After a short but intense career doing community outreach in Chicago Stephen retired to the relatively tranquil life of an entrepreneur.  In 1998, Stephen founded a Philadelphia-based energy consulting and services company, Customized Energy Solutions, where he is focused on helping companies generate and sell cleaner, cheaper, and more reliable electricity to consumers.  In 1999, Stephen started working with the Energy Cooperative Association of Pennsylvania and was attracted by the co-operative model of joint action to enable new products and services be brought to market.  He has been pleased to see the Energy Coop pioneer bio-heat for home heating oil, founding of PACA, local biodiesel for fleet vehicles, the first solar member buy-back program, the most recently the first renewable natural gas program. The Energy Coop’s ability to its purchasing power to allow individuals to express their preferences for new products and services to its members who otherwise might be under-served by other suppliers continues to motivate me to be involved with the Energy Coop.  By God’s grace Stephen has also managed to raise three wonderful children with his wife, Rochelle, in the Philadelphia region.