California’s State Senate unanimously confirmed Carla J. Peterman to the state’s Public Utilities Commission. Commissioner Peterman previously served as Gov. Brown's appointee to the California Energy Commission. Before that, she was an environmental business analyst at community development nonprofit Isles Inc. and an energy finance associate at Lehman Brothers.  

Advanced metering infrastructure powerhouse Itron named Pace Americas CEO Michael Pulli to its board. 

Michael R. Brower was named CEO of the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE) after serving in an interim capacity in the job since July 2013. Brower is a retired career naval officer and succeeds Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn (USN, ret.) in the job.   

Power electronics and inverter manufacturer Ideal Power appointed R. Daniel Brdar to the roles of CEO and Board Chair. Ideal also moved Paul Bundschuh to President and Chief Commercial Officer. Brdar, formerly an exec in GE’s gas turbines division, COO at Petra Solar, and researcher at DOE, most recently helmed FuelCell Energy.  

Suntech interim CEO Weiping Zhou resigned for “personal reasons.” New management is expected to step in following a final review by Suntech's Board and Joint Provisional Liquidators, a process which, as of December 2013, had no defined end date.

Paul Baier, a sustainability, energy and carbon management advocate, announced that he will move from Groom Energy to a VP position with building energy efficiency startup FirstFuel. 

Former Austin Energy and Grid Net exec Andres Carvallo will act as CEO for his startup Compass Management Group. Carvallo is co-author of The Advanced Smart Grid: Edge Power Driving Sustainability.