Key Management Team - ESP Corporate

The ESP Management Team is comprised of individuals with strong, successful, industry-specific backgrounds.

This combined experience includes Business Development, Finance, and Management and Commercial/Residential Construction pertaining to Environmental impacts and Energy awareness with the focus to ensure healthy living environments.

Edward L. Torres, Chairman, President & CEO - ESP Corporate

Edward Torres was raised in Long Island, New York and lived for most of his life in Los Angeles before moving to Palm Springs, California in July 2001.

Mr. Torres has more than 25 years of business development experience as an Entrepreneur in several professional industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Development.

In 1996, he participated in the acquisition of Commercial Labor Management, Inc., a public entity, and arranged its reverse merger with Voyant, Inc. (formally Zeros & Ones, Inc.), a technology company currently traded on the bulletin board. During 1996, Mr. Torres participated in the formation of Joint Employers Group; a California based professional employer organization. Overseeing the company’s marketing and sales division, he was instrumental in increasing its revenue from $100,000 in 1995 to $65 million in 2001. In 2003, Mr. Torres arranged the sale of Joint Employers Group to ITEC, a publicly-traded company in the Human Resource industry.

Mr. Torres, through his company Pro-Active Business Services, founded Contempo Homes and was instrumental in obtaining 130.59 acres for the development of 421 homes in Palm Springs. All of the homes built by Contempo Homes, Inc. incorporate distinct architectural design, modern conveniences, and Green Technology, also known as ContempoGREEN and EcoModern. The combination of these various elements makes Contempo Homes unique and desirable.

Mr. Ed Torres sold his holdings in Contempo Homes, and in 2006 was appointed Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Environmental Service Professionals (ESP), founded in 2002, to become the first publicly-traded company in an emerging industry. As Chairman & CEO of ESP, Mr. Torres has led a team of experts in bringing ESP to its position as a widely-recognized and highly-credible organization in the Moisture Management Industry.

Mr. Torres continues to serve on several task forces and on a variety of building Industry and Moisture Management organizations. He currently sits on the Building Industry Association Board of Directors as President, President of the Palm Springs Economic Development Corporation and is a Member of the Task Force that established new development standards for the City of Palm Springs.

Lyle Watkins, COO & Senior Vice-President of Mergers and Acquisitions - ESP Corporate

Mr. Lyle Watkins, has been a Director, and Corporate Secretary of Environmental Service Professionals, Inc. since October 2006.  He has been the Chief Operating Officer of ESP since October 2006 and of each of it’s wholly owned subsidiaries (Environmental Safeguard Professionals, Inc., Porter Valley Software, Inc. and National Professional Services, Inc.) as they were acquired.

Mr. Watkins has an Applied Science Degree – Telecommunications, and received a Masters Degree in Business Administration in 1996.  He has served as Chief Financial Officer of Pacific Image Connect, Inc. in Thousand Oaks, California. He served as Director of Systems Engineering of Rhythms NetConnections, Inc. in Englewood, Colorado, and a Manager of Business Development for GTE International. 

As Manager of Business Development, he directed the operations of engineering and sales support for a strategic business unit with a sales support staff including engineers, market development managers, program and project managers, trainers, database analysts, contract administrators and field operations desk staff.  During his tenure, top line revenue of his strategic business unit increased 275% to $250 million, the department expanded from 22 personnel to 159 personnel, he managed assets and administered an $18 million annual expense budget, expenses were reduced by 15% and profitability increased  by $3 million. 

Mr. Watkins has also managed the review of cash flow and value statement analysis; developed and launched a fiber based metropolitan ATM service, and negotiated technology and exclusive marketing agreements with property developers in Canada, USA, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Mr. Watkins has developed joint ventures between telecommunications companies and property developers including design, implementation and service delivery of advanced CATV networks. He has performed market development and new business implementation valued in excess of $1 Billion throughout North America and Southeast Asia.

