Movement across the energy sector never stops -- even when power-plant construction does.
Lonnie Carter, the CEO of South Carolina’s state-owned utility, Santee Cooper, is stepping down after the company abandoned construction of a new nuclear power plant earlier this summer. Carter has been CEO for 13 years, nine of which involved expanding the nuclear facility.
Nearly 10 years and $9 billion later, the project has been scrapped -- putting ratepayers on the hook for an unfinished plant. As the utility searches for an interim replacement, South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster is looking for potential buyers for Santee Cooper, according to The State.
After nearly 15 years of service, Howard Gruenspecht, acting administrator of the Energy Information Administration, is leaving the government agency. Before joining EIA, he had been in various policy roles at the U.S. Department of Energy. John Conti will be appointed deputy administrator and serve as acting administrator upon his departure, according to Axios. Former EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski told Axios that Gruenspecht was particularly key in getting EIA to adapt to the age of big data, such as pulling hourly generation stats.
Rocky Mountain Institute is bringing on Miranda Ballentine as its managing director, where she will lead RMI's Business Renewables Center, which helps commercial and industrial firms procure renewable energy. Ballentine was formerly the assistant secretary of energy for the U.S. Air Force under President Obama, and also served as the director of sustainability for Walmart stores.
Ryan O’Keefe is now head of Dong Energy’s new energy storage solutions business unit. He was previously SVP of business development at Ideal Power and also held roles at Younicos, NextEra and GE Capital. Earlier this year, Dong divested its oil and gas business to focus on renewables.
General Electric’s chief marketing officer for Power Services, Michael Donohue, left GE for a startup (no, not GE’s "startup," Current). Donohue is leading the energy solutions team for Chicago startup Uptake, which competes with GE’s Predix platform and is working with subsidiaries of Berkshire Hathaway to provide wind analytics, according to Reuters.
Cameron Bard joined Cypress Creek Renewables as a director after spending nearly a year at startup incubator 1776 as director of market development. Before fleeing to the West Coast, Bard was the chief of staff to New York’s energy czar Richard Kauffman during the launch of the state's Reforming the Energy Vision initiative, and he was previously at NYSERDA.
Now that NARUC’s former president, Robert Powelson, is moving to FERC, Connecticut regulator John Betkoski will become the new president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. Wisconsin PUC chair Ellen Nowak will move from second to first VP at the organization.
After more than three decades at Edison Electric Institute, David K. Owens has joined Xcel Energy’s board of directors. He will join more than a dozen other board members, including Daniel Yohannes, who was also added earlier this year.
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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 Chief Operating Officer.
The client is an early-stage but fast-growing software company that has developed a brand-new product at the crossroads of energy analytics and financial analysis.
Currently, this client is seeking a proven, versatile and eager COO to build out operational systems in order to drive the exponential revenue growth the company is poised for. In this role, you will be partner to the CEO with the primary goal of optimizing PnL and operational efficiency. Must have 15-plus years of experience in finance or operation, as well as excellent interpersonal and organizational skills.
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Earth Networks, best known for the WeatherBug app, is spinning off Whisker Labs, the smart home technology division that it acquired late last year. Earth Networks CEO Robert Marshall will spin off with the company, becoming CEO of Whisker Labs, and Rich Spaulding will move from president and COO to CEO of Earth Networks.
Martin Lynch is SunLink’s new COO and will help guide the solar tracking provider as it expands. Previously, Lynch was responsible for worldwide engineering program management and operations at solar module manufacturer Beamreach Solar.
Forrest North is now at FreeWire, where he will be VP of system integration for the networked energy storage startup for second-life EV batteries. Previously, North founded the PlugShare app, which was acquired by Recargo; before that, he was founder and CEO of Mission Motors.
Empower Energies, a clean energy development and financing company, has picked up Daniel Smith as sales engineering manager. Smith came from Tesla/SolarCity, where he was a senior sales engineer. He joins Stuart Stott, who came onboard at Empower in July as VP of business solutions and development.
John Milner was named chair of the American Bar Association’s section of environment, energy and resources, where he’ll lead more than 10,000 lawyers who practice environmental, natural resource and energy law. He is a member of the Mississippi firm Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes, which has represented clients such as the Mississippi Manufacturers Association and DuPont.
ElectrIQ Power, a Palo Alto-based battery startup, has brought on Randy Fish as VP of business development and policy. Previously he was a consultant at Strategen and continues his role as a manager at the California Energy Storage Alliance.
In the past few months, a bevy of people have left microinverter builder Enphase. Senior product manager Jaspreet Singh joins that list, and is now serving as a product manager for Schneider Electric. Singh previously held various positions with ABB.