Advisory Committee (to date)
GREGORY ASHLEY (San Jose, CA) Vice President, Project Sales, Canadian Solar
RACHEL BARGE (Berkeley, CA) Founder, Director, Campus InPower
JAMES MCGRATH, MBA (Chicago, IL) Independent Consultant
JAN PEPPER, P.E., MBA (Los Altos, CA) Independent Consultant
THOMAS POLICH, Esq (Manchester, VT) CAO/Secretary, Skypoint Solar, Inc.
PETER SCHENCK, MBA (San Jose, CA) Regional Sales Director, Canadian Solar
DENNIS MARKATOS-SORIANO (New York City, NY / Chapel Hill, NC) Director, SET Energy
DAVID "LAD" WALLACE (Santa Cruz, CA) Consulting Chief Financial Officer at SunFund Corporation
In addition to our Management Team and Advisory Committee, SolarCollege has a growing network of Associates, individuals committed to assisting in the advancement of solar energy on campus. Get involved! Contact associates@solarcollege.org.
Advisory Committee Bios
GREGORY ASHLEY (San Jose, CA) Greg is a nationally known authority on alternative power generation, power quality, and energy efficiency. Before joining Canadian Solar as VP of Project Sales in 2009, he was Senior Manager, Strategic Business Development at SunEdison where he helped build the company to its current position as North America’s leader in solar energy services. SunEdison provides solar-generated energy at or below current retail utility rates to a broad and diverse client base of commercial, municipal and utility customers. Greg developed the company’s strategic plans, business practices and founding projects, contributing in integrated system design and financial/investment project analysis. He began working in the solar energy field in the early 1980s, and later held positions in sales and business development for several of the nation’s largest energy services providers. His areas of specialty included utility smart grid solutions, distributed generation, power purchase agreements, and demand side management. Greg earned a BA in Economics from the University of California, Davis.
RACHEL BARGE (Berkeley, CA) Rachel is founder and director of Campus InPower, a non-profit consulting firm specializing in innovative financial mechansims to support on-campus sustainability. She is a winner of the David Brower Youth Award, Wild Gift Fellowship, Morris K. Udall Fellowship, and World Wildlife Fund Environmental Leadership Award. As an undergraduate, Rachel co-created The Green Initiative Fund at UC Berkeley, a 10-year, $2 million student fee-based revolving loan that enacts large-scale energy, infrastructure, and sustainability upgrades to the campus. Her program, Campus InPower, provides resources to help other colleges with similar initiatives.
JAMES MCGRATH (Chicago, IL) James is an accomplished sales and marketing executive of high technology communication and networking products. He led international strategic marketing and business development initiatives while working for Motorola in Japan, China, and the USA and was responsible for the acquisition and growth of multi-billion dollar accounts. James is extremely passionate about alternative energy and now enjoys a consulting career specializing in alternative energy business and technology topics. James has a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and an MBA from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
JAN PEPPER, P.E., MBA (Los Altos, CA) Jan has over 25 years experience in the renewable energy business, focusing on the technical, financial, and policy aspects of renewable energy. She was founder and president of Clean Power Markets, Inc. since 2000 before selling the company in 2006. Jan was also founder of APX - Automated Power Exchange, where she designed and developed their green power business, instituting the first program to trade green attributes separately from commodity power. Since 1987 Jan has operated her own consulting firm providing technical, marketing, and financial analysis to renewable power producers, utilities, and state agencies. She has also been retained as an expert witness for renewable energy projects regarding project economics and operations under utility contracts. Jan has worked with all types of stakeholders, including regulators, LSEs, renewable generators, brokers, and others, which has allowed her to understand the needs of the varied stakeholder constituencies. She has a B.S. in civil engineering and an M.B.A., both from Stanford University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in California.
THOMAS POLICH, Esq. (Manchester, VT) Tom is VP of Business Development for Clairvoyant Solar. He's an attorney with 13 years direct expertise in solar development, manufacturing, and deployment and 20 years experience in startup and public company management, financing, and M&A. Presently he is Of-Counsel to Bowditch and Dewey LLP's Clean Tech/Energy Practice and serves as CAO/Secretary for Skypoint Solar, Inc. Previously, Tom served as CLO/Secretary for DayStar Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSTI), guiding a thin-film solar energy company from a classic entrepreneurship to a NASDAQ rated, high growth, efficient organization. He is a graduate of University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law and earned a BA in Environmental Conservation from University of Colorado, Boulder.
PETER SCHENCK, MBA (San Jose, CA) Peter joined Canadian Solar in 2009 as a Regional Sales Director. Before entering the solar industry, Peter spent many years in the telecommunications infrastructure business selling, installing and designing cellular networks to telephone companies. He has negotiated over $100M in systems contracts including pricing, terms and conditions, legal frame works, and support services. He also has 7 years of Product Management and Corporate Strategy experience. Peter has an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BA in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.