Best Startup
At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based President operating in the Solar space. If you think a President is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Giora Salita
Executive Vice President, Business Development and M&A of Etrion
Mr. Salita has over 15 years of executive experience in the renewable energy, technology and private equity sectors. Prior to joining Etrion, Mr. Salita was one of the founding members of Sunray Renewable Energy Ltd., a leading solar power developer in Europe and the Middle East that was acquired by SunPower Corporation, a leading U.S. solar energy company, in 2010. Subsequently, Mr. Salita held the position of Vice President Utility Power Plants International at SunPower, where he led the marketing, sales and business development teams responsible for project development, engineering, procurement and construction of utility-scale solar parks. Mr. Salita graduated from the Warwick Business School with a bachelor’s degree in management sciences and attended the development program for owners/directors at INSEAD Business School in France.
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About Etrion: Etrion Corporation is an independent power producer that develops, builds, owns and operates utility-scale solar power generation plants.
Alain Blosse
Vice-President of Research and Development of Oxford PV
Dr Alain Blosse joined Oxford PV in March 2017 as Vice President of Research and Development. Alain has over 30 years’ experience in the fields of semiconductor devices, process technology and advanced solar technologies. Prior to joining Oxford PV, Alain was Senior Vice President of Research and Development at Scifiniti, where he developed low cost kerfless silicon wafers for the solar industry. Before that, Alain was the Senior Director of Engineering where he developed a low cost and highly efficient solar cell. Alain has an established track record of transferring technology from Research & Development to high volume manufacturing, this has included; high density static RAM memories at Cypress semiconductor, NAND flash memories at Intel Corp and high efficiency solar cells at Calisolar. Alain led the Intel/Micron integration development team on deep submicron NAND flash gate technology and was the key technical leader at Clean Power Innovation Inc. for the development of an innovative silicon based anode for high performance lithium-ion battery. Alain has an Engineering Degree in Electronic and Computer Sciences from a top institute in France and a PhD in Solid State Physics from Lille University in France. Additionally, Alain holds 26 U.S. patents related to solar, semiconductor processes, and non-volatile memory applications.
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About Oxford PV: Oxford PV is a provider of perovskite solar cells.
Andrew Nelson
President & CEO of IQE
Andrew Nelson has over 30 years experience in the semiconductor industry in a variety of research and managerial positions. Following a PhD in Semiconductor Physics, he joined BT Research Laboratories in 1981, leading the group responsible for the development of advanced optoelectronic devices for optical fibre communications. He subsequently managed the technology transfer from BT to Agilent for mass production. He co-founded EPI in 1988 (which became IQE in 1999) and was appointed Chief Executive Officer of IQE Plc in April 1999. Andrew has held several Non-Executive Directorship appointments, and served on several Government and Industry bodies. He received an OBE in 2001 for services to the Electronics Industry. He is currently a member of the High Level Group appointed by the EC to oversee the implementation of Key Enabling Technologies (KETs) throughout Europe.
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About IQE: IQE is the global leader in the design and manufacture of advanced semiconductor wafer products.
Julian Hughes
Senior Vice President, US of Intelligent Energy
Julian is based out of our San Francisco Bay Area office and heads up the Group’s Commercial activity as well as US operations. Prior to joining Intelligent Energy, Julian held senior positions within the automotive industry at General Motors (Vauxhall) and TWR Group (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) which then led into the Cleantech sector with Microgen Engine Corporation where he held the position of CEO. Microgen developed and manufactured Stirling engines for the CHP, Military and Solar markets. In addition to his role as Group Corporate Development Director, Julian is also a Non-Executive Board Member for IECHP Ltd, which is a subsidiary of Intelligent Energy.
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About Intelligent Energy: Intelligent Energy is a clean power systems company offering fuel cell and hydrogen generation technologies.
Nigel Preston
Co-Founder & Vice President Product Management of Azuri Technologies
Nigel has 30 years’ global experience of embedded electronic systems development and manufacture. Previous positions include a variety of senior roles with Motorola’s Automotive business unit including European Design Centre Director, and more recently he was COO International Operations for Pi Shurlok. Nigel is a Chartered Engineer and holds a B.Eng. and PhD in Electronic Engineering from the University of Liverpool.
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About Azuri Technologies: Azuri brings affordable solar power to off-grid rural africans.
Joel Stettenheim
President of Norwich Technologies
Joel Stettenheim is President of Norwich Solar Technologies, Inc. Joel has strong legal, business and technical skills with a PhD in device physics/materials research from Dartmouth College, a JD from Stanford Law School, and corporate and IP practice experience at Testa, Hurwitz, & Thibeault. Joel Stettenheim’s broad technical skills include materials and device fabrication and characterization, control systems development, design and implementation of mechanical and electrical simulations, data analysis, mechanical design and machining, and extensive measurement work that includes design and fabrication of low-noise electronics and device-control and data-collection software. His research credentials include numerous peer-reviewed publications and public talks including lead authorship in Nature. Joel’s legal and business experience includes counseling clients from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies on a broad range of patent, trademark, regulatory, transactional, and licensing issues. Joel is PI on over $2.4M in grants from the US Department of Energy for the novel parabolic trough concentrating solar power technology being developed by NT.
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About Norwich Technologies: Norwich Technologies is a rapidly develop and commercialize promising innovations in clean technologies.
