About US

Andreea Colosino, Office Manager & Accounts Payable Coordinator

Andreea Colosino coordinates the operations of the US Wind Inc. main office and its various departments. She provides administrative support, maintains the company meetings and appointment schedule, manages office resources, and serves as our frontline greeter. With over five years of management experience, Andreea previously served as the Chief Operating Officer at Howard Johnson Hotels, which received “Best of the Best Hotels” awards consecutively during her tenure. Andreea earned her MBA and BA in Economics from Zaragoza University in Spain. Her support and coordination ensure the efficiency of our daily operations.

Benjamin Cooper, Director of Marine Affairs

CAPT Benjamin Cooper, U.S. Coast Guard (Retired), joins US Wind after a distinguished 30-year career in the U.S. Coast Guard. As Director of Marine Affairs, he is responsible for coordination of US Wind activities with federal, state, and local maritime agencies, commercial mariners, and recreational fishermen during project development, construction, and operations to support safe and productive shared use of the waterways in the vicinity of the US Wind Lease area. As a Coast Guard officer, CAPT Cooper last served as the Chief of Staff for District Nine in the Great Lakes region and is a former Sector Commander and Captain of the Port of Philadelphia. Ben has an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and a Master of National Security and Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Naval War College.

Renée Cooper, Director of Operations

Renée Cooper specializes in developing and implementing corporate supplier diversity strategies that aim to achieve supply chain diversity and inclusion, meet customer expectations, and deliver internal results. In her role, she oversees administrative and human resources, information technology, develops Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs), directs compliance efforts, and strategizes outreach initiatives. With over two decades of management and compliance experience, Renée previously served as the Director of Operations and Process Improvement for the Maryland Department of Transportation Office of Minority Business Enterprise. She has experience supervising certification officers’ training, conducting fraud investigations and commercially useful function audits, managing reporting, and grant administration. Renée remains an active member of the broader MBE community and maintains partnerships with various MBE stakeholders throughout the state of Maryland.

Michael Dunmyer, Delaware Development Manager

Mike Dunmyer serves as the Delaware Development Manager for US Wind. Mike is an ocean environmentalist with an extensive business background. After a long career as a senior executive for a Fortune 50 company, he served as executive director for Ocean Champions, a bi-partisan political organization focused solely on ocean health. Mike was elected and served as a Commissioner in the Town of Dewey Beach, where he partnered with the Center for the Inland Bays to address Dewey’s tidal flooding problems. Mike served on the Board of Directors for the Center for the Inland Bays, and for the National Aquarium in Baltimore where he chaired their Conservation Committee. He is active with the Delaware Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, and serves as the President of the Greater Millsboro Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors.

Mike has an MBA from Duke University and a BA in Economics from Washington and Lee University.

Matthew Filippelli, Vice President & Chief Engineer

Matt Filippelli is the Vice President & Chief Engineer at US Wind. He has responsibility for overall project design, certification review, and execution, and provides technical support to all other development activities. Matt joined US Wind from Natural Power Consultants, where he served as principal engineer & offshore services lead. Prior to Natural Power Matt worked at UL Renewables (previously AWS Truepower), where he was the director of offshore services and principal engineer. Matt has been active in the field of offshore wind energy engineering since 2003, with a particular focus on site assessment, wind technology, and project design. Matt’s work over the past 22 years has advanced wind projects across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Jeffrey Grybowski, Chief Executive Officer

Jeff is the Chief Executive Officer of US Wind, Inc. and a leader in the offshore wind industry in the United States.  He previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Deepwater Wind from 2012-18, where he led the company’s pathbreaking efforts to launch the offshore wind industry in the United States.  He was intimately involved in the development of America’s first offshore wind farm, the Block Island Wind Farm. Under his leadership, the company developed a portfolio of 1,000 MW of awarded offshore wind revenue contracts, including the first offshore wind projects for the states of New York, Maryland, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. After the acquisition of Deepwater Wind by Ørsted, Jeff served as Co-CEO of Ørsted US Offshore Wind until 2019.

Jeff has served on the boards of a number of leading industry organizations, including the American Wind Energy Association, the National Ocean Industries Association, the Advanced Energy Research and Technology Center at Stony Brook University, and Roger Williams University.

Jeff previously served as Chief of Staff to the Governor of the State of Rhode Island and practiced corporate law at Hinckley, Allen & Snyder in Providence, Rhode Island and at Sullivan & Cromwell in New York, New York.

