Bill Brandon, Founder, President, and CTO
Bill has more than 50 years’ experience as an architect and contractor. He was an early adopter of energy efficiency methods for his designs and buildings including super insulation, ground source heat pumps, water heat storage and passive solar. He has been involved with phyto-remediation in buildings to reduce air change requirements. He was an early mentor to renowned furniture designer, Peter Danko. He designed and financed the first hybrid mechanical/pneumatic press to produce Peter’s first of its kind one-piece molded plywood chair, which is now part of MONA’s permanent collection. He also has a deep understanding of the bio-economy and his articles have appeared in the Daily Bio-Digest and other publications. He has watched as this nascent industry has grown into a major element addressing Climate Change. He believes the Controlled Environment Agriculture industry should learn from this growth industry. Bill grew up among farmers in rural Ohio where many of his relatives and classmates were farmers.
Bill has a BArch degree from Miami University and advanced course work in inter- disciplinary studies at the University of Texas, Austin. Bill lives with his wife in Arlington Virginia and has two grown sons. He is an avid baseball fan and model train modler.
Ashu Jain, Vice President and CEO
Ashu brings more than 30 years of experience holding positions of increasing accountability at organizations ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies, spanning several industries including medical devices and diagnostics, medical equipment, and industrial biotechnology. Philips Healthcare, Covidien (acquired by Medtronic), and Novozymes are some of the global multinationals that he has worked for.
New product development, new business development and strategic partnerships, and project management are his forte. He has lived and worked in the Bay Area California, Central New York, Boulder Colorado, and Southwest Virginia.
Ashu has an MBA from Syracuse University Martin J. Whitman School of Management, Syracuse NY in Finance and Marketing with Innovation Management specialization. Presently he lives in Roanoke, Virginia with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he enjoys spending time with his family, working out at the local gym, traveling, and reading.
Ellison Heil, Chief Operating Officer
As an environmental horticulturist and educator, Ellison pursues advocacy for communities focused on developing and sustaining a relationship with flora. Through practice as a horticulturist in the field and discourse as an academic on campus, he aspires to bridge the gap between theory and implementation. It is his belief as a pracademic that facilitating engagement with local parties to interact with plant material by providing skillset demonstrations founded in scientific rigor, consistent active progress towards restoring ecosystem services and the greater public good can be made. When he’s not in the field, Ellison works in education and has taught students from elementary through graduate school. He greatly enjoys the spark of learning and creates a class that highlights various learning styles. At present, Ellison is an Adjunct Lecturer at Roanoke College in Cannabis Studies and Assistant Professor at Virginia Western Community College within the School of Business, Technology, & Trade’s Horticulture Technology Program. He has 2 publications in the World Journal of Environmental Research and Elizabeth C. Miller Library of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens alongside numerous academic awards.
Across his professional pursuits Ellison has designed, installed, and managed public and private landscapes throughout the United States. Locations of various work is spread across the country from coast to coast. Through observation and engagement across these diverse ecologies and landscapes, he has gained over 10 years of boots on the ground experience.
Ellison holds Master of Environmental Horticulture from Washington University and graduated from the prestigious Roanoke Valley Governors School. In his spare time, he enjoys soccer and won the Centennial Conference Championship as a goalkeeper for Muhlenberg College. As the son of a Photographer, a core part of how he views the world is through the lens of a camera. Ellison holds multiple gallery publications for his Analog Photography work which he pursues as a creative outlet. He is a Salem, Virginia native, and is always on the hunt for a cup of coffee and a conversation!