Serving the future
We believe in building a better world for the next generation.
Our approach
Swift Solar was founded in 2017 by international pioneers of perovskite technology with a shared vision for the future of solar. We believe that solar energy has vast untapped potential to reduce inequity and protect planetary health in the face of global climate change. We believe that today’s solar technology is good but not good enough. And we believe that what we build today should serve humanity forever.
Together our team is making this vision into reality.
Recognition and Awards
Meet our team
Albert Keil
Process TechnicianAlbert Keil
Process TechnicianAlbert Keil started working at Swift Solar in February 2024 as a Process Technician. Previously, he held a position in silicon-anode lithium-ion battery production as a Process Engineering Technician and Production Lead. Albert has a strong background in achieving goals and driving continuous improvement. He is proficient in process engineering, problem-solving, and collaboration, all of which enhance engineering efficiency. In his free time, Albert enjoys hiking, trying different foods, singing karaoke with his family, going to the gym, and traveling. His dedication to both his professional and personal pursuits makes him a well-rounded and valuable member of the team.
Alden O'Rafferty
Campus Ambassador
Alden O'Rafferty
Campus AmbassadorAlden is a Campus Ambassador and former R&D Intern at Swift. She is currently pursing her BS in Materials Science at Stanford, and is passionate about using science to slow down the effects of our climate crisis. This passion is motivated by a deep concern for the ways climate change will continue to disproportionally impact those with less societal privilege. She has studied perovskites under Prof McIntyre at Stanford, and loves expanding her knowledge of perovskite solar cells at Swift. As a deep believer in the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, Alden has run summer camps and events for hundreds of middle school girls from underrepresented populations in engineering. Outside of science, Alden enjoys teaching her 70 middle and high school debaters, backpacking, writing Valentines, giving hugs, and making fun of Rohit.
Amol Cherukara
Senior Process TechnicianAmol Cherukara
Senior Process TechnicianAmol joined Swift Solar in November 2021 as a Process Technician working on process development. Amol previously worked as a Photomask Manufacturing Technician at Intel and Manufacturing Technician at Calisolar (now Silicor) working on CVD tools. Amol holds a BS in Computer Engineering from DeVry University. He loves to play cricket and watch soccer on TV, especially FIFA tournaments (only watching). He also loves to watch WWE and is an avid fan of The Undertaker, The Rock, and Hulk Hogan. His other hobbies include driving, trying new food, watching movies, reading books, and playing blackjack.
Anna Wojtowicz
Process EngineerAnna Wojtowicz
Process EngineerAnna joined Swift Solar in April 2023 as a Process Engineer to support process development scaling efforts. Anna has several years photovoltaics industry experience working on CdTe, CIGS and Si technologies from core R&D to large-scale manufacturing. She also brings to the Swift team a solid background in device characterization and programming to enable data-driven technology development. Anna has a MS Physics from Colorado State University. In her free time, she enjoys gardening and playing ukulele.
Annikki Santala
R&D Operations Lead
Annikki Santala
R&D Operations LeadAnnikki joined Swift with a background in organic electronics. She received her BSc degree in chemistry from UMass, Amherst where she discovered her passion for working in the field of solar cell technology during a 1 year research project in the PS&E department, developing novel organic materials for OPV applications. She continued her research in the field by receiving an MSc degree from UCL with a focus on organic electronic applications. Before joining Swift, Annikki was working as an engineer at a startup in Santa Barbara called NEXT Energy Technologies Inc. and later as a scientist for Idemitsu OLED Materials Europe AG working in the OLED industry. In her free time she mostly enjoys reading, hiking, road biking, running, yoga, and traveling.
Bettina Aristorenas
Head of People OpsBettina Aristorenas
Head of People OpsBettina Aristorenas joined Swift in July 2022 as a Recruiting Coordinator. Before joining Swift, Bettina previously worked in the aerospace industry, designing and writing flight software. While she enjoyed learning new engineering processes and technologies, she realized her passion was with the amazing people that make a company what it is. She has always been interested in technology as a tool to tackle climate change, so is thrilled to work at a company with such a great mission. In her free time, you can usually find Bettina trying out a new recipe, playing fetch with her dog, hiking, or probing her peers for restaurant recs. She holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell, and is beyond excited to have escaped the cold winters of Ithaca and her hometown, Boston.
