Company Leadership

George Kirby joined the company in 2021 as Chief Executive Officer with more than 25 years of global operating, investment, capital markets, and regulatory experience within the energy sector including power and utilities, renewables, offshore oil and gas, engineering and construction services, and product manufacturing. Prior to joining RS, George was President, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director at Ocean Power Technologies (NYSE: OPTT), an ocean-energy and intelligence technology company focused on defense and security, offshore oil and gas, science and research, and the offshore wind industry. Prior to Ocean Power Technologies, George held senior leadership positions at AECOM, Leidos, AMSC, and GE focused on sales, business development, engineering, and project finance and development. He previously served on the board of Mystic Aquarium/Sea Research Foundation, a world leader in marine mammal research. George has a B.Sc. degree in aerospace engineering from Syracuse University and an MBA from Penn State University. He is a licensed professional engineer in the state of Texas, a certified Six Sigma black belt, and has been granted several patents in nuclear steam turbine technology.

Christopher Micklas joined the company in August 2022 as Chief Financial Officer with more than 32 years of finance and operations experience in a variety of industries including the Energy, Oil & Gas, and Manufacturing sectors. Most recently, Christopher served as Chief Financial Officer for Nacero Inc., an environmentally focused renewable oil and gas company. Prior to Nacero, he served as Chief Financial Officer for the Houston Wire & Cable Company (Nasdaq: HWCC) after holding the same role with Par Pacific Holdings (HYSE:PARR) a company with refining, logistics & distribution, marketing & trading, and E&P assets. Christopher began his career at General Electric across multiple senior leadership roles in finance and business development and spent 7 years at Shell Oil Company in Pennzoil/Quaker State, subsequently Shell Oil Company Downstream, in senior finance roles in marketing, refining, logistics and trading. He later became Vice President & Chief Financial Officer of the privately held manufacturing business Ennis Traffic Safety Solutions. Christopher holds a BS in Finance from Siena College in Loudonville, New York.

Howard Elliott joined the company in May 2008 as Chief Operations Officer with more than 25 years of experience in the development, production, application and sale of advanced composite materials and products used in the electronics and aerospace industries. Howard’s extensive experience in the optimization of complex manufacturing and business operations was acquired at industry leading global corporations where he exercised his passion for manufacturing, problem solving and value creation. Prior to joining RS, Howard served in a number of leadership positions at a major advanced composite materials company, where he was responsible for business units located in the United States, Singapore and China. Howard was appointed President and Chief Operations Officer of RS Technologies Inc. in November 2011.

Catherine Konwisarz joined the company in 2023 as Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary with nearly 20 years of legal experience within the energy sector, including power and utilities, oil and gas, renewables, and engineering and construction services. Prior to joining RS, Catherine was General Counsel, Corporate Secretary, and Chief Compliance Officer at National Energy Services Reunited (NASDAQ: NESR), a technology-focused international oilfield services company. Prior to NESR, she served as Assistant General Counsel for Marathon Oil Company (NYSE: MRO), an international exploration and production company, where she was responsible for Conventional (all facets of international and offshore assets), Acquisitions & Divestitures, and US Operations (including Marketing, Royalties, IP, and Global Supply Chain). Catherine began her career at Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP, a full-service global law firm, where she practiced in the Corporate/M&A and Energy groups. She serves on the boards of three nonprofit organizations, supporting US military veterans transitioning to civilian life, women who work on the water, and underprivileged families that require lifesaving fetal care. Catherine holds a Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University, a Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law, and two Masters of Law from the University of Houston Law Center, one in Tax Law and the other in Energy Law. 

David Takash joined the company in March 2022 as Chief Commercial Officer with more than 30 years of experience in the Energy and Electric Utilities Market Sectors. David has a track record of developing and leading high-performance Sales and Commercial teams that have delivered outstanding results for revenue and profit growth as well as customer satisfaction. Prior to joining RS, David has held Commercial Leadership roles with EN Engineering, Worley, Babcock & Wilcox, Gamesa Wind US, General Electric, Siemens, and Westinghouse Electric Corporation. David has a Bachelor or Mechanical Engineering and Certificate of Energy Business Strategy from The Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Certificate from the Advanced Management Program from the IESE Business School. He is a certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt.

Scott Holmes joined RS in July 2019 as Director, Crossarm Business with more than 25 years of experience in composite product development, engineering, and operations management. Throughout his career, Scott has been passionate about composites, which began as an Alcoa Fellow while at University of Delaware’s Center for Composite Materials. With progressive engineering and program management assignments at aerospace global leader The Boeing Company, Scott created transformative manufacturing technologies and synthesized many patented composite solutions. Thereafter, further senior management roles held within two unique small business ventures fueled his entrepreneurial spirit, which Scott found aligned well with his family traditions. These experiences culminated in 2008 with the launch of Utility Composite Solutions, a venture founded by Scott, to bring a rapid assembly modular utility pole to market, designed to serve urgent replacement and difficult access applications. Scott was appointed Chief Technology Officer of RS in January of 2021.

Joel Tennison joined RS in 2008 and currently serves the company in the capacities of Vice President and General Counsel. His professional background includes the practice of corporate and securities law, marketing experience with technology companies and equity research for a Canadian investment dealer. Joel is passionate about how intelligent market identification and segmentation for technically differentiated product and service offerings drive long-term business sustainability and profitability. Joel brings a proven capability to lead teams, make high quality, timely assessments under pressure and convey difficult decisions and negative information diplomatically to stakeholders, including Board directors, employees, suppliers, customers, and market channel partners. Joel holds degrees in business (University of Alberta) and law (University of Calgary) and has been an active member of the Law Society of Alberta since 2007.

Karen Novak joined the company in February 2022 as Vice President of Human Resources and Administration with more than 25 years of experience. Prior to joining RS, Karen was the Senior Director of Human Resources and Administration at Ocean Power Technologies, and previously held senior leadership positions at William Grant & Sons, Kerry Group, Skanska, and Bayer Pharmaceuticals. Karen has a B.Sc. degree in Labor and Industrial Relations from Penn State University. Her history of success in human resources is directly related to building strong cultures, developing innovative HR initiatives to restructure processes/programs and focusing on people development. She is a certified Lominger Voices 360 Coach and a practitioner of the Lominger 9 box model for talent assessment.