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Leadership and Partners

A Diverse Network of Experienced Professionals

With a network of solar pioneers, investors, financiers, energy attorneys, developers, engineers, and business professionals, IMC Solar is creating opportunities for companies to: 

  • Implement solar power to improve their energy independence
  • Improve their bottom line
  • Promote Solar Energy as a vital part of America’s energy mix

IMC Solar Leadership Team

RICK FRIO
Managing Partner, IMC Energy, LLC and Frio Capital Group, LLC

Rick is a serial entrepreneur in logistics, technology and energy and is managing partner of Frio Capital Group. Co-founder of BestTransport.com, the leading SAAS TMS conducting $2 billion in freight transactions, Rick served as CEO, President and board director.

Founder of MPR Transloading and Energy Services, Rick served as Chairman as MPR built the largest automated flat storage frac sand terminal in the Utica Shale region

Rick is a graduate of Wheeling Jesuit College and a speaker at various industry conferences and is active in many charities in the Wheeling, WV area.

Jennifer Hull
VP, Project Management and Corporate Secretary at IMC Energy, LLC

Jennifer has extensive experience in marketing, sales, transportation, and solar design and development. Prior to joining IMC, Jennifer was a Marketing Manager for a nation-wide recruiting agency where she designed and executed all marketing campaigns for the company. Jennifer earned a B.S. in Sport & Exercise Psychology with Minors in Sociology and Communications from West Virginia University in 2018.

Vince Ciroli
Managing Partner at IMC Energy, LLC

Vince was Co-Founder, Director, CEO, and President at BestTransport.com.  He was also President & CEO at Belmont Bancorp and Belmont National Bank as well as senior positions at national banks in North Carolina and Tennessee.
He was also a commissioned National Bank Examiner thru the US Treasury-Comptroller of the Currency.
He has a BBA in Economics from Eastern Kentucky University

Charles (Chuck) Zelek, Ph.D.

Charles (Chuck) Zelek, Ph.D., is a founding partner at Climate Smart Environmental Consulting LLC, and principal at Zelek Consulting LLC.  In these roles, Chuck provides expert perspectives to clients on technologies and policies in both the energy and agricultural sectors as they relate to climate change and economic development, particularly in the area of carbon credits.  This perspective is based on an over 20-year federal government career, including senior positions at both the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). 

At DOE, Chuck occupied positions including director of the Economic Benefits Division at the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Pittsburgh PA, and Senior Economist and Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary in the Office of Fossil Energy (FE) in Washington DC. 

In his role at NETL, Chuck led a group that developed and deployed expert modeling and forecasting capability to support policy and technology development.  Chuck led the development of the representation of Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS) in the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) that is currently used by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to produce the Annual Energy Outlook (AEO).  Chuck also led the development of the first-ever water-energy-economy modeling capability in NEMS, which integrated water availability concerns into NEMS energy portfolio projections.

In Chuck’s role as Senior Economist and Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary at FE, he served as the principal point of contact for economic development in Appalachia as related to coal, oil and gas, and petrochemicals.  In this role, Chuck routinely participated in speaking engagements and facilitated meetings with federal, state, and local government officials, as well as industry stakeholders, relating to economic development resulting from energy sector development and expansion opportunities. 

Chuck additionally worked with numerous agencies and offices across both DOE and USDA to conceive, operationalize, and co-lead a Cabinet-level agreement between DOE and USDA to align operational and programmatic resources in an effort to identify and deploy energy technologies in rural America in order to improve the economic prosperity and enhance environmental well being.  In this role, Chuck routinely worked with high-level leadership across departments and conducted outreach on the effort, briefing external stakeholders including the US Congress.         

Prior to DOE, Chuck was a senior economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington DC, focusing on energy and climate change-related USDA programs and policies. While at USDA, Chuck helped support the Energy and Conservation Titles of the 2008 Farm Bill, sections of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, as well as supporting the development and leading implementation of numerous conservation programs.  At the beginning of his civil service career, Chuck was USDA’s state economist for Indiana.

Chuck earned his doctorate in Agricultural and Applied Economics from Purdue University as well as a Master of Science in Resource Economics from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a. minor in business from Ohio University.  Chuck has taught at numerous institutions of higher education and published in numerous professional outlets.

Chuck is also a veteran, having served in the US Army.  He lives in northern West Virginia with his wife and two small children.