SolarCity promoted VP of Global Capital Markets Radford Small to CFO, reporting to CEO Lyndon Rive. According to a release, Small "helped the company create approximately $3 billion in new financing for solar projects." He joined SolarCity from Goldman Sachs, where he was a managing director and COO for the renewables group. Tanguy Serra, COO of SolarCity since 2013 and president and CFO since last year, "will be departing SolarCity at the end of the year," a casualty of the anticipated acquisition of the company by Tesla. Rive said that because of an "overlap at the new company, [Serra] is going to pursue a new venture."
Tesla Motors hired former SunPower Senior VP and Chief Accounting Officer Eric Branderiz as VP, corporate controller and chief accounting officer. He receives a base salary of $300,000 along with a $5 million equity grant, according to an SEC filing.
Bruce Sohn, former president of First Solar, joined Siva Power as vice chairman. Under Sohn, First Solar was the first firm to build PV modules at below $1.00 per watt and the first to ship more than 1 gigawatt of PV modules annually. Before First Solar, Sohn worked at Intel for 24 years and managed two of Intel's largest fabrication plants. VC-funded Siva is developing copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) thin-film solar modules. Sohn is currently the president of QuantumScape and on the board of Phononic Devices and 1366 Technologies.
Principal Engineer Keith Emery, an NREL scientist for 36 years and 9 months, just announced his retirement. Emery's papers, largely focused on photovoltaics measurement science, are widely cited. Recipient of the Cherry Award, his ISO 17025-accredited calibration team works on efficiency certification and reference cell calibration.
Brian Harrison is now COO at electrochromic window vendor, View Dynamic Glass. Harrison was president and CEO of Solyndra from August 2010 to October 2011.
John Bohland, former VP of module operations at startup Bloo Solar, joined electrochromic window startup Heliotrope Technologies as director of process engineering.
Scott Healy, former VP of structured finance at NRG Energy and SolarCity, is now CFO and senior VP at Brightmark Energy,
Mark Higgins, COO of Strategen Consulting, is also a partner and co-founder of Grid Edge Ventures, a new venture fund aimed at "technologies to support a cleaner, more consumer-oriented 21st century grid."
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Enertech Search Partners, an executive search firm with a dedicated cleantech practice, is the sponsor of the GTM jobs column.
Among its many active searches, Enertech is looking for a Director of Client Solution Sales -- West Coast -- Smart Grid.
The client is a rapidly growing software company with a customer footprint across the country. They are a leader in enterprise cloud software for the utility industry, their software delivers modern customer engagement, business process solutions and data analytics to utilities re-engineering their customer experience.
Currently, this client is seeking a Director of Customer Solution Sales that will drive “hands-on,” highly technical sales with sophisticated enterprise utility clients. This position can be based in any city on the West Coast.
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Fuel cell manufacturer Intelligent Energy replaced CEO Henri Winand with Martin Bloom in June. A $43 million loan from its largest shareholder, Meditor Group, saved the firm from bankruptcy after a purported Indian telecommunications tower deal fell through.
Fred Vaske has been promoted to chief accounting officer at EnSync Energy Systems, a developer of energy management systems for the utility, commercial, industrial and multi-tenant building markets.
Peter Davidson joined Envision Solar, a solar carport and EV charging firm, as an independent director. Davidson is former executive director of the Loan Programs Office at the U.S. DOE.
Alta Energy, a renewable energy analytics, advisory and procurement firm in the commercial and industrial market, hired Mark Bettis as VP of sales. Bettis was VP of sales for REC Solar and worked at SunLink and Tioga Energy.
From the previous jobs column:
Elaine Ulrich of the DOE is now on detail at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as a senior policy advisor for energy. At the DOE, Ulrich leads the SunShot balance-of-systems soft-costs team.
Cathy Zoi, formerly the CEO of SunEdison Frontier Power, is now CEO of Axess Energy, a firm driving rural electrification "by making solar mini-grids profitable and scalable." Emily McAteer is chief revenue officer and Sasan Aminpour is COO; both are former SunEdison employees.
Polly Shaw is now VP of regulatory affairs and communications at energy storage company, Stem. Most recently Shaw served as VP of external affairs at SunEdison, and before that as senior director of external relations at Suntech America and senior regulatory analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission.