Management
MICHAEL WALLANDER
FOUNDER / PRESIDENT
As Founder and President of Demeter Power Group, Michael Wallander leads the development and delivery of Demeter’s portfolio of innovative financing solutions that help unleash the power of distributed clean technologies, including: PACE3P®, PACE Shared Savings™, PACE Lease® and PACEREIT®.
Previously, Mr. Wallander worked as a corporate and securities lawyer with Greenberg Traurig, P.A. before leaving to found The Kapok Group as a "sustainability incubator" to help entrepreneurs take world-changing sustainability ideas to market. Through this experience, he successfully lead the formation of one of the nation’s first commercial PACE programs as a co-founder and Principal of EcoCity Partners. As a partner at Carolina Solar Farms, he also co-developed several megawatts of ground-mount solar PV that supply several hundred homes with energy from the sun and that are now owned by Duke Energy.
Mr. Wallander also dedicates volunteer time to community initiatives, serving as a Mentor for the Climate Reality Project, as a Member of the Advisory Council of the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation and as Chair of the Board of Blue Planet Writers’ Room. He received his LL.M. degree in Securities and Financial Regulation, with distinction, from Georgetown University Law Center, his J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and his B.A. from the University of Florida. He spends his most precious time chasing his three sons, Jack, Leo and William together with his wife, Amy, in their home community of West Palm Beach, FL.
YANN BRANDT
CO-FOUNDER / EVP OF DEVELOPMENT
As Co-Founder and head of Development for Demeter Power, Yann works with Contractors and Building Owners to increase their access to solar energy.
As a solar entrepreneur, Yann had previously co-founded a solar distribution and development company, which operated throughout North America and Europe. Recognizing early on that solar energy requires financial products for deployment, Yann focused on delivering solar financing to small and medium sized building owners.
Yann frequently speaks and writes about the requirement for solar to innovate on financing at industry conferences and publications. He is the executive editor of the SolarWakeup, a daily rundown of the top news in the solar industry. Yann has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from The Johns Hopkins University. He lives in Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, FL with his son, Ethan, daughter, Kate and wife, Christina.
PHIL TINSLEY
Co-Founder / EVp OF FINANCE
Phil is a highly accomplished, results-focused dealmaker with a consistent history of driving results through expert sourcing, acquisition, development and disposition of properties, land, and investment opportunities. Phil has a track record of completing a wide variety of unique deals as a commercial real estate developer, investment banker and private equity investor. He has played a key role in the acquisition, development, and management of more than 3.0 million square feet of commercial real estate with $700M in development value including roughly 500 units of multifamily and condo, 1,100 hotel keys, and 150,000 square feet of retail and office.
Prior to joining Demeter Power Group, Phil spent 7 years at Matthews Southwest where he directed the acquisition, development, management, and disposition of commercial real estate including hotels, multi-family apartments, condominiums, office, retail, raw and infill land. Most recently, Phil played a key role in the development of the award-winning LEED Gold OMNI Dallas Convention Center Hotel as well as South Side on Lamar, a master-planned, transit-oriented, mixed-use entertainment development comprising 30+ acres immediately south of the CBD in Dallas, TX.
Before joining Matthews Southwest, Phil spent 5 years on Wall Street with UBS Warburg Investment Bank and Merrill Lynch & Co. where he advised private and public companies on mergers & acquisitions, capital raising, and corporate strategy. During this time, Phil helped companies raise more than $2 billion in the public markets, including $150 million in REIT investment capital for Cohen & Steers (CNS), the first publicly traded REIT investor. Additionally, Phil has worked for PNC Bank, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and New Vantage Group, a Venture Capital firm located in Washington, D.C. Phil obtained his dual JD / MBA from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Law and Katz Graduate School of Business and his Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, with a concentration in Finance in 1996. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.