Mr. Lewis has been with Avant Energy since 2012 serving as Avant’s Managing Director of Native American Energy.  In this role, Mr. Lewis brings over 15 years of infrastructure-related consulting experience to Avant’s Native American energy projects.  Mr. Lewis has been directly involved with every Native American client engagement, overseeing a wide array of projects including Tribal utility formation, renewable energy development, Tribal organizational management, energy infrastructure development and energy and utility related negotiations.

Mr. Lewis is actively involved in his own community’s infrastructure development at Gila River.  He served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Gila River Indian Community Utility Authority (GRICUA) of Arizona from 2010-2020.  GRICUA has provided electric utility service to the Gila River Indian Community’s 11,000 residents and commercial businesses for over twenty years.  Mr. Lewis is very proud of his decade with Gila River’s electric utility and was excited to finalize GRICUA’s 50 MW utility-scale solar project earlier this year.

Currently, Mr. Lewis serves on the Corporate Board of Directors as the Vice Chairman for Gila River Telecommunications Inc. (GRTI).  GRTI is a corporation wholly owned by the Gila River Indian Community composed of six separate subsidiaries that focus on telecommunications, wireless and fiber business activities. John has been with the GRTI Corporate Board since 2012 and believes that broadband connectivity and internet access are integral to the success of Native American commercial endeavors.

Mr. Lewis studied Civil & Environmental Engineering at Stanford University.  Mr. Lewis is an enrolled member of the Gila River Indian Community in Arizona and a dedicated father.  Mr. Lewis believes his experience as both consultant and serving as a Community Council-appointed official for his own Tribe has given him a deeper understanding of energy and infrastructure issues in Indian Country that few have.

Mr. Lewis has received national recognition over the years but believes the highlight was being chosen in 2014 to participate in the Department of Energy’s Quadrennial Energy Review to represent Native American energy interests.