Learn more about the management team behind Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning. 

BILL MAHLUM is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC. Mahlum was instrumental in the conception, strategy, financing, and development of customer contracts for the district heating and cooling systems in downtown Saint Paul . He served the same role in establishing the St. Paul Cogeneration Project.  Mahlum has served as legal counsel, consultant, and advisor for the Saint Paul district energy systems for more than 27 years. He was part of the team that identified utilization of lower floater tax-exempt and taxable debt structures to obtain optimum financing for the capital-intensive district energy organizations.  He has participated in all phases of the Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning planning, strategy, and implementation processes, including working with Hawaii environmental, labor, engineering, and permitting organizations and individuals, and working with legislative, executive branch, and other public officials. Mahlum has a wide range of additional experience working as counsel for various non-profit and for-profit entities. In addition, he has extensive experience in strategic planning, negotiating, and working with members of Congress, state legislators, administration personnel, and various local units of government in designing, implementing, and sustaining public/private partnerships.

TOM WILKOLAK is Chief Operating Officer of Renewable Energy Innovations, LLC, and Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC. Wilkolak has over 35 years of exceptional business experience. He spent 12 years at The Pillsbury Company in a variety of sales and marketing positions, leaving as Vice President of Sales, Frozen Foods Division. Wilkolak joined Carlson Marketing Group and served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the North American Motivation Company with responsibility for Carlson Canada, Carlson Promotional Marketing Company, Carlson Research Company, Carlson Incentive Travel Company and the Carlson Motivation Company. Following his Carlson experience, Wilkolak went on to co-found four companies where he provided strategic sales and marketing direction to those ventures. He joined Grocery Shopping Network as President and CEO in 2006, initiating changes that allowed the company to attract $8 million in venture investment. In the past, Wilkolak served on the boards of Ever-Green Energy LLC, Growing Healthy Incorporated, Paradise Kitchens and Hunt Technologies. He is currently on the board of Team Sports Technology. He earned BS and MBA degrees from the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul , Minn. , and is a graduate of the Amos Tuck Executive Program at Dartmouth College .

ANDREW KASID is the Vice President of Finance for Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC. Kasid has been with District Energy and its affiliated companies since 1990 and is the Senior Vice President of Finance for Ever-Green Energy. He is responsible for financial management, project finance, financial strategic planning, financial analysis of business opportunities, forecasting and budgeting, financial risk management, energy rate setting and analysis, energy futures contracts, analysis of energy purchases, and investment analysis and management. He has an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Minnesota ’s Carlson School of Management and a B.A. in Financial Economics from Gustavus Adolphus College . He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. Kasid has worked on the HSWAC project from its inception.

ALEX SLEIMAN is the Vice President of Marketing for Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC. Sleiman has worked with District Energy customers for 20 years and is the Vice President of Customer Relations for Ever-Green Energy. Customers refer to Sleiman as "Mr. District Energy." He has more than 35 years of experience in energy management engineering, specializing in the design, specification, and construction supervision of heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning systems. One of Sleiman’s initial responsibilities upon joining District Energy in 1983 was to develop building conversion standards for Saint Paul ’s district heating and cooling customers. Previously he worked with communities across the State of Minnesota that were converting from steam to hot water district heating systems or exploring the development of combined heat and power systems. Sleiman has a B.S. in Industrial Technology from Bradley University and is a member of the American Society of Plumbing Engineers and the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers.

INGVAR LARSSON is the Vice President of Engineering for Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC.  Larsson has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of district heating, district cooling, and combined heat and power in Sweden and North America . He was an employee of District Energy St. Paul in the mid-1990s and has worked as a consultant for the companies for the last ten years. Currently, he is employed directly by Ever-Green Energy as a Senior Engineer. He has extensive applied knowledge in design, construction, financial analysis, and technical and business management of district energy systems. His experience includes systems within the range of 1-600 MW of heating load and 1-200 MW of cooling load. Projects he has worked on cover a wide range of areas, including customer capacity, rate structures, building connections, distribution systems, and central plants for heating and cooling. He was involved in the design and commissioning of the lake water cooling system in Sodertalje , which utilizes a 20,000-foot-long, 40-inch HDPE lake water distribution pipe. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Fyrisskolan in Uppsala , Sweden , and a M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering with a specialization in Heat and Power from the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology (Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, KTH) in Stockholm , Sweden .

MIKE BURNS is an Advisor to Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC, and the Vice President of Production Operations for Ever-Green Energy.  Burns has worked for District Energy and its affiliated companies since 1998. He is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the energy generation facilities and distribution systems for District Energy and District Cooling. Burns has been instrumental in the implementation of a 33-MW, biomass-fired combined heat and power facility, development of the renewable fuel market for the CHP plant, and integration of this facility into the local energy delivery system. Under his leadership, District Energy and District Cooling operations have achieved best-in-class reliability while experiencing rapid rates of growth.  He has more than 18 years of engineering and managerial experience in all aspects of energy facility operations and project implementation, from large electric utility generating units to renewable energy and CHP installations. Burns has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University ’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

KEN SMITH is an Advisor to Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC, and is Senior Vice President of Operations at Ever-Green Energy. Smith has more than 20 years of experience in the consulting/engineering/construction industry. Most recently, he was a vice president at Stanley Consultants Inc., responsible for business development, client relations and management of the Minneapolis office. His previous experience includes 16 years with Black & Veatch Corporation, Kansas City, Missouri, where he progressed from a design/project engineer position to director of engineering and operations of the Advanced Technology Division. Smith’s global project experiences include energy, educational, industrial, aviation, government, commercial, and complex high-tech/mission-critical facilities. Smith earned his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University and his Executive M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. He is a registered professional engineer and a member of several professional organizations.

 ANDERS RYDAKER is an Advisor to Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC, and the President/CEO of Ever-Green Energy.  That company established Renewable Energy Innovations, LLC (REI).  REI was the developer and currently is an investor and manager of Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC.  Rydaker was named President of District Energy St. Paul and District Cooling St. Paul in 1993. Rydaker has more than 30 years of experience in the district energy field. A native of Sweden, he spent more than 15 years holding numerous management positions at the Uppsala power and district energy utility, which has a production capacity of more than 900 megawatts heat and 200 megawatts electricity. He also introduced district cooling to the Swedish market in the early 1990s and successfully developed the innovative cooling system for Stockholm (population 2 million) using seawater cooling. The Stockholm system is now the largest cooling system in Europe. In 2003, he received Sweden’s Prestigious Energy Prize for the development of numerous district cooling systems in the country. Between 1983 and 1990, Rydaker provided on-site consulting service during construction of Saint Paul’s hot water district heating distribution system and conversion of a steam heating plant. During this time, he also initiated several energy-saving projects for District Energy, including the first district cooling system feasibility study. During Rydaker’s time as President, a combined heat and power project utilizing clean urban wood waste was developed. This nationally-recognized, renewable energy project now serves more than 80 percent of downtown Saint Paul buildings. In 2004-05, Rydaker served as Chairman of the International District Energy Association. He has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Uppsala Technical College.