John Knight

Co-founder / CTO

Recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the Cal Maritime Academy, John founded and ran the globally recognized Knight & Carver Yachtcenter, a company that designed, engineered and built over 100 one-off custom yachts and oceangoing vessels ranging in size from 40'-120', all from the ground up. The company's repair division was the largest on the west coast of the Americas, where they serviced over 40,000 marine craft up to 400' in length. John is a serial innovator who is always looking for ways to improve efficiency; in doing so, he designed and engineered some of the most legendary and unique boats to sail the seas. 

The yacht company spun-off to a wind energy division that manufactured and repaired turbine blades for GE, Florida Power & Light, Mitsubishi, Northern Power, and other industry leaders. The wind company grew to nearly 400 employees and was one of the largest manufacturers of wind blades in the world; developing innovative construction techniques and culminating in the design and development of the U.S. Dept. of Energy Top 10 award winning STAR Blade®.

Jonathan Knight

Co-Founder / CEO

A modern day entrepreneur that blends technology with business in creative ways, Jonathan is the architect behind the now patented Dancing with the Wind feature of the Mobile Power Station and has played an integral role in every facet of the wind turbine development and business creation.

As General Manager of Knight & Carver Yachtcenter and Knight & Carver Wind Group, Jonathan amassed years of experience in utility scale wind energy, engaged high-profile clients, managed hundreds of employees and implemented numerous successful business systems.

After exiting Knight & Carver and before launching Uprise, Jonathan was a consultant and expert witness on a variety of engineering, maritime, and renewable energy projects for clients ranging from Audi of America to Gordon & Rees LLP.

Nick Amodio

Chief Financial Officer

A seasoned financial professional, Nick has served as CPA for Arthur Andersen, and CFO for category leaders, Rip Curl, and Ektelon, among others.

Nick is an expert with flex budgets and cost accounting. He has a track record of restructuring medium to large sized manufacturing companies in ways that improve efficiency and maximize profitability.

Specialties: Budgeting & Analysis, Internal Controls, Cash Management, Financial & Info Systems, Strategic Planning, Business Process Improvement, GAAP, Manufacturing, Cost Accounting, Cost Containment, Supplier Negotiations, Benefits and Insurance.

Pete Traphagen

Systems Engineer

Traphagen Engineering has designed and built custom machinery for the marine, manufacturing, agriculture, defense and mining industries. In the early 1990's, Pete began providing digital electronic machine controls, including PLC, PC, and related control system technologies. Prior to forming his company, Pete was involved in the offshore oil exploration industry where he innovated a number of advances in seismic sound source technology. Pete has solved numerous operational and manufacturing challenges for many companies, including General Atomics, Solar Turbines, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, NASSCO, and LMI Aerospace, to name a few.

For the Uprise Energy project, Pete is applying his broad Engineering skill set towards Mechanical, Structural, Electrical, Software, and general systems engineering.

brian austin

Mechanical Engineering

With over 20 years of engineering experience, Brian earned his Bachelor's and Master's degrees from San Diego State University, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in California and Washington.

He worked at Pratt Whitney as a Mechanical Engineer performing heat transfer & structural analysis, and aerospace structural & gas turbine engine design for commercial aircraft. He then transitioned to project management for F/A-18 fighter aircraft at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, CA.

For Uprise Energy, Brian is spearheading the mechanical design and manufacturing engineering needs, aligning with his beliefs in renewable energy.

christopher nordstrom

Operations Manager

An experienced project manager, analyst, and self-described technophile, Christopher brings a unique perspective to everything he does. His areas of expertise include large scale customer service management, logistics control, internal process management, vendor relations, and the implementation of custom software solutions. He also has a SAS Base 9 certification, and has completed the 11-part Microsoft University Data Science program.

At Uprise Energy, Christopher approaches the operational challenges that growing companies face with the perspective of an analyst. He has developed processes and custom software for managing inventory and logistics, making it scalable for large volume manufacturing.