Dario Rajkovic - Director of Advisory Services
Mr. Rajkovic is responsible for managing the technical due diligence consultancy at Sigma. In this capacity, Mr. Rajkovic provides and manages a wide variety of consulting services for transactions including construction financing, leases, project development and planning, mergers & acquisitions, tax equity participation and other privatization initiatives related to power generation, renewables and waste to energy facilities. While at Sigma, Mr. Rajkovic has provided consulting services on the buy, sell and development side for over 50,000 MW of fossil generation assets and over 20,000 MW of wind assets. Mr. Rajkovic has over 28 years of multi-disciplinary experience in engineering with 22 years of experience in the Power Industry. Prior to joining Sigma, Mr. Rajkovic was with a major Original Equipment Manufacturer, ABB (Now Alstom) involved in the design, construction and commissioning of major plant equipment such as gas turbines, steam turbines and steam generators. Prior to his tenure in the Power Industry, Mr. Rajkovic was involved in the design and development of military aircraft for a major aircraft manufacturer with specific emphasis on aerodynamic and computational fluid dynamics as well as aircraft guidance and control. He earned Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, both from the Poytechnic Institute of New York University.
Richard A. Realmuto - Senior Advisor
Mr. Realmuto is principal investigator for numerous commercial and utility solar power projects and/or provides specialty support to other principal investigators for electrical systems design review. Rich has over 20 years experience in operations, management, analysis, design, construction, commissioning and start-up of electrical power generation facilities, with wide-ranging knowledge in electrical power generation, distribution, control and instrumentation systems. He has direct experience with combustion turbine, combined cycle, central heating and cooling, waste water treatment, mission critical, recycling, waste to energy, solar and wind turbine facilities. In prior roles, he has served as Regional Manager of a company specializing in testing, commissioning and maintenance of electrical power systems; Plant Manager for 40 MW combined cycle cogeneration plant in Coney Island, NY; and a Project Engineer for a utility company, responsible for the coordination of the electric and gas systems interconnection of non-utility generation projects. Mr. Realmuto earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering from Polytechnic Institute of New York University, as well as a Master of Science in Environmental Technology, New York Institute of Technology.
John Sasso - CEM, Senior Advisor
As part of the Advisory Services Group, John Sasso provides a wide range of owners engineering services and asset optimization services to the power industry. John has been in the power generation business for 20 years as a developer, asset manager and plant manager of various gas turbine facilities in New York. He is skilled in performing financial and technical analyses, budgeting, negotiating contracts, plant commissioning, plant performance testing and developing high performance teams. Mr. Sasso has a strong track record of increasing profitability and reliability with innovative, cost effective solutions at various gas turbine combined cycle generation facilities which he managed. He served as Chairman of the Eastern Turbine User Group from 1995 to 2003. In addition, Mr. Sasso served as the Assistant Director of Utilities at Stony Brook University, managing the campus electric, chilled water, hot water and natural gas campus distribution systems. John Sasso earned his Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering from The Cooper Union School of Engineering and a Masters in Business Administration from Long Island University, C.W. Post Campus. Mr. Sasso is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and Certified Demand Side Manager (CSDM).
Dennis S. Shikar - Senior Advisor
Mr. Shikar, a senior consultant in the Advisory Services Group, is responsible for the sourcing, management and execution of due diligence assignments for equity investors and lenders in the electric power industry. He has over 40 years of experience in the energy and electric power industries involving fossil, nuclear, renewable and advanced generating technologies. In addition to providing due diligence on acquisitions and refinancing of energy and power projects, he has provided owners engineering services for domestic and international power and energy projects. Prior to joining Sigma in 2005, Mr. Shikar was a project manager at Burns and Roe Enterprises where he was responsible for the execution of a broad range of energy projects including feasibility studies, economic analyses, system planning studies, independent engineering assessments, site selection studies, appraisals and valuation studies. Between 1982 and 1996, Mr. Shikar also served as Burns and Roe’s project manager/principal investigating on a broad range of technical and financial consultancy assignments associated with the government of Hong Kong’s monitoring of their domestic energy supply companies. Mr. Shikar earned a Bachelor of Engineering Degree from Cooper Union and Master of Science and Engineer’s Degrees from Polytechnic Institute of New York University.
John M. DaCosta – Director
Mr. DaCosta is a senior member of the Advisory Team at Sigma Energy Solutions with 30 years of experience in the energy and infrastructure sector as a principal investor in the power M&A sector and as a technical and transaction advisor. Mr. DaCosta spent more than four years in principal investing as a senior member of the Investment Team at Abatis Capital and AllCapital from 2006 to 2010 where he led the Origination function and sourced and screened greater than 350 investment opportunities. At Sigma Energy Solutions, he has served as Senior Director and Program Manager focusing on conventional power and renewable energy projects including wind and solar energy, as well as infrastructure, including water/wastewater and gas distribution systems. He has managed and performed advisory services on over 140 projects for structured financing or asset/corporate acquisitions in the U.S., Europe and South America. In prior roles, he has served as Regional Manager for two engineering practices from 1989 through 1993 and in multiple sales and marketing capacities. Mr. DaCosta earned Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University.