solar summit 2019

Shelee is part of the senior executive team of Hawaiian Electric Company which serves 95% of Hawaii’s population and is pursuing the state’s goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045. She provides leadership for Hawaiian Electric’s Strategic Transformation Plan, its Transformation Program and several of its strategic initiatives to create more options for customers, integrate more renewables and create new markets. She oversees the areas of business development, corporate strategy, renewable purchased power, demand response and electrification of transportation.

Shelee joined the Hawaiian Electric team in May 2014 as vice president of corporate planning and business development. Prior to that, she served as manager of investor relations and strategic planning and director of corporate finance and investments at parent company HEI. She started her career with Arthur Andersen and was a consulting manager when she left in 2004 to join HEI.

Shelee graduated summa cum laude from the University of Hawaii at Mānoa with a bachelor of business administration degree and was a recipient of the Presidential Scholarship which is awarded to ten students across the University of Hawaii system. She is also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2016, the Clean Energy Education and Empowerment (C3E) program, led by the U.S. Department of Energy in collaboration with the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy and the MIT Energy Initiative, honored Shelee with the C3E award for leadership and achievement in Business. Shelee serves on the audit committee of Kamehameha Schools, the largest independent school system in the nation. She is also an Omidyar Fellow. Shelee and her husband of 20 years have three children.

RJ Johnson is the Vice President of Origination for NextEra Energy Resources. RJ and his team are responsible for market development, customer engagement and contracting of wind, solar and storage facilities in North America. Previously, RJ was a founding member of the NextEra Energy Storage team, and was responsible for commercial development of wholesale and distributed energy storage systems.  RJ began his career at NextEra Energy as a wind developer leading cross-functional teams to develop facilities in California, the Pacific Northwest, Texas and the Mid-West. Prior to joining NextEra Energy Resources, RJ served as a Captain in the U.S. Army where he had roles as a Platoon Leader, Executive Officer, Adjutant and Assistant Operations Officer in the 4th Infantry Division. 

RJ holds a degree in civil engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Tom Werner serves as SunPower’s CEO and chairman of the SunPower board of directors. Prior to joining SunPower, he held the position of chief executive officer of Silicon Light Machines, Inc., an optical solutions subsidiary of Cypress Semiconductor Corporation.  Previously, Werner was vice president and general manager of the Business Connectivity Group of 3Com Corp., a network solutions company, and has also held a number of executive management positions at Oak Industries, Inc., and General Electric Co. He currently serves as a board member of Cree, Inc., Silicon Valley Leadership Group, and is a member of the Marquette University board of trustees. Werner holds a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University and a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University.

Cris Eugster has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the energy and technology sectors. Cris currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of CPS Energy, one of the nation’s largest municipally-owned utilities with over 821,000 electric customers and 347,000 gas customers. CPS Energy is vertically integrated and includes generation, transmission and distribution, and retail services with annual revenues of over $2.5 billion and total assets of over $11 billion.

As Chief Operating Officer, Cris leads the Operations of CPS Energy and its approximately 2000 team members.  Cris also leads overall corporate strategy, integrated resource planning, new products and services, research & development, and environmental oversight, driving the transformation of CPS Energy into a strong, innovative 21st century power provider. The strategy has led to significant investments in low carbon capabilities such as combined cycle natural gas, wind, and solar, in addition to large scale demand response programs and innovative smart grid solutions. CPS Energy is nationally recognized for its efforts in the New Energy Economy and has won numerous awards.

Cris sits on a number of Boards including Chairman of Smart Electric Power Association (SEPA), Association of Edison Illuminating Companies (AEIC), Chair of the EPIcenter, Texas A&M Smart Grid Center Advisory Board (SGC), Trinity University Business Advisory Council, and the United Way of San Antonio and Bexar County.  Past Boards have included Build SA Green, Solar San Antonio, Mission Verde Alliance, Texas Renewable Energy Industry Association (TREIA), DOE State Energy Advisory Board, and the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). In February 2018, Cris was named
Co-Chair of the Transformation Advisory Council for the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) and in August 2018 he was named to the Southern States Energy Board Blue Ribbon Task Force where he will lend his expertise towards creating a sustainable and customer-centric grid.

Prior to coming to San Antonio, Cris was the first Chief Officer for Sustainable Growth for the City of Houston as part of Mayor Bill White’s team.  Prior to that Cris was Partner with McKinsey & Company, an international management consulting firm, serving Fortune 100 companies in the Technology, Energy, and Diversified Services markets.  He received his PhD and MS in Electrical Engineering from MIT focused on quantum transport research in nanostructures. He received his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University with Magna Cum Laude honors.