Gerry Berg, Chief Financial Officer - ESP Corporate

Mr. Berg has over 30 years of senior management experience working with private and public companies. His overall emphasis has been on Finance and Operations. Mr. Berg has served a number of public companies as their President, Chief Financial Officer or as a financial consultant. He has been responsible for manufacturing, inventory control, product procurement, and quality control departments. He has managed shareholder relations, financial reviews, budgeting, contract analysis, legal services and banking relationships, including investment banking. He has also served on the Board of Directors for a number of public companies.

As a financial consultant, Mr. Berg provides services to a wide variety of companies in a senior management capacity. Mr. Berg provides assistance to the President/CEO for developing and implementing the Company’s business plan and finance strategies with a major emphasis on operations management including cash flow management, budgeting, inventory & manufacturing control and overhead monitoring.     He also provides assistance in meeting all compliance requirements for public companies related to the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also coordinates with the Company’s independent Certified Public Accountants for the year-end audit and quarterly review of financial statements and assists with Corporate Operations and Administrative Management.

Mr. Berg began his career as a Certified Public Accountant with the firm of Deloitte & Touche (D&T).  He served as Audit Manager for the Buick Motor Division of General Motors Corporation as one of his primary assignments. During this tenure with D&T his specific responsibilities in addition to audit services included providing client services related to venture capital opportunities, SEC public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, development of strategic business plans, cash management, cost and budget controls, and tax planning.

Mr. Berg holds a Bachelors of Arts in Accounting from Walsh College where he graduated Cum Laude. Mr. Berg became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in the State of Michigan in 1979 and in the State of California in 1984.

Ginny Foat, Director of Governmental Relations - ESP Corporate

Ms. Foat has been active in political and governmental issues for many years.  Prior to joining ESP Ms. Foat  was a partner in two governmental affairs and political consulting firms where she worked on numerous local, state and national campaigns as well as legislation and initiative advocacy.  She has served as a consultant to non-profit organizations on issue related to government advocacy. She has extensive experience in organizational development as well as serving on numerous local and national Boards of Directors.   Her other employment has included National Director of Regional Field Services for the YWCA of the USA;  General Partner in GBG Palm Springs Inc., a property management corporation; Executive Director of Caring for Children and Families with AIDS; and President of American Task Force on the Homeless.  Since her first election in 2003, Ms. Foat has served on the Palm Springs City Council and is currently the Mayor Pro Tem.  As part of her duties she serves on a myriad of committees including the Business Retention Committee; Finance Committee and the Homeless & Economically Disadvantaged Committee, Finance Committee and the Human Resources Committee.

Ms. Foat will represent ESP in all of the programs the company seeks to create with national trade organizations and government agencies.

Brian Wermich, Director of Strategic Planning - ESP Corporate

Brian Wermich joined ESP in September, 2008. He has a decade of residential building industry experience, having held various leadership positions at KB Home (formerly Kaufman and Broad), one of the nation’s largest homebuilders.

As a divisional Vice President for KB, Brian had key responsibility over multiple disciplines of the business, building and managing his teams to great success.  From 2005 until his departure in 2008, he served as Vice President of Purchasing and Showroom for the company's North Los Angeles division.  In 2005, he established an in-house onsite purchasing department that was a crucial force in his division's close to 1,200 home deliveries that year.  In that role, he also bridged interdisciplinary boundaries that improved the operational efficiencies of the overall business.

In 2004 he served as project lead for a 30,000 square foot showroom/office build out.  His activities were crucial to the design and merchandising of the space, which was one of the company's flagship Southern California locations, delivering $50 million in revenue (2006).  The team he established and nurtured there also delivered record customer satisfaction levels for the Southern California region (as measured by J.D. Power and Associates).

In addition to his divisional responsibilities, Brian also served in important roles at both the regional and national levels.  He was part of the group responsible for assembling and maintaining house specification levels for all of Southern California.  He was also active for many years as a member of KB's national product selection team that determined product and policy directions for the company globally.   

