solar summit 2017

Dr. Charlie Gay is the Solar Energy Technologies Office Director for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In this position he is leading the SunShot Initiative, a team that is dedicated to research, manufacturing and market solutions to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade.

Dr. Gay is an internationally recognized pioneer in photovoltaics. After starting his career in 1975 designing solar power system components for communications satellites at Spectrolab, he later joined ARCO Solar, where he established the research and development program and led the commercialization of crystalline silicon and thin film technologies.

In 1990, he became president and chief operating officer of Siemens Solar Industries, and from 1994 to 1997, he served as director of DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. In 1997, he was named president and chief executive officer of ASE Americas, and from 2001 to 2005 served as founding chairman of the technical advisory board at SunPower Corporation.  He joined Applied Materials in 2006 as corporate vice president and general manager of the Solar Business Group. He served as president of Applied Solar and chairman of the Applied Solar Council from 2009-2013. As president, Dr. Gay was responsible for positioning Applied Materials and its solar efforts with important stakeholders in the energy industry, technical community and governments around the world.

He earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside and was elected a member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2013. He established the Greenstar Foundation in 1997 to demonstrate an economically sustainable model that delivers solar power and internet access for health, education and microenterprise projects to developing world villages.

Richard Swanson received his BSEE and MSEE from Ohio State University in 1969 and his PhD from Stanford University in 1974. After completing his PhD, he joined the Electrical Engineering faculty at Stanford. His research investigated the semiconductor properties of silicon relevant for better understanding the operation of silicon solar cells. These studies have helped pave the way for steady improvement in silicon solar cell performance.

In 1991 Dr. Swanson resigned from his faculty position to devote full time to SunPower Corporation, a company he founded. Today, SunPower produces the highest performance photovoltaic panels available, and has become the world’s third largest by market capitalization manufacturer and installer of photovoltaic systems.

Dr. Swanson has received widespread recognition for his work. In 2002, he was awarded the William R. Cherry award by the IEEE for outstanding contributions to the photovoltaic field, and in 2006 the Becquerel Prize in Photovoltaics from the European Communities. He was elected a Fellow of the IEEE in 2008 and a member of the National Academy of Engineering in 2009. He received the 2009 Economist Magazine Energy Innovator Award. In 2010 he was awarded the IEEE Jin-ichi Nishizawa Medal for the conception and commercialization of high-efficiency point-contact solar cell technology, and in 2011 the Karl Boer Solar Energy Medal of Merit Award.

Dr. Swanson is currently retired from SunPower. He serves on the board of the Worldwatch Institute, as well several advisory boards, and is Chairman of the Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium Executive Board.

Abigail Ross Hopper is the President and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, the national trade organization for America's solar energy industries. She oversees all of SEIA's activities, including government affairs, research, communications, and industry leadership.

Before joining SEIA, Abby was the Director of the Department of Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. As the BOEM's second director, she weighed complex and sometimes conflicting factors to achieve balanced federal energy policy.

She served formerly as the Director of the Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) and has broad experience in the energy sector, including working with a wide variety of stakeholders as well as legal expertise. Abby led the MEA from 2012, first as Acting Director and then as Director in June 2013. She also served concurrently as Energy Advisor to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley since 2010. As MEA Director, Abby was pivotal in ensuring the passage of the Maryland Offshore Wind Energy Act of 2013.

She was a lead negotiator representing the State’s interests in both the Exelon/Constellation merger and the FirstEnergy/Allegheny Energy merger, securing millions in benefits for Maryland and its citizens. Abby has also focused significant resources on improving the resiliency of the State’s electric utilities in the face of major storms.

Abby previously spent over two years as Deputy General Counsel with the Maryland Public Service Commission, during which she advised commissioners on a broad range of legal matters arising from their duties as utility regulators.

Before embarking on a career in public service, Abby spent nine years in private practice where she specialized in complex merger and investment counseling and corporate law.

Abby graduated Cum Laude from the University of Maryland School of Law and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Dartmouth College.

Carl Mansfield is General Manager and Founder of Sharp Electronics Corporation's Energy Systems and Services Group (ESSG), which focuses on developing innovative energy management and energy storage products for the U.S. market. Mr. Mansfield is the driving force behind the development and business roll-out of Sharp's SmartStorage® energy management product and has served as General Manager of ESSG since its formation in the spring of 2014.

Mr. Mansfield has more than 20 years of experience in the high-tech industry, with an emphasis on communications, information technology and control systems. Prior to founding ESSG, Mr. Mansfield spent eight years developing new business opportunities for Sharp, leveraging innovative technologies and business models to create new products and services. He joined Sharp in 1998 as Manager, Sharp Laboratories of America. In 2004, he was named Senior Manager of Home Networking Technologies, where he successfully led development of system and intellectual property for a powerline carrier communications system, and oversaw the successful license and royalty agreements for several patents. He has also served as Sharp's representative on the Board of Directors for HomePlug and WiMedia.

