LEADERSHIP
Joe Varnas
Chief Executive Officer
Joe Varnas has been with APX for 12 years, transitioning from CTO and Head of Environmental Markets to CEO in April of 2012. Prior to joining APX, Mr. Varnas served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Marsh, leading the firm’s IT and Operations, Global Consumer Business Unit, and Human Resources departments. Previously, he was a managing director at UBS Global Asset Management, where he was President of UBS Mutual Funds, responsible for IT and operations across the Asset Management Group.
Brian Storms served as Chairman and CEO of APX from 2008 to 2012. Before joining APX, he was CEO of Marsh, Inc., where he collaborated with the Clinton Global Initiative, the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, and the Pew Center on Global Climate Change. Prior to that, he held roles including President and CEO of Mercer Human Resource Consulting and President and CEO of UBS Global Asset Management Americas.
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
Board of Directors
THE TEAM
I am focused on creating structure to streamline workflow, and have established effective internal control to ensure compliance and safeguard the assets of the firm. I am continuously identifying ways to optimize efficiency through automation.
Chief Finance Officer
I bring 25+ years of experience building mission-critical, transaction-based systems across many markets to lead the architecture and design of APX solutions. I have led efforts across our suite of environmental and energy applications, driving the transformation and evolution of our use of technology.
I live and breathe technology here at APX. I’m particularly focused on how we use technology to build and deliver powerful, engaging, and valuable solutions to our clients.
Chief Technology Officer
With over 20 years of experience in information technology, my expertise spans system development and implementation as well as management of small and large-scale projects and programs across in the financial, insurance, and energy industries.
I pride myself on being able to bring together technical aspects of software delivery with deep experience in management technology teams for efficient solution delivery.
Chief Information Officer
Joined APX in 2021
With extensive and diverse experience among public, startup, and growth-oriented energy firms, I am devoted to helping APX clients achieve their objectives as the global economy transitions to sustainable solutions.
I am a business developer, market strategist, and entrepreneur with a background in asset management, clean energy technology, and machine learning applications. I specialize in maximizing customer value through the implementation of new and existing products and services.
Chief Commercial Officer
Joined APX in 2021
I bring 25 years of experience leading product development for companies spanning start-ups to multinationals, unifying technology and business goals to drive long-term strategy and short-term execution in support of clients’ existing and future needs.
I am focused on organizing and evolving APX’s unique suite of products, tailoring them to provide our clients with cost-effective solutions to achieve all of their power, sustainability, and resource-optimization objectives.
Head of Product
Joined APX in 2021
I join APX after 16+ years in the energy and financial markets, bringing with me extensive and diverse experience developing enterprise-wide ESG initiatives, managing power options portfolios, originating bilateral transactions, and trading financial power and natural gas. I served most recently as Director of Corporate Strategy for CME Group, before which I held various roles in trading and business development at Direct Energy and Hess Corporation.
At APX, I am responsible for developing and executing our corporate strategies across the global clean energy, environmental, ESG and corporate sustainability markets.
Head of Strategy & Business Development
I’ve been a longtime contributor to APX Power services, from joining the company as a Market Operator to my current position as Head of Power Services. I helped build out our product as the CAISO and ERCOT markets first went live, and I’ve led the integration of our product with all other American ISOs/RTOs, never losing sight of what is most important: delivering value to our clients.
I know our Power Products and Services inside and out. Having been a market operator, end-user, analyst, tester, project manager, product manager, and more, I can explain just about any aspect of what we do to anyone.
Manager of Power Services
Joined APX in 2020
After completing my studies at Syracuse University with a degree in accounting, I joined APX as a financial analyst focusing on Accounts Payables and Accounts Receivables. I’m responsible for day-to-day accounting and finance operations at APX. I also manage billing and registry invoice processing.
Finance Analyst
I have over 15 years of experience in REC registry operations, Demand Response program management, professional services consulting, and CAISO and ERCOT wholesale power markets operations. During my time at APX, I have managed the day to day operations of all North American registry tracking systems, gaining an understanding of specific Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) requirements and working directly with State Regulators to review, analyze, interpret, and monitor federal and state legislation and policy changes.
