Appalachian Lighting Systems

With President and Chief Executive Officer David F. McAnally at the helm, Appalachian Lighting Systems, Inc. (ALSI) is committed to becoming a key player in a rapidly expanding market that’s expected to reach over $250 billion worldwide by 2015.

For the past seven years as a co-founder, principal, chairman and chief executive officer of US Wind Force, LLC, Mr. McAnally has been working on the development and construction of utility scale wind powered generation facilities in the United States. US Wind Force and its strategic partners have successfully rolled out a significant number of wind energy facilities across the country and presently have more than 10 projects under development. From 1997 through mid-1999, Mr. McAnally worked with Wesco International as president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer. During this period, at approximately $4 billion in sales revenues, Wesco was the second largest electrical and industrial product manufacturer/distributor in the United States and Canada, with offices and distribution centers worldwide.

Prior to this, in 1987, Mr. McAnally joined the senior management team at a regional foodservice company, Unifax, Inc. – with sales revenues of over $450 million. Over the next ten years David F. McAnally helped the company grow to become Rykoff-Sexton, a quasi-national food product manufacturer and distributor. From there it evolved to its present form, US Foodservice Inc. – a $17 billion national provider of foodservice product and services, the second largest in America.

Throughout his 30-year career, Mr. McAnally has built a consistent track record of solid stakeholder value and market success in key industries.

Chief Science Officer James J. Wassel is co-founder of Appalachian Lighting Systems, Inc., and responsible for inventing, prototyping and refining new LED-based industrial lighting products. Mr. Wassel is also in charge of designing and providing retrofit systems for clients’ existing legacy lighting systems. He has been working with LED’s and other solid state lighting (SSL) sources for many years and has designed, patented and produced many highly-innovative and energy-efficient lighting products for commercial and industrial applications.

As founder and president of Appalachian Wind Systems, LLC (AWS), Mr. Wassel’s company sold, installed and serviced wind turbine systems, photovoltaic systems and solar heating systems.  As operations manager for US Wind Force, LLC, Mr. Wassel identified, researched and leased major land tracts for wind turbine projects. Additional responsibilities at US Wind Force included acquisition and installation of meteorological towers in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia.

James J. Wassel has a long-standing involvement in and passion for the renewable energy and green energy industry.

Chief Financial Officer Michael J. Dolan II is an officer (secretary/treasurer) and director of Appalachian Lighting Systems, Inc.  Mr. Dolan joined the company’s management team in May of 2008 and has a long and distinguished career executing careful oversight and growth-minded fiscal management for Fortune 500 corporations.

Since April 2001, he has also been a principal in US Wind Force, LLC, a wind energy development company, based in Pittsburgh, PA. He is currently serving as a Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of US Wind Force. Prior to this, he served at US Foodservice, Inc. At the time of his involvement, it was the second largest foodservice distributor in the United States, with over 40 divisions and total sales in excess of $6 billion.

During his 12-year tenure at USF, Mr. Dolan steadily progressed through the ranks in the accounting and finance departments and, for the two years prior to his departure, served as corporate vice president of operations review. As corporate director of accounting and finance, Mr. Dolan was responsible for organizing and maintaining the company’s corporate and divisional systems of accounting and financial reporting as the company grew from a closely held LBO doing $500 million in sales to a public company with an excess of $6 billion in sales.

Chief Engineer Richard T. Westlake is responsible for designing and validating the critical components that comprise the various LED-based products for Appalachian Lighting Systems, Inc.  Given the heavy emphasis that Appalachian Lighting places on the energy efficiency and useful life of its products, Mr. Westlake places great importance on component design and production quality.

With a professional career that spans 43 years, Mr. Westlake founded a design consultancy in 1987 that provided engineering expertise on power electronics and controls. Since then, he has served as a design consultant for product development and refinement to many of the world’s leading electronics manufacturers. Throughout his career, Mr. Westlake has repeatedly distinguished himself and the companies he has served. He has demonstrated industry-leading success in designing, building and testing complex electronic equipment and is well experienced in the demanding field of using micro-controllers for power-circuit and instrumentation design.

Mr. Westlake’s engineering prowess includes proven expertise in such diverse environments as renewable energy, medical technology, aviation safety and energy conservation. He has also taught solid state circuit design and analog-to-digital conversion at the university level.

Chief Operating Officer Robert W. McAnally is responsible for planning and managing effective, day-to-day operations and manufacturing (both in-house and supplier) for Appalachian Lighting Systems, Inc. Mr. McAnally is focused on enhancing Appalachian Lighting’s competitive advantage by optimizing processes, streamlining operations and developing and delivering innovative products that fulfill a clear-cut “customer service” perspective.

Mr. McAnally leverages a professional career spanning 34 years. From 1995 until joining Appalachian Lighting in 2008, he successfully led his business advisory group, R. McAnally & Associates, LLC, to deliver rapid-response strategic and tactical services in the private and public sectors. Prior to joining the management team at Appalachian Lighting, Mr. McAnally was contracted by The US Department of Commerce, Mid Atlantic Trade Adjustment Assistance Center to fill the position of Interim Chief Executive Officer for Lehighton Electronics, Inc. (LEI).  During this six-month engagement, he advanced the financial strength and competitive-market position of this global electronics manufacturing company, delivering a 16% reduction in operating expenses and a 23% increase in gross sales for LEI, year-on-year, from 2007.

All told, Mr. McAnally has managed and directed successful business operations in seven countries, including the US, UK, the Netherlands, Belgium, Hungary, India and China.  Mr. McAnally has a track record of helping small companies and Fortune 50 multinationals achieve business objectives through effectively optimized and executed customer-centric products and services.