About

Senior Advisors

MANAGING Director, CEO

David M. Moore

David Moore founded Clean Energy Capital and serves as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
 
David is a veteran deal-maker with deep knowledge of structured finance, project finance, and municipal finance. He has been involved in the energy and infrastructure sectors for nearly 30 years. He is known as an innovator and problem-solver with a commitment to integrity and client service.
 
Prior to founding Clean Energy Capital, David headed renewable energy finance nationwide for Citigroup’s top-ranked public finance division. He has also held senior positions at international investment banks including Lehman Brothers and Credit Suisse First Boston. 
 
David holds a PhD in political science from the University of California at Berkeley, where his doctoral dissertation addressed governance and financial risk allocation in the U.S. nuclear power sector. He also holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude.

MANAGING Director

Stephen A. Smith

Stephen provides financial advisory and investment banking services to clients of Clean Energy Capital, where he focuses primarily on clients active in the natural gas midstream sector and in natural gas power generation.

Prior to co-founding Clean Energy Capital, he was an investment banker at Citigroup, where he was lead quantitative specialist on all renewable energy projects within the bank’s top-ranked public finance division. Stephen was also an investment banker at Lehman Brothers and worked in Ernst & Young’s financial economics group as a modeler.

Stephen holds a master’s degree in finance from LSU, a master’s degree in economics from the University of Oregon, and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Oregon.

DIRECTOR

Brendan M. Dete

Brendan Dete provides financial advisory and investment banking services to clients of the firm.
 
Brendan is an experienced private equity and investment banking professional. He helped develop a clean technology investment practice for H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm. Brendan sourced and assessed new investment opportunities in renewable energy, generating an active pipeline of over 300 firms. Funded investments included Suniva, the solar cell manufacturer.
 
Prior to joining Clean Energy Capital, Brendan was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, where he focused on renewable energy project investing and advisory work in wind, solar, and geothermal sectors. He coordinated due diligence for Lehman’s investment in geothermal power projects owned by Ormat Technologies; participated in tax equity structuring for Lehman’s investment in White Creek Wind, a 200 MW wind farm; and participated in due diligence for Lehman’s investment in SkyPower, a wind farm and solar project development firm.
 
Brendan holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and history from Davidson College, where he graduated cum laude.