Bijan Moslehi
VP of ManufacturingBijan Moslehi
VP of ManufacturingBijan is committed to helping solve the climate change crisis. He believes that we can achieve this objective through innovative ideas and disruptive renewable energy technologies. Bijan is an experienced executive with a proven track record of scaling complex high-tech products from lab concepts and engineering prototypes into high-volume manufacturing and commercialization in multiple industries, including solar photovoltaics (PV), solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), and semiconductors. Bijan has led planning, design, build, commissioning, and operation of 10 world-class high-tech factories and plants in these sectors, including several “world firsts” and an IPO. He is a recipient of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Manufacturing Creativity Award. Bijan holds a PhD and MS in Mechanical Engineering, as well as an MS in Energy and Environmental Sciences & Systems, all from Stanford University.
Caitlin Hogan
Head of Data SystemsCaitlin Hogan
Head of Data SystemsCaitlin joined the Swift Solar team in 2021 as a Data Engineer working on data infrastructure and R&D systems. Before joining Swift, Caitlin completed her BS in Computer Science and MS in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford, where she enjoyed competing in hackathons and spent time in leadership for Stanford Student Robotics and the Stanford Educational Studies Program. In her free time, Caitlin likes climbing, spending time outdoors, baking, and occasionally flying falcons.
Charito Neverida
Senior Process TechnicianCharito Neverida
Senior Process TechnicianCharito joined Swift Solar in September 2023 as Senior Process Technician to support characterization work. She has wide experience as a process technician from working in companies such as Dupont SVTC, Innovalight, Osram and Hewlett Packard. Charito has passion for renewable energy because she believes that it's for the betterment of the future. In her spare time, if she's not spending time with her family, she just enjoys staying at home watching her favorite shows and doing karaoke.
Daniel Martinez
R&D Scientist
Daniel Martinez
R&D ScientistDaniel joined Swift Solar in January 2021 as an R&D Associate. Previously he worked at First Solar as a CdTe thin-film Research Technician. He studied Physics and Materials Engineering at Auburn University, and grew up in Miami, FL. Solar power fascinated him from early on, and he has proudly dedicated his young career advancing one of the key technologies to combat climate change. When he is not in the lab or traveling around the globe, he enjoys hiking, film photography, SciFi, and tending his small indoor garden!
Dong Zhang
Staff R&D ScientistDong Zhang
Staff R&D ScientistDong Zhang joined Swift Solar in January 2023 as a Senior R&D Scientist. Dong found his passion in photovoltaic technologies when he started his PhD research in silicon heterojunction solar cells at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. He then continued his photovoltaic research at Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research and Eindhoven University of Technology for over 9 years. He is very enthusiastic about high-efficiency concepts and device physics of solar cells, hoping that one day he can make solar cells efficient enough to power the iron man suit his son wants to build. After work, Dong likes to spend time with his family and read books about history and ancient philosophy.
Ernie Baik
Product EngineerErnie Baik
Product EngineerErnie Baik joined Swift Solar in September 2022. Before joining Swift, he completed his BS in Engineering Science (Energy Systems) at the University of Toronto. He is excited to work in the solar energy sector to expand its application and work towards a sustainable energy future.
Fernando Mondragon-Cardenas
Senior Mechatronics EngineerFernando Mondragon-Cardenas
Senior Mechatronics EngineerFernando joined the Swift Solar team in April 2022 as a Mechatronics Engineer. Fernando previously worked as a Turbomachinery Engineer designing highly efficient Turboexpanders at Atlas Copco. He graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a BS in Mechanical Engineering and a concentration in Mechatronics. He is passionate about Mechatronics and thrilled about working in a role that can contribute to the fight against climate change. In his free time, he loves watching movies and hosting a film club. He also enjoys practicing guitar and running. Fernando is currently training and plans to complete his first full marathon in 2022.
