Mr. Hoover has deep domain knowledge of the marine renewable energy sector.  Over the past five years, he has created and implemented successful business development strategies for multiple companies in the ocean energy industry.  His expertise extends into the business, legal, regulatory, marketing, technological and financial development aspects of corporate operations. 

 

He previously served as Legal and Environmental Director for Florida Hydro, Inc., and as a director of OpenHydro Group Limited during the transition period following its acquisition of Florida Hydro's assets.  At Florida Hydro, Mr. Hoover refocused the company's underlying growth strategy from regional project development to global product development.  He revamped its website, wrote its business and marketing plans, managed its complex and unprecedented offshore environmental permitting activities, helped it secure the largest preliminary hydropower permit in the United States from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and played a critical role in the negotiation and sale of its assets to OpenHydro.

 

Mr. Hoover has demonstrated experience managing intellectual property issues, nationally and internationally, including technology development and licensing transactions.  He has hands-on experience in the cradle-to-grave construction and testing processes for emerging energy technologies, including experience testing tidal energy equipment with the U.S. Navy.

 

In 2005, Mr. Hoover hatched the idea for Golden Gate Energy Company, which went on, under the leadership of its corporate founder, Joseph Cannon, to secure a FERC preliminary permit to study the feasibility of producing electricity from the tidal currents in San Francisco Bay.  Golden Gate Energy Company later became a subsidiary of Oceana shortly after Mr. Hoover joined the firm in late 2005.

 

He has been a guest lecturer at renewable energy conferences and workshops across the country.  In 2003, he won the Levy-Rosenblum Institute for Entrepreneurship's annual business plan competition at Tulane University's A. B. Freeman School of Business with a plan, called Gulf Stream Energy, based on the development of the Gulf Stream ocean current.

 

Prior to entering the marine renewable sector, he worked on criminal defense matters in New Orleans, Louisiana, and in the Risk Litigation Division of the Office of the Attorney General for the State of Louisiana.  He holds a J.D. degree from Tulane Law School and pursued a post-graduate degree in Energy and Environmental Law specifically for a career in this industry.