Byron DeLear is owner and founder of Sustainable Equity LLC. Byron is an expert on sustainability policy and, as founder and former CEO of Energy Equity Funding (EEF), one of the nation's first PACE program administrators.

Since 2010, EEF has designed, implemented, and administered PACE programs in two states and was acquired by Ygrene Energy Fund in 2017. As founder of the Missouri Association of Accredited Energy Professionals (MAAEP), he helped organize contractors in Missouri’s clean-energy industry, and in 2010 helped build the coalition to pass Missouri PACE clean-energy legislation. He has been instrumental in the design and launch of PACE programs in Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, and Arkansas, and in Florida Byron spearheaded two academic studies with the University of South Florida Patel College of Global Sustainability on the impacts of Florida's PACE programs.

Noteworthy achievements include Set the PACE St. Louis’s minority and women contractor equity and inclusion program. In 2022, Byron received the PACESetter award from PACE Nation for advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in the PACE marketplace and a Medal of Recognition from the St. Louis City NAACP. In 2017, he was awarded the Community Partner Award from MOKAN, the St. Louis region’s leading minority contractors association. On its five-year anniversary, Set the PACE St. Louis was recognized by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, citing the program’s “vital role [that] this public-private partnership has played to help our City be a national leader in energy efficiency and sustainability.”

Byron’s recent committee and board work include serving on the Covid-19 Economic Rescue Team Working Group for St. Louis County, Missouri Energy Initiative, and Hawthorn Foundation. Byron has been a presenter at the Atlantic Council in Washington DC, Midwest and Climate Policy Conferences (2010 and 2011), PACENation Summits (2016, 2017, 2019, and 2021), University of South Florida Patel Global School of Sustainability (2019 and 2021), Governor’s Conference on Economic Development (2019), and is the recipient of the Energy Efficiency Champion Award from Renew Missouri.

Abraham Rezex is a senior managing partner of Sustainable Equity LLC. Abraham has worked in financial services for over 26 years, and he has held senior leadership positions with Bank of America, PNC Bank, Midland States Bank, and Illinois National Bank.

In banking, Abraham has worked in almost every line of business and has been exposed to all aspects of bank management, including achieving certification from the CAI/BAI banking school, a program designed to groom leaders to become CEOs.

At Midland States Bank, Abraham was the President of the mortgage division overseeing a high annual volume in the hundreds of millions of capital deployed. Outside of banking, Abraham’s has experience in international business development and global trade.

Abraham leads Sustainable Equity’s financing and strategic partnerships.

Our financial partners span most industries and are large in numbers.

Our partners include:
Family offices
Private investors
Equity funds
Alternative funds
Insurance companies
Banks specializing in specialty industries
Credit Unions
VC firms