Former DOE Chief Steven Chu Takes Board Seat at Amprius, Plus More Green Job News

Executive moves at SolarCity, GT Advanced, TDI, and SunEdison; plus Gary Kremen.

Eric Wesoff January 20, 2014

Eric Wesoff

Editor-at-Large
Greentech Media

Eric Wesoff is Editor-at-Large at Greentech Media. Prior to joining GTM, Eric Wesoff founded Sage Marketing Partners in 2000 to provide sales and marketing-consulting services to venture-capital firms and their portfolio companies in the alternative energy and telecommunications sectors. Mr. Wesoff has become a well-known, respected authority and speaker in these fields.

His expertise covers solar power, fuel cells, biofuels and advanced batteries. His strengths are in market research and analysis, business development and due diligence for investors. He frequently consults for energy startups and Silicon Valley's premier venture capitalists.

Dr. Steven Chu, Nobel laureate and former Secretary of Energy, has joined the Board of Directors of Amprius, a startup aiming to commercialize high-energy, high-capacity lithium-ion batteries. Chu said in a statement, "I look forward to advising Amprius’ development of silicon-based anodes, advanced cathodes, and next-generation batteries."

Amprius recently won $30M in funding for its lithium-ion batteries from investors including Trident Capital, VantagePoint Capital Partners, IPV Capital, KPCB, Chinergy Capital, SAIF Partners, Google Chairman Dr. Eric Schmidt, and Stanford University. Total VC funding for the startup exceeds $60 million.

Late last year, Vancouver-based Inventys Thermal Technologies, a VC-funded carbon capture technology firm, also added Chu to its Board of Directors. Dr. Chu is currently the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of Physics and Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at Stanford University. He won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1997.

SolarCity (SCTY) just acquired privately held financial technology firm Common Assets and announced that it will now offer a web-based investment platform to allow "individuals and organizations" to invest in solar projects. Tim Newell, financial products expert and CEO of Common Assets, will join SolarCity as VP of financial products. John Witchel, chief architect of the company (and former CTO of Prosper Marketplace, a person-to-person online lending marketplace), joins SolarCity as senior technology architect for financial products.

Raja Bal will succeed Richard Gaynor as CFO of GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), a solar equipment vendor. Bal is currently VP, corporate controller and chief accounting officer at the firm.

California's State Controller John Chiang has appointed three members to the board created to oversee Proposition 39, the California Clean Energy Jobs Act. Board members appointed by the Controller are:

Dana Cuff, professor of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of California, Los Angeles
Erik Emblem, COO of the Western States Council-Sheet Metal Workers in Sacramento
Gary Kremen, entrepreneur and inventor; founder of Clean Power Finance and chairman of Palo Alto's Sociogramics

Polly Shaw is now VP of NAMR Government Affairs at SunEdison.

Transmission Developers named Gene Martin as President and COO of the firm. Martin’s background includes divisional CEO and executive roles with EMCOR Group, KeySpan Energy, and UtiliCorp United. TDI is a Blackstone portfolio that develops HVDC energy transmission projects.