Markets & Finance

Solar inverter company Sputnik Engineering has announced a management change in the replacement of Alejandro Lupion with Fernando Sánchez García as General Manager of the Sputnik Engineering Ibérica S.r.l. in Madrid. The change came into effect on September 15th, 2008.

Matthew Foster (pictured), CEO of Ascent Solar Technologies since 2005, has agreed to step down to allow a change in leadership for the company. Ascent is currently heading towards the manufacturing phase of its development, and the company’s Board and management have decided to appoint the company’s Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, Dr. Mohan Misra, to the CEO role on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is found.

GTSolar International saidtoday that it has added former Western Digital executive MatthewMassengill to its board. The solar manufacturing equipment company also announced that it has been named to the NASDAQ CleanEdge U.S. Liquid Series Index.

eSolar has announced its appointment of Dr. Craig Tyner, a 31-year employee of Sandia National Laboratories, as Senior Vice President of Engineering. At Sandia, he was manager of the company’s solar and geothermal research and development programs and in his new role with eSolar will lead the company’s technology development.

Thin-film solar PV producer HelioVolt has named Haresh Patel as itsvice president of sales and marketing. Patel joins thecopper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS) TFPV company with more than20 years of experience at firms such as WJ Communications, AgilentTechnology, PMC Sierra, Fujitsu, and Texas Instruments.

Peter Schwartz has joined Solaicx as the vice president of productengineering for the solar silicon ingot and wafer manufacturer. Hecomes to Solaicx from Nanoconduction, where he served as VP of processand equipment. His more than a decade of production and engineeringexperience includes a stint as a director at Applied Materials, whichhe joined after the capital equipment giant purchased Torrex, where heled a manufacturing team.

Michael Whalen Joins SolarReserve as Chief Financial Officer. SolarReserve, the Los Angeles-based solar thermal company that is commercializing an innovative heat capture and storage technology providing utility-scale solar power on demand, today announced that Michael Whalen has been appointed to serve as Chief Financial Officer.

Stion, a solar photovoltaics company developing high-efficiency thin film modules using proprietary materials and device structures, announced that it has hired Gary Martell as CFO and Senior Vice President of Finance and Administration. Mr. Martell, who has over 20 years of corporate finance experience and has completed IPOs and M&A transactions for several high-tech and manufacturing companies, will oversee all finance and administration activities at Stion.

Ten-year veteran at BP Solar, Luis Torres has joined SunPower Corporation as Managing Director, Market Development Southern Europe, in a newly created role by SunPower. Torres will be responsible for working with public policy officials, industry colleagues and solar advocates to grow solar markets throughout southern Europe, a role similar to that when at BP Solar.