Gil Gomez
Senior Equipment TechnicianGil Gomez
Senior Equipment TechnicianGil joined the Swift team in 2021 as an Equipment Technician working on new equipment development and maintenance. He spent most of his career in the flooring business and previously worked at Siva Power on thin-film glass coaters for CIGS PV manufacturing. In his free time, Gil loves fishing with his grandkids and riding his motorcycle.
Giles Eperon
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer
Giles Eperon
Co-Founder & Chief Scientific OfficerWhen Giles is not in the lab working on his passion for solar power and a sustainable future, he can normally be found climbing a rock, mountain or sheet of ice. Giles received an MSc in Physics from the University of Bristol, and subsequently joined Sharp Laboratories of Europe as a graduate researcher. During two years at Sharp, Giles worked on a variety of electronic and optoelectronic device research, finding his passion for solar power along the way there. He thus took the controversial step of going back to grad school and pursued a PhD at the University of Oxford. There, he worked on perovskite solar cells since their inception in 2012 and developed new materials and device architectures. He joined the University of Washington in 2016, gaining a joint Marie Curie fellowship with the University of Cambridge, where he continued his work on all-perovskite tandems in collaboration with colleagues at Stanford and Oxford. Prior to Swift, he was most recently a staff scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in CO. Giles’ work has been published over 70 times, garnering over 45,000 citations. Giles was named a 2016 Forbes ’30 under 30’ fellow in Energy and one of Clarivate’s 2017 Highly Cited Researchers.
Gina Marie Soriano
Senior Process TechnicianGina Marie Soriano
Senior Process TechnicianGina joined Swift Solar in September 2023 as a Senior Process Technician working on perovskite devices and process development. Gina previously worked at Alta Devices and Cali Solar as a Manufacturing Technician working on CVD tools and Etch tools. She also worked at Lam Research as a Process Technician working on Die Electric Etch. Right before joining Swift, she worked at Cepheid as a Lead running production lines for consumables used for molecular diagnostic testing. In her spare time, she loves to watch movies and spend time with family.
Hyunjong Lee
Senior Process Engineer
Hyunjong Lee
Senior Process EngineerHyunjong joined Swift Solar with a lifelong learning mindset. He is also a strong bike racer and bike commuter. After finishing his BS in Korea, he received his MS degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Washington. During two years of MS study under Professor Samson Jenekhe, he worked on all-polymer solar cells, helping reach one of the highest all-polymer cell efficiencies ever achieved. He now works on perovskite solar cells, supporting Swift's mission to create a world where all energy is clean energy.
Jason Kephart
Staff Mechanical EngineerJason Kephart
Staff Mechanical EngineerJason Kephart joined Swift in July 2022. He worked in CdTe photovoltaics for 11 years at Colorado State University at First Solar doing device development and equipment design. Prior to joining Swift, Jason worked on equipment design at Lam Research. Jason enjoys being outside with his young family, whether it's camping, hiking, or enjoying winter sports.
Jochen Titus
Staff Process Engineer
Jochen Titus
Staff Process EngineerJochen was intrigued by the concept of renewable energy at a very young age. Being able to make a living in this field is a childhood dream come true. He finds his work life balance in various sports, like bicycling, running, and dancing, and in food related activities. The recent years have also piqued his interest in politics. Jochen earned a Physics diploma at Stuttgart University, in his native Germany, and a PhD in Materials Science from the University of Delaware. He did the research for his PhD at the Institute of Energy Conversion. Afterwards, in 2004, he joined MiaSole, a Silicon Valley startup that set out to manufacture the film stack for CIGS based solar modules entirely through sputtering. Jochen’s main responsibilities became the development of the CIGS sputter process and the transfer of in-house research successes into development, pilot phase and production. He joined Swift Solar in January 2021.
