It’s not like Joseph Reibman needed a job. The longtime attorney from a prominent Lehigh Valley family had plenty keeping him busy–and accomplished. He was the first person in Pennsylvania to sell a non-utility power generation contract back to a utility (Met-Ed), which was associated with his work on building a municipal solid waste facility nearly two decades ago. Reibman is also a successful developer, which includes his work with Glendon Properties, a 35-acre industrial development just off I-78 that is nearly three-quarters sold.
But when Len Bellezza, a longtime retail executive and founder/CEO of Allentown’s Resource Energy Systems Technologies (REST), presented him with an opportunity to join the startup focused on providing energy efficiency solutions for industrial and commercial customers, Reibman jumped at the chance. With a history of negotiating power purchase agreements and an entrepreneurial curiosity, Reibman joined the team as CFO and general counsel.
“I like the idea of building something that has value and to try and solve issues that face industry,” Reibman says. “With REST, it’s to create energy efficiency and to make businesses more competitive and leaner.”
REST’s focus is on industrial motors–more than two billion of them consume 60 percent of all energy used nationally. The company’s Resource Energy Controller–also known as the juice box–is an innovative product that reduces energy consumption by 15-45 percent on AC induction motors under variable or slightly loaded conditions in the manufacturing, air conditioning, refrigeration and people conveyance (escalators, elevators) industries. REST has received support from Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania–including $150,000 in 2007 and space in its Bridgeworks incubator.
ON THE CLOCK: After initially serving primarily in a legal capacity, providing some general business guidance for several months, Reibman was asked to become a REST shareholder and CFO. Now he is mostly negotiating contracts and handling purchase obligations. He also has spent a lot of time reaching out to a number of companies throughout the region and beyond to acquaint them with REST’s work in an attempt to target the most appropriate industries. Reibman has also worked with Ben Franklin’s advisors in courting potential investor groups.
Recently, as part of a demonstration grant and contract with the New York State Energy Research Development Authority, REST did an installation at Grand Central Station that is reducing energy consumption used by the facility’s numerous escalators.
“Our potential is relatively unlimited,” says Reibman. “We’re trying to be sensitive to what other people’s costs are and their savings, and developing products and marketing them in ways that demonstrate substantial savings in operating expenses, particularly for those who continuously use motors.”
LIGHT ON THE DARK CONTINENT: Ever since he was a schoolboy, Reibman was fascinated with Africa. A friend of his, the former curator at Hawk Mountain in nearby Kempton, Jim Brett, has been organizing small, individualized trips to Africa for 25 years. Reibman has gone three times, once to Tanzania, another time to Botswana and once through South Africa.
Reibman’s last trip, to Tanzania in 2008, provided him with a great photo with an even better story. Driving in a Range Rover near dusk, Reibman noticed something “very green” on a tree limb in the distance, and he asked the guide to get closer. As they approached, the guide realized it was a green mamba–one of the deadliest tree snakes on the continent.
“If you get bit, your lifespan is one to three days,” says Reibman. Naturally, he wanted to get closer, because he didn’t have a flash attachment for his camera. Within about 10 feet of the snake, Reibman reached out from the top of the vehicle and snapped his photo of the great green mamba.
“It’s not as clear as I would have liked,” says Reibman, who serves on the board of Brett’s nonprofit, Pennsylvania Institute for Conservation Education. “They told me if I wanted to get out and get underneath the tree I could have, but they were leaving.”
MOVING FORWARD, DIALED IN: One thing Reibman found remarkable in Africa was that along with spears, some natives also carried cell phones. When he asked how they powered the mobile devices without any power lines near the village, Reibman learned that some rural Africans use solar power or hand cranks to juice up. That evolution is not unlike the one REST is hoping to contribute to in the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
Reibman is the son of pioneering politician Jeanette Reibman, the first woman elected to the PA state senate, and prominent local attorney Nathan Reibman. He has two brothers–Edward, a Lehigh County judge, and James, a former Lafayette College anthropology/sociology professor. Reibman’s perspective on the region is a special one considering the role he and his family played in shaping it.
Reibman thinks many of the changes–population shifts, expansion of higher education and transportation assets, more regionalism, and Bethlehem Steel’s exit–have ultimately created a swirl of opportunity that entrepreneurial visionaries can ride to success, creating a new economy that is not only efficient, but extremely profitable throughout the Lehigh Valley.
“The companies we help save money, the more likely they’d be to hire more people or expand their business,” says Reibman. “We’ve only been in existence a couple years and it’s only been recently where there’s been this strong awareness of energy efficiency, primarily due to the increasing cost of energy. We’re trying to capitalize on that and develop products we think make sense.”
Joe Petrucci is managing editor of Keystone Edge. Send feedback here.
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