» Ph.D., Civil Engineering - University of Colorado Denver
» M.S., Civil Engineering - University of Colorado Denver
» B.S. Geological Engineering, Colorado School of Mines
» B.A. History/Education, Valparaiso University

Mark is CEO and co-founder with Michael Whitaker of Symbiotic Engineering. Mark provides business development for Symbiotic and the flagship enterprise software, Sustainability Information Management System - SIMS - with focus on Southern California and Colorado. The focus of the SIMS is to provide utilities, DSM managers, City Sustainability Coordinators a means to benchmark and characterize resource consumption (water, electricity, and gas) in order to develop sophisticated efficiency programs. Before starting Symbiotic Engineering, Mark previously served as the Projects Director for Engineers Without Borders - USA and as adjunct faculty at the University of Colorado at Denver where he taught "Urbanization of Developing Nations" and is the co-founder of a 501 (c)(3) non-profit called iCATIS that helps to develop economically sustainable enterprises for communities in need.

Colorado Registered professional engineer
Pennsylvania Registered professional engineer
Wyoming Registered professional geologist
USGBC LEEP AP
GRI Certified Trainer

» Ph.D., Civil Engineering - University of Colorado Denver
» M.S., Environmental Engineering and Science - Stanford University
» B.S., Civil and Environmental Engineering - Stanford University

Michael Whitaker is a founding Principal and chief operating officer at Symbiotic Engineering, LLC who focuses on developing and deploying Symbiotic's Sustainability Information Management System (SIMS) to assist municipal and utility clients with cost-effectively reducing resource consumption in their service territories. Using the SIMS, Dr. Whitaker develops custom analyses that use geographic information system, tax assessor, utility, and demographic data to provide insights to clients regarding resource consumption patterns, the effectiveness of current sustainability programs, and opportunities for deploying programs that better target reductions of energy and water consumption to the benefit of residents and businesses. He is also an expert in life cycle assessment (LCA) who has worked with private companies and national laboratories to conduct LCAs of biofuels, bio-products, mass transit systems, and electricity generation both domestically and internationally to quantify life cycle greenhouse gas emission impacts of alternative scenarios. Dr. Whitaker has served as the project director for the transition of Recharge Colorado from being a government program to an independent, economically self-sustaining nonprofit designed to advance the resource efficiency marketplace throughout the Rocky Mountain region. He has led the development of the Recharge Colorado market inefficiencies and opportunities strategy, has engaged with dozens of stakeholders to develop a coalition of support, has recruited a highly qualified advisory committee and interim board to guide the transition, and is responsible for the execution of proof-of-value pilot projects to establish Recharge Colorado's value proposition. Dr. Whitaker has a doctorate in Civil Engineering from the University of Colorado Denver's Urban Sustainable Infrastructure Engineering Project and a bachelor of science in Civil Engineering and a master of science in Environmental Engineering and Science from Stanford University.

» Executive Certificate, Strategy and Innovation, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, Cambridge, MA
» B.A. cum laude, Environmental, Population, and Organismic Biology,
University of Colorado, Boulder
» Numerous various other courses in engineering, management, project
management, team building, and delivery excellence.

James has responsibility for product design, delivery, and production operations for the organization. He brings 13 years of engineering experience in leading the design, implementation, and ongoing management of multiple complex distributed technical products in an environment of fast-paced change. His experience spans several industries including Energy, Financial, Health Care, Government and Research. Prior to joining Symbiotic Engineering, James provided strategic product development, software product design, technology architecture, and engineering management across several global multi-site business units for a major provider of distributed financial software products serving over half of the top 20 global banks and thousands of corporations worldwide. James is also an expert in information security and compliance in a secure 24/7 operational environment and responsible for delivery and operational process design and management.

» B.S., Engineering Management - Michigan Technological University
» B.S., Geological Engineering - Michigan Technological University

Nick Nimmer joined Symbiotic Engineering in 2007 as a GIS Specialist and Principal. He has over 14 years experience building and managing databases supporting scientific and engineering analyses, using GIS to support such studies through spatial analysis, modeling, cartography, and custom software solutions. Mr. Nimmer led the initial iterations of SIMS development, taking it from concept through working prototype to pilot project, and then recruited key hires, building a skilled development team with the necessary experience and vision to produce industry-leading software. He leads the development of SIMS spatial reporting and analysis capabilities and oversees the acquisition and processing of spatial data required for SIMS deployments. Prior to joining Symbiotic Engineering, Mr. Nimmer worked for a leading environmental consulting firm where he performed air dispersion modeling and groundwater flow modeling, developed a GIS interface for a proprietary ecological model, and managed project databases for Natural Resource Damage Assessments and numerous Superfund sites. He has also worked as part of the GIS team for a large telecommunications company, performing address geocoding quality assurance for 911 emergency services dispatch and routing.

» Ph.D., Civil Engineering - University of Colorado Denver
» M.S., Civil Engineering - University of Colorado at Boulder
» B.S. Mechanical Engineering, Oregon State University

Tim is the Director of Energy Services at Symbiotic Engineering. With a building systems science and community greenhouse gas (GHG) tracking background, Tim oversees the use of Symbiotic's Sustainability Information Management System (SIMS) to provide utilities and local governments with a comprehensive program targeting and tracking tool to dramatically increase the effectiveness of their energy efficiency, water conservation and GHG emissions reduction efforts. Tim previously worked at two of the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) national laboratories where his work focused on small-scale renewable energy development and enhancing the effectiveness of nationally managed energy efficiency programs and he still frequently presents on the latest advances in using utility bill analytics to drive program targeting efforts at DOE national meetings. Tim's background includes a great deal of work on the characterization and mitigation of GHG emissions at the city-scale involving the evaluation new methodologies for accounting for the GHG impacts of energy and material consumption, advising the development of local GHG inventories and climate action plans, and serving on a technical advisory committee for the development of ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability's Local Government Greenhouse Gas Emissions Analysis Protocol.

» Ph.D., Civil Engineering - University of Colorado Denver
» M.S., Environmental Engineering - Virginia Tech
» B.S. Earth Science, Pennsylvania State University

Dr. Mark Pitterle is an Environmental Engineering Sustainability Specialist at Symbiotic Engineering, LLC, focusing on life cycle assessment (LCA), greenhouse gas (GHG) management, zero waste, and waste-to-energy opportunities. Mark currently leads water, wastewater, and solid waste consulting services at Symbiotic Engineering, while also advising development of Symbiotic Engineering's suite of GHG accounting and Sustainability Information Management System (SIMS) software tools - used to assist utilities, cities, and businesses to track resource consumption, quantify efficiency program effectiveness, and drive cost-effective improvements. Mark has over 10 years of hands-on field and consulting experience in design, construction, and installation of sustainable energy and water treatment systems. Prior to joining Symbiotic Engineering, Mark focused on LCA and GHG quantification for water and wastewater treatment plants, where he identified key cost-effective energy and GHG reduction strategies.