I pride myself on my ability to confidently lead diverse project teams to implement state-mandated changes and new system enhancements into REC tracking systems and Demand Response Programs.
Client Service Specialist
I’m an accomplished and results-oriented software leader with broad business experience in developing and deploying complex software solutions. I consider myself an expert technical lead.
Senior Software Developer
I’ve gained broad knowledge of the environmental and energy markets during during my 13 years with APX. I helped design and implement a number of APX’s carbon and REC registries. I also spent 8 years managing APX’s demand response services, which provide software solutions and services to both large utilities and wholesale market participants.
Manager of Environmental and Demand Response Service
I provide administrative support for the NCRETS and NAR registry. Previously, I worked as the EMA administrator, providing support to all the renewable registries.
NCRETS and NAR Administrator
Joined APX in 2000
I have been the main contributor to our Power sales for the last 8 years. I have deep domain expertise in the CAISO market and have assisted many of our clients in becoming certified Scheduling Coordinators or Scheduling Agents with CAISO. I’m responsible for new client implementation, managing certificate permissions, training and demos. I also manage client notifications and training on new ISO initiatives.
I take pride in ensuring that our clients are satisfied with their products and services.
Head of Power Sales and Client Management
Joined APX in 2013
I provide excellent customer support for our clients that participate in various ISO markets. As a market operator, I continue to learn new ISO procedures and practices with the goal of providing the best service possible.
Market Operator
During my time at APX I have applied my deep domain expertise in custom application development and business analysis to the carbon markets. I currently support the 3 most notable registries in the industry, which forces me to continuously look for effective, strategic, intelligent, and cost-efficient ways to support our clients.
I pride myself in leading with emotional intelligence, with success for our clients and for the organization as my ultimate goal.
Product Manager
I provide state-of-the-art DevOps by implementing and managing industry standard best practices and procedures. I govern our IT infrastructure spend, finding optimal ways of reducing costs. I also set automation testing standards across the organization and provide guidance to the QA team on our automation toolset.
Manager of DevOps and QA
I’ve served as the ERCOT Supervisor and Ops Manager for several years, during which I developed deep market knowledge in multiple ISOs. My expertise is in operations, client management, and product management.
I manage the SCADA application for APX, serving as the technical lead and developer.
Manager of SCADA Solutions
I serve as a senior registry administrator and help optimize system operations across several renewable energy tracking systems.
My roles in Market Operations facilitated significant experience in real time energy procedures, regulatory requirements and ISO interactions. My contributions as an analyst drove several process initiatives, including automated enhancements and business process modeling and notation.
Senior Registry Administrator
Joined APX in 2022
As a client management specialist for both the NCRETs and TIGRs registries my goal is to provide proactive and timely customer service for our users and partners, as well as guidance through the implementation of new tools and processes.
With over 5 years of database management and software implementation experience in the Oil & Gas and Energy industry, I bring expertise and knowledge of CCUS initiatives, Deregulated Power Markets and ESG Reporting benchmarks.
Client Management Analyst
I drove the successful delivery of several REC and Carbon APX Registries and continue to support and enhance them (MRETS, NAR, CAR, ACR, NCRETS, MIRECS).
I was deeply involved in the design and implementation of integrated inter-registry certificate transfer protocols between APX Registries.
Senior Software Developer
I am a specialist in front end web application development. I have built the UI for numerous APX applications across the Power and Environmental Markets. My primary responsibilities include design guidance, selection of technologies and tools, application of best practices, and the development of robust and maintainable systems.
Senior Software Developer
Joined APX in 2021
With several years of client management experience in the energy industry, I bring extensive knowledge of Renewable Energy Credit markets, Demand Response programs and energy efficiency to the APX Client Services team.
The focus of my career has always been to provide exceptional customer service. In my role at APX, I’m dedicated to maintaining and improving upon that level of service excellence to ensure the success of our current and future utility client programs.
Senior Client Management Specialist
I am actively involved in defining and developing frameworks that support the APX suite of products. I have implemented several software solutions across the environmental and energy markets.
