Our Team

Founders



Rob Cotter, Founder and CEO
Rob started out in California working on Porsche and BMW race cars. Not far away, Dr. Paul MacCready built the Gossamer Condor, a pedal powered aircraft. Rob become fascinated with the technology and built a 60 mph pedal powered trike. Highway speeds at fractional horsepower became an obsession. Rob became VP of the International Human Powered Vehicle Association and directed the first solar car race in the US. With support from GE and DuPont to develop composite and thermoforming technologies, Rob built or contributed to numerous innovative vehicles. He also served as an advisor to Gov. Jerry Brown, a Creative Director and a documentary producer. He worked with Anita Roddick, CEO of The Body Shop launching environmental and human rights campaigns. After consulting on Bike Sharing technology for NYC, it became apparent there was now a viable market for an ultra-efficient vehicle that was between a bicycle and a car. That was the beginning of the ELF.


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C. Michael Lewis, Co-founder and Designer
C. Michael Lewis is a freelance illustrator, designer and painter in Portland, ME with backgrounds in architecture, planning, engineering, and advertising. While architectural renderings have been the mainstay of his career, he has drawn, painted or modeled everything from lobsters and lighthouses to nanobots and spaceships. His involvement with alternative transportation led him to design, build and race Electrathon vehicles, and he currently holds the national record for these one-horsepower battery electric streamliners – 62 miles in one hour, or the equivalent of 2370 mpg.


Management Team



Dr. Apoorv Agarwal, General Manager
Dr. Apoorv Agarwal, our General Manager is passionate about sustainable mobility. Prior to joining Organic Transit, Apoorv spent 16 years at Ford Motor Company, leading several advanced technology development projects in the Research & Advanced Engineering organization as well as developing growth strategy for the next generation of Ford’s full hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles. One of his key accomplishments was creating Ford’s Global Technology Development System. Apoorv was also certified as a Six Sigma Black Belt at Ford. Apoorv is a Mechanical Engineer by training and holds a Bachelor of Technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi where he graduated at the top of his class, MS and PhD degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Michigan, respectively. In 2012, he earned an MBA degree from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. In his spare time, Apoorv serves on the Board of Directors of a premier child rights organization, Child Rights & You America, enjoys reading and long distance running.


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Tom Glass, Service Manager
Tom Glass is the “mechanically-inclined” Service Manager at Organic Transit. In a recent survey, our customers credited Tom with doing a great job keeping their vehicles roadworthy with parts, info, and warranty-processing. A mechanic, vintage motorcycle enthusiast, and self-proclaimed tinkerer, Tom is happiest experimenting and developing new products. In 2013, he was brought in to lead production of the ELF. Tom plays a lead role in the developing OT’s prototype vehicles and is constantly working to further improve the product.



Desmond Mullen, ELF Product Manager
In addition to managing the look, feel and performance of Organic Transit’s flagship ELF model, Desmond is also the Process Manager, developing the processes, methods and standards necessary to move OT into mass production. After 25 years in technology, project management and software development including two successful Silicon Valley startups (Rocket Science Games and WebTV Networks) and George Lucas’s Industrial Light & Magic, he is happy to finally incorporate his interests in mechanical engineering, tiny cars, and ultra-efficiency into another successful startup.



Dr. Maria Falbo, Efficiency & Partnership Manager
Maria Falbo, PhD, has over 15 years experience in academia as a physics professor, researcher, mentor and grant-writer, as well as more than five years of bicycle industry experience. Most recently she was the web merchant for Performance Bicycle. Prior to that, she managed an independent local bike shop. A long time bike commuter and randonneuse, Maria’s longest ride to date has been 600k in 36 hours. Growing up in West Virginia contributed to her keen awareness of the environmental and social costs of ever-increasing fossil fuel demands. Consequently, conservation of energy is not just a law of physics for Maria, it is a moral guidepost. The Organic Transit vision, environmental prosperity for all, drives her interest and role at Organic Transit. Using her unique combination of knowledge and practical experience, Dr. Falbo collaborates with production, manufacturing, marketing, service and sales to provide analysis-based operational support in each of these areas to all our partners, from government agencies to retail locations.



Leslie Anne Wilcox, Financial Controller
Leslie oversees and manages day-to-day Accounting Operations and Human Resources at OT. Her experience encompasses over 25 years in accounting, human resources, and corporate administration. Prior to joining OT, Leslie held accounting positions in academia, medical R&D, and Fortune 500 manufacturing companies. She has served as Treasurer and Vice President of a number of non-profit organizations and has done extensive volunteer work with public school and municipally-backed children’s theater, choral, and gymnastics organizations. For Leslie, Organic Transit is an ideal blend, building the future of sustainable transportation while having a renewable and positive impact on the world today. Leslie, her husband of 25 years, and their two daughters reside in Hillsborough, NC. She credits Paige, her eldest daughter, who was an intern for Organic Transit, as responsible for getting “Mommy a real job!”