He holds a Master of Science in Telecomms Engineering degree from the University of London and an MA in Physics and Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge. He is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Nate Blair is a Group Manager within the Strategic Energy Analysis Center (SEAC) at NREL. Nate has over twenty years of experience in renewable and efficiency energy systems modeling and energy analysis. He worked as the TRNSYS project manager at the Univ. of WI – Solar Energy Laboratory, briefly at Sandia National Laboratories, Global Energy Partners, and Thermal Energy System Specialists.  Nate has a B.A. in physics from Gustavus Adolphus College, an M.S.M.E. and an MBA from the UW-Madison. 
His 14 years of NREL activities include helping develop the Solar Analysis Model (SAM) and PVWatts as well as working with the ReEDS electric grid palnning model.  He currently manages a team of system modelers and the geospatial Data Science (GDS) staff. Recently, he worked at the World Bank from 2015-2016 on assignment from NREL.

Deep is an entrepreneurial business leader, currently leading ENACT SYSTEMS an award-winning cloud platform for the distributed energy industry, that he co-founded in 2013. Prior to ENACT, Deep was CEO of Centrosolar’s North American photovoltaic systems business that he co-founded in 2009, where he pioneered a unique business model for sales, financing and distribution of complete, packaged PV-systems configured on a unique software platform and serviced by a dealer network in 20 states.

Deep has a decade-long experience leading strategy and operations, spanning global leadership roles in US and Europe. Prior to Centrosolar, Deep led Project Management for Roland Berger Strategy Consultants at their headquarters in Munich, Germany, focusing on growth strategy, due diligence and financial re-structuring for large automotive clients. Deep’s team supported the turn-around strategies for one of the largest global automotive OEMs, as well as the re-organization of a top French global automotive supplier. Deep led the firm’s strategy on powertrain electrification where he engaged with German OEMs and utilities on electric vehicle deployment.
Deep started his career in the automotive industry at DaimlerChrysler, where he held positions of increasing responsibility in Product Engineering, Program Management and Product Strategy for the Chrysler Group headquarters in Michigan. Deep won the prestigious Lynn Tilly Award for Corporate Quality in 2005, and his earlier work on design for high-volume manufacturing of engines was awarded ‘Technology of the Year’ by Industry Week in 2001.

Deep has a Mechanical Engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur, India, Master’s degree in Engineering from Penn State University, and an MBA in Strategy and Finance from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Thomas is a passionate leader in the Solar Energy industry, and prides himself on building lasting teams and facilitating alignment and cohesion of business models across diverse projects and programs. He balances the business capability roadmap with energy sustainability and renewable technology solutions, quality, service, and process simplification to achieve a positive return on assets.

Thomas currently serves as President for Soligent Distribution and is responsible for the day-to-day operational responsibilities of the company. Prior to joining Soligent, Thomas served as a member of the Management Board and ran the Solar Energy Division at Fronius USA for over five years. Before his time spent at Fronius USA, Thomas co-founded and managed joint ventures and conducted multiple successful mergers and acquisitions.

Paul Gibbs had the idea for building HelioScope while working in distributed electronics for PV arrays. Witnessing the painful process it takes to design, develop and finance a new solar project was eye-opening, and he saw the need for a better system. New and emergent technologies only appeared to confound these problems.

His unique background spanning physics, optimization and energy has enabled him to begin building the technology platform behind HelioScope. Paul received an MBA from Harvard Business School and has degrees in Physics and Economics from the University of Chicago.

Prior to attending business school he was a founder at Nodal Exchange, where he led new product development and designed a market allowing utilities to hedge electricity transmission costs in a structure that parallels the actual physical power flows.

Emily Kirsch is the Founder and CEO of Powerhouse, an Oakland based co-working space and seed fund that houses and invests in intelligent energy entrepreneurs. Prior to founding Powerhouse, Emily worked with Van Jones, a former advisor to President Obama turned CNN political commentator, to launch the Green Jobs Corps; Oakland's first renewables focused job training program.Emily is the founding convener of the the Oakland Climate Action Coalition which drafted and secured passage of what was the most ambitious Energy and Climate Action Plan of any city in the country. In addition, Emily worked with the solar company Mosaic to secure their first customers and launch their pilot platform. Emily is a 2012 New Leaders Council Alumni, was featured in the '15 for 2015 Women Leaders in Cleantech', was a 2015 winner of the 'East Bay Innovation Award for Cleantech', and was a 'Grist 50: The 50 People You'll Be Talking About in 2016.' Emily serves on the Board of PV Complete and is on the Advisory Board of the University of San Francisco’s Masters of Science in Energy Systems Management. Emily has guest lectured at UC Berkeley and Stanford.

