Our Team
MANAGEMENT
USA Energy Advisors’ management team combines over 150 years of investment, asset management, government relations and energy policy and technology credentials; with experience in acquiring public funding to supplement private investment.
Barry H. Fromm, Esq.
Chief Executive Officer
B.S., Business Administration, Butler University, Indianapolis, IN, 1972
J.D., C. Blake McDowell School of Law, University of Akron, Akron, OH, 1980
Mr. Fromm is the Chief Executive Officer of USAEA and founder of its parent company, Value Recovery Group (VRG). Mr. Fromm is an entrepreneur who, over the past 15 years, has founded ten successful businesses in the fields of asset management, real estate and Brownfields development, domestic and international claims processing and collections, rail transit development, alternative energy and information technology. Mr. Fromm began his career in banking with National City Bank, was Corporate Counsel for Mid-America Federal S&LA, and thereafter was a financial institutions consultant for Deloitte & Touche, and then Senior Manager for PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
Edward R. Saltzberg, Ph.D.
Managing Director
BChE. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, 1967
M.A., Boston University, Boston, MA, 1974
Ph.D., University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, 1977
Dr. Saltzberg is the Managing Director of USAEA responsible for day to day operations. He brings over 30 years of technology and business management experience to this position. He has been a partner in two professional services firms which he helped grow and sell to public companies. Prior to joining USAEA, he was an officer in Battelle Memorial Institute’s Energy, Environment and Transportation Division focusing on technology, scientific and engineering services to the DOD, EPA, NOAA and a number of state governments. Dr. Saltzberg spent 12 years with Science Applications International Corporation where he was a Corporate Officer in the Energy and Environmental Group responsible for 500 professionals located in offices across the country involved in a variety of scientific and engineering technical studies and science policy support to federal agencies. He has been responsible for directing over $1 billion in federal contracts.
Ralph E. Griffith
Senior Investment Advisor
B. A., Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH, 1978
M.B.A., Keller Graduate School of Management, Chicago, IL, 1979
Mr. Griffith is a financial and banking professional working with clients in obtaining capital and addressing financing and restructuring requirements. Most recently, he was a Principal and President of an investment banking firm responsible for arranging debt and equity financing for privately-held companies, development of business plans and loan packages, business valuations, and business restructurings. He is skilled at turnaround management and has served as a receiver in Ohio. Mr. Griffith was also a principal in OhioAngels.com, introducing early stage technology companies to pre-qualified private investors and professional firms, and assisting these early stage companies with planning and access to capital. Previously, he held corporate lending positions with National City Bank, Huntington Bank, and Ameritrust Bank.
James Sisto
Senior Government Relations Advisor
LLM, Georgetown University Law School, 1988
J.D., Capital University Law and Graduate Center, 1984
B.A., Ohio Wesleyan University, 1981
Licensed to practice law in Ohio
Mr. Sisto, President and COO of Value Recovery Group, Inc. and a Principal of USAEA, was Of Counsel with Squire, Sanders & Dempsey L.L.P. where his practice focused on international business and trade, corporate and economic development matters including technology transfer and licensing agreements on a domestic and international basis. Mr. Sisto also represented clients in the negotiations and successful securing of State and local incentives. As the international trade director for Ohio Governors George V. Voinovich and Bob Taft, from 1993 to 2000, he managed both the global operations of Ohio’s trade effort including offices in Hong Kong, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Belgium, Israel and South Africa. Mr. Sisto has served as an adjunct professor of international commercial law both at Capital University Law and Graduate Center since 1990 and at The Ohio State University. Appointed by several U.S. Secretaries of Commerce, Mr. Sisto has been a member of both the Southern and Northern Ohio District Export Councils.
Richard Aiken
Senior Energy Programs and Policy Analyst
M.S. Regional Planning, University of Virginia, 1979
B.A. Political Science, State University of New York at Albany, 1973
Certified Energy Procurement Professional, Association of Energy Engineers, 2004
Mr. Aiken is a senior associate who currently consults with business and government agencies on U.S. energy public sector markets. He brings over 25 years of experience in energy policy serving several federal administrations as a senior DOE official and advisor to Secretary of DOE where he focused on a range of energy and power issues. Mr. Aiken was a Senior Associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he guided the government energy business line for the firm in the commercialization of emerging energy technologies including technical and market studies designed to facilitate the deployment of new technologies in biofuels, hydrogen production, and gasification into commercial markets.
Keith Conroy
Government Relations and Funding Programs Advisor
B.A., Ohio University, Athens, OH
Japanese Language Institute at Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan
Mr. Conroy is a principal with USA Energy Advisors. Keith specializes in state and federal incentive programs and the design of government economic stimulus programs. He was formally the Assistant Deputy Director of the Ohio Department of Development and served on Governor Taft’s Energy Task Force and played a key role in attracting a $1.2 billion energy project to the State of Ohio. He advised the Lt. Governor and Governor on critical economic policy issues that affected business and worked closely with automotive OEMs and suppliers.
Tom Hoffman, PMP
Project Manager
B.S., Finance, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO
M.B.A., St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO
Certified Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute
Mr. Hoffman has over 25 years experience as a project management professional with 20 years experience in the credit industry with Mastercard International and Citicorp. Mr. Hoffman has vast experience managing IT development projects for financial data management and reporting systems. Additionally, Mr. Hoffman has served as a project manager on the State of Ohio’s advanced energy grant and loan program and is current a project manager for the U.S. DOE Loan Guarantee Program and specifically for the IT and operations sub-task order.
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Value Recovery Group (VRG) is the parent company of USAEA. VRG holds contracts directly with the FDIC and through a partnership (Global Recovery Group, LLC) with the Export-Import Bank of the United States and OPIC. Value Recovery Group was founded by Barry Fromm, Esq. in 1994 to liquidate distressed assets for the Resolution Trust Corporation. Today, VRG’s “value recovery” operation is serving federal, state, county and city level governmental agencies in the United States, and through GRG is managing U.S. government interests in over 80 countries. VRG helps both government and community based entities with the management and disposition of underperforming assets.
Tetra Tech is a $1 billion full-service engineering and technical services firm and a leading provider of consulting, engineering, and technical services worldwide. It is a diverse company, with expertise in science, research, engineering, construction, and information technology. Its strength is in collectively providing integrated services – delivering the best solutions to meet their clients’ needs. Tetra Tech operates globally for both government and industrial clients across most commercial sectors with a concentration in energy and environmental engineering services. Its 8000 employees bring exceptional engineering depth to the USAEA team. 
The Innovation Factory (TIF) produces business validation enterprise tools used in the commercial underwriting of its business management services. TIF is a St. Louis based firm that specializes in providing management acceleration for new ventures and established firms that need to reduce risk, maximize opportunities and shorten the cycle time to commercialization and project completion. Its tools include business technology validation to determine the viability of applications to its program management and a suite of business services designed to help firms make the most of their technologies and business opportunities. 
Bailey Cavalieri LLC's Green Energy Practice Group organizes its lawyers’ significant experience in many different facets of the energy industry. This experience includes more than 40 years of collective experience in the regulatory arena covering the gamut of traditional utilities regulation, as well as cutting edge issues in deregulation for the electric, gas, telecommunications, water, and transportation industries. This also includes significant commercial finance experience structuring, negotiating, and closing loan transactions with values ranging from $100,000 to $500 million. More information can be found at