Team

Our team combines decades of entrepreneurship, automation, innovation, and integrity to address the energy sector in Barbados and throughout the Caribbean region.

John Z. Hall is a Co-Founder and President of Caripower leading the company’s mission to develop and deploy sustainable renewable energy projects in battery energy storage leasing services, pv solar, wind and wave energy systems across the Caribbean and in the United States. He has guided the organization from concept to commercialization, assembling a multidisciplinary team to deliver an innovative “electrical-company-in-a-box” service model and microfinance platform CariTrust – developed to support small island developing states (SIDS), remote facilities. Under his leadership, Caripower has built strategic partnerships with EOS Energy Enterprises, Wright Energy Storage Technologies (WEST), Prosto Wind Power LLC, and CalWave Power Technologies, to name a few. Mr. Hall has also led direct engagement with government agencies — including the Town & Country Planning Development Office (TCPDO), Barbados Water Authority, and Barbados Light & Power, Fair Trading Commission, and the Environmental Planning Department — to secure approvals and advance renewable infrastructure in Barbados. Through his work at Caripower, Mr. Hall continues to drive innovation in clean energy, forging collaborations that strengthen regional sustainability, attract investment, and promote energy and financial independence for island communities.

Luc Chase is Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board of Caripower, Inc. He was born and raised in Barbados and has over thirty-five years of working experience in the UK and EU as a business systems architect. He has decades of experience in digital trust-automation & self-sovereign identity management across several industry sectors. He brings considerable hands-on expertise in enterprise-wide systems design, software architecture, optimisation and transformation to deliver joined-up, self-reinforcing solutions, spanning energy generation, positive environmental management and enhanced agricultural capacity. Mr. Chase leads the team's digital automation initiative, CariTrust™, a micro-finance platform to obtain, assign and register fractional ownership of renewable energy generation and storage assets. CariTrust operates from the ObyNote™ a distributed ledger technology to provide immutable proof and records of ownership. In 2025, Caripower was granted Order Provider status to host the CariTrust™.

Ronald E. Smith is Installation Manager at Caripower, Inc and a veteran offshore engineering executive and innovator with over four decades of experience in subsea technology and marine systems. A Texas A&M Ocean Engineering graduate, he began his career with ODECO, advancing from drilling engineer to one of the youngest tool pushers in company history. He went on to lead major subsea installation programs with Multiflex, Mustang Engineering, and Kvaerner FSSL, pioneering umbilical and subsea control systems that became industry standards. In 1997, Mr. Smith co-founded Deep Down, Inc. (DPDW:OTCQX), where he served as President and CEO for 22 years, building it into a leading provider of subsea production and testing systems. He holds multiple patents for subsea distribution and installation innovations and was instrumental in establishing modular testing and steel-tube flying lead technologies. After Deep Down, Mr. Smith provided consulting leadership for Chevron’s Fieldwood Energy IV decommissioning program, overseeing the safe retirement of 197 offshore assets. Today, as President and CEO of JUMA Group, he continues to advance renewable energy and subsea technology solutions from his Cleveland, Texas headquarters.

Advisors

Our Advisors provide strategic insight into environmental and regulatory compliance issues, project management, private equity and community crowd financing, political economy, sustainability, engineering and legal matters.

Marsha Atherely-Ikechi Ph.D. brings over two decades of regulatory leadership to battery‑storage deployment. As immediate past CEO of Barbados’ Fair Trading Commission, she pioneered energy‑storage regulatory frameworks, crafting tariffs and grid‑integration policies that enable large‑scale and distributed adoption across the Caribbean. A recognized authority on storage interconnection standards, market mechanisms, and grid‑modernization requirements, her expertise includes energy‑storage tariff design, integration policy, and regional market navigation. She holds a Ph.D. in Chemical/Environmental Engineering and an M.Sc. in Renewable Energy Management (University of the West Indies) plus an M.Sc. in Environmental Engineering (Newcastle University), and delivers strategic regulatory intelligence to ensure compliant, successful battery deployments in emerging Caribbean energy markets.

Bala Ramamurthy is CEO and Co-Founder of Critical Loop in San Francisco, CA, he brings over a decade of leadership in aerospace innovation. Previously, Bala served as a key leader at SpaceX, where he led the development of the human-rated Falcon 9 rocket, playing a pivotal role in the United States' return to human spaceflight. With extensive experience in engineering, operations, and safety, Bala led critical tests and the development of new hardware and software, ensuring the highest standards for crewed space missions. Bala's deep expertise in engineering technology, governing relationships, and commitment to advancing the future of energy are central to the vision and growth of Critical Loop which supports Caripower's front end engineering and design planning.

Benjamin Wilson Ph.D. is a professor of political economy in the economics department at the State University of New York at Cortland. He is a Research Scholar for the Global Institute for Sustainable Prosperity, an Editor for Money on the Left, and founding member of the Cortland Food Project. Dr. Wilson’s research investigates socio-ecological well-being and monetary design through spatial analysis and a learning-by-doing pedagogy. His research topics include the relationships between pediatric chronic disease and housing conditions, spatial justice and heterodox microeconomics, as well as enterprise structures and coordination rights. Most recently, Wilson’s focus is public money design. Using experimental classroom currency systems, Wilson is mobilizing student effort to support community organizations that are ameliorating food insecurity, fostering farm-to-institution relationships, and cultivating local food production and sustainable practices. He has authored and co-authored writings have appeared in Forum for Social Economics, American Review of Political Economy, Money of the Left: History, Theory, Practice, Willamette Law Review, Boundary 2 Online, Monthly Review Online, Radical Political Economy, Public Seminar, and Academe. His edited volume Care, Climate, and Debt: Transdisciplinary Problems and Possibilities was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2022.

Mr. Challenor is a qualified associate project manager with experience managing renewable energy infrastructure projects across multiple countries. He holds a BSc in Geology, an MBA in International Business, and earned a CAPM certification. As a project manager he has demonstrated proficiency to manage project planning, stakeholder coordination, permitting, regulatory compliance, technical and financial due diligence across asset classes including photovoltaic solar arrays, wind energy turbines, and green hydrogen projects.

Nick Morris (MSc DIC PhD) is a sustainability and energy expert in data centres and engineering. He has a background in biotechnology and chemical engineering and has developed sensors for process control. He has led projects at Unilever and various start-ups. He joined the data centre sector through Data Center Dynamics, where he helped implement the CEEDA energy efficiency framework. In 2020, he co-founded a company that provided private credentials for SARS-CoV-2 status, contributing to the Covid Credentials Initiative. Currently, Nick focuses on improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions in data centres. He created reporting methods and achieved the first public calculation of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions for IT services in third-party data centres. He also investigates renewable energy systems and leads a project aimed at enhancing sustainability metrics in the subsea cable sector.