Key Personnel
Michael J. Holtz, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP
Michael Holtz is Principal and Co-Founder of LightLouver LLC. He has been at the forefront of architectural and energy research, development and sustainable design consulting since 1972. He has been associated with LightLouver LLC as co-founder and Principal (2005 to Present); Architectural Energy Corporation as co-founder and President / CEO (1982 – 2009); the Solar Energy Research Institute (now known as National Renewable Energy Laboratory) as Chief of the Building Systems Research Branch, and as Acting Director of the Buildings Division (1978 – 1982); the AIA Research Corporation as Program Manager and Director of Solar Energy Programs (1972 – 1978); the National Bureau of Standards (now known as the National Institute for Standards and Technology) as a research architect (1972); and, since 1976, his own architectural practice.
Mr. Holtz is nationally and internationally recognized as a leader in the field of energy and architecture. In 1975, he authored the first major U.S. publication on solar energy and housing design, Solar Dwelling Design Concepts. He established and managed comprehensive research programs involved in all aspects of solar energy including solar access (three dimensional zoning for providing and maintaining sufficient solar exposure of building surfaces in suburban and urban environments), sustainable community planning, passive solar heating and cooling, daylighting design and analysis, design tool development and evaluation, urban applications, and federal program planning and analysis. He conceived and implemented major national programs for the U.S. Department of Energy in manufactured buildings, commercial buildings, building energy design tools, and performance analysis and testing, such as the Class A, B and C Passive and Hybrid System Performance Evaluation Program, the Denver Solar Homebuilders Program, the Passive Commercial and Manufactured Buildings Programs and the Building Energy Analysis and Design Tool Program. These programs were undertaken in cooperation with the U.S. building industry and resulted in significantly advancing the design and construction of energy-conserving, climate-adaptive residential and commercial buildings.
He is a registered architect in Washington, D.C., Colorado and Tennessee, and is a holder of a National Council of Architectural Registration Board certificate. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana, and a Master of Architecture degree from the State University of New York, Buffalo, New York.
Donald J. Frey, P.E.
Donald Frey is Principal and Co-Founder of LightLouver LLC. He began his career in the solar and sustainable buildings industry in 1975 when he was hired by Richard Crowther, FAIA to work as an engineer at Crowther Solar Group on the design of passive solar buildings with active solar systems for space and water heating. While at Crowther Solar Group, he wrote sections of the book Sun/Earth: How to use solar and climatic energies and also was the book’s editor.
Desiring more understanding of building performance, he joined Applied Science and Engineering where he acquired data acquisition and analysis skills. He applied these skills at the Solar Energy Research Institute (SERI) where he managed a program to evaluate the performance of passive solar homes. When he left SERI, he and Michael Holtz started Architectural Energy Corporation (AEC). Over a period of 28 years, he and Mr. Holtz grew AEC to a company of 110 people and four offices around the country. They developed fourteen separate service offerings that encompassed the life span of buildings. These included sustainable and daylighting design consulting services for new buildings, new and existing building commissioning, diagnostic testing services, and emerging technology evaluations. Their customers included private industry, government, and utilities.
AEC developed the MicroDataLogger® portable data acquisition system, the REM family of home energy rating and evaluation software, a real-time fault detection and diagnostic system, and the LightLouver® Daylighting System. They left AEC in December 2009 and devote their time to LightLouver LLC. Mr. Frey is the chairman for the California Commissioning Collaborative Advisory Council, he holds a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering, and Master of Science degree in civil engineering, and is a registered professional engineer in the states of Colorado and Tennessee. He has authored numerous technical reports and papers, and made many presentations at technical conferences. He was presented with the Benner Award by the National Conference on Building Commissioning in 2009.
Bradley D Collins
Brad Collins joined Lightlouver LLC as its Chief Executive Officer in January 2012. His duties include overall management of the internal operations and business systems, streamlining the production and marketing processes and business development.
Prior to joining LightLouver LLC and beginning in March 2001, Mr. Collins served as the Executive Director of the nation’s largest and oldest renewable energy and energy efficiency professional society, the American Solar Energy Society (ASES). In that position he also served as Publisher of SOLAR TODAY magazine. As the Chief Executive of ASES he supervised a staff of 22 and managed programmatic areas that included: an annual technical conference and trade show; membership development; publications; policy; education outreach; public advocacy; and, a nationwide tour of solar/green buildings. Under his leadership, ASES was known as a sound, broad, technical resource for scientists, engineers, architects and policy makers. He directed focused research and managed forums to address current critical national issues related to energy, buildings, industrial processes and transportation. He provided testimony and presentations on these data to a large number of stakeholders, in the green buildings, renewable energy and energy efficiency policy areas. He was liaison between ASES and many national organizations in the energy, built environment and public sector policy areas. He was a founding committee member of the High Performance Building Council (now part of the National Institute of Building Science) as well as other innovative building efforts.
During his tenure at ASES he made presentations at many conferences on renewable energy, energy efficiency, and economic development. He wrote a column for SOLAR TODAY magazine where he presented a vision for a sustainable energy future based in competent science and practical solutions. He provided testimony to Congressional staff, state government and local organizations interested in moving toward a sustainable energy future. Mr. Collins earned a Masters of Business Administration – Finance from Regis University and a Masters of Arts – Sociology from the University of Colorado.
Zack L. Rogers, P.E., LEED AP
Zack Rogers is Co-Founder and Director of Engineering of LightLouver LLC. He has performed sustainable design and analysis services for for over ten years and has been actively involved in the daylighting design community for nine of those years. Mr. Rogers does optical daylighting design and has a patent for the optical design of the award winning LightLouver Daylighting System. He does software programming and development, and is the head developer of the award-winning Sensor Placement + Optimization Tool (SPOT). Mr. Rogers has provided sustainable design and daylighting design assistance on over 100 projects nationally and internationally with a focus on sustainable school design. He is a current member of several IESNA Daylighting committees and has published work on daylighting simulation techniques and daylighting metrics and speaks regularly on sustainability, daylighting design and photosensor lighting controls. Mr. Rogers is a professional engineer in Colorado and a LEED® Accredited Professional.
Mike Plann
Mike Plann, Director of Operations for LightLouver LLC, is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the business. In 2002, Mike graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, specialized in woodworking. Recognizing that the employment market was limited, he started a company with the intention of creating jobs for himself and some of his fellow graduates. He utilized his education, artistic talents, and knowledge of the construction industry to start FloorPlann LLC – a home improvement business focused on hardwood floors and architectural woodworking. Running multiple crews on construction sites as well as in a woodshop meant learning and applying all the functions of running a small, entrepreneurial business.
When Mike joined the LightLouver team in 2007, he had been the owner and operator of this successful Boulder – based business for over five years. The decision to join LightLouver was based on a desire to be a part of the sustainable building community, and to further utilize the entrepreneurial business management skills acquired during business ownership. Managing the daily functions of the business was a natural fit for Mike, and his unique set of skills pertaining to client interaction, project management, production, sales, and employee management have all been utilized. In 2008, Mike played an integral part in the design and implementation of the latest LightLouver product, and took the lead on the inception and management of in-house production in 2009.