Joel Jean
Co-Founder & CEO
Joel Jean
Co-Founder & CEOJoel is above all an advocate for climate change action, likes running marathons, and buys new books faster than he can read them. Before co-founding Swift, Joel served as Executive Director of the Tata-MIT GridEdge Solar research program, which focuses on scale-up of new solar photovoltaic technologies for India and other developing countries. As a researcher and NSF Fellow at MIT, he developed ultra-lightweight and flexible solar cells that were recognized by the 2017 Katerva Award. He was named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Fellow in Energy and one of Business Insider's Rising Stars of Clean Energy. He co-authored the MIT Future of Solar Energy Study and has worked extensively on emerging PV materials and devices, techno-economic analysis, and energy and climate policy. Joel holds a PhD and SM in electrical engineering from MIT and a BS with distinction from Stanford University.
Joyce Parayno
Staff Process TechnicianJoyce Parayno
Staff Process TechnicianJoyce is a process technician at Swift working on perovskite device and process development. Before joining Swift, she worked on battery development and reliability testing at Apple and on CIGS solar cell characterization and testing at MiaSole. Joyce loves playing basketball and golf, and she is always excited to learn about new technologies.
Laura Crowe
Senior R&D ScientistLaura Crowe
Senior R&D ScientistLaura Crowe joined the Swift Solar team in February 2022 as an R&D Scientist. Before joining the Swift crew, Laura was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory investigating the correlation between crystal structure and operational stability of metal halide perovskite solar cells using synchrotron X-ray characterization techniques. Laura received her PhD from the University of Freiburg in Germany in 2019, conducting her research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Joining Fraunhofer ISE in 2008 was when she discovered her passion for renewable energy and research and when she abandoned her path to becoming a math and physics teacher. When not at work, Laura enjoys kickboxing, climbing, hiking and backpacking, biking, and most every activity as long as it can be done outside and ends with a cold IPA in her hand.
Marc Julio Jr
Senior Process TechnicianMarc Julio Jr
Senior Process TechnicianMarc Julio Jr started working at Swift Solar in April 2024 as a Senior Process Technician. Previously, Marc worked as an R&D Technician, where he developed a passion for learning and problem-solving in R&D lab settings. In his free time, Marc enjoys going to the gym, exploring new culinary experiences on food trips, and spending quality time with family. His commitment to personal growth and a proactive approach to problem-solving makes him a valuable asset to the team.
Max Hoerantner
Co-Founder & Chief Engineer
Max Hoerantner
Co-Founder & Chief EngineerMax is driven by the motivation to solve the problems and inefficiencies that surround us. Growing up next to the Alps, he recently rediscovered his love for the mountains to go rock climbing, hiking and snowboarding. Max received his BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering at ETH Zurich, where he built robots and an electric car that would outpace a Tesla. To dive deeper into the science of solar cells he obtained a PhD in Physics from the University of Oxford, where he worked in the group of Henry Snaith and was supported by a studentship from Oxford Photovoltaics. During his PhD he started a non-profit to install PV systems on rural Indian schools and co-developed a platform to share research protocols. With coding being his second passion, he participated and won prizes at several hackathons across Europe. Prior to joining Swift, he was a post-doc at MIT and joined the Tata-MIT GridEdge Solar research program to lead the manufacturing efforts and scale up perovskite solar cells for the Indian market.
Morgan Tenney
Software EngineerMorgan Tenney
Software EngineerMorgan Tenney joined Swift Solar in January 2023 as a Software Engineer on the data team. Morgan strives for the title of "most bizarre career trajectory," previously working in videogames and healthcare before finally getting the opportunity with Swift to find a home in her dream industry of climate tech. Her diverse background has given her experience building systems that do the hard work so the people using them can do the interesting work. Morgan completed her BS in Computer Science with a focus in Mechatronics and MS in Computer Science with a focus in Human-Computer Interaction at Stanford University. Outside of work, you can typically find Morgan outdoors, probably lost in the woods.
Nancy Trejo
Senior R&D Scientist
Nancy Trejo
Senior R&D ScientistNancy is an R&D Scientist at Swift Solar and is currently working at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in CO. Her passion for solar started at an early age when she helped secure a grant for a solar installation in her hometown. She worked on emerging thin filmsolar cells while earning her BS in chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara and went on to complete a PhD from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. During graduate school she co-founded Science for All, a science outreach organization, and helped triple the size of the team in three years. In her spare time, she enjoys crafting puzzle boxes, sewing useful things, and developing impactful projects for her community.
