Board of Directors

Ron Van Dell has served as president and chief executive officer of SolarBridge Technologies since November 2008. Van Dell has an exceptional track record and proven leadership skills to complement his 30 years of experience. Most recently he served as president and CEO at Primarion, a mixed signal semiconductor company, which became the leader in digital power management in four years, resulting in an acquisition by Infineon Technologies in April 2008. Before joining Primarion, Van Dell served as president and CEO at Legerity and in senior management positions at Dell, Harris Semiconductor, Groupe Schneider, Square D Company and General Electric. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Michigan Technological University. He is a member of multiple professional associations.

Bill Mulligan is executive chairman of SolarBridge Technologies. A renowned expert in the solar industry, Bill Mulligan was appointed to the board of SolarBridge in 2011. In his new role as executive chairman, Mulligan will drive the company’s continued development of leading-edge power electronics solutions. Mulligan served as vice president of research and development for SunPower from 1998 until 2010, during which time SunPower grew from a company of 40 employees to more than 5,000. He led the development of their low-cost, one-sun silicon PV cell technology and under his leadership SunPower developed and commercialized the world’s highest efficiency solar panel. Prior to SunPower Mulligan held roles at JX Crystals Inc., National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), AstroPower Inc. and Fairchild/National Semiconductor.

Philip Krein, Ph.D., is co-founder of SolarBridge Technologies. He also holds the Grainger Endowed Director’s Chair in Electric Machinery and Electromechanics at the University of Illinois. Dr. Krein is widely regarded as one of the top experts and innovators in power electronics, with more than 25 years of experience. He is a recipient of the IEEE William E. Newell Award, the highest international honor in the field. He is the author of a respected textbook on the subject and has served as president of the IEEE Power Electronics Society. Dr. Krein holds a B.S. in electrical engineering and a B.A. in economics and business from Lafayette College. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees are in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds 15 U.S. patents, with additional patents pending.

Gabriel Kra is Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer for Elan Management, overseeing Elan’s investments in alternative energy and cleantech companies. Prior to joining Elan, Kra was an investment banker with Deutsche Bank in its Solar and Semiconductor Group in San Francisco. Previously, Gabriel held management positions in venture-backed telecommunications and semiconductor startups. He holds an MBA in Finance from the Columbia Business School and the Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley, an MS in atmospheric chemistry from SUNY Stony Brook, and a BA in Philosophy from Columbia College.

Joshua Ruch is a managing partner of Rho Capital Partners, an investment and venture capital management company that he co-founded in 1981. Previously he was an investment banker at Salomon Brothers in New York. He has invested in companies across all sectors in which Rho operates, including information technology, communications, biotechnology and energy. His current and former board seats include: Ciris Energy, Enerkem, Fractal, GenVec, Human Genome Sciences, Inotek, Verenium, Vidyo and Yantra. Ruch received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jason Schoettler is a managing director at Shea Ventures, where he focuses on the firm’s late-stage investment efforts to invest in previously venture backed and secondary opportunities. In addition to his role as a SolarBridge director, he sits on the boards of Cool Planet Energy Systems (observer), Evolution Robotics, PropertyRoom and Quickoffice (observer). His other investments include EKOS, Vascular Control Systems (acq. JNJ), Wavestream (acq. GILT), and Winery Exchange. Schoettler also sits on the advisory board of Cendana Capital.Jason joined Shea Ventures in 2002, after an operating role at a JPL/CalTech software startup. He began his career as a management consultant with Ernst & Young (acq. Cap Gemini). He holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame, and received his MBA from Claremont Graduate University.