Board of Directors



John Warasila
John Warasila is the founding Principal of Alliance Architecture and he established the firm in 1995. John has over 20 years of extensive experience in interior architecture. His technical expertise combined with his strong background, has enabled him to be extremely effective in developing design concepts that respect strict budget and scheduling requirements. On a day to day basis, John directs the efforts of small and large scale projects, leads design teams and works closely with clients.



Scot Wingo
CEO of ChannelAdvisor, Scot Wingo leads the company in its mission to provide retailers and branded manufacturers with the software and services needed to successfully sell their products via online sales channels. In tandem with his work at ChannelAdvisor, Scot is an industry thought leader, contributing regularly to several ChannelAdvisor blogs and speaking often at industry events. Scot received a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering from the University of South Carolina and a Master of Computer Engineering degree from North Carolina State University. Scot has received numerous awards including Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and Triangle Business Journal’s Businessperson of the Year.



Markus Wilhelm
Markus Wilhelm has more than 25 years of experience in the media industry, primarily with Bertelsmann AG and Time Warner. He was a long-serving CEO for publishing and direct marketing firms including Bookspan and Doubleday Direct and during his tenure Wilhelm oversaw an international staff of thousands with annual revenues in the billions of dollars. Markus moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina to retire after 25 years of service in the media industry. The retirement was short-lived and Markus and his wife Cathy began a green construction business – luxury homes with exemplary environmental credentials. This passion evolved into a focus purely on solar energy which led to the formation of Strata Solar in January 2009. Four years later, Strata Solar has grown to be one of the leading solar energy developers and solar engineering, procurement and construction companies in United States with over 300 MW commissioned and over a gigawatt of solar projects in the pipeline across 6 states. Strata Solar is a turn-key solar provider, offering project development, engineering, procurement, construction, financing, as well as operations and management solutions for utility-scale solar generation.

Wilhelm currently serves as a board member of Guthy-Renker, the Executive Chairman of Paramount Equity, a member of the Energy Policy Council of North Carolina, a member of the Advisory Board at the UNC School of Public Health, and a board member of DMEF. He earned his Diplom-Kaufmannm (MBA) at University of Passau, Germany.


Advisory Board



Dr. Barry Zalph
Barry Zalph, PhD, PE, has served as an engineer, researcher, educator, policy analyst, advocate, and consultant in industry, local government, academia, and civic and religious organizations. His works to foster energy and resource conservation, sustainable transportation, and organizations that respect and serve all stakeholders. He holds BSE and MS degrees in mechanical engineering and materials science from Duke University, and a PhD in wood mechanics and timber engineering from Virginia Tech. A life-long transportation and recreational bicyclist, Barry has ridden over 150,000 miles including solo trips of over 1000 miles and year-round commuting in several US cities. He lives in Louisville, KY, where he founded Bicycling for Louisville, an advocacy and education organization, in 2004. He is excited to join Organic Transit’s team to create safe, healthy, fossil fuel-free vehicles using technical innovation and local manufacturing.



Dr. Bill Chameides
Dr. Bill Chameides has combined more than 30 years in academia as a professor, researcher, teacher, and mentor with a 3-year stint in the NGO world as the chief scientist of the Environmental Defense Fund. He joined Duke as the Dean of the Nicholas School of the Environment in 2007. Bill’s research focuses on the atmospheric sciences, elucidating the causes of and remedies for global, regional, and urban environmental change and identifying pathways towards a more sustainable future. Specifically his research helped lay the groundwork for our understanding of the photochemistry of the lower atmosphere, elucidated the importance of nitrogen oxides emission controls in the mitigation of urban and regional photochemical smog, and the impact of regional environmental change on global food production. Bill has served on numerous national and international committees and task forces and in recognition was named a National Associate of the National Academies for “extraordinary service.” In November, 2008, Bill was appointed the Vice Chair of the Committee on America’s Climate Choices https://americasclimatechoices.org/, commissioned by Congress to develop a multi-decadal roadmap for America’s response to climate change.



Doug Davis
Doug Davis is the founder of Tumbl Trak, a gymnastics training equipment company with headquarters in Michigan, and offices in WA and the UK. His interest in Organic Transit stems from two of his long-held passions—bicycling and human powered vehicles. He completed the one-day Seattle to Portland ride in 2002 and 2010, and has been following developments in hybrid (human/electric) vehicles for years. He is currently working to develop an app that will display heart rate and other metrics for those interested in combining fitness data with energy conservation, such as potential ELF owners. He lives in Port Townsend, WA; part of a region with lots of interest in both fitness and conservation of energy.



Gabe Klein
Gabe Klein has over 20 years of private and public sector experience in cities and transportation. He grew up in the cycling industry and ran operations for the largest bike retailer in the U.S. in the late 90’s. Gabe also was an early executive at Zipcar helping to model city operations and marketing, and scale the company from less than 100 cars to the largest carsharing company worldwide. Gabe served as head of transportation in Washington D.C. and in Chicago. He launched the first and most successful bikesharing systems in the U.S. Gabe is back in the private sector and is a Special Venture Partner at Fontinalis Partners, and advises a number of next-generation mobility companies including Organic Transit.