Pat Millham
Chief of Staff
Pat Millham
Chief of StaffPat Millham joined the Swift Solar team in August 2021 as Chief of Staff. He comes to Swift Solar after 17+ years leading political and advocacy campaigns all over the United States. Pat has a long history of designing, scaling, and executing campaigns in the electoral, advocacy, labor, and corporate government relations spaces. He also brings years of experience in organizational building, public policy, and strategic planning. Most recently, Pat served as the National Director of Advocacy for NextGen America and Chief of Staff to Tom Steyer’s Presidential Campaign. A Pennsylvania native, Pat is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, where he majored in Environmental Studies. As a lifelong environmentalist and activist, he is thrilled to align his passion and experience at Swift Solar. In his free time, you can usually find Pat somewhere lost in the woods, whitewater raft guiding, woodworking in his backyard, or spending time with his fiancée and his two cats, Louis and Freddie.
Roger Thompson
Senior Process TechnicianRoger Thompson
Senior Process TechnicianRoger Thompson joined the Swift Solar Team in May 2022 as a Senior Process Technician. Before joining, Roger has worked at Parc Xerox and Dpix supporting the fabrication of flat panel and a:Si:H sensors for medical imaging. He also worked at Nanosys developing silicon nanowire and lithium battery technology and for REC Solar, processing novel solar cells. In his free time, he writes and records music in his small recording studio. He also enjoys camping and hiking on many of the Bay Area trails with his fiance.
Rohit Prasanna
Head of Materials R&D
Rohit Prasanna
Head of Materials R&DRohit is a materials scientist, chemist, and forever optimist. Having been attracted to the beautiful science of chemistry since being in middle school, he studied materials science and engineering in graduate school, researching the basic science of perovskite semiconductors and applying it to make cutting-edge solar cells. He is most at home in big cities packed with activity, having lived in New York and gone to college at Columbia University. He loves to spend Saturday mornings reading nineteenth century British novels at neighbourhood coffeeshops, and Saturday nights at clubs with the best music. He started working on perovskite tandem solar cells during graduate school at Stanford in the early days of their development. As a scientist at Swift, he has continued working on their potential to expand access to clean renewable energy.
Sam Stranks
Co-Founder & Lead Scientific Advisor
Sam Stranks
Co-Founder & Lead Scientific AdvisorSam is an avid traveler, sports fanatic and father of two, he is passionate about new technologies and solving energy and climate change issues. Sam is a TED Fellow, Royal Society Research Fellow and Principal Investigator at the University of Cambridge (UK) leading a group focusing on transformative electronics applications. He holds a BA and BSc from the University of Adelaide (Australia) and PhD from the University of Oxford (UK), which he completed as a Rhodes Scholar. From 2014-2016, he was a post-doctoral researcher in Henry Snaith’s group at Oxford where he was also a Junior Research Fellow at Worcester College, before spending 2 years as a Marie Curie Fellow at MIT. For his seminal contributions to the field of hybrid perovskites, Sam received the 2016 IUPAP Young Scientist in Semiconductor Physics Prize, the 2017 Early Career Prize by the European Physical Society and the 2018 Henry Moseley Prize and Medal from the Institute of Physics. In 2017, he was named by the MIT Technology Review as one of the 35 under 35 innovators in Europe and was recently listed by Clarivate Analytics as the seventh most influential researchers in the world through highly cited papers.
Tammy Nguyen
Senior Process TechnicianTammy Nguyen
Senior Process TechnicianTammy brings over 30 years of industry experience, ranging from production lead, production coordination, planning and purchasing. In wafer fab, she focuses both on front-end and back-end. Outside of work, Tammy likes spending time with her dog, gardening, going to the beach, walking and hiking.
