Boardroom Media (CEO News)
At CEO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 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 Columbia based CEO’ operating in the Solar space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected]
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 Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Kiran Bhatraju
Founder & CEO of Arcadia
Kiran Bhatraju, is cofounder and CEO of Arcadia Power. Previously, Kiran was a founder of an energy efficiency technology company and worked as a policy aide on Capitol Hill. He is on the board of the Environmental Voter Project and is a published author.
Follow Kiran Bhatraju:
About Arcadia: Arcadia is a technology company empowering energy innovators (Arc) and consumers (Community Solar) to fight the climate crisis
Paul Hanrahan
CEO of Globeleq
Mr. Hanrahan has been the Chief Executive Officer of American Capital Energy & Infrastructure Management, LLC, an investment company formed to raise, invest and manage funds in the energy and infrastructure industries, since September 2012. Mr. Hanrahan served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of The AES Corporation, one of the world’s leading independent power producers, from June 2002 to September 2011. He was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of The AES Corporation and President and Chief Executive Officer of AES China Generating Co., Ltd., a public company formerly listed on NASDAQ, from 1993 until June 2002. Mr. Hanrahan served as a director of The AES Corporation from June 2002 to September 2011. He also previously served on the boards of other major publicly listed utilities in Brazil, Chile and Venezuela. In 2009 Mr. Hanrahan was appointed by the White House to serve on the U.S.- India CEO forum. Mr. Hanrahan serves as a director of Arch Coal, Inc., a top five global coal producer and marketer; AquaVenture Holdings, LLC, a maker of water management systems; Azura Power Holdings Limited, an electric power generation company in Nigeria; and GreatPoint Energy, Inc., a producer of clean, low-cost natural gas from coal, petroleum coke and biomass. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.
Follow Paul Hanrahan:
About American Capital Energy & Infrastructure, BMR Energy, Globeleq: Globeleq Generation Limited develops, builds, and operates renewable power projects in Africa and the Americas.
Jimmy S. H. Lee
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Mercer International
Mr. Jimmy S. H. Lee is Chairman of the Board, President, Chief Executive Officer of Mercer International Inc. Previously, during the period that MFC Bancorp Ltd. was our affiliate, he served as a director from 1986 and President from 1988 to December 1996 when it was spun out. Mr. Lee was also a director of Quinsam Capital Corp. from March 2004 to November 2007 and Fortress Paper Ltd. from August 2006 to April 2008. During Mr. Lee’s tenure with Mercer, we acquired the Rosenthal mill and converted it to the production of kraft pulp, constructed and commenced operations at the Stendal mill and acquired the Celgar mill. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada.
Follow Jimmy S. H. Lee:
About Mercer International: Mercer International operates as a pulp business and produces NBSK market pulp.
David Velazquez
President & Chief Executive Officer of Pepco Holdings
Follow David Velazquez:
About Pepco Holdings: Largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region
Shazia Khan
CEO, CoFounder of EcoEnergy
Shazia is an environmental lawyer and an expert in off-grid clean energy solutions. She began her career as a consultant with the World Bank, working with the Global Environment Facility and Africa Energy. She co-founded EcoEnergy with Jeremy Higgs as a way to distribute last-mile energy services in Pakistan to the 70 million living off-grid. Shazia was a delegate to the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Summit hosted by U.S. President Barack Obama, which showcased 600 inspiring entrepreneurs and investors from around the world and using entrepreneurship to address some of the most intractable global challenges. Shazia was also a two-time finalist for the prestigious C3E Awards in both 2015 and 2016. Led by Stanford, MIT and a 24 government Clean Energy Ministerial, the award recognizes the leadership and achievement of mid-level career women who have worked for the advancement of clean energy. Shazia was a panelist at the United Nations Sustainable Energy For All Conference, speaking on the topic of “Opportunities for Investment in Decentralized Clean Energy Solutions” in 2015. Shazia was designated a National Geographic Society Explorer in 2015, when the organization won National Geographic’s Great Energy Challenge in 2014 for developing a promising, global energy solution as a response to climate change, energy resource constraints and environmental limitations. Shazia was selected as one of 19 social entrepreneurs worldwide to participate in a business accelerator program supported by the Skoll Foundation called the Global Social Benefit Incubator. Shazia graduated with a J.D. from Vermont Law School, the nation’s premier environmental law program with a concentration in Energy. She received a B.A. from Smith College. She is a member of the UN Foundation’s Energy Practitioner’s Network. Shazia is based in Washington, D.C. allowing her to confer regularly with colleagues from the World Bank, USAID and the United Nations Foundation as well as other international solar energy initiatives, which helps keep EcoEnergy stay current on global best practices.
