Craig Hurlbert

Craig is a seasoned entrepreneur with a 30-year track record of building successful businesses with strong leadership teams. Named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2009 in the Houston and Gulf Coast Area, he was inducted into the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame that same year.

Most recently, Craig served as Managing Partner and Co-Founder at BrightMark Partners, a growth equity and management firm providing capital and resources to venture, growth phase and middle market businesses. Previously, he was President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of TAS Energy – the leading provider of high efficiency and modular cooling and energy systems for the data center, commercial, industrial and power generation markets. During Craig’s leadership at TAS, the company shipped more than 2,000 modules to over 30 countries worldwide. TAS was sold to publicly traded Comfort Systems (FIX) in April of 2020.

Current Chairman of the Board at Clearas Water Recovery – which uses patented, sustainable and proprietary technology to solve high nutrient municipal and industrial wastewater challenges – Craig has also held leadership roles at GE, North American Energy Services, Pratt & Whitney P2 Energy Power Systems, and PIC Energy Group.

As General Manager of Global Sales for GE’s Contractual Services (GECS), he was integral in expanding the business from a “start-up” to more than $7 billion in backlog in just 24 months. Leading the team that pioneered the LTSA (long term service agreements) product line for GE’s gas turbine technology, he grew the global sales team from 15 to more than 150 employees.

Craig has also sat on over 15 company Boards, including: Prostar Geocorp, a leader in geospatial intelligence technology in the energy and transportation markets; ATR SmartProcedures, a pioneer in SaaS cloud-based digital transformation; and Loenbro, Inc., a diversified energy services and construction company. He earned a BS in Finance from San Diego State University and an MBA from California State University – Long Beach.