Team

Servant Leadership

Tim Crockett, President

With 30+ years of experience in real estate, Operating Expense reduction and innovation including the last several in energy and water efficiency, He Co-founded PACE Houston. Tim leads marketing, client engagement and the growth of SmartWaterValve.

Herb Yuan, Advisory Board

Herb retired from Shell after 33 years in a variety of technology and upstream management positions.  His last assignment was CIO for the upstream head office, which included technology and exploration organizations with priorities on high performance computing, information management and software engineering. 

Herb also served on leadership teams associated with technology organizations as well as initiating the Shell Gamechanger enterprise innovation process.  He is serving and has served on a variety of boards. 

Previously, Herb was Chairman of the board of POSC (later renamed Energistics), on the board of the OpenSpirit Corporation, the advisory board of the Rice Alliance as well as the board of the Hermann Park Conservancy. 

Herb enjoys cycling, golf and reading. 

Herb received his PhD in Chemical Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his undergraduate degree in Chemistry and Math from the Australian National University.

Anna Marie Crockett, Chairman

Anna Marie has over 20 years of experience in customer service & managing commercial properties, including office, medical and retail. She heads up SmartWaterValve customer service and our back of the house operations.

Larry Lawyer, Advisory Board

With 32 years of executive experience in energy, health care, technology, and manufacturing, Larry Lawyer has led product commercialization and operations of greenfield start-ups to mid and large capitalized companies. As CEO, CFO, and board member working with and for family offices, private equity firms, private and public companies and finance firms, his expertise is in capital raising, principal investing, M&A, strategy, operations, sales and marketing, human resources, finance, due diligence, negotiations and mentoring/leadership.

Since founding his own investment and commercialization company in 2004, Larry has started, grown and managed seven hyper-growth asset and service companies. He has invested in four additional start-up companies, actively participating in their respective growth strategies. Larry began his career as an investment banker with JPMorgan Chase, having completed more than $60BN of M&A related financings and ran the energy asset securitization group for WestLB. Larry has served as special advisor to three private Board of Directors and served on the Finance Committee for a private for-profit domestic hospital.

Larry is currently chairman for Eyes on Me (an inner-city evangelism and discipleship non-profit ministry), chairman for a private education company (Firat Education), Chairman for Hydrostat (a start-up water treatment company) and a recent BOD member for United Health Partners. Larry was also a founding BOD Member and Treasurer for Moja Mission in Tanzania. Larry received an M.B.A. from INSEAD (European Institute of Business Administration) and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Management Information Systems from Southern Methodist University.

Larry holds a Series 79 and Series 63 securities license, speaks at various energy conferences and is a regular panelist for the Goldman Sachs 10,000 small business initiative. He has previously led and participated in five for-profit and non-profit strategic planning processes.

Larry is passionate about learning. He recently completed a certification course on AI for business at MIT. He is also an active member of the Houston chapter of InfraGard (having been admitted in 2016), the business joint venture with the FBI to protect and educate the public regarding cybersecurity issues.

Larry serves on the Troop 55 Eagle Scout review board as chairman emeritus. He is also an instructor in Chayon-Ryu Karate (Sixth Degree Black Belt), a recreational sailor and has a conversational knowledge of French and Spanish.

Personally, Larry is active with his church in Houston, St. John the Divine Episcopal Church, acting in various lay leadership roles. Larry has also completed an 18-credit hour Biblical counseling program at the College of Biblical Studies. Recently, Larry has started a Master’s program at Liberty University in clinical mental health.

Larry has been married for 31 years and has two sons, 22 and 19.

Curt Besselman, West Texas Manager

Curt has a 20-year history in politics and government, as well as economic development before a focus on renewables & efficiency 10 years ago - which led him to joining the SWV team to help clients save on their water bills.

Tom Knudson, Advisory Board

Thomas C. (Tom) Knudson is an experienced corporate director and executive who currently serves as a director of Ergon Inc. He formerly served as Chairman of Bristow Group Inc., Midstates Petroleum Inc., lead director of Natco Group Inc., and as a director of Williams Partners Inc. and MDU Resources Inc. He retired from Conoco Phillips on January 1, 2004. 

His diverse career included engineering, operations, business development and commercial assignments across a broad spectrum of Conoco’s businesses.  Among his more significant assignments were managing director and CEO of DuPont Scandinavia in Stockholm, Sweden; and vice president and general manager for Conoco’s midstream natural gas business.  In June 1997, he became chairman of Conoco Exploration Production Europe Limited, based in London accountable for Conoco’s upstream businesses in Europe and the Former Soviet Union. He returned to Houston in July 2000, to become senior vice president, human resources, IT, public and governmental affairs, and communications, serving prior to his retirement as a member of the management and executive committees of both Conoco and ConocoPhillips.

A native of Texas, Knudson received a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1967 and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1968. While at Annapolis, he captained the rowing team and was a member of the 1965 national champion varsity eight. 

Following graduation, he served as a naval aviator flying 170 missions in S.E. Asia and was selected two years early for Lieutenant Commander, his rank at the time of his discharge in 1974.

Knudson serves on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation, the National Council of the Methodist Hospital Neurological Institute and Board of Directors of the National Association of Corporate Directors, (NACD) Texas Tri-Cities Chapter.  He has held the designation of Board Leadership Fellow from the NACD since 2012. 

He was the founding chairman of the Business Council for Sustainable Development – USA as well as the BCSD - UK. 

He has served on the boards of a number of petroleum industry associations, Covenant House Texas, Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest, and The Houston Museum of Natural Science.  He has served as an adjunct professor of management at the Jones School at Rice University.  He and his wife, Candy, have three grown children, six grandchildren, and have homes in Houston and Fredericksburg TX.