Tanya Kavka
Senior Process EngineerTanya Kavka
Senior Process EngineerTanya Kavka joined the Swift Solar team in January 2023 as a Senior Process Engineer to work on process development and scaling. She received her PhD at Charles University in Prague. She spent the first years of her career in academia working in the Institute of Plasma Physics Academy of Sciences in Czech Republic, where she was developing thermal plasma torches for various applications including renewable energy. After moving to the U.S., she joined a PVD specialized company Acree Technologies as a scientist, where she developed several thin film deposition processes for various industries. All her free time is dedicated to her family. She wants this world to be a better place for her children and sees Swift as an opportunity to contribute necessary changes for the health of our planet.
Ted Akizuki
Senior Maintenance EngineerTed Akizuki
Senior Maintenance EngineerTed joined Swift Solar in January of 2023 as a Maintenance Engineer and brings 30+ years of diverse experience. His journey in semiconductors started by installing large plasma chambers all over North America for Himont Plasma Science and then PVD cluster tools for Varian in the DRAM fabs of South Korea. When Varian Thin Films was bought by Novellus, Ted found himself in R&D working on Novellus' CVD TiN module. He built, tested and installed the first beta reactors and supported the LSI Logic beta site in Santa Clara. He took a job LSI Logic when the CVD Equipment Eng. position came open. When LSI Logic began shutting down their fabs, he took a job at a III/V startup where he was a key contributor in startup, qualfication and ongoing support of their fab. After many years he decided to try something new and took a job as an Equipment Engineer at Lumileds working in their Automotive Lighting division. He supported a line of Aixtron Epi reactors and the entire Toxic Gas Vault. In his spare time, Ted likes to BBQ, chase Steelhead in Norther California or Southern Oregon with the Spey rod, and witness Great White Shark attacks while kayak fishing on the ocean.
Tobi Abzieher
Senior R&D EngineerTobi Abzieher
Senior R&D EngineerTobi joined the Swift Solar team in February 2023 as an R&D Engineer. He has 10+ years of experience in photovoltaic materials research and worked on PV technologies including kesterites, CIGS, and perovskites at the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Wuertttemberg (ZSW), the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Tobi received his PhD for his work on vapor-processed perovskite semiconductors from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in 2019. His research interests focus on the upscaling of PV technologies and the development of efficient tandem solar cells. In his free time, Tobi likes to cook, go on hikes, do photography, and enjoy a good football game (Go Broncos...no jokes about "good" football please).
Todd Krajewski
Head of ProductTodd Krajewski
Head of ProductTodd joined the Swift team in October 2022 as Head of Product. He spent the first 15 years of his career in various sectors of the chemical industry before following his passion and starting his climate tech adventures in 2007, working on CIGS solar. Over the past 15 years, Todd’s focus has been on the development of products and backend manufacturing processes for various thin film and c-Si PV technologies, as well as a unique radiant cooling application. He brings a wealth of experience covering a broad range of technologies, leading multiple cross-functional teams, helping companies scale their technology, and mentoring early career scientists/engineers. Todd spent his formative years living in the desert southwest and gained a deep appreciation for the undeveloped outdoors during that time. When not working on ways to help stop climate change, he can be found either hiking, biking and climbing with his family or just relaxing with a well-written book and some good music.
Tomas Leijtens
Co-Founder & CTO
Tomas Leijtens
Co-Founder & CTOTomas has been working on a renewable energy future since making hydrogen fuel in teapots at home at age 15. After taking Swift Solar to large-scale commercial success, Tomas plans to join the Dutch national soccer team to bring them back to their former glory. After receiving a BSc with honors in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University, Tomas completed his PhD at the University of Oxford. There, he worked to improve the reliability of perovskite solar cells since their inception in 2012. He joined Stanford as a Marie Curie Fellow in 2015, where he developed the first all-perovskite tandem photovoltaic technology with Giles Eperon and Kevin Bush. Prior to Swift, he was most recently at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, CO as a research scientist. His academic work has led to >60 publications with >30,000 citations. He was named a Forbes 30 under 30 Fellow in Science and was recognized as an “Emerging Investigator” by the Journal of Materials Chemistry in 2017.