Dirk Liebich was recently appointed Global Chief Technology Officer of REPOWER by Solar Universe, one of the top 10 providers of residential solar in the U.S. In his new role at this high-growth company, Dirk will drive expansion and scalability through technological innovation, enablement and collaboration. REPOWER operates across 11 states through 100+ partners that market, sell, and install solar under the REPOWER brand. Their innovative business model has created a marketplace linking specialty players including Manufacturers, Lead Generators, Sales/Origination firms, Financiers, Distributors and Installers into a cohesive network that collectively provides homeowners with the best solar solution available.

He is an accomplished senior executive and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience driving digital transformation through strategic and technical leadership. His extensive experience across industries has focused on leading demand-driven business strategies through process optimization, advanced information modeling and deployment of cloud-based technologies. He has transformed multiple prototypes into comprehensive platforms by leveraging enhanced business intelligence and machine learning techniques.

A widely respected thought leader in the field of Digital Transformation, his bIog “Das Magazin” enjoys a global following. He is a frequent guest speaker and author - his latest book “Social goes Mobile - Kunden gezielt erreichen” is available on Amazon. A native German, Dirk speaks German, English and French. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bochum.

Conlan O'Leary is Co-Founder and CEO of Sighten. Prior to Sighten, Conlan helped manage the structuring and pricing desk at Clean Power Finance, a leading residential solar financing platform. Conlan has a deep knowledge of the US solar marketplace with 6+ years working exclusively in residential solar financing and quoting software. Conlan has prior experience in technology and cleantech investment banking as well as environmental commodities trading. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire and holds degrees in economics and philosophy.

Tim Rochman is the Director of the Energy Markets at EagleView. His leadership in the energy market includes data solutions derived from aerial imagery in the Solar, Electric Utility, and Oil & Gas Pipeline industries. For Solar, Rochman is responsible for addressing and engaging the needs of PV Solar manufacturers and installers. Under his guidance, EagleView creates and delivers property centric data empowering stakeholders with remote site knowledge to facilitate proposal, design, survey and operations activities.

Michael leads commercial sales and marketing for GE’s Digital Solar Business as the Global Director of Sales & Marketing. He joined GE Power in 2010 as a Regional Sales Manager for Renewables where he led GE Solar Power Plant, inverter and photovoltaic module sales efforts targeting the US, Caribbean, Africa and Australia. In 2012, he was promoted to a Senior Manager in Market & Competitive Intelligence for Power Services where he implemented profitable deal strategies, led quantitative market modeling and provided relevant business intelligence which drove new product adoption and incremental margin dollars. Prior to joining GE, he led Global Marketing and Pricing Strategy for the microprocessor and chipset business at Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and held leadership roles in engineering, software development, marketing, and product management during his 12 years at the company. Michael holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an MBA from the University of Texas in Austin.

Stephen Simons is the Chief Information Officer for Direct Energy Solar, the residential and small commercial solar division of Direct Energy, one of the largest retail providers of electricity, natural gas, and home services in all of North America.  Stephen has been with the business since its inception as Astrum Solar, which in 2012 was ranked #2 on the INC 500 list of fastest growing companies in the United States and is responsible for the creation and evolution of their end-to-end enterprise software platform.

A customer-driven business executive and technology thought leader with experience at every stage of the corporate lifecycle from start-up to large enterprise, Stephen not only brings his practical, visionary leadership to the energy industry, but also finds time to serve as a board member for Yet Analytics, a high growth, data-forward start-up out of Baltimore, MD that is revolutionizing the way that companies think about, manage, and motivate their people. When he is not crunching data, he and his wife provide insight on other topics like life, the universe, and everything as the founding pastors of Creation Springs Church in Carroll County, MD.

Abe Yokell is Managing Partner and co-founder of Congruent Ventures, an early stage venture firm that backs companies in the sustainable technology ecosystem. 

Prior to co-founding Congruent Ventures, Abe spent 13 years at RockPort Capital, helping the RockPort team build nearly half of its portfolio, with a primary focus on business models and software solutions that address climate change challenges.  While at RockPort, he was responsible for opening the West Coast office in 2007, where he helped lead investments in energy fintech, residential solar, companies focused on blending software and hardware, data analytics platforms, urban transportation solutions, and energy storage companies.

His RockPort board seats included Renovate America, RePower, Qnovo, Flywheel, and EcoFactor, and he was previously involved with Enphase Energy (NASDAQ: ENPH), Streetline Networks (acquired by Kapsch), Recurve (acquired by Tendril), and Eka Systems (acquired by Cooper Power), among others.