Our Team

Daniel W. Felten, PE, LSP, LEP, Chief Technical Officer

Dan has more than 25 years of experience and has been with ECS since 1999. He is an ECS Principal and Chief Technical Officer. His project experience includes site investigation and remediation for petroleum and solvent releases, compliance/management for petroleum and industrial facilities, and the design and installation of geothermal systems. Dan is a Registered Professional Engineer in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and North Carolina; a Licensed Site Professional in Massachusetts; and a Licensed Environmental Professional in Connecticut. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering, and is a Certified Geoexchange Designer (in training), a Certified Energy Manager (in training), and a Certified DX System Installer Dan’s many publications include “Surfactant Enhanced High Intensity Targeted (HIT) Remediation,” which was presented at the National Ground Water Association’s Conference on Remediation in New Orleans, LA.

Samuel E. Johnston II, Geothermal Program Manager

Sam has over 31 years of business experience and serves as ECS’ Energy Services Program Manager. In this capacity, he is responsible for sales of geothermal heating systems to the residential, multi-family and commercial markets. Sam’s specific responsibilities entail pricing and developing proposals, establishing subcontractor and supplier relationships to support the delivery of geothermal services, scheduling of personnel for system installations, building brand recognition for the ECS Energy Division, and working with senior staff to develop sound strategies and recommendations for energy-relates systems. In addition, Sam performs energy engineering analysis to assess, design and optimize the performance of energy systems. He has a thorough understanding of jurisdictional building code requirements for residential and commercial construction, specific construction techniques to support energy system installation requirements, and utility energy tariffs. Sam was instrumental in the development of the Sundial Energy Harvesting System ®, a branded offering covering residential and light commercial alternative energy processing. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and has participated in numerous professional development activities. His featured article entitled “The Utility Syndrome” was published in Communications Week, with subsequent publication in the Wall Street Journal and many additional communications industry trade magazines.

Richard Starodoj, Geothermal Senior Project Manager

Rick has been a key member of the ECS team for the past 19 years. As an Engineer and Project Manager, he coordinates project management, scheduling, subcontractors and compliance issues for numerous petroleum, hazardous waste and construction sites. Rick represents ECS at public hearings in front of various governmental bodies associated with permits including NPDES, wetlands and planning boards. He conducts subsurface investigations involving soil borings, bedrock corings, soil excavations, soil gas surveys and monitoring well installations. Rick also performs field investigations including underground tank removal observation and documentation, as well as soil screening and excavation sampling. Additionally, he is responsible for preparing detailed site drawings through the use of AutoCAD. Rick is a GSSI trained and certified Ground Penetrating Radar equipment operator and a certified XRF operator. Furthermore, he has recently completed technician training for Carrier/Bryant/Climatemaster water-based and EarthLinked DX refrigerant-based geothermal equipment. Rick has recently been intimately involved with project management and construction activities involving the deployment of two water-based and one refrigerant-based geothermal system at ECS’ Nonotuck Mill facility in Northampton, Massachusetts. He also installed and operates a geothermal system at his own private residence. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering Technology.

Sigurd Spearing, Geothermal Sales and Marketing

Sigurd Spearing has been an integral part of the ECS team for the past 5 years. At ECS Sigurd assumes such multiple roles as marketing coordinator, project manager and system designer. Additional areas of qualification are environmental permitting, and over 10 years of construction management experience. At ECS Sigurd has developed and managed customer relationships across diverse industries, interfacing with top-level decision makers. He holds a bachelors of science degree and a masters of science in resource management and administration with a specialty in climate change modeling. Sigurd is a certified by the Building Performance Institute as a Building Analyst and is registered dealer for EarthLinked technologies

Brett Simmons, Geothermal Field Technician

Brett has been with ECS since 1996 and is an Environmental Analyst/Senior Technician. He conducts subsurface investigations and supervises the installation of groundwater monitoring wells, recovery wells, and soil vapor extraction wells, and performs field investigations including underground storage tank removal observation and documentation, soil and sediment sampling, soil screening, and groundwater and surface water sampling. Brett also conducts site assessment activities and performs historical reviews of buildings and properties with respect to oil and/or hazardous materials. Additionally, he prepares and implements Immediate Response Action (IRA) Plans, Release Abatement Measure (RAM) Plans, Emergency Response Actions Plans, Response Action Outcomes (RAO), and Phase I and Phase II reports. Brett supervises and assists in the installation of remedial systems, and assists in resolving operational problems within remedial systems. He also performs compliance monitoring and sampling at remedial sites, and prepares system-monitoring reports for federal, state and local regulatory agencies. Brett has recently overseen the installation and construction activities involving the deployment of two water-based and one refrigerant-based geothermal system at ECS’ Nonotuck Mill facility in Northampton, Massachusetts. He holds a degree in Environmental Science, and his many professional development activities have included an International Ground Source Heat Pump Association Installers accreditation, technician training for Carrier/Bryant/Climatemaster Water-Based Geothermal Units, and EarthLinked DX Refrigerant-Based Geothermal Heat Equipment authorization for installations and service.