Trevor Alston
Senior Process TechnicianTrevor Alston
Senior Process TechnicianTrevor joined the Swift Solar team in October 2021 as a process technician working on perovskite devices and process development. Before joining the Swift team, he worked on reliability testing and data analysis on PV modules as a lead field test technician at PV Evolution Labs. Trevor is also a US Marine Corps veteran who served as an avionics technician. Trevor is originally from Baltimore, MD. In his free time, he enjoys watching sports and history documentaries. If he isn't doing that, you can find him in the park with his half wiener dog/jack russell.
Advisory Board
Anne Hoskins
Anne Hoskins
Anne Hoskins brings to Swift Solar almost two decades of regulatory, policy, and strategy experience across multiple venues in the energy industry. For almost 6 years, Anne served as Chief Policy Officer of Sunrun, the largest residential solar and battery storage company in the United States. She led Sunrun's policy and market access initiatives to accelerate solar energy and storage adoption, modernize the electric grid, and combat climate change, while providing industry leadership through the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) (Board Vice Chair) and the Interstate Renewables Energy Council (IREC). Anne joined Sunrun after serving on the Maryland Public Service Commission. While a Commissioner, Anne sought to advance regulatory innovation through her roles on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Board of Directors and as chair of the NARUC International Relations Committee. Anne also brings experience at a public utility, having served as Senior Vice President of Policy and Sustainability at Public Service Enterprise Group, as well as in the telecommunications sector, where she represented Verizon Wireless as a senior regulatory counsel before the Federal Communications Commision and multiple state PUCs. Anne is a frequent public speaker on energy policy and guest lecturer at universities. She was fortunate to serve as the first visiting research scholar at the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment at Princeton University. Anne is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (MPA), and Cornell University (BS, Applied Economics and Business Management).
Atiye Bayman
Atiye Bayman
Atiye Bayman is an advisor to Swift Solar. She most recently served as the CTO of MiaSolé, where she led technology strategy and research and development for flexible and lightweight thin-film solar products. Atiye’s 38-year career in Silicon Valley has been focused on semiconductor technology development for solar and integrated circuit products. She has developed expertise in transfer of technology and products into manufacturing. She has held positions in technology R&D at MiaSolé, Novellus Systems, Synergy Semiconductor (acquired by Micrel), and Advanced Micro Devices. Atiye holds a Ph.D. in solid state physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.
Chris Norris
Chris Norris
Chris Norris is a CEO and entrepreneur with a proven track record of building companies and leading organizations. His expertise is built around years of direct, hands-on experience innovating, delivering products to the market, and building diverse, high performing teams. Mr. Norris joined Alta Devices, a solar cell manufacturer, in May of 2008 as President and CEO shortly after its founding. He led the company through multiple rounds of financing, raising over $100M, ultimately leading the company to a successful acquisition in 2014. Prior to Alta Devices, he was a Venture Partner at Blue Run Ventures, focused on hardware investments. Chris was the President and CEO at MicroDisplay Corporation, and led the transformation of the company from chip maker to high definition TV (HDTV) manufacturer. Before becoming a startup CEO, Chris served as the Vice President and General Manager of the consumer, computation, data-com and programmable products divisions at Cypress Semiconductor Corporation. Chris started his career at Intel, where he worked in both manufacturing and development. He has 7 issued patents, a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Computer Engineering.
Denis De Ceuster
Denis De Ceuster
Denis De Ceuster is the owner of DDC Solar LLC, providing consulting to the PV industry to assist companies to select, develop, execute, or improve their cell and module technology roadmaps. Denis has led the technology development at various solar companies, with a strong focus on advanced high-efficiency cell technologies based on N-type silicon. In 2008, he co-founded TetraSun Inc., a silicon-valley start-up that developed new low-cost processes and solar cells architectures. As the CEO and Chairman of the board, he raised more than $12M from strategic investors from Japan and Germany. TetraSun was acquired by First Solar in 2013. He stayed to lead and expand the team responsible for designing, installing, and ramping a 100MW production line based in Kulim (Malaysia) dedicated to manufacturing TetraSun cells and modules. Starting in 1995, Denis spent 12 years at SunPower, where he led the solar cell technology group as Director of Cell R&D. He was the Integration and Reliability Manager when SunPower started its first high-volume manufacturing line in the Philippines, where he lived for one year. He was the inventor of the concepts behind the SunPower Gen II technology, which improved SunPower cell efficiency from an average of 20.5% to 22.5% and produced the first commercially available module with full-size efficiency of more than 20%. Earlier in his career, Denis held research positions at the micro-electronics laboratory of the Université Catholique de Louvain, where he conducted research related to fully-depleted SOI devices and circuits. Denis holds a master in electrical engineering (“Ingénieur Civil Electricien, spécialité Micro-Electronique”) from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium.
