Sharon Sumpter
Chief Executive Officer
Ms. Sumpter (www.sharonsumpter.com) is a visionary and astute business leader for the community and the organizations she serves. She is a seasoned real estate development professional with over 30 years of progressive experience; Sumpter has been instrumental in securing over $200 million in financing, using municipal revenue bonds, tax credits, conventional and other multi-tiered layered financing structures. Her work encompasses master planned communities and transportation planning services for a wide variety of projects. These include a number of award-winning projects having unique design, environmental or challenging financial issues located throughout the U.S. in such places as California, Florida, Nevada, and Wisconsin.
She is hands-on with having had the primary responsibility of managing complex day-to-day activities of multi-disciplinary development projects. Her wide array of experiences as well as “lessons learned” has resulted in the establishment of an innovative civil society organization, Ausar Economic Development Corporation (AEDC) – (www.aedcorp.org).
As Bedford Energy’s CEO, Ms. Sumpter is responsible for developing the company’s strategic plan by studying technological and financial opportunities while defining strategy, vision, and the execution of new partnerships. Her primary role is to facilitate negotiations with carriers regarding pricing; inverted leases, Sale –Leasebacks, partnership flips, and PPA’s. Other duties include negotiation of acquisition, brokerage, and partnership agreements with generators coupled with overseeing and performing financial analyses, detailed market and credit evaluations, financial modeling, and risk assessments on innovate energy projects.
Sumpter is also charged with expanding relationships in the solar Financial Services eco-system.
Charles Quarles
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Quarles earned a Master of Business Administration, Harvard University, Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, California State University, Los Angeles, and served as a Medic in a MASH unit of the United States Army during the Vietnam War.
Mr. Quarles has led the Bedford Group of Companies for the last 40-years, which has been a leading real estate development firm in Los Angeles providing solutions for urban communities throughout southern California. In his role as CFO, he will assist BE with building external stakeholder relationships addressing capital and customer needs. Mr. Quarles is responsible for the financing and structuring of all transactions.
Recognized in the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Who’s Who in Finance and Industry” and “Who’s Who in the West,” Mr. Quarles has established a proven track record of developing quality housing projects that provide a sense of community, home, style, and value.
Jay Cutting, Sr.
Vice President, Production and Operations
Mr. Cutting brings over 9 years of renewable energy development experience. Cutting is a licensed solar contractor and the founder of ReVamp Energy, Inc., a company he founded in 2015, which has developed over 600 solar and battery projects throughout California and across all asset classes. Mr. Cutting is an expert hands-on project principal, overseeing each stage from concept to implementation. Cutting has been recognized as one of the top renewable energy developers in the US by solarpowerworld.com. Cutting brings a wealth of industry knowledge and relationships to the Bedford union.
Cutting also serves on the board of directors for BOSS and also made a top priority for workforce development offering an entry into renewable energy workforce within black and brown communities who might not otherwise have the opportunity.
A graduate of The College of Wooster. Cutting’s biggest passion besides building renewable energy projects is spending time with his wife and son.
Starlett Quarles
Co-Founder
Recently honored as one of “Los Angeles’ Most Influential African American Movers and Shakers” by Reverend Al Sharpton’s National Action Network- LA, Starlett Quarles is a passionate, long time Community Advocate for the progress of Black Los Angeles and urban communities across the country.
As a result, community building is in her DNA. As the Director of Marketing and Communications department, Ms. Quarles is responsible for managing the department’s daily operations; as well as overseeing the branding, marketing, advertisement, media, messaging, and public relations strategies for the company and all its development projects. Ms. Quarles has a knack for building company images by collaborating with customers and organizations while holding to ethical business practices.
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