Stion named Peter DeGraff as EVP of sales and marketing. Previously, DeGraff served as EVP of sales and marketing at inverter firm Satcon. Stion also added Louis Golato as VP of manufacturing. Golato has led semiconductor and lithium battery operations while working for A123 Systems, Texas Instruments and Intel. According to The Wichita Eagle, "Stion says it will hire twenty-three more employees, bringing its total to 177 employees at its Hattiesburg plant as new tariffs on Chinese solar panels cause an increase in demand for American-made panels." The article notes that Stion "is still far from reaching the $400 million investment and 1,000 employees it promised when it signed an economic development deal with Mississippi in 2011 in exchange for a $75 million loan."
James Belliveau is now director of business development at KACO new energy (North America), according to this LinkedIn profile. Belliveau joins KACO after three years at SMA and previous marketing roles at Enecsys and Solyndra.
The European Photovoltaic Industry Association appointed James Watson as the trade organization's new CEO. Watson previously served as director of public affairs for Weber Shandwick, based in Brussels.
Stephen Smith has joined Aclara, a software and services provider for utilities, as GM of its Consumer Engagement business unit. Smith previously served as the VP of Sales for EcoFactor, a residential energy management startup. Smith spent twenty years at Honeywell Utility Solutions in a variety of leadership positions prior to joining EcoFactor.
Bruce McWilliams, CEO of SuVolta, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Intermolecular, a research and development accelerator for semiconductor and clean energy markets. McWilliams takes over the chairman position from CMEA founder Tom Baruch, who served in that role for almost eight years.
Eric Murray has joined Pulse Energy as EVP of customer operations. Pulse Energy provides a software platform for utilities to deliver energy-efficiency programs to commercial customers. Murray was most recently CEO of Tantalus and has held executive positions at GE and ABB.
Innovari added Judd Rabb as CFO. Most recently, Rabb was CFO and VP of administration for PV microinverter firm SolarBridge. Rabb also served as the CFO and VP of finance for Illumitex, as well as CFO and VP of finance for ColdWatt (acquired by Flextronics). Prior to that, he was corporate controller for Green Mountain Energy, a firm acquired by NRG Energy. Innovari claims that its "solution attacks the electric grid's core problem -- the load duration curve -- unlocking access to affordable capacity that improves system utilization, reliability, and financial performance."
Andrew Williamson joined energy/sustainability venture firm True North Venture Partners. Previously, Williamson was managing director at MalibuIQ, where he was responsible for commercializing technology developed at HRL labs. Prior to MalibuIQ, Andrew was an investor at Physic Ventures. True North was founded by Michael Ahearn, who served as the CEO of thin-film PV EPC First Solar from 2000 through 2009 and is currently its chairman.
Earlier this month, Broadscale Group, an investment firm working with energy companies to bring innovations to market, announced that James Rogers, former chairman and CEO of Duke Energy, was a senior advisor at the firm. Broadscale has also added Sanjay Wagle to its team as an operating advisor. Broadscale works with a network of firms, including Duke Energy, GE, Johnson Controls, and National Grid.
The board of the Edison Electric Institute elected Ted Craver Jr., CEO of California-based Edison International, to serve as chairman of EEI, the national association of investor-owned electric utilities. Also elected were three vice chairmen: Nick Akins, CEO of Ohio-based American Electric Power; Tom Fanning, CEO of Georgia-based Southern Company; and Chris Crane, CEO of Illinois-based Exelon Corporation. EEI also promoted Brian L. Wolff from SVP to EVP of public policy and external affairs.
The Energy Storage Association, the trade association for the energy storage industry, named several newly elected board members, including Craig Horne, co-founder and CSO of EnerVault; Praveen Kathpal, VP of AES Energy Storage; John Holmes, Senior Technology Development Advisor for San Diego Gas & Electric; and Hisham Othman, Leader of Grid Integration at SunEdison. Richard Baxter, President of Mustang Prairie, and Troy Miller, Business Development and Project Manager for S&C Electric Company, were also elected for an additional term on the board.