Team
Innovation - SALES - MARKETIng
HEIDI ADAMS
FOUNDER & CEO
Heidi Adams brings 20 years of multidisciplinary design experience, spanning product design, film, urban infrastructure and interior design, showcasing her proficiency in user-centered design. Her ability to repeatedly deliver on projects globally stems from her expertise in building cohesive teams, creating a holistic vision, and empowering her team to maximize their strengths.
Heidi’s deep understanding of project execution, fabrication, and leadership is reflected in her successes, including being a finalist in the ‘LA Lights the Way’ street lighting competition, which underscores her capacity to guide BASEstud.io toward innovative street lighting solutions that balance design, sustainability, and functionality.
PATRICIA BUSH-MCMANUS
COO
Patricia Bush-McManus has generated $40M in revenue, $3.5M in grants, and grew a sales team from $10M to $25M in three years. She has 30 years of operational leadership experience in building high-performing teams and fostering strategic partnerships across government, industries and academic institutions.
Her expertise in managing complex processes and large-scale relationships (as seen with her work managing over 500 partnerships at Drexel University) provides a foundation of operational excellence. Patricia’s background is essential for overseeing logistics, resource management.
Kathleen Harvatt
CMO.
Kathy Harvatt has 40 years of experience in marketing, communications, and government relations. She has managed multi-million-dollar Department of Defense and Department of Energy contracts for hardware and software.
Kathy rounds out the team by ensuring that the messaging around BASEstud.io’s innovation reaches the right audiences, whether it’s municipalities, universities, or potential investors. Her background proposals for technical government contracts highlights her capability to communicate complex technology solutions and market them effectively.
HEIDI ADAMS
FOUNDER CEO & CCO
A graduate of Rhode Island School of Design, Ms. Adams brings more than 25 years’ experience as a multi-platform designer, recognized for her innovative lighting solutions as a finalist in the LA Lights the Way street lighting competition. She also led the winning design team for the City of West Hollywood Digital Offsite Signage Program.
PATRICIA BUSH-MCMANUS
CCO
Having spent some four decades in executive leadership positions, Ms. Bush-McManus has built a solid track record around creating and managing high-performing teams and value-added relationships with government agencies, academic institutions, corporations, and community organizations. Patricia holds three degrees from The George Washington University.
Kathleen Harvatt
CMO.
Ms. Harvatt has more than 40 years’ experience in marketing and communications, with an extensive background in government relations. As
a longtime consultant to the Mayor of Baltimore, MD, she developed and oversaw award-winning community programs and successful social marketing campaigns
Kathleen Harvatt
CMO.
Ms. Harvatt has more than 40 years’ experience in marketing and communications, with an extensive background in government relations. As a longtime consultant to the Mayor of Baltimore, MD, she developed and oversaw award-winning community programs and successful social marketing campaigns
Board Of Advisers
John Byrne, PHD
Professor of Climate Policy
- Distinguished Professor of Energy and Climate Policy
- Director of the Center of Energy and Climate Policy
- Contributor to the United Nations IPCC Panel
- Architect of the Sustainable Energy Utility (SEU) Model
- Committee Chairperson of World Council for Renewable Energy
OLATUNJI OBOI REED
Community Leader
- Distinguished Professor of Energy and Climate Policy
- President & CEO, The Equiticity Racial Movement
- Chairman & CEO of Equiticity Ventures
- White House Champion of Change, 2015
- Civic Equity Champion COMTO, 2022
Rick Kauffman, IES
Mechanical Engineer
- 40+ years as a product designer in roadway and industrial lighting
- Chaired the IES Light Control and Luminaire Committee
- US DOE, Solid-State Street Lighting Consortium Executive Committee
- Contributed to and received more than two dozen product patents
Lauren Dandridge, IES
Lighting Designer
- Principle at Chromatic, an equity-based lighting studio
- Adjunct Associate Professor at USC School of Architecture
- Co-Founder of LightPrivilege.org, researching how poor lighting quality is creating and perpetuating racism.
JOHN BYRNE, PH.D
Distinguished Professor of Energy and Climate Policy
Director of the Center of Energy and Environmental Policy
Contributor to the United Nations IPCC Panel
Committee Chairperson of World Council for Renewable Energy
OLATUNJI OBOI REED
President & CEO, The Equiticity Racial Movement
Chairman & CEO of Equiticity Ventures
White House Champion of Change, 2015
2022 Civic Equity Champion, COMTO
Rick Kauffman, IES
40+ years as product designer in roadway and industrial lighting
Mechanical Engineer
Contributed to and received more than two dozen product patents
Chaired the IES Light Control and Luminaire Design Committee, as well as the IES task group.
Lauren Dandridge, IES
Principle at Chromatic, an equity based lighting studio
Adjunct Associate Professor at USC School of Architecture
Co-Founder of LightPrivilege.org, researching how poor lighting quality is creating and perpetuating racism
RICK KAUFFMAN CONSULTING, LLC
Mr. Kauffman has spent more than 30 years working in the lighting industry, helping municipalities and utilities design and navigate LED street lighting pilots. He chairs the IES Light Control and Luminaire Design Committee, as well as the IES task group that prepared Roadway Lighting Standard, RP-8-18.
JOHN BYRNE
President, Foundation for Renewable Energy & Environment
Director & Distinguished Professor of Energy & Climate Policy, Center for Energy & Environmental Policy University of Delaware.
Visiting Scholar, Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies.
Olatunji Oboi Reed
President & CEO, The Equiticity Racial Equity Movement
Chairman & CEO, Equiticity Ventures
Oboi is the 2015 White House Transportation Champion of Change,The White House and The United States Department of Transportation and he is the 2022 Civic Equity Champion, COMTO.
Nick Albert, IES, Affiliated AIA
Nick Albert is a founding Principal of Chromatic, an equity based lighting studio and research lab located in Los Angeles. He is a twenty-year veteran of the lighting, architecture and construction industries with a portfolio of hundreds of built works across the globe with awards in both the US and International Lighting communities.