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WARREN -- For more than 15 years, BRITE Energy Innovators has powered those who spearhead advancements in energy technology.
Jade Davis and his staff's mission is to keep Ohio's lone energy incubator fully charged as it harnesses potential and transforms it into real-world applications.
"You're not going to go into the local Walmart or Giant Eagle and find a BRITE-branded bottle or battery pack and things like that," said Davis, who was named the organization's CEO and president in November.
"We deal with folks that are in their basement tinkering and all the way to folks that say, 'Hey, we've been at this for 10 years now. Now, we're looking to go to large-scale manufacturing.'
"We help them do that."
BRITE opened its headquarters in 2010 at 125 W. Market St., along Warren's Courthouse Square. Rick Stockburger served as the incubator's inaugural CEO. Stockburger left to become CEO in July 2025 for the U.S. Department of Energy's Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation.
Interim CEO Jing Lyon assumed BRITE's reins from June through November. Davis, a Cleveland native, became its newest CEO after a national search by BRITE's board of directors.
Davis said his background covers the interaction between business and government regulatory issues.
"I spent the first half of my professional life between Columbus, D.C. and Cleveland," he said. "I've been lobbying and doing government affairs close to 20 years prior to this."
En route to his current leadership role at BRITE, Davis served as senior vice president, Port of Cleveland, public affairs and energy; legislative liaison, Ohio General Assembly and Congressional Delegation for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio; and senior director, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, state affairs and outreach.
He is also co-founder and chief strategy officer of Thornton Buckeye Group, an Ohio-based consulting firm.
"My work for the last 20 years has been really rooted deeply in energy policy, renewables, fossils, regulatory issues, generation issues, transportation issues, with energy and also air and environmental quality issues," he said. "So, I have been steeped in all those aspects.
"I'm new to the tech innovation side of energy but not new to the issues of why we need innovation."
Davis highlighted BRITE's executive assistance services offered to businesses.
"We're providing them with executive level help that we embed into their company," he said.
For example, a business may need a chief financial officer to raise funding. That also requires the need for data and the professional associated with the role.
"They don't necessarily have the equity to give and or the salary and benefits to give to that kind of person," Davis said. "We bring that person in that kind of level -- somebody who's been a founder, who's been a CFO, who has raised money, who has dealt with data.
"We will provide them with those kinds of services. ... They'll pay us a nominal fee and then we use our mix of funding from other state and philanthropic resources in order to help supplement the cost of that service for them as well."
Davis said BRITE is reviewing its startup services to reduce the time needed for entrepreneurs to get through its programs and earn certification.
"But we also are looking at developing our own mechanism where we can provide direct investment into these companies to help speed their access to capital, but also speed their access to market scale and growth," Davis said. "Because that grows to opportunities for the communities in which we operate throughout the state of Ohio."
Three of BRITE's 11-member staff are based in Warren. Others work in the Cleveland area. However, their reach is felt nationwide with its consultants found in Washington, D.C., to California.
Davis said 15 companies are going through BRITE's startup program. Another 40 are part of BRITE's Innovation Services efforts.
"Companies are working with us from a marketing (and) branding (standpoint). We're trying to help them get everything from their website streamlined and operational to making sure their pitch packets and all those things are set up for their 'Go to Market' strategy."
More than 650 companies have benefited from BRITE's assistance, according to its website. Third parties have invested more than a billion dollars and more than 2,100 jobs have been created.
"I would like us to measure success by how many of these companies we can spin out of our programs that build nice headquarter buildings, nice manufacturing sites that provide jobs and opportunities in serious tax bases throughout the state," Davis said.