Team Bios

The founder of Citizens Energy Corporation, Joseph P. Kennedy II has served as Chairman and President of the company since 1998 following 12 years of service representing the 8th Congressional District of Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Kennedy founded the non-profit company in 1979 to provide low-cost heating oil to the poor and elderly. Under his leadership, Citizens grew to encompass seven separate companies, including the largest energy conservation firm in the U.S. During his tenure, Citizens became one of the nation's first energy firms to move large volumes of natural gas to over 30 states. As a precursor to market changes under electricity deregulation in the late 1990s, Citizens was a pioneer in moving and marketing electrical power over the grid. More recently, Citizens has expanded its oil heat program to serve customers in 23 states and the District of Columbia, launched innovative health care initiatives to make prescription drugs and medical care more affordable, and pursued renewable energy projects involving wind and solar generation. In addition, Kennedy started a pioneering company that develops high-voltage transmission lines and uses revenues from the ventures to provide renewable energy systems to the poor. Each commercial venture is aimed at generating revenues that in turn would be used to assist the poor and those in need in the United States and abroad.

During his 12 years on Capitol Hill, Kennedy devised creative and innovative approaches to addressing social needs, particularly in the ways that the private sector, rather than government agencies, could help communities achieve economic growth and prosperity. Kennedy's many initiatives included legislation that:

• Expanded the availability of credit to working Americans to buy homes and open businesses. Fair lending reforms introduced by Kennedy have allowed hundreds of thousands of families to obtain mortgages.
• Helped create hundreds of thousands of new affordable housing units nationwide by introducing tax credits to stimulate private investment in neighborhood housing developments.
• Proposed a balanced budget amendment as a vehicle to end skyrocketing deficits, bring down interest rates, and free up investment capital for business growth rather than government bonds.
• Overhauled federal public housing law for the first time in 60 years, giving local housing authorities the tools they need to raise standards while protecting the poorest Americans who depend on public housing for shelter.
• Preserved and expanded federal research and development accounts that stimulate the creation of new technologies and build the foundation for new jobs and business growth.

Throughout his career in Congress, Kennedy served on the House Banking Committee, where he played an active role in the federal savings and loan bailout, credit reporting reform, Glass-Steagall overhaul, and financial modernization. Kennedy also served on the House Veterans Affairs Committee, passing legislation to strengthen the veterans health care system, investigate the causes of Persian Gulf Syndrome, and provide medical treatment for veterans of the first Persian Gulf War. In addition to his role as Chairman and President of Citizens Energy, Kennedy advises and serves on the boards of several companies in the energy, telecommunications, and health care industries. The son of the late U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, Joe Kennedy is married to Beth Kelly Kennedy and is the father of twin sons. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.

Ernie Panos joined Citizens Energy in 2010 as the Chief Financial Officer. He is responsible for the corporate finance, administration and investment management for the corporation, its subsidiaries and affiliates. Mr. Panos has over 20 years of experience in financial services.

Prior to joining Citizens Energy, Mr. Panos was a Managing Director at several financial services firms, including Hercules Technology Growth Capital, HighPoint Capital Management and NewStar Financial, focused on providing debt solutions to growing companies and private equity groups in the lower middle market. Mr. Panos’ responsibilities included transaction origination, due diligence, and the negotiation and structuring of financing agreements. Previously, Mr. Panos spent four years with Bariston Partners, a private equity firm in Boston, where he founded and led the firm’s healthcare services group and worked on a number of management-led buyouts in the healthcare, media and communications, and business service industries. Prior to Bariston, Mr. Panos worked at Wachovia Securities, A.G. Edwards & Sons, J.P. Morgan Securities and Salomon Brothers in capital markets and M&A capacities, completing transactions that totaled approximately $7.0 billion.

Mr. Panos earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a BS in finance, investments and economics from Babson College. He and his wife Marie are the parents of two daughters.

Brian Morrissey is Managing Director of Citizens Solar, a division of Citizens Energy Corporation. He founded Citizens’ solar business in 2010 and is responsible for all solar-related activities, including project origination, development, construction management, financing, and asset management. Citizens Energy is a national developer and owner / operator of distributed generation and small utility-scale solar projects. Citizens Solar finances all of its projects with typical project finance structures and provides all sponsor equity for each portfolio.

Prior to joining Citizens Energy, Mr. Morrissey was on the Global Power team at Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a leading energy consulting and research firm to international energy companies, governments, financial institutions, and technology providers. Prior to his work at CERA, Mr. Morrissey worked in GE Energy's central marketing and strategy group, and was an officer in the U.S. Army.

Mr. Morrissey received a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the U.S. Military Academy and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Mr. Morrissey is a combat veteran and a registered Project Management Professional.

The former Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dr. Evelyn Murphy is President of The WAGE Project, Inc., a national organization to end wage discrimination against working women, and Resident Scholar in the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University. In October 2005, she authored a book on women’s wages entitled Getting Even: Why Women Don’t Get Paid Like Men and What To Do About It, published by Simon & Schuster. Dr. Murphy is a corporate director of SBLI USA Mutual Life Insurance Company and serves as a founding director of The Commonwealth Institute, a trustee of Regis College, Honorary Chair of the Lost Coin Women’s Fund, Inc., a director of The Polaris Project, and a visitor of Boston University’s School of Public Health. Dr. Murphy was the founding President of the Healthcare and Policy Institute, a non-profit charitable affiliate of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts dedicated to expanding health care for underserved women, families of color, children, and seniors. From 1993 to 1996, she served as Executive Vice President of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, directing corporate relations with state government, Congress, and the media.

When elected in 1986, Dr. Murphy was the first woman in the state's 220-year history to hold constitutional office. Prior to her election, she served in the Governor's Cabinet as Secretary of Environmental Affairs, responsible for all environmental policies and line management of 5,000 public employees. She later served as Secretary of Economic Affairs, directing 3,000 employees and initiating innovative programs in corporate child care and development of the biotechnology, marine sciences, polymers, photovoltaic and microelectronic industries. Murphy holds a B.A. from Duke University in mathematics, an M.A. from Columbia University in economics, and a Ph.D. from Duke University in economics.

Randy Greene is the President and Founder of RBM Systems, Inc. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the company designs and implements sales process and merchandising strategies for financial institutions. RBM Technologies, an off-shoot of the firm, has been created to provide a sophisticated process management tool to help companies streamline the ongoing merchandising process, implement better market segmentation, and increase store sales success. Its web application, RBM FrontLine™, has been customized and scaled for retail banks, wireless retailers and apparel retailers in thousands of retail locations and serves as a one-stop system for all in-store marketing and merchandising materials.