Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum
April 3, 2008
Solar Crosses the Chasm
In an era of $100 per barrel oil, the need for alternative energy sources is clear. After years of high expectation and promise, new capacity and new business models seem prepared to push solar energy across the chasm into the mainstream energy markets. We will hear from the experts about the potential of solar to become a major source of renewable energy.
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| Matt Campbell | Bryant Tong | |
| Product
Manager SunPower Corp |
Managing
Director Nth Power |
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| Cyrus Wadia | Eric Wesoff | |
| Doctoral
Candidate ERG |
Senior
Analyst GreenTech Media |
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John Woolard |
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|
CEO |
Our panel will include:
Matt Campbell serves as the Product Manager of Power Plant Systems for SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), a global leader in PV power plants and high performance solar technology. SunPower has constructed over 100 Megawatts of PV Power Plants around the world including the recently completed 14 Megawatt system at Nellis AFB, Nevada, the largest in North America. Prior to joining SunPower in 2004, Matt was the co-founder and COO of Iris AO, a manufacturer of MEMS adaptive optic systems. Prior to Iris AO, Matt worked in Venture Capital technology investing while at William Blair Capital Partners L.L.C., a $1 billion Chicago-based Private Equity/Venture Capital group. Prior to William Blair, Matt held business development and product management positions in the software industry. Matt holds a MBA from UC - Berkeley and a BBA in Marketing, Finance, and Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.
Bryant Tong joined Nth Power in 2001 as a Managing Director. Mr. Tong has led Nth Power’s investments in Accelergy Corporation, NanoGram Corporation and Microposite, Inc., and he serves on the board of each of these companies. Previously, Mr Tong was founder, President and CEO of Pacific Venture Capital, LLC (PVC), the venture capital arm of the PG&E Corporation. A native of San Francisco, California, Mr. Tong received his Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. Mr. Tong is a member of the American Institute of CPAs and also serves as a member of several industry advisory boards including the Energy Venture Fair and the Golden Capital Network. Mr. Tong founded and chairs the China/U.S. Energy Efficiency Alliance. Mr. Tong also serves on the University of San Francisco Entrepreneurship Program Advisory Board.
Cyrus Wadia is a doctoral candidate in The Energy and Resources Group at U.C. Berkeley, Cyrus has been activbe in developing a new low cost photovoltaic technology using metal sulfides. Leveraging his knowledge in both the natural and social sciences, Cyrus’ research covers both exhaustible resource economics and aqueous chemistry of nanoparticles. Cyrus has been awarded the E.P.A Star fellowship and in 2006, founded the U.C. Berkeley PV Idealab, a collaboration of all photovoltaic research activity on campus. Prior to his doctoral studies, Cyrus spent six years in the high tech industry as an engagement manager with R.B. Webber & Co. and a senior product manager with AvantGo. Cyrus specialized in launching new technologies to market and completed several successful new product introductions while with AvantGo. Presently, Cyrus continues his work helping companies take technology to market as part of an independent consulting practice he began in 2001. Cyrus earned both his S.B. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from MIT.
Eric Wesoff is the Senior Analyst
for Renewable Energy at Greentech
Media and their first employee. Prior to Greentech Media,
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. He is also
the publisher of the Venture Power newsletter, a subscription-only
newsletter covering venture-capital investment in renewable
energy. Eric's 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.
From 1988 to 1996, Eric served as product marketing manager
for Siemens Optoelectronics, where he oversaw complex product
lines and managed relationships with global customers. Eric
later served as the sales director for Dicon Fiber Optics,
where he was responsible for selling millions of dollars of
fiber-optic telecom-equipment.
John Woolard is the CEO of BrightSource Energy, a utility-scale provider of solar power plants. Most recently, he was an Executive-in-Residence in the VantagePoint CleanTech Practice Group. With more than 20 years of experience in clean energy technology, John was previouslly at Itron, Inc., where he was Vice President of strategy and business development. He co-founded Silicon engergy, a clean energy start-up, and was President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board, and led the company's successful sale. John held positions previously at PG&E Energy Services, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Alpine Software and is the co-author of a patent for web-based Energy Management Systems. John attended University of Virginia (BA) and the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley (MBA).