Jeff earned an A.B. with Honors in Public Policy from Brown University and a J.D. with High Honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law.

Laurie Jodziewicz, Vice President, Environmental Affairs

Laurie Jodziewicz is the Vice President of Environmental Affairs at US Wind, where she leads the company’s permitting and environmental compliance efforts for offshore wind and related onshore development, like Sparrows Point Steel. Laurie joined US Wind from Kindle Energy, a Blackstone portfolio company, where she served as Vice President, Environmental. Earlier in her career, she worked as Director of Permitting for offshore wind at NRG Energy when they proposed an offshore wind project for the Delaware lease area, and on permitting and regulatory issues at the American Wind Energy Association. She brings more than 20 years of experience in both onshore and offshore wind permitting, regulatory issues, and environmental consulting to the US Wind team.

Timothy Mack, Vice President, U.S. Content

Tim Mack is the Vice President of U.S. Content at US Wind where he is focused on developing the offshore wind supply chain in Maryland and the broader U.S. market. Tim’s work on the supply chain is directed through the development of Sparrows Point Steel as a tubular steel manufacturing and logistics port that is focused on the production of monopiles, transition pieces and towers. Tim is also focused on developing the workforce needed to stand up a local supply chain, such as secondary steel suppliers and the domestic supply of raw steel.  

Tim joined US Wind from EEW AOS, LLC, where he served as U.S. Business Development Manager for Offshore Wind. Mack brings 25 years of experience in the steel industry and 14 years of experience in the offshore energy industry to the US Wind team. His vast knowledge and experience in working with wind developers, labor unions, government officials, steel manufacturers, and technology and service providers makes him uniquely positioned to advance US Wind’s supply chain efforts. 

Albert Ploeg, Construction Manager

With over 35 years of experience in offshore engineering and construction including 16 years in the offshore wind sector, Albert Ploeg is a leader in the design and installation of offshore structures and offers a unique combination of engineering skills and hands-on construction experience. In 2005, while an engineering manager at Shell Wind Energy, Albert became responsible for foundations design and all offshore construction activities of the first Dutch offshore wind park, Noordzeewind. In 2009 he became Engineering Manager Offshore for Vattenfall. From 2011 – 2014, Albert acted as Independent Engineer for the DOE on the Cape Wind project. In 2016, Albert was Turbine Installation Manager for Deepwater Wind, building the first offshore wind park in the US near Block Island. For HSM, Albert was responsible for all marine operations related to installation of the Borssele-A OSS. In recent years Albert has worked as Construction Manager for Westermeerwind and Package Manager balance-of-plant for Windpark Fryslan. In 2020, he worked in the Shell Mayflower team as T&I manager.

Mats Sellei, Commercial Director

Mats Sellei is the Commercial Director at US Wind, responsible for developing ,implementing and executing procurement strategies for the projects. He leads vendor negotiations, contract management, and cost optimization efforts. Prior to US Wind, Mats served as Director of Commercial Advisory Services at K2 Management, where he oversaw procurement and contract strategies for global renewable energy projects. He has also held senior procurement roles at Vattenfall, managing offshore wind foundation contracts and large-scale infrastructure investments. With over 20 years of experience in strategic sourcing and supplier management, Mats has played a key role in advancing major energy projects across North America, Europe, and Asia.

Maynard Smith, Maryland Business Engagement Manager

Maynard Smith is a business development and diversity & compliance consulting expert, having supported diversity inclusion projects for MGM National Harbor, Woodrow Wilson Bridge, Prince George’s County Maryland Supplier Development & Diversity Division, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cyber Security Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and 2020 Black Farmers’ Cooperative. Maynard volunteers on several community boards, including the Family Justice Center and Progressive Life Center of Prince George’s County, Maryland, and Visit Baltimore. Maynard is also a member of the NAACP Baltimore, Prince George’s County Supplier Development & Diversity Division, Southern Maryland Minority Chamber of Commerce, Capital Region Minority Supplier Development Council, Bi-County Roundtable, and People for Change.

Maynard holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and a Master of Business Management from Golden Gate University in San Francisco, California.

