About

Engineered Solutions for Cultivation

Surna's innovative technologies address the energy and resource intensive nature of indoor cultivation. Properly controlled environments can lead to higher yields, more reliability and more security.

Many of history’s greatest success stories started with humble beginnings: Amazon, Apple, Disney, Microsoft, Google, and many other world changers all started in a small garage with a big idea. The Surna story begins there, too. Since our inception in a sweltering Austin, TX, garage more than a decade ago, Surna has always been driven by one thing—innovation. We see problems as opportunities, and we create innovative solutions that efficiently solve our clients’ challenges.

Our deep expertise is not something you can achieve overnight. It requires years of experience. Hundreds of projects. Tens of thousands of hours. Sweat. Failure. Success. Expertise. As the only true expert in cultivation environments, Surna is the first call any cultivator, investor, engineer or cannabis consultant should make when planning and designing a controlled environment cultivation. We’re the industry experts in applied mechanical engineering, agricultural science, indoor farming and predictive facility modeling.

Our systems produce greater yield, more reliability, more security, and timely ROI. We’re laser-focused on producing better energy efficiency for you, moving heat out of your environment as practically as possible. As cross-disciplinary experts, we take time to fully understand your business goals, climate conditions and facility before building a system that will meet your business and cultivation goals. As educators and resources, our Project Management, Engineering and Customer Service teams will work hand in hand with your team to ensure that we’re all moving toward the same finish line—because we know that we can accomplish so much more together.

Like other great success stories, ours grows and evolves with each passing year. While we took root in cannabis, our proven cultivation solutions can succeed with any indoor farm-grown food. As the environmental challenges in agriculture intensify, Surna will play an important role in the future of food. We are poised to slingshot from cannabis into global indoor agriculture solutions. In fact, we believe that if you can succeed in growing cannabis, you can grow anything, anywhere—whether it’s cannabis in Colorado or potatoes on Mars!

Executive Team

Tony McDonald

President and CEO

Mr. McDonald has successfully built businesses in the cleantech, energy efficiency and HVAC industries over the past 10 years. Prior to joining Surna’s board of directors he led sales and business development as Vice-President-Sales for Coolerado Corp., a manufacturer and marketer of innovative, energy-efficient air conditioning systems for commercial, government, and military use. He led the sales of the company, growing revenue from near zero to become an INC. 600 high-growth company award winner. Along with the company’s CEO, he was instrumental in securing growth equity funding from a cleantech investment fund. The company was later acquired by a large strategic competitor.

Most recently, Mr. McDonald was Vice-President-Sales and outside advisor for SunTech Drive LLC, a solar energy equipment supplier located in Boulder, Colorado. He is also the author of Cleantech Sell: The Essential Guide To Selling Resource Efficient Products In The B2B Market.

Prior to joining Coolerado, Mr. McDonald spent over ten years in the private equity and M&A industry where he was involved in numerous transactions in the technology, manufacturing, and power development industries. As a business development officer with private equity acquisitions groups, and later as founder and principal of a specialty M&A finance firm, he identified, financed or acquired numerous transactions with total enterprise value in excess of $200 million.

Mr. McDonald was previously a consultant to international banks with KMPG’s Financial Services Practice and served as a director for Keating Capital, Inc., a publicly-traded business development company that made investments in pre-IPO companies. He has served as a mentor for companies in the CleanTech Open and as a judge in the competition.

He is a U.S. Army veteran and former Cavalry officer in the 10th US Cavalry. He earned a B.S. degree in Engineering and Economics from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. and an M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School.

Mark Smiens

Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Smiens is a seasoned financial executive with over 25 years of experience in financial reporting, profit and loss responsibility, financial and operational strategy, and mergers and acquisitions in the manufacturing and distribution sectors. He has also managed areas outside of finance including sales, operations, human resources and information technology.

Since August 2017, Mr. Smiens was the Chief Financial Officer of US Fence Solutions, LLC, a private equity-backed residential fencing company. From April 2015 to August 2017, he was the Chief Financial Officer of private equity-owned Wildcat Minerals, LLC, an oilfield services company which was sold to a public company in 2017.

From January 2010 to April 2015, Mr. Smiens was the Chief Financial Officer (North America) for SMA Solar Technology AG, a German publicly-traded company specializing in the manufacture and distribution of high-tech solar equipment. At SMA Solar Technology, he was a member of the North American executive management team where he was directly responsible for all general and administrative functions, including inside sales, customer service and contract management.

From 2007 to 2010, Mr. Smiens was the Finance Director (Worldwide Operations) for Advanced Energy, Inc., a publicly-traded, global high-tech equipment manufacturer with operations in the U.S., China, Germany, Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Smiens held various controller-level positions with Lextron, Inc. (2004-2007), Veeco, Inc. (2000-2003), and United Agri Products (1992-2000).

Mr. Smiens holds an MBA from Colorado State University and obtained a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Northern Colorado. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Colorado and a Certified Management Accountant.

Values

Our values guide the way we approach every situation, every day. They determine how we interact with customers, partners and our employees. The following values and mission define Surna.

  • Be innovative & creative
  • Pursue growth
  • Satisfy & delight customers
  • Adhere to ethical principles
  • Maintain professionalism
  • Be respectful
  • Maintain a safe environment
  • Support sustainability
  • Cultivate mutual partnerships
  • Give back to the community

Mission Statement: To create efficient technology and equipment. From initial design and engineering through equipment selection and implementation, we provide a more intelligent, affordable and efficient solution.

Brands

Hydro Innovations was started by Surna’s co-founder, Stephen Keen, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Surna Inc.. Mr. Keen developed our innovative water-chilled climate technology specifically for the indoor grow. His ideas and products were designed with the intention of making every garden environment easier and more cost effective to control while setting the gardener on the path to success. Hydro Innovations’ products are available to hobby indoor gardeners.