Mr. McDonald has successfully built businesses in the cleantech, energy efficiency and HVAC industries over the past 10 years. Prior to joining Surna Cultivation Technologies as its CEO, and CEA Industries as CEO and board of directors Chairman, he led sales and business development as Vice-President-Sales for Coolerado Corp., a manufacturer and marketer of innovative, energy-efficient air conditioning systems for commercial, government, and military use. He led the sales of the company, growing revenue from near zero to become an INC. 600 high-growth company award winner. Along with the company’s CEO, he was instrumental in securing growth equity funding from a cleantech investment fund. The company was later acquired by a large strategic competitor.

Most recently, Mr. McDonald was Vice-President-Sales and outside advisor for SunTech Drive LLC, a solar energy equipment supplier located in Boulder, Colorado. He is also the author of Cleantech Sell: The Essential Guide To Selling Resource Efficient Products In The B2B Market.

Prior to joining Coolerado, Mr. McDonald spent over ten years in the private equity and M&A industry where he was involved in numerous transactions in the technology, manufacturing, and power development industries. As a business development officer with private equity acquisitions groups, and later as founder and principal of a specialty M&A finance firm, he identified, financed or acquired numerous transactions with total enterprise value in excess of $200 million.

Mr. McDonald was previously a consultant to international banks with KMPG’s Financial Services Practice and served as a director for Keating Capital, Inc., a publicly-traded business development company that made investments in pre-IPO companies. He has served as a mentor for companies in the CleanTech Open and as a judge in the competition.

He is a U.S. Army veteran and former Cavalry officer in the 10th US Cavalry. He earned a B.S. degree in Engineering and Economics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.