Chapter 7 – Behind the Project: Intermestic Capital’s Vision for EB-5 and U.S. Economic Growth
How Marco Lopez, Sergio Chavez-Moreno, and Dennis Cunningham are reshaping investment-driven development with the EVelution Energy cobalt facility
In Chapter 7 of the EVelution Energy interview series, Michael Gibson welcomes the leadership team behind Intermestic Capital: Marco Lopez, Sergio Chavez-Moreno, and Dennis Cunningham. Together, they break down the thinking and experience behind bringing this high-profile EB-5 project to market.
Marco Lopez shares a compelling personal and professional journey—from becoming the youngest mayor in the U.S. at age 22, to serving as Chief of Staff at U.S. Customs and Border Protection during the Obama administration. His intimate understanding of government operations has shaped Intermestic Capital’s investment strategy—bridging public policy with private development in a way that supports long-term national priorities.
“After serving in Washington, it was important to bring what I learned back to Arizona,” Lopez explains. “We wanted to find projects that created real value—jobs, clean energy, and domestic manufacturing.”
This episode explains how the EVelution Energy project aligns with the goals of reshoring critical mineral processing and offering global investors a direct stake in America’s clean energy future.
Evelution Energy Interview Chapter 7
Michael Gibson, USAdvisors, interviews Marco Lopez, Managing Partner, Intermestic Capital
Transcript
Evelution Energy Interview Chapter 7 Transcript
Michael Gibson, Managing Director of US Advisors (USAdvisors.org) an independent Registered Investment Advisory Firm. Michael also owns and runs EB-5 Investments (eb5projects.com) and is an EB5 industry expert.
Marco Lopez, Managing Partner, Intermestic Capital
Sergio Chavez-Moreno, Operating Partner Intermestic Capital
Dennis Cunningham, Operating Partner Intermestic Capital, President EB5 Horizon
Michael Gibson, speaking
Hi, I wanna welcome everybody back to another of our EB 5 project showcase events. My name is Michael Gibson. I'm the founder and Managing Director of US Advisers. We are a Registered Investment Advisory firm. We have been doing research, analysis, and due diligence into EB 5 projects for 15 years now. And it is my pleasure today to introduce Intermestic Capital’s newest project in the EB 5 market. Which is their Evelution Energy processing plant located in Yuma, Arizona. And we do have another video with the founders and principles of EVelution Energy. Which I encourage all of you to watch to understand more about the, the plant. The necessity, which I had no idea there was a necessity, for cobalt in this country. Certainly not to the extent that there apparently is. And why this might be a good EB-5 investment for you. As I mentioned, today we have the principles of Intermestic Capital. I want to start with Sergio Chavez-Moreno, and we have Marco Lopez Jr., who is the principal, and Dennis Cunningham. But all of these gentlemen have done a tremendous amount of work to bring this project to the market. And I would love to hear more about it from them. Let me start with Marco. Marco, before we start with Intermestic Capital and, and for all of you, I'd like for you to give us a bit of background into who you are, how you came to the EB 5. And then if you have a chance, talk to us about Intermestic Capital and why you decided to bring this kind of a project to the market.
Marco Lopez, speaking
Thank you, Michael. First of all, welcome to Arizona.
Michael Gibson, speaking
Thank you.
Marco Lopez, speaking
As a lifelong Arizonan and grew up and was born here in this state. It's great to find opportunities that we bring back some economic development projects that go will be discussing today. So happy to be with you today, joined, of course, by Dennis and Sergio. Look, I grew up in Nogales. Nogales, like Yuma, where the project is sited is right along the US Mexico border. I was mayor of the City of Nogales, the youngest mayor in the country at 22 years old. This is back in 2001. Then served as the director of the Arizona Department of Commerce. Here in the state in 2004 through 2008 served the state of Arizona,. And then in 2009 moved to DC. And I served President Obama as the Chief of Staff at Customs and Border Protection.
Michael Gibson, speaking
And, and, and, and, and for people who may think you just took a position there, it, it, it was a very senior position as I understand.
Marco Lopez, speaking
Yeah, the Chief of Staff role is the individual that basically makes sure that the agency is running appropriately and correctly. Over 60,000 men and women serve Customs and Border Protection throughout the world. That encompasses the customs service, border patrol and Air and Marines. So 60,000 people, a budget of about $17 billion.
Michael Gibson, speaking
Yeah, so, so very senior position in the Obama administration. So you were there, you saw a lot of what they call the sausage making, that happened behind CB. And also the sister agency USCIS. So you're very familiar with the inner operations of how both agencies work.
Marco Lopez, speaking
That's right. The Department of Homeland Security is the umbrella organization that houses the largest unit, which is Custopms and Border Protection and USCIS, as you mentioned. And that was one of the appealing factors of form, after forming Intermestic in 2011 is to really scope out and find projects and opportunities to bring back to Arizona. Understanding the workings of the government, and how we could use that knowledge to facilitate projects into our state. Because I think as you grow up here, you wanna make sure that you're giving back. And you're finding ways to allow others to participate in that economic development opportunity. So as, as we went through Covid, we realized that it was gonna be pressing to reshore or nearshore a lot of these companies. I think, as you mentioned in your conversation, and we encourage obviously folks, investors to watch that video with EVelution so that they could get that. But one of the points you made is nearshoring and moving companies’ interest out of Asia back here to America. Energy Interview Chapter 6