Brian studied philosophy at the University of California, Irvine, before his initial career in design, merchandising, and product specification and fabrication.  Over the years he has also been active in local Building Industry Association (BIA) chapters.

Key Management Teams - Subsidiaries

Brad Watson, General Manager - Environmental Safeguard Professionals, Inc.

Brad Watson has nearly ten years of experience in the homebuilding industry. Most recently, Watson was the Director of Land Acquisition and Forward Planning for KB HOME, a fortune 500 homebuilder. While there, he helped to expand the business to market dominance, generating nearly $500 Million in annual revenues and over 1,200 unit deliveries. Watson also served on the Board of Directors of the Building Industry Association, Antelope Valley Chapter, and is an active member of the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business Alumni Association.

A native Californian, Watson attended the University of Southern California where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance.

Antje Irish-Schwarzbach, Director Field Operations - Environmental Safeguard Professionals, Inc.

Ms. Irish-Schwarzbach has achieved a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science - Business Technology and Management, currently pursuing a Master of Science in Administration of Justice and Security. Antje was the Director of Operations for Allstate Home Inspections and Environmental Testing prior to the acquisition by ESP in 2007. Antje is knowledgeable in International Investment markets as well as macro and micro economic systems. She is a bilingual communicator with well-developed presentation and negotiation skills.

Armando Rancano, Director Customer Service - Environmental Safeguard Professionals, Inc.

Mr. Rancano was born in Cuba and moved to the United States as a political refugee at the age of thirteen. He studied politics at Louisiana State University and later earned an MBA from the University of Illinois in Marketing, specializing in public health programs.

His work experience has included community organizing, teaching, training, lobbying, building information systems, management consulting, deploying new products and developing Customer Service operations.

Accomplishments include helping to pass the Clean Air Act in the US Congress and auto pollution testing programs through the Illinois legislature. He was twice teacher of the year in the Chicago Public Schools and helped to turn around years of annual losses at the University of Chicago Hospitals.

As a consultant, he has helped to built successful management teams for many organizations in a variety of industries and developed nearly two dozen Customer Service operations of all sizes and functions.

He last led the deployment of Internet services for Time Warner Cable in the Coachella Valley and then turned around underperforming call centers, leading them to top five rankings in sales and support among 28 company divisions.

Joseph Leone, Director National Sales - Environmental Safeguard Professionals, Inc.

Previously, Mr. Leone has served as the General Manager of Environmental Safeguard Professionals, Inc. (Safeguard) a wholly owned subsidiary of ESP, a member of ESP's board of directors since its inception in through February 2008. He has a State of California General Contractor's License, #787196, has held a Branch 1 Field Representative License from the California Structural Pest Control Board. He has previously been recognized as a certified trainer for Safeguard's inspectors. Mr. Leone has also been certified to train for the Environmental Standards Organization. Mr. Leone was chosen to be part of the committee set forth by the PIA, the second largest professional insurance organization in the country, which is responsible for the immediate implementation of the “Call to Action” set forth by the PIA to adopt the moisture survey as the standard within the industry.

Lorne Steiner, General Manager - Porter Valley Software, Inc.

Mr. Steiner has over 30 years experience in field of Architectural, Construction and Computer Science. As an Architect and General Contractor, Mr. Steiner’s design and development company has built custom homes throughout the Southern California area. In the area of commercial interior development, Mr. Steiner has been at the forefront of integrating green building technologies into new and existing structures. In the field of computer science, Mr. Steiner has used his design background to develop easy to use world class program interfaces for companies such as Peter Norton, Symantec Corp. and CyberMedia Inc. In 2001 he started Porter Valley Software, Inc. to create easy to use software packages for the Real Estate Inspection community. The InspectVue line of Real Estate Inspection Report-Writers quickly became the largest selling software package in the nation for home and commercial inspectors, known for their completeness and the ability to explain complex issues in easy to understand detail.

Nathan Thorman,  Director Operations - National Professional Services, Inc.