Cris is married and has two sons.

Mathew is driven by the opportunity to play a small part in the big changes undergoing how we use, generate and store energy. He leads National Grid Ventures efforts to originate, develop and advance opportunities that leverage the customer and grid benefits of distributed energy in the US.

Before joining National Grid Mathew led originations for KRoad DG, a PE platform focused on distributed generation. He was also a founding member of Yingli Green Energy’s American subsidiary, which grew to the world’s largest solar panel manufacturer during his tenure. Mathew also led teams within PriceWaterhouseCooper’s Transaction Services Strategy Group and worked at Honeywell (NYSE:HON), Praxair (NYSE:PX), and semiconductor equipment manufacturer Heller Industries, focusing on business development and product design.

He holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from SUNY Buffalo. Mathew lives in Brooklyn with his wife and two daughters, who consistently remind him that anything is possible.

Mr. Boris Schubert is General Manager, solar and storage, at Shell New Energies and a Director at Silicon Ranch Corporation. With more than 15 years of experience in cleantech, electric utilities, technology and consulting, Borish has held executive roles at Q-Cells International USA Corporation, ET Solar Industry Limited, ET Capital Solar Partners, Inc., and Hanwha Q CELLS USA. He has deep expertise in solar project financing, development, EPC and O&M management. He started his career as a management consultant at Accenture, where his client work included developing market entry strategies for Distributed Energy Resource players, B2B CRM process optimization and data warehousing, and analytics reporting for utilities. Boris holds a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering and a Master of Business Administration degree, both from the University of Augsburg, Germany.

Chris runs the Independent Power Company at Cypress Creek, focusing on maximizing the value of Cypress’ operating assets as well as the Cash Flow Available for Distribution (CAFD). Prior to this role, Chris managed a development pipeline of over 240 MW of solar projects for Cypress across the U.S., including in Texas, New York, and Maryland.

Prior to Cypress, Chris worked for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he led the development of air regulations on utility scale power plants. Prior to joining the EPA, Chris worked with California electric utilities such as Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas and Electric, and San Diego Gas and Electric on the development, implementation, and evaluation of demand response and demand side management programs.

Chris holds a B.A. in Environment, Economics, and Politics from Claremont McKenna College, a Masters of Environmental Management from Duke University, and a Masters of Business Administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Kyle Goehring has led the JLL Clean Energy group since early 2016 and joined JLL in May 2014. The Clean Energy group serves corporate, investor and public-sector clients by advising owners on clean energy strategies and technology opportunities such as on-site solar PV installations, integrated energy solutions (aka microgrid), energy storage, demand side management technologies, offsite renewable energy, waste-to-energy (anaerobic digestion and gasification), environmental attribute trading and energy savings as a service.

Mr. Goehring supports clients in their review of sustainability objectives through an assessment of their portfolio for the site specific feasibility of clean energy technologies and installations; advises on third party and ownership deal structures; negotiates applicable agreements; and can recommend ongoing onsite support services from market-leading organizations.

A diversified representation of programs at JLL include a significant onsite carport solar PV programs for several health care organizations, procurement of off-site renewable energy for a global software client, integrated energy solutions for a retail client, rooftop solar leasing for the installation of solar PV and solar plus storage.

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.

Phil leads the dedicated Project Structuring team that provides transaction pricing, financial and commercial structuring, and asset portfolio management services to Constellation’s Distributed Energy business line.  Since joining the group in 2010, Phil has worked closely with Sales and Engineering & Construction to extend Constellation’s Commercial & Industrial and Public Sector product offerings beyond Solar and Energy Efficiency to also include stand-alone and integrated solutions involving Battery Storage, Emergency Generation, Fuel Cells, and Combined Heat & Power/ Co-Generation plants. 

Prior to joining the Distributed Energy sales team, Phil worked for 10 years in the Credit Risk Management Group within Constellation’s marketing and trading organization, where he led credit structuring for large wholesale and retail energy transactions.  Phil has an MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Political Science from McDaniel College.

Nicola Sicchieri is the VP Business Development Americas at DSM Advanced Solar, a division of Royal DSM (AMS: DSM), a multinational Dutch company active in Nutrition, Health and Materials. Nicola joined DSM in 2013 in the Netherlands Headquarter, focusing his effort on the European solar market. Three years ago, Nicola moved to San Francisco to further develop DSM’s solar business within North America and Latin America. Prior to that, he worked for several solar organizations in Europe gaining more than 14 years of experience in the field.

Will leads Origination of solar & storage for Strata Solar. In this capacity, Will is building on Strata’s success as a solar and storage solution provider. Serving all customer classes, Strata combines extensive EPC experience with industry-leading development practices to offer highly competitive and compelling utility-scale solar and battery storage solutions.

