Our Team

CEO and Director

Mr. Donald Currie is the founding CEO of Hillcrest Energy Technologies. Wanting to create an organization that could leverage his 30+ years of energy experience and still benefit from entrepreneurial thinking, he took the reins of Hillcrest in February, 2010.

Don’s success combines his reputation as a trusted relationship and business builder with decades of North American equity markets exposure and the financing of public companies. He’s known for being a straight shooter who values, integrity and big picture thinking. True to form, Don has been leading the company’s successful transition into clean energy technologies by identifying early-stage prospects and converting these into a portfolio of business growth opportunities.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Currie held various senior level positions including Director, Officer and VP of Corporate Communications with Enhanced Oil Resources Inc., an oil and gas exploration and production company based out of Houston, Texas. Prior to this, Don worked in other private and public ventures spanning the  mining, gaming and technology sectors.

Jamie L. Hogue brings more than two decades of progressive policy leadership, economic analysis and organizational development experience to Hillcrest. Throughout her career, she’s built diversified expertise in energy, water, natural resource and sustainability policy and practice, working with partners across Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Western Canada. Ms. Hogue holds extensive experience in building collaborative processes and solutions that drive organizations toward a more resilient future. Jamie previously served as the Director Operations for Arizona State University’s Ten Across initiative – a compelling observatory positioned on the front lines of economic, social and climate change and the associated implications and potential futures for the United States as a whole.

Jamie earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration and Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Arizona State University.

Chief Commercialization Officer

Mr. Ari Berger is a distinguished expert in electric machine control technologies, system engineering and multidisciplinary product design. He brings over a decade of commercial experience with a track record of deploying new technologies and go-to-market strategies, specifically in the sector of electrification.

In 2015, Mr. Berger founded NIG Systems Ltd. In Israel, which specializes in custom high performance control systems design. Prior to this, he previously worked for Bental Industries, a leading motor manufacturer.

Mr. Berger holds a Master’s Degree (MSc) in System Control Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and is an expert in real-time embedded software development and dynamics. He has also published several academic papers and won several awards, including one from Intel for his innovative solutions for the wafer industry.

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Samuel Yik is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CA) with a diverse business background and over 25 years of public company experience in industrial sectors including natural resources, technology, and transportation.  Mr. Yik also has extensive international hands-on management experience in senior financial, commercial, and operational roles in companies with market capitalization ranging up to over $2 billion, including 11 years with Methanex Corporation.  Mr. Yik brings over 10 years of CFO experience in managing companies publicly listed in Canada and the USA. 

Mr. Yik has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia and obtained his CA designation while articling with KPMG.

Mr. Ari Berger is a distinguished expert in electric machine control technologies, system engineering and multidisciplinary product design. He brings over a decade of commercial experience with a track record of deploying new technologies and go-to-market strategies, specifically in the sector of electrification.

In 2015, Mr. Berger founded NIG Systems Ltd. In Israel, which specializes in custom high performance control systems design. Prior to this, he previously worked for Bental Industries, a leading motor manufacturer.

Mr. Berger holds a Master’s Degree (MSc) in System Control Engineering from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and is an expert in real-time embedded software development and dynamics. He has also published several academic papers and won several awards, including one from Intel for his innovative solutions for the wafer industry.

Mr. Harald Hengstenberger is the leader of Hillcrest’s technology development partner, Systematec GmbH which is a leading German power electronics engineering and electromechanical component design company servicing the automotive sector. Mr. Hengstenberger is an established electrical engineer with more than 25 years of experience designing, manufacturing, testing and validating hybrid and electric vehicle powertrains.

Coming from a background in robotics, Mr. James Hamond has developed, patented, and commercialized intellectual property in areas such lighting, audio, ADCs, DACs and high frequency soft switching. Having worked in the consumer, industrial and defense sectors, Mr. Hamond is a jack-of-all-trades, spanning hardware, embedded software, control and adaptive algorithms, register-transfer level (RTL), thermal management and mechanical design. He has worked with soft switching systems for over 15 years, most recently as CTO and co-founder of Pre-Switch Inc.

Dr. Jalal Amini is a senior power electronics engineer, possessing extensive experience in power, analog, digital and embedded circuit design, schematics and PCB layout design. Dr. Amini also possess superior knowledge and experience in grid applications, power quality and renewable energies. During his career, he has designed and implemented a variety of power electronic devices including grid-connected devices such as a wind energy converter, active filters, fast chargers and energy storage systems, as well as, induction motor drives, and multilevel converters.