This week we start in the world of batteries, where fundraising and personnel moves are helping startups pivot and expand in the nascent industry.
Ryan Hanley has left Tesla where he was director of grid services to join Advanced Microgrid Solutions as chief product officer. The behind-the-meter battery provider recently raised $34 million in a Series B to expand into new markets outside California, and to scale up its Armada software to integrate buildings and batteries to be grid resources.
Australian flow battery company Redflow has a new CEO to replace Simon Hackett, who spent the past year refocusing the company. Richard Aird will move from COO to CEO. The firm raised about $11 million earlier this year and pulled out of the U.S. and European markets to focus on Oceania and South Africa.
LED manufacturer Lighting Science has appointed Khim Lee as president. Lee joins Lighting Science from the private equity world at Vector Capital. He was also with Philips’ mid-power LED business earlier this decade. “With over 15 years’ experience in LED lighting, management consulting, and private equity operations, Khim is ideally equipped to drive the next phase of growth at Lighting Science,” the company said in a press release. Lighting Science is developing LEDs for a range of specialty applications, from better sleep and more security to growing lettuce and marijuana.
Georgia Power has elected Xia Liu as EVP, CFO and treasurer starting this month. She moves over from Gulf Power, where she was also responsible for accounting and financial functions.
Mira Inbar has moved over to the connected energy division within Shell New Energies, which focuses on behind-the-meter solutions. She spent the past two years at NRG Energy, where she was the director of strategy and market intelligence for the company’s strategy group. Shell New Energies has been staffing up after it announced earlier this year it’s going to ramp up spending to $1 billion per year by 2020.
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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 an auto sales director within the smart resources sector.
The client brings electric vehicle (EV) charging to more people and places than ever before. The company operates the world's largest and most open EV charging network and also designs, builds and supports the technology that powers it.
The client is seeking an Auto Sales Director with a successful track record and relevant experience in selling or managing automotive OEM and dealership relationships. In this role the person will also be working with VARs/channel partners and developing relationships with automotive OEM stakeholders. Must be creative, independent, focused and an excellent problem-solver.
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Solar tracking firm Array Technologies hired Jim Stoshak as senior director of business development. He was previously with Strata Solar, and with SMA before that.
Kevin Koder is now the president of Brooks Utility Products, replacing Jeff Hanft, who is retiring. Koder has spent the past three years as SVP at Cleaver-Brooks and before that was director of marketing at ABB.
Pete Maysmith is the new SVP of campaigns for the League of Conservation Voters. He spent nearly 20 years in advocacy and politics, most recently with Conservation Colorado, where he was executive director.
Former commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Colette Honorable, is now a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center. She had previously worked with BPC as a member of its Energy Project from 2011 to 2013. She also joined Reed Smith as a partner in July and co-leads the firm’s FERC practice.
International solar power developer VivoPower has promoted Carl Weatherley-White to CEO from his role as CFO. Before joining VivoPower, he was president of Lightbeam Electric Company.
Energy attorney Steven Shparber has joined Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough in the firm’s energy and utilities industry group. Previously he was in-house counsel at PJM Interconnection and has also worked at McGuireWoods and FERC.
Scandinavian GIS provider Digpro has hired Stefan Multing as the senior director for global sales to focus on sales for the power industry. Before joining Digpro in August, Multing spent the past six years selling for ABB in its enterprise software division.