Prior to Strata, Will spent four years at Recurrent Energy where he served on the leadership team and led the government affairs group. Prior to leading the team, he managed policy initiatives in a variety of regions and co-led the company's market entry into the mountain west. 

With over a decade in the independent power development space, Will has worked on projects throughout the North American market. He has presented at numerous industry events and serves on the governing body nominating committee of the California Independent System Operator’s Energy Imbalance Market.

Prior to joining Recurrent Energy, Will spent six years with Competitive Power Ventures, a leading North American independent power producer, where he supported external affairs and business development activities across a multi-state portfolio of combined and simple-cycle natural gas, wind and solar energy facilities.

Will is active in his local community where he is an elected Fire District Commissioner and serves as a volunteer firefighter. He holds a B.A. in philosophy from Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island.

Teresa Barnes manages the Photovoltaic (PV) Reliability and System Performance Group at NREL. She is also the Principal Investigator and Director of the DuraMAT Consortium for module materials research. Dr. Barnes’ group focuses on PV module and system reliability, including accelerated test development, outdoor field testing, energy yield assessment, degradation rate analysis, and materials science. Our group has worked with stakeholders throughout the PV value chain on the development of industry standards for reliability testing and energy yield.  We conduct application driven research on adhesion, cell and module degradation, mechanical damage, material weathering, and other topics.

Teresa has worked in PV at NREL for 14 years on thin-film PV, flexible devices, and transparent contacts before focusing on reliability in 2016. She is a Chemical Engineer with a PhD from the Colorado School of Mines and a BS from the University of Maryland.

Joel Cohn, CPA, is a partner in CohnReznick’s Transaction Consulting Group.  Since 1995, he has provided transaction structuring advice and technical services to sponsors of various tax credit projects including, among others, renewable energy projects.  His broad experience in raising tax equity brings to bear solutions where business goals and tax rules would appear to conflict.  He believes the key is having an understanding of the goals of the various stakeholders, and the alternative ways those goals can be achieved.

His advice has included maximization of credits through re-categorization of costs, contract restructuring and tax planning, all while working within the framework of tax law; creation of transaction structures designed to satisfy the key agendas of various stakeholders; exit strategy development for investors/ developers, including the creation of various option strategies; development of strategies which maximize sponsor return on investment; and creation of transaction structures that permit economic participation by nonprofits.

Joel’s tax credit transaction experience includes several hundred projects throughout the country.  He has also contributed policy advice to working groups across the country, advising on both federal and state tax credit law, consequently generating substantial improvements to the programs and to the public’s understanding of the law.

Mr. Levent Gun has over 25 years of technology experience having worked in technical and senior executive-level positions while establishing a track record of successful leadership at both start-ups and mature companies. Levent joined Ampt as its first CEO shortly after its Series A funding and lead all aspects of Ampt’s product and go to market strategies as well as built the team and Ampt’s customer driven culture. Under Levent’s leadership Ampt has created a new category of optimizers for the utility segment of the Solar PV market and became the #1 optimizer company worldwide for this largest segment.

Prior to joining Ampt as CEO, Levent was president and CEO of Kleer, a wireless audio semiconductor company that was acquired by SMSC. Prior to Kleer, Levent was president and CEO of Iospan Wireless, a pioneer in MIMO technology, which was acquired by Intel Corporation. Previously, Levent co-founded and led US Robotics’ Cable Data Business and transformed this fledgling start-up into a $100 million business after 3COM’s acquisition of US Robotics. Earlier in his career, Levent held various engineering management and leadership positions at Motorola and IBM, as well as research positions at several universities and labs.

Levent holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland and undergraduate degrees in engineering and mathematics from Bogazici University in Turkey. He has published extensively in technical journals and holds 14 patents and numerous awards for his pioneering work in high speed data communications and broadband access. An accomplished speaker, Levent is often invited to speak at industry events as well as present papers.

Scott Moskowitz is the Director of Strategy and Market Intelligence at Hanwha Q CELLS America Inc., where he heads market research and leads communication and policy initiatives. Prior to Q CELLS, Scott was a Research Manager at GTM Research and head of the Renewable Technologies Group, leading a team of analysts covering technology trends in the solar, storage, and wind energy markets. Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and mathematics from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in environmental engineering from the University of California, Davis.

Gerry DaRosa serves as the Director of Energy Innovations for ASU.  In this role, he champions ASU’s efforts in (1) acquiring renewable energy for the university’s campuses and (2) maximizing campus energy efficiency, to reach ASU’s climate neutrality goal.  In addition, his Energy Innovations department assists ASU’s operations by identifying innovative solutions to more effectively and reliably manage ASU’s energy use.