Follow Shazia Khan:
About EcoEnergy: pay-as-you-go solar in Pakistan
Michael Heaven
Chairman of the Board, CEO of Aurora Solar Technologies
Mike Heaven chairs the Board of Directors and is the company’s CEO. He is also a co-founder of the company. Mike has had over 20 years experience in the development and application of measurement and control technology to a variety of industries. He has published extensively in the field of industrial measurement and process control and holds eleven patents in this area. His extensive in-depth experience in this field is particularly pertinent to the role Aurora is playing in the solar energy industry. As General Manager for PT Papertech Inc. from 2003 to 2008, Mr. Heaven drove the development and delivery of innovative machine vision systems for in-line process monitoring and optimization in paper, tissue and steelmaking. Prior to Papertech, he was Chief Operating Officer of Norsat International Inc. (TSX: NII, NASDAQ: NSATF), a company providing ground station equipment for satellite communications. Before Norsat, Mike spent 13 years with Honeywell in various senior engineering and marketing roles. Prior to Honeywell, he spent five years in the steel industry, responsible for Dofasco’s Hot Strip Flatness and Profile Control program. Mr. Heaven holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from McMaster University and is a registered Professional Engineer in the Provinces of British Columbia and Ontario, Canada. He also holds an MBA from Queen’s University.
Follow Michael Heaven:
About Aurora Solar Technologies: Aurora Solar Technologies develops and markets Production Measurement and Control systems.
Matt Wayrynen
CEO, COO & Board of Directors of Solar Flow-Through
Mr. Wayrynen provides experience in resource company management, venture capital, startup financing, and mergers and acquisitions. He is an original co-founder and former President and CEO of TrichoScience Innovations Inc., which became Replicel Life Sciences Inc. As a director of Quinto Mining, he helped raise millions of dollars and advanced a Quebec iron ore property to a viable project. Quinto sold to Consolidated Thompson Iron Mines in June 2008 for a share value equal to $175 million. (Consolidated Thompson was eventually sold to Cliffs Resources for $4.9 billion). Mr. Wayrynen has also been involved in the evaluation of investment opportunities in solar projects in Italy. He was formerly active in the real estate industry as a licensed salesman and licensed agent nominee in charge of real estate for multiple retail projects throughout the greater Vancouver area. In addition, he was a licensed securities professional for over 10 years. Currently, he is also a director of several publicly-listed resource companies.
Follow Matt Wayrynen:
About Solar Flow-Through, WestKam Gold: Solar Flow-Through develops and operates solar PV power generation projects in Ontario, Canada.
Slawek Smulewicz
CEO & Director of MicroCoal
Mr. Smulewicz has been the acting CEO of MicroCoal® Technologies Inc.. since June 2011. He operated as Vice President of Carbon Friendly Solutions Inc. from 2008 until his appointment as CEO; he is also a director of the Company since 2008. Mr. Smulewicz has served on the Board of several European private companies in consulting, IT and construction industries; especially during the start-up phase or restructuring processes. From 2006 until 2009, he led a successful remedial process, completing the financing of over 50 million PLN for a European private company. In 2001, he founded BDSG Grupa Finansowa Sp. z o. o., where he acted as CEO and Director until 2008. In 1998, he co-founded Internetowy Instytut Infomacji 3i Sp. z o. o. where he acted as CEO and Director until 2001. Mr. Smulewicz was an advisor to Vice Marshal of Presidium of The Sejm of The Republic of Poland (Polish Parliament) in 1998 and received his license as a broker of Warsaw Exchange (WGT S.A.), Poland in 1995. He has a M.Sc. in Agriculture & Business Administration from the Warsaw University of Life Science (SGGW) in Warsaw, Poland.
Follow Slawek Smulewicz:
About G2 Technologies Corp., MicroCoal: MicroCoal focuses on providing clean-coal upgrading technology that reduces contaminants in coal resulting in upgraded energy content.
