About

Latonya Binford is the Senior Accountant at NextEnergy. Binford has years of experience in financial analysis. In the past, she served as a Budget Analyst at Wayne State University where she analyzed and created budgets for university-wide central revenue and expenditure sources. She also served as a Business Analyst at Compuware Corporation where she reported financial data used in European negotiations for a major automotive customer. Binford holds a Bachelors of Science in Business Administration in Accounting from Central Michigan University and she is currently pursuing an MBA from the University of Detroit Mercy. She is also a member of the American Institute of Professional Bookkeepers.

Jamie Leonard is a Research and Program Analyst at NextEnergy. In this role, he supports the organization’s projects through research, data analysis, and results tracking. To accomplish this, he draws on his experience with the Michigan Clean Cities coalition, where he previously worked with fleet managers around the state of Michigan to lower their greenhouse gas emissions. Leonard holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Michigan State University.

Alisha Kiovanni is the Executive assistant at NextEnergy. Kiovanni has years of experience as an administrative professional providing high level administrative support to managers and executives by determining their requirements along with executing tasks and projects within deadlines. Kiovanni also has vast experience in office management and project coordination while demonstrating proficient multitasking skills, exceptional communication and customer service acumen.

Kiovanni holds a certification in entrepreneurial business management, a culinary degree with a specialization in pastry arts, and was the proprietor of Alisha K’s Signature Cheesecake for over 10 years.

Lauren Mattar is a Technical Program Manager focusing on Mobility at Next Energy. In this role, she combines her passion for sustainability and relationship building with her engineering background and project management skills to help accelerate private-public partnerships to advance clean, smart, and accessible solutions in the mobility space.
Prior to joining NextEnergy, Lauren worked as a project manager for several years in both the transportation and building product sectors.
Lauren holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Ohio State University, a Master of Engineering Management from Penn State University, and a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification through the Project Management Institute.

Jim Saber is President & CEO at NextEnergy. Saber previously lead the business and technology development and demonstration activities to support commercialization and business growth of NextEnergy’s advanced energy clients and stakeholders. Saber’s experience includes the development of over $150 million in technology development and demonstration programs within e-Mobility, Smart Grid, Buildings and Infrastructure, MicroGrids, Energy Storage, Renewable Energy, and Alternative Fuels. He has lead NextEnergy’s work in establishing new technology development and demonstration platforms within next generation energy efficiency and transportation applications. Prior to joining NextEnergy, Saber spent more than a decade in the energy-storage industry, where he held product- and business-development positions with Fortune 500 and start-up companies. Jim holds a B. S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Lawrence Technological University.

William Siddall is Chief Operating Officer at NextEnergy. Siddall has over 27 years of business development, program management and engineering experience in the automotive and defense industries. Siddall has most recently led electric vehicle product strategy & planning management at Electric Last Mile Solutions (ELMS). He was also the director of business development and program management for Mahindra Automotive North America, where he led the company’s United States Postal Service Next Generation Delivery Vehicle effort. Siddall was a founding member and vice president of business development, program management and sales for TM3 Systems, a startup company developing microgrids for the U.S Department of Defense. Siddall is an alumni of NextEnergy as director of mobile power development programs. Siddall has experience with fuel cell technology as director, business development and sales for Adaptive Materials Inc. He also held various roles at Ford Motor Company in the areas of manufacturing, vehicle development, engineering and program management. William holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s in Business Administration both from the University of Michigan. He is also a veteran of the United States Navy.