Gerry’s experience includes public policy, business, technical and legal work.  After graduating from ASU with a chemical engineering degree, Gerry worked as a Process Research Engineer for the Dow Chemical Company.  He later returned to ASU, earned his law degree, and worked for 16 years in the legal/policy arena in both private practice and the public sector.  His experience includes serving as the Environmental Policy Advisor for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and later joining the international law firm, Bryan Cave, where he became a partner in the firm’s Environmental Section.

In 2010, Gerry returned to ASU to join its legal team where he focused on a variety of transactional, regulatory, and energy matters.  However, his passion for sustainability led him to take a newly created business role, which evolved into his current position, allowing him to focus on sustainable energy-related solutions.

Travis Rose is responsible for leading, organizing, and directing the North American sales team at Array Technologies while driving the continued success of Array’s best-in-class solar tracker products. Travis brings over a decade of solar industry experience to Array, drawing upon his years of experience in previous roles at SMA America and Advanced Energy, he is committed to the relentless advancement of solar. Travis has a BA in Business Administration from the University of Texas and an MBA from Colorado State University.

Tom Heggarty is a Principal Analyst for Wood Mackenzie Power and Reneawbles where he leads the global solar PV markets team. He has worked for Wood Mackenzie since 2011, initially as a research analyst producing research on the evolution of electricity markets in Europe, and as a Research Manager for Wood Mackenzie’s Energy Markets research product. In 2011, Tom graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a master’s degree in mathematics; he also spent a year studying at Humboldt University in Berlin.

Samuel Adeyemo is the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Aurora Solar, a solar sales and engineering design software platform. Immediately prior to Aurora, Samuel was with Vituo Technologies, a company that designed and installed small commercial PV systems in developing countries. Previously, Samuel was a Vice President in JPMorgan's Chief Investment Office, where he was responsible for investing the bank's assets in various public debt markets. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Chicago where he was a Marshall Scholar, and holds an MBA and MSc from Stanford University.

Jordan Blanchard is the head of Energy & Infrastructure Lending at Live Oak Bank. Live Oak utilizes various USDA, SBA and conventional loan products to finance solar and bioenergy and primarily rural infrastructure. Live Oak is the nation’s leading USDA Rural Business Services lender (FY 2018) and the largest USDA Rural Energy for America Program lender for three past three years.

Under Jordan’s leadership, Live Oak has expanded its energy lending beyond Utility-Scale Solar (up to 50 MW) to include Community Solar, C-PACE, and Small Business Solar. Live Oak’s Small Business Solar program provides nationwide financing to unrated small businesses that seek the benefits of on-site solar power generation. Other lending verticals under Jordan’s leadership include Bioenergy, Rural Broadband, Community Facilities, and Water & Waste.

Jordan is responsible for loan structuring, pricing, hedging, secondary market sales, and all aspects of loan production. Prior to this role, Jordan was Managing Director of Live Oak’s SBA 504 Secondary Markets, where he co-founded a closed-end mutual fund that purchases small business commercial real estate loans from banks and non-bank lenders. He previously held leadership roles for CDC Small Business Finance, a national non-profit small business lender, and various community banks specializing in owner-occupied small business lending. Jordan received a B.S. in Business Administration/Finance from San Diego State University.

Chris Prescott serves as Renewable Operations Director for Southern Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company. In this position he oversees the operations of more than 4000 megawatts of generating capacity at 39 solar and wind facilities across the country.
Prescott joined Southern Company in 1979 as a coop engineering student at Plant McManus and Plant Scherer. After graduation he became a fulltime engineer at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle. In 1985, he transferred to Georgia Power’s Plant Arkwright where he held various roles including: engineer, shift foremen, engineering coordinator and Robins startup manager. In 1996, Prescott served as Assistant to the Vice President of Fossil and Hydro Power at Georgia Power. A year later, he became a fossil fuel team leader at Plant Scherer and in 1999 he became Plant Dahlberg’s combustion site manager. In 2002, Prescott was named combined cycle site manager at Wansley Combined Cycle where he was responsible for the overall operation of two combined cycle blocks. Prescott’s most recent role was Portfolio and Asset Manager where he was responsible for the Generation Support group at Southern Power, including the Monitoring and Diagnostics Center, training, plant performance, Condition Based Maintenance and Maximo support.
Prescott earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Auburn University.

