Board of Directors
Bill Mulligan is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Solarbridge Technologies, Inc. A renowned expert in the solar industry, Bill Mulligan was appointed to the board of SolarBridge in 2011. Mulligan served as vice president of research and development for SunPower from 1998 until 2010, during which time SunPower grew annual revenues from $8 million to more than $2.2 billion. He led the development of SunPower’s low-cost, one-sun silicon PV cell technology and under his leadership the company 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 for Prelude Ventures, overseeing Prelude’s investments in alternative energy and cleantech companies. Gabriel currently sits on the Board of Directors of Renewable Funding, Solarbridge Technologies, PlantPV and Project Frog, and is active or a board observer with Prelude’s investments in Suniva, Yerdle and QuantumScape. Prior to founding Prelude, Gabriel was an investment banker with Deutsche Bank in its solar and semiconductor group in San Francisco. Previously, Gabriel held positions in three venture-backed telecommunications and semiconductor startups. Gabriel holds MBAs from the Haas School of Business and Columbia Business School, a Master’s degree in atmospheric chemistry from SUNY Stony Brook, and a B.A. 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 B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and received his MBA from Claremont Graduate University.
Mike Smith leads Constellation Technology Ventures (CTV), the venture capital investing arm of Exelon. CTV originates, executes and manages minority investments in a portfolio of start-up companies in the energy technology space. CTV is actively investing in early stage companies across the energy tech space with an eye toward commercializing new technologies across the Exelon platform.Previously, Mike was responsible for overseeing the strategy, development and implementation of Constellation’s renewable and sustainable retail product offerings, including onsite generation, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction strategies. During his 15-year career in the energy industry, Mike has worked extensively in multiple legal, regulatory and commercial roles throughout the U.S. and Europe. Mike has actively participated in numerous legal and regulatory matters involving the development and restructuring of the U.S. and European natural gas, power, renewable energy and carbon markets and the formation and structure of independent system operators. Mike holds a B.A .from the University of Miami and a J.D. from the Duke University School of Law.