ECO Ahead

A businessman lies sleepless in bed.  He has consulted with others and confided in family, but he remains uncertain.  He’s wrestling with the idea of quitting his sales job after nearly a quarter century working with a  major manufacturer. 

The businessman, Jeff Pinyot, started the job after graduating from Pitt with and engineering degree in 1982.  Through the years, the work has afforded his family a beautiful home in Indianapolis and private school tuition for his four children.  A gifted salesman, he has won the company’s biggest clients and built a successful career. 

But Pinyot feels restless.  Through business contacts, he has learned about an opportunity in green energy products focusing on a new technology, induction lighting.  The electromagnetic technology burns eight times longer and uses 50 percent less energy than conventional lighting.  He wonders, can he build a second career selling this pioneering technology?

Still sleepless, he decides to pose his question in prayer.  Soon, his cell phone rings, breaking the silence.  It’s one of his company’s customer.  “It’s strange to ever get a call from him,” thinks Pinyot, “let alone at 6:30 a.m.”  “I got it in my mind to call you this morning,” the customer says.  “Whatever it is you’re thinking about doing, be assured the Lord’s got your back.”

The following Monday, Pinyot (ENGR ’82) submitted his resignation letter.  Soon afterward, he became a partner with ECO Lighting Solutions, a start-up company that manufactures induction lighting for parking and large-area facilities.  Since 2007, he has been travelling nationwide to tout the lighting’s money-saving and environmental benefits. 

Last year, ECO Lighting Solutions was named a Company to Watch through an awards program sponsored by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, Purdue University, and the Edward Lowe Foundation.