Another week brings more moves and shifts at the upper levels of the renewable energy industry.
Nat Kreamer, CEO of Spruce Finance, has left the residential solar financing firm, according to reports in SparkSpread and sources close to the company. Kreamer was the CEO of VC-funded Clean Power Finance before its merger with Kilowatt Financial in 2015. GTM sources say that either CFO Darren Thompson or COO Steve Olszewski could replace Kreamer and claim that Spruce has gained enough debt funding to finish the operating year. Spruce has been up for sale since 2016.
VC-funded electric-bus builder Proterra hired Amy Ard as CFO. Previously, Ard was CFO at Advanced Metallurgical Group, a publicly held specialty metals and engineering firm. Proterra recently closed an "oversubscribed" $140 million funding round and claims to have experienced "exceptional sales growth" in the first half of this year.
Dan Squiller, the former CEO of Verengo Solar, is now the CEO of Aquam Corporation, a firm that provides support and diagnostics for water and gas infrastructure.
DNV GL, the energy consultancy and certification firm, has hired Edward Cuoco as VP of its market and policy development group. Cuoco was previously an executive at The Weather Company (IBM) and EnerNOC, amassing expertise in data science, risk management and energy markets.
Cody Shill is now VP of solar sales and operations at Coast 2 Coast Communications, a direct solar sales firm. He was previously in sales with SunPower and SunEdison and writes, "So happy to see that solar is opening up again in my home state of Nevada!" He cited GTM's report that Nevada voted to approve a bill (AB 405) that would reinstate net energy metering for residential solar projects -- at a discounted compensation rate.
Diana Genasci is now Principal Advisor at Southern California Edison. Genasci was previously principal regulatory case manager at PG&E.
Hilary Pearson, former director of government affairs at Sungevity, is now key manager of energy and environmental policy, utility of the future, at ComEd.
SparkSpread reports that UBS’ lead electric utilities analyst Julien Dumoulin-Smith has joined rival Bank of America Merrill Lynch in a similar role.
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President Donald Trump nominated Jeffrey Bossert Clark, a partner at law firm Kirkland & Ellis, as assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division. Clark represented BP Exploration and Production during the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
David Field, former CEO of OneRoof Energy, is now president at San Diego's LE Solar, an affiliate of LS Power, a developer, owner and investor in power generation.
From the previous jobs column:
Tesla has hired Gaby Toledano, previously an executive at video game giant Electronic Arts, to replace Arnnon Geshuri, VP of human resources. One of the challenges facing the newly hired Toledano will be the issue of labor unions.
Automotive News reports: "Workers at Tesla Inc.’s Fremont, Calif. assembly plant have filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the company of illegally surveilling and coercing workers seeking unionization." Tesla CEO Elon Musk has claimed "unionization would be antithetical to Tesla’s mission."
The board of the American Wind Energy Association elected Tristan Grimbert of EDF Renewable Energy as its chair. Grimbert succeeds Chris Brown, president of Vestas Americas, as chair.