentals of protections, control and arc flash, as well as conducting safety and arc flash training.

Kevin graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Alberta in 2002.

Mykyta Vyshnevskyi

Manager, Dispatch Operations

Mykyta will be leading our newly created Dispatch Operations team and will be key in building out and scaling Rodan’s network operations center to dispatch energy assets across North America. 

Prior to joining Rodan, Mykyta was the Chief Market Operations Officer for Ukrenergo (State Transmission and System Operator), where he managed a team of 200 professionals that operated Ukraine’s Electricity System and dispatched various power assets, including nuclear, fossil fuel, hydro, wind and solar generation. 

He has over 15 years experience in the energy sector, with 10 years experience in Electrical Engineering (Protection, Control and Relay) and 6 years experience in Electricity Market Operations. He played a critical role in leading Ukraine’s synchronization with the European electricity grid in 2022. 

Mykyta holds an MBA from Kyiv School of Economics, a Specialist in Finances Degree, and a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering Systems.

Craig M Young

Manager, Energy Market Operations USA

Craig Young is Manager of Energy Market Operations, tasked with managing day to day operations and expanding Rodan’s product offering into the US energy markets.

Based in Sherman, New York, Craig has extensive background in demand response and distributed energy resources participation within the US energy markets.  Craig previously worked for Viridity Energy Solutions, where he worked with operations & finance team monetizing customer assets in capacity, energy & ancillary services products across NYISO, PJM, ISONE, ERCOT & CAISO.

Craig’s role will be focusing on getting operations prepared for market participation in NYISO & PJM and supporting business development with the customer onboarding process.   While focusing on NYISO and PJM, Craig will be tasked with identifying other RTO/ISOs for market entry. 

Craig holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration & Marketing from Robert Morris University.

Danielle Denstedt

Marketing Manager

Danielle Denstedt is the Marketing Manager at Rodan, responsible for the strategic development and execution of marketing initiatives aimed at growing brand awareness, fostering existing client relationships, and driving client acquisitions across North America.

With over 15 years of B2B marketing experience Danielle brings a comprehensive skillset to her role. From strategic planning and marketing communications to brand building and sales enablement, she has honed her skills in diverse areas of marketing.  Notably she previously held the position of Marketing Manager at Spark Power.

Danielle holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Guelph and a Diploma of Business Administration with a Marketing Specialization from Humber College.