Stephen Tracy is a partner in the San Francisco office of Novogradac & Company LLP. He serves clients extensively in the renewable energy and real estate industries where he specializes in providing transaction advisory, project finance, consulting, tax and accounting services in connection with projects that qualify for federal energy investment tax credits (ITC), production tax credits (PTC), historic rehabilitation tax credits (HTC), the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) and the Opportunity Zones tax incentive. Mr. Tracy has extensive experience assisting clients with structuring complex financing arrangements in connection with real estate and renewable energy transactions. The Novogradac project finance, tax and audit teams serve a wide array of clients including developers, project sponsors, institutional and non-institutional tax equity investors in addition to private equity and family office cash equity investors.

Transaction advisory services include developing an appropriate tax equity financing structure for a project (e.g. partnership flips, lease pass-throughs and sale leasebacks etc.), preparation of
tax equity financial projections, M&A due diligence and GAAP/HLBV advisory. Prior to joining Novogradac & Company LLP, Mr. Tracy worked for Arthur Andersen & Co. in San Francisco serving clients in the real estate, investment banking and equipment leasing industries.

Austin Perea is a senior analyst for Wood Mackenzie and is the lead analyst for the U.S. Solar Market Insight report series. Prior to joining Wood Mackenzie, Austin worked at The Boston Consulting Group, where he supported the energy practice as a research associate. He graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in economics and political science and a minor in Middle Eastern studies from the University of New Hampshire.

Karl-Erik is the managing editor of Greentech Media’s newsroom, based in New York. Before joining GTM in spring 2019, Karl-Erik spent 10 years covering the global renewable energy market at Recharge, first as a London-based Europe correspondent and then as managing editor for North America. Karl-Erik has reported from more than 20 countries as a business journalist. He holds a BA in Human Biology from Michigan State University and an MA in Journalism from the University of Southern California.

Julian is a staff writer at Greentech Media, where he reports on energy storage and other clean energy sectors. He also has experience covering clean transportation, state and federal energy policy, and climate adaptation. Previously, Julian reported for CityLab at The Atlantic and conducted grant-funded climate change reporting in Bangladesh. He graduated from Duke University with a B.A. in political science.

Julia Pyper is a Senior Editor at Greentech Media covering utilities, grid issues, electric vehicles, the solar industry and energy storage. Find her on Twitter @JMPyper.

Allison is a Solar Analyst at GTM Research, focusing on the competitive landscape of the U.S. downstream solar market.  Prior to joining GTM, Allison was a Senior Analyst at Compass Lexecon, an economic consulting firm, where she did research and data analysis for litigation and regulatory cases in the electricity and natural gas industries.  Allison holds a B.A. in Economics from Colby College.

Jon Bonanno serves as the CXO of the New Energy Nexus (Nexus). His responsibilities are in capacity expansion and financial innovation to support diverse entrepreneurs solving the Climate Crisis.  At Nexus/CalCEF, Jon is focusing on educating and enabling clean energy entrepreneurs to use and benefit from Opportunity Zone finance. Prior to Nexus/CalCEF, Bonanno co-founded and served as the CCO of Empower, a power electronics design firm focused on solar, energy storage and EV applications, which was sold in 2018 to SunGrow. His professional career includes twenty five years of entrepreneurial experience with Interbill (internet billing), Global Internet Billing (internet billing), SolidStreaming (mobile video streaming), Cool Earth Solar (concentrated solar power systems), HelioPower (solar utility), Earth Class Mail (SaaS for the postal industry), Azure Power (India solar utility, NYSE listed), Heartland Resources (soy-based adhesive for UF replacement), Principle Power (floating offshore wind foundations) and Array Power (module level power electronics).

Ravi Dodballapur is the director of application engineering for SMA America, the U.S.-based subsidiary of solar inverter leader SMA Solar Technology AG, headquartered in Germany.

In this role, he leads the application engineering team in providing technical support for SMA’s sales department. This includes helping utility-scale customers choose the correct products for a particular PV plant design, as well as providing technical consulting and education through customer workshops.

Dodballapur’s area of expertise is power electronic systems and AC grid interconnection requirements. He interfaces with SMA’s research and development teams in Germany to provide guidance on technical requirements for future products and serves as a company representative who works with utility interconnection engineers to educate the market on current inverter capabilities.

Dodballapur has 25 years of engineering experience, almost 20 of which are in power electronics systems for distributed generation, including fuel cells, battery energy systems, static VAR compensators and PV inverters. Before joining SMA as a senior application engineer, he spent a decade with ABB, a global leader in power and automation technologies. As its product manager of solar inverters, he was responsible for product introductions to a targeted customer base. He also served as a conduit between U.S. market requirements and the engineering team in Europe to create product upgrades.