Senior Software Developer
I am a software developer and a technical lead, and I’m the architect of the APX Environmental Registry solution.
Senior Software Developer
Joined APX in 2006
During my time at the company, I’ve gained experience across many of our service offerings, including power, Renewable Energy Certificates and Carbon Offsets. Starting as a member of the California ISO power operations teams, I went on to manage registry client operations for the NEPOOL GIS, NAR and TIGR. I was also a product manager for the NEPOOL GIS, NAR, TIGR, WREGIS, ACR, CAR and Verra platforms.
Manager of Voluntary Sustainable Services
Joined APX in 2021
I have an extensive background in energy and sustainability, including roles in business development, ESG consulting, SaaS solutions and retail power product management. I take pride in developing strong relationships, striving to be a trusted partner for clients and delivering long term value.
At APX, I am focused on introducing clients to a best-in-class power market participation technology that will help them exceed their current and future power, resource optimization and sustainability goals.
Director of Power Sales
My contributions include enhancing internal processes that automate and streamline tasks. I support the Operations, Finance and Settlements Departments. I enjoy constantly evaluating the quality of our work and figuring out how to make it better, one step at a time.
Operations Analyst
I am an environmental registry specialist focused on managing all operations around the registries which APX supports. I am also a member of the SOC2 compliance team, charged with the oversight of system security.
Head of Environmental Client Management
I have held different roles within Operations and Client Services departments, becoming knowledgeable in the various ISOs and ever-changing market rules, providing customer service and streamlining procedures for more efficient processes.
Manager of Power Operations
I oversee all Settlement Products and related processes for the last four years. I created and established new settlement products in multiple ISO regions from the ground up. I contributed in the creation APX DataMart product and have been the business lead for that product since its inception.
I am responsible for managing Power Markets Settlements Products and all Settlement related processes. I’m also a business lead for all ISO metering related activities for Power Markets.
Settlements Manager
During my time at APX I have successfully developed and executed test plans, procedures, use cases and test scripts, and provided in-depth analysis to create and roll out new software products through their development and lifecycle.
Quality Assurance Engineer
I am the technology lead on our proprietary APX MarketSuite platform, supporting Wholesale Power Services, Demand Response, SCADA integrations and our Datamart offerings. I’ve ensured that this feature-rich solution is tracked continuously to maintain SLAs and performance levels by proactively managing capacity. I work closely with Product, Architecture, and IT teams to constantly deliver high quality feature enhancements on the product that adhere to defined architectural standards.
Senior Database Developer
I provide exceptional support for our clients and our team. Drawing on multiple years of operations experience, I ensure the team performs effectively and productively. I’m continually gaining more knowledge on new clients, applications, systems, and procedures to help streamline processes and reduce risk.
Market Operator
Joined APX in 2021
I bring substantial experience in power trading, asset management, and business strategy across demand response, fossil, and renewable energy sectors.
With a background in wholesale markets and corporate development, I intend on helping APX clients maximize value streams and achieve their specific clean energy goals.
Senior Client Management Specialist
As a market operator, I have deep understanding of the CAISO and ERCOT markets. I continue to learn other ISO markets as our clients expand their portfolios, ensuring that they are managed successfully in all regions. I assist with energy scheduling, outages, and OATI tagging, possessing the market knowledge to provide the high level of service our clients expect from us.
Market Operator
As the face of the company for various ISO operations, I ensure that our clients get the best service available. I’m deeply knowledgeable in the CAISO and ERCOT markets and am continually learning new ISO procedures and processes.
I’m proud that APX is considered a leader in Market Operations.
Market Operator
I support the Operations team in their handling of clients in multiple ISOs. I help create and update the UiPath automation across multiple departments.
Market Operator
I standardize QA procedures and develop test automation strategies across applications and services supported on the APX Power and Energy platforms. I analyze business and functional requirements, prepare test plans accordingly and develop test automations to monitor the quality of all applications in the development pipeline.
I’m responsible for designing and automating application functionality and tracking quality assurance metrics, monitoring application performance to ensure successful delivery.