Abound Solar names Tom Tiller new CEO

10 December 2009

Photovoltaic solar manufacturer Abound Solar (formerly AVA Solar) has appointed Thomas Tiller as CEO.
Tiller comes to the company from Polaris Industries, where he served as CEO for nine years. The current interim CEO of Abound Solar, Doug Schatz, will assume the role of chairman of the board of directors.

‘In the last year, Abound Solar has reached several key milestones, including commercial production of modules and achieving product certification,’ said Schatz. ‘With Tom’s strong track record of delivering outstanding results – both at Polaris and General Electric – the Abound Solar Board of Directors is confident he is the best person to capitalize on that progress and build the next leading solar module manufacturer.’

‘I am very excited and thankful to be given the opportunity to lead a company at the cutting edge of solar energy innovation,’ added Tom Tiller. ‘Abound is uniquely positioned to leverage its proprietary manufacturing technology in reducing the cost of solar power, and I look forward to playing a significant role in the company’s continued growth.’

Prior to joining Abound Solar, Tiller was CEO of Polaris Industries, a $1.9bn manufacturer of outdoor recreational vehicles, including snowmobiles, ATVs, utility vehicles, and motorcycles. While at Polaris, Tiller oversaw the introduction of more than 170 new products, which led to a doubling of its size and a tripling of its stock price. The company expanded significantly into international markets and introduced Victory Motorcycles.

Prior to that, Tiller worked at General Electric for 15 years. He began his career in the aerospace sector, and later became Vice President of Manufacturing at GE Appliances. He concluded his GE career as General Manager of GE Silicones, a $1bn, 3,000-employee unit doing business in more than 40 countries.

Abound Solar was founded in 2007 to commercialise a proprietary process for manufacturing thin-film photovoltaic modules. Built upon 15 years of development at Colorado State University and with support from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Abound Solar has developed a commercial-scale, continuous process for producing solar modules that significantly reduces the cost of generating solar electricity.

Copyright © 2009 NewNet

Tags: photovoltaic, solar

This story was published on Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pm and is filed under North America, companies, solar. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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