Nancy Sopko, Vice President, External Affairs

Nancy Sopko is the Vice President of External Affairs at US Wind where she leads the company’s government and public affairs initiatives, including stakeholder outreach. Prior to joining US Wind, Nancy was the Executive Director at the Special Initiative on Offshore Wind (SIOW) where she led the industry’s collective engagement with the commercial fishing industry. Nancy has also been the director of offshore wind at the American Wind Energy Association; a policy advocate at Oceana; legislative counsel to former U.S. Rep. John Adler (NJ-03); counsel to the N.J. Senate Judiciary Committee; counsel in the N.J. Office of Legislative Services; and staff attorney at Legal Services of Northwest Jersey.

Robert A. Strickland, Chief Financial Officer

Rob Strickland is the Chief Financial Officer for US Wind. With over 20 years of experience in the energy and infrastructure industries, Rob – who spent the last five years at Apollo Global Management – has a demonstrated track record of success in managing complex commercial projects. At Apollo, Rob led both execution and asset management as part of Apollo’s Sustainable Investing Platform. Prior to Apollo, Rob worked at GE Capital where he focused on energy infrastructure projects. Most recently, Rob has helped guide Apollo funds’ investment in Arthur Kill Terminal, a purpose-built offshore wind staging and assembly port under development in Staten Island, New York.

Riccardo Toto, Director and President

Innovator and entrepreneur. Riccardo manages the company’s portfolio of offshore wind projects and oversees contracting and investor relations. As sole director and president of US Wind, Riccardo brings his 15+ years of experience in the fields of finance, corporate management and business to launch a new industry and Silicon Valley for Offshore Wind in the US. Riccardo has successfully led start-up companies in the aviation and renewable energy sectors, serving in previous roles as CEO of EAS and Managing Director of Air One. Riccardo is a graduate of the Institute for Technical Geometer in Foggia, Italy.

Salvo Vitale, General Counsel

With a strong background of over 15 years of legal experience in the areas of corporate governance, business law and extraordinary transactions, Salvo has worked in the fields of international commercial law and renewable energy. Salvo is responsible for the organization of the company in terms of general strategy, commercial development, operational structure and financial results. In addition to the above, he oversees all contracts, business commitments, formal legal arrangements and agreements for the portfolio of projects in the US and Europe. In 2023, Salvo was appointed by Governor Wes Moore to the Maryland Clean Energy Center’s Board of Directors. Salvo joined the Toto Group in 2011 and previously practiced law in Rome, Italy at Bonelli Erede law firm. Salvo attended Guido Carli International University (LUISS) in Rome, Italy, where he earned his Master Degree in Law and PhD in Commercial Law.

David Wilson, Maryland Development Manager

Dave Wilson is the Maryland Development Manager for US Wind. He works closely with local stakeholders, businesses, and the community at large in the Ocean City area to make sure locals stay informed on the project.

As the former executive director of the Maryland Coastal Bays National Estuary Program and a long-time resident of Worcester County, Dave has spent 30 years in the Ocean City area building relationships with both businesses and the conservation community to protect and restore the coastal bays. He sits on the Maryland Sea Grant External Advisory Board and was recently appointed to the Critical Areas Commission by Governor Moore. Dave is a former principal at Conservation Community Consulting and is the Vice President of Focus Conservation Fund based in South America. He is an avid fisherman, ultimate frisbee player, and former Legion baseball pitcher.

Dave holds a BS from Penn State University and an MA from Boston College. His family has owned residential and commercial property in downtown Ocean City for about 40years. He lives just outside of Berlin with his wife who is a professor at Salisbury University.

COMPANY HISTORY

US Wind was founded in 2011 and has established itself as Maryland’s leader in offshore wind development. In 2014, US Wind acquired an 80,000-acre federal lease area off the coast of Maryland, which has the potential to generate approximately 1,800 MW of offshore wind and power more than 600,000 homes in Delmarva. In addition to developing clean energy for the region, US Wind is also establishing Sparrows Point Steel, Maryland’s first permanent offshore wind manufacturing facility at the former site of Bethlehem Steel in Baltimore County.

US Wind is owned by funds managed by Apollo Global Management, an American investment firm, and Renexia SpA, a subsidiary of Toto Holding SpA.

CONTACT INFORMATION:
410.727.4020
info@uswindinc.com

MAILING ADDRESS:
US Wind Inc.
World Trade Center
401 East Pratt Street, Suite 1810
Baltimore, MD 21202