We begin this latest installment of the Energy Jobs column in arguably the most active state for the clean energy industry.
Earlier this year, the California Public Utilities Commission brought on a new commissioner, Genevieve Shiroma. She was previously on the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, and also worked on the state’s Air Resources Board and spent nearly a decade with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. Shiroma joins a group of regulators who have their hands full as they scramble to institute a host of new regulations and policies to manage the utility-wildfire nexus.
Also in the Golden State, Governor Gavin Newsom recently named David Hochschild as chair of the California Energy Commission, where he has served as a member since 2013. Janea Scott was designated vice chair of the CEC, where she has also served since 2013.
In federal regulatory news, Cheryl LaFleur announced she would not be seeking another term with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and will leave sometime this year. The exit could allow for a shift in the political balance at the agency. Last year, President Trump has named Neil Chatterjee as chairman of FERC upon the resignation of Kevin McIntyre, who recently passed away.
In other resignations on the regulatory front, Asim Haque resigned as chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio effective on March 1. In a resignation letter that was notably warmer and more heartfelt than just about anything you find in the regulatory sphere, Haque noted, “I am a political independent, for which I joke means that I am a political nobody/nothing. I am a first-generation American born son of (very brilliant professional) parents of Indian descent. I was born in Ohio, and I’ve never resided anywhere else.” He will now be moving on from his beloved Ohio to take a job with PJM outside of Philadelphia, where he will be executive director of strategic policy and external affairs.
We’ve made it this far, but now it’s time for Tesla. CFO Deepak Ahuja is retiring, again. He first retired from Tesla in 2015. He will be replaced by Zach Kirkhorn who was Tesla’s VP of finance. Ahuja will remain an outside adviser to Tesla.
Lyndon and Peter Rive, co-founders of SolarCity, which was ultimately purchased by Tesla, were recently appointed to the board of Zola Electric (formerly Off Grid Electric). Zola is currently the highest funded off-grid energy access company, according to Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.
Brad Hansen has left EnSync, where he was CEO, as the company has brought on a restructuring adviser, according to the Milwaukee Business News. Hansen is now serving as CEO of an unnamed venture. EnSync is working on a platform for behind-the-meter DER trading. It is facing delisting from the New York Stock Exchange.
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Momenta Partners, an executive search firm focused on building specialized teams in connected industry, is the sponsor of the GTM jobs column.
Among its many active searches, Momenta has been engaged to find a product marketing manager.
The client is seeking a talented individual to join the team as a Product Marketing Manager. In this role, you will be responsible for the product positioning and messaging for our industry-leading distributed energy resource management platform for utilities. From determining positioning and naming, to conducting competitive analysis and externally communicating product benefits, you will help shape the voice of the product and help grow our customer base. You’ll work with a cross-functional team across sales, corporate marketing, product development, and engineering to match the features of EnergyHub’s products with client needs in order to drive sales.
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After more than eight years at EnerNOC, Christian Weeks is now CEO at enVerid Systems. EnVerid says it is “commercializing our award-winning HVAC load reduction technology in commercial buildings.”
Kate McKeever has joined the Energy Storage Association’s board of directors. She is the director of regulatory and institutional affairs at Enel Green Power North America.
In more utility-wildfire nexus news, Michael Wara, who heads up the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment, will serve on California’s Commission on Catastrophic Wildfire Cost and Recovery. He is correct that the official appointment letter for the role was indeed fancy.
Simon Lonsdale, most recently the chief strategy officer of ChargePoint, has joined Amply Power as head of sales and strategy. Amply seeks to “accelerate and simplify the adoption of electric vehicle fleets: buses, trucks, cars, and autonomous vehicles.”
City National Bank has launched a power project finance team focusing on renewables. The department will be led by Craig Robb, and will offer financial solutions to businesses and entrepreneurs developing and managing energy projects.
Solar project developer Recurrent Energy has hired Timothy Allen as its new managing director with the engineering, procurement and construction team. He joined Recurrent Energy from Sempra Renewables, where he served as a senior director of construction and operations, overseeing 1,200 megawatts of wind and solar projects and 11 megawatts of battery storage.
GAF Energy announced that Gabriela Bunea will be joining the company as head of research and development, leading product development and innovation for solar technology. Bunea was most recently at SunPower, where she spent more than 16 years, most recently as VP of research and development. At GAF she’ll focus on integrating solar technology directly into roofing materials.
Alexander Silin is now sales director for Highview Power for Eastern Europe and the Middle East. He was most recently at GE for about 25 years, most recently as GM of sales for GE Power in Western Europe, Israel and Turkey.
Miriam Makhyoun, formerly a power supply contracts manager with Marin County Energy, California’s first community-choice aggregator, is now CEO of EQ Research.