Green Jobs: Space-Time Insight, Silicor, Nexeon, Renewable Funding, Tantalus, GTM Research

New CEOs, executives and directors in utilities, cleantech, venture and alternative energy

Eric Wesoff July 16, 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.

Space-Time Insight, a maker of utility mapping and visualization software that incorporates real-time data and predictive analytics, added John Luongo to its board of directors. Luongo has held staff positions at Lightspeed Venture Partners; Vantive Corp., where he was CEO; and Oracle, where he founded the firm's international group. Space-Time Insight's software is used in mission-critical applications at seven of the twenty largest utilities in the U.S., according to the firm.

Silicor, a manufacturer of solar silicon and aluminum by-products, added Craig Wellen as CFO. Wellen was most recently CFO of smart grid firm BPL Global. Silicor’s investors include Hudson Clean Energy Partners.

Tantalus, a maker of smart grid communications, appointed Dermot O’Leary as COO. O’Leary joins Tantalus having previously served as EVP and GM for the substation group at BPL Global.

Melissa Nelson-Zucker is now VP of Human Resources at energy efficiency program firm Renewable Funding. Nelson-Zucker has served as VP of HR at NEXTracker and Solaria, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Ben Kellison has been promoted to Director of Grid Research at Greentech Media. The most recent reports from Kellison's group are Advanced Grid Power Electronics for High-Penetration PV Integration 2014 and North American Microgrids 2014: The Evolution of Localized Energy Optimization.

Nexeon, a VC-funded Imperial College (U.K.) spin-out developing silicon anode technology for lithium-ion batteries, added three senior researchers from Sony: Kenta Yamamoto, Kengo Ichimiya and Akifumi Nakamura. The engineers have expertise in anode and Mg-ion cathode systems, polymer batteries, silicon anodes and cell optimization, according to a release.

Michael Wheeler was promoted to VP of Policy Initiatives at solar developer Recurrent Energy. He was an advisor and analyst at the California Public Utility Commission prior to working at Recurrent.

Martin Mesmer is now head of engineering and procurement at Pacifico Energy, a Japanese solar power plant developer. Mesmer has held senior engineering and sales positions at Sanyo, Intel, and E.ON.

Kevin Lang is now Director of Renewable Energy Finance at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Previously, Lang was Director of Solar Generation at Leidos Engineering.

Peggy Hock, formerly National Sales Director at Solar FlexRack, is now Director of Sales, North America at Gestamp Solar Steel.

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."