Cathy Zoi was named CEO for SunEdison's rural electric utility company. SunEdison "plans to profitably electrify 20 million new or underserved electric customers by 2020." CEO Ahmad Chatila said he saw the rural off-grid market as "hundreds of gigawatts," during a recent interview at GTM's Solar Summit. Zoi said, "We intend to create the world's first private electric utility, with a global footprint, to address this underserved market profitably." Zoi was a partner at Silver Lake Kraftwerk and briefly the CSO at C3. She also served as Acting Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy earlier in the Obama administration.
SunEdison also promoted Pancho Perez to the role of executive VP and COO. Perez's appointment extends his role as COO for TerraForm Power, the firm's YieldCo. Perez previously served as President of SunEdison for Europe, Middle East, and Latin America.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority hired Cheryl Martin, former acting director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy program and deputy director for commercialization. As part of New York's Reforming the Energy Vision strategy, Martin will assist private technology firms and investor-owned utilities to develop new businesses and form partnerships. Martin was an EIR with KPCB and spent 20 years with Rohm and Haas.
Judith Judson, an energy storage industry veteran, will serve as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources. Judson was VP of Asset Management at Beacon Power and served as Chairman and Commissioner of the Massachusetts PUC during the Romney administration.
Sungevity named Peter Graf as Chief Product Officer, a new position within the solar sales firm. Graf "will lead product management, software development and IT, solar system design, as well as corporate marketing and communications." Before joining Sungevity, Graf served as the GM of the sustainability business at enterprise software company SAP.
Dustin Dunaway, formerly at Clean Power Finance, is now VP of sales at competitive gas and electric supplier Just Energy.
As SNL Energy reported earlier this month, the FERC Chairmanship has shifted to Norman Bay from Cheryl LaFleur. The article suggests that FERC policy will lean "toward a more consumer-oriented focus," adding, "We believe issues around capacity (and power market) compensation could also tilt more favorably toward consumers." LaFleur became FERC's acting chairman after Jon Wellinghoff left the agency. This unusual switch is the result of a deal between the Republicans and the Obama administration.
Ioxus named Donald Runkle as Chairman of the Board. Runkle was Vice-Chairman of Delphi Corporation. Previously at General Motors, Runkle held positions including chief engineer of Chevrolet, chief engineer of powertrain and racing at the Buick Division, and director of Advanced Vehicle Engineering. Ioxus builds ultracapacitors for transportation, alternative energy, medical, industrial and consumer product markets.
Greg Wolfson, formerly of Boeing's EPCM business, is now senior director of the storage product line at Enphase.
Andrew Beebe, most recently NextEra's VP of distributed generation, has joined Obvious Ventures as managing director. Obvious is an early-stage-focused venture capital firm founded by Twitter and Medium co-founder Ev Williams, along with entrepreneurs James Joaquin and Vishal Vasishth. The company's investment themes include “sustainable systems, people power, and healthy living." The investors closed a $77.7 million first fund last month, according to this SEC document.