In this week's jobs roundup, we start in the world of power and automation…and elevators.
Judy Marks is leaving her post as CEO of Siemens USA to become president of United Technology Corp.’s elevator and escalator manufacturing business, Otis. She was also the global CEO of Siemens’ Dresser-Rand division, which provides rotating equipment to the power, oil and gas industries. Siemens named Paulo Ruiz Sternadt as the CEO successor at Dresser-Rand, but has not announced the next CEO of Siemens’ U.S. subsidiary.
Chicago startup Uptake poached more top brass from GE. Tom Anderson, formerly VP of enterprise technology for GE Digital, joins the energy IOT software startup as a VP. Recently, General Electric’s chief marketing officer for power services, Michael Donohue, also left for Uptake, which competes with GE’s Predix platform.
Gridtential brought on SunEdison veteran John Barton as its new CEO, taking the place of Christiaan Beekhuis. Barton was previously SunEdison’s president of global asset management. The energy storage startup is developing lead-acid battery technology and just last month closed an $11 million Series B. Gridtential also recently added retired Johnson Controls' VP Bob Gruenstern to its board.
Matt Eastwick is now at CleanCapital, where he will serve as head of capital markets. He was previously managing director of Global Environment Fund and head of capital markets at Cate Street Capital. The clean energy fintech startup closed a Series A this summer and has received early funding from Generate Capital and John Hancock Life Insurance. Last month, Jurgen Altziebler also joined CleanCapital as head of design to manage the company’s brand and visual identity.
Down Under, Oliver Yates, the former head of Australia’s Clean Energy Finance Corporation, has a new venture, the Clean Energy Derivatives Corporation. He will serve as the chairman of the board. Simon Corbell, former Australia capital region climate and energy minister, joins him on the board at the new fund, which will make use of structured derivatives to lower risks and bring revenue certainty to multi-megawatt clean energy projects.
President Trump nominated climate skeptic Kathleen Hartnett-White to lead the Council on Environmental Quality, which coordinates environmental and energy efforts across the federal government. He has also nominated Barry Myers, CEO of AccuWeather, to lead the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Both await Senate confirmation.
Anbaric Development Partners, a transmission and microgrid company, brought on Peter Shattuck as VP of special situations. He was previously Massachusetts’ director for the Acadia Center. At Anbaric, Shattuck will be focusing on transmission and microgrid projects, as well as campus energy infrastructure.
Also in microgrids, Chris Melley joined ABB as the regional manager of microgrid sales and solutions in the Eastern U.S. and Caribbean markets, where he will work with utilities and developers to integrate storage and renewables with existing grid resources. Melley joins ABB from NextEra Energy, where he was senior manager of new energy technology and innovation, which included microgrids.
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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 is a predictive analytics solution for utilities, which solves challenges around asset health/maintenance, storm recovery and CMI. This is a small but established firm, which just received new funding as well as some recent highly visible wins that will take them to the next level.
The client is currently seeking an experienced utility solution sales executive who has carried quotas in excess of $1 million to leverage their network of VP-level contacts within the IOU and muni/co-op markets. Must also have knowledge of T&D, asset management, GIS or OMS sales to drive and build relationships with prospects and customers to close complex sale opportunities while mentoring less experienced sales team members.
Interested in providing feedback on your experience with talent firms? Click here to take our new survey, Talent in Cleantech.
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Ryan Simpson is now senior manager for marketing and product management at Trina Solar. Before joining Trina this month, he was head of business development and marketing for Ginlong Solis USA’s residential business.
Recurrent Energy, subsidiary of Canadian Solar, picked up Michael Toomey to be its director of development. He was previously project director for energy storage at NextEra Energy Resources.
According to Fortune, Jeannine Sargent left Flex as president of innovation and new ventures and is moving into a tech investing venture. Flex has gained Chris Wirth, who is joining the company’s smart home business, Flex Living, as VP of marketing. He was previously VP of marketing at Spruce Finance.
BlueWave Solar has a new legal and compliance department. The department includes Lynda Freshman as senior legal counsel and Michael Gordon as general counsel. Freshman was previously in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office and Gordon was chair of WilmerHale’s consumer financial protection bureau practice in Washington, D.C.
Laura Formusa, former CEO of Hydro One, has joined the board of smart grid communications company Tantalus Systems. The company raised $6 million earlier this year. Tantalus will tap Formusa’s industry experience to grow its customer base.
Finally, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ board of directors has added Mississippi Public Service Commission Chair Brandon Presley to its roster.
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Please continue to let us know about hirings, firings and promotions across clean energy at [email protected].