Doug Daniels
Doug Daniels
Doug Daniels is an entrepreneur and startup VP/CTO. He brings two decades of experience leading engineering teams to build high performance data products. For six years, Doug served as VP of Engineering at Datadog, scaling its teams, revenue, and data by orders of magnitude on the path to a highly successful IPO. Prior to that, Doug was co-founder and CTO at Mortar Data, building a toolkit for rapid big data development and operations in the cloud. Mortar Data was acquired by Datadog, where it powers data pipelines for trillions of data points per day. Before Mortar Data, Doug worked in education technology, architecting data systems used by over one million teachers and parents in New York City and 1/5 of all elementary school students in the US. Doug holds a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Rice University.
Jenya Meydbray
Jenya Meydbray
Jenya Meydbray is the CCO at Nevados Engineering and former CEO and co-founder of PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), the leading independent lab for the downstream solar and energy storage market. Since entering the solar industry in 2006, Jenya has pioneered bankability testing for PV equipment and risk mitigation methods for power plants. As an advisor to Swift Solar, Jenya provides guidance on developing the company's go-to-market strategy for rooftop and utility PV and securing early customer commitments.
Kevin Bush
Kevin Bush
Kevin is a co-founder of Swift Solar and co-founder of Molten Industries. As a researcher and NSF Fellow at Stanford University, he led the development of record-efficiency perovskite-on-silicon tandems and assisted in the fabrication of the first all-perovskite tandems. Kevin holds a Master’s and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University, graduating summa cum laude. He was previously named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Fellow in Energy.
Mike McGehee
Mike McGehee
Mike McGehee is a Professor in the Chemical and Biological Engineering Department at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also a Fellow of the Materials Science and Engineering Program and the Renewable Energy and Sustainability Institute. He was a professor in the Materials Science and Engineering Department at Stanford University for 18 years and a Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy. His current research interests are developing new materials for smart windows and solar cells. He has previously done research on polymer lasers, light-emitting diodes and transistors as well as transparent electrodes made from carbon nanotubes and silver nanowires. His group makes materials and devices, performs a wide variety of characterization techniques, models devices and assesses long-term stability. Mike has taught courses on nanotechnology, nanocharacterization, organic semiconductors, polymer science and solar cells. He received his undergraduate degree in physics from Princeton University and his PhD degree in Materials Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he did research on polymer lasers in the lab of Nobel Laureate Alan Heeger. He won the 2007 Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award and is a Fellow of the Materials Research Society.
Vladimir Bulović
Vladimir Bulović
Vladimir Bulović is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the Director of MIT.nano, MIT's new nano-fabrication, nano-characterization, and prototyping facility, and holds the Fariborz Maseeh Chair in Emerging Technology. Vladimir also leads two of MIT's largest sponsored research programs (Tata-MIT GridEdge Solar and the Eni-MIT Solar Frontiers Center) and the MIT Organic and Nanostructured Electronics Laboratory (ONE Lab). He previously served as the MIT School of Engineering’s Associate Dean for Innovation, Co-Director of the MIT Innovation Initiative, and Director of the MIT Microsystems Technology Laboratories (MTL). His research interests include studies of physical properties of nanostructured films and structures and their applications in novel optoelectronic devices. Vladimir is a co-founder of QD Vision, Kateeva, and Ubiquitous Energy. He received his Ph.D. from Princeton University and is a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientist and Engineers, the National Science Foundation Career Award, the MIT Technology Review TR100, the Ruth and Joel Spira Award, the Eta Kappa Nu Honor Society Award, and the Bose Award for Distinguished Teaching, among other honors.
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