About Us
Our Advisors
Jigar Shah
A renowned visionary committed to renewable energy, Jigar Shah launched SunEdison in 2003 based upon a business plan he developed in 1999 for a university class. That plan became the basis of the SunEdison business model: Simplify solar as a service. This model changed the status quo, allowing organizations to purchase solar energy services under long-term predictably priced contracts and avoid the significant capital costs of ownership and operation of solar energy systems. Under Mr. Shah’s guidance, SunEdison pioneered the solar power services agreement (SPSA) model, which has turned solar services into a multi-billion dollar industry. SunEdison now has more solar energy systems and megawatts under management than any other company.
Mr. Shah is an expert on energy project finance, changing energy policy, working with entrenched stakeholders, convincing different type of customers to embrace energy technology. Today, Mr. Shah works closely with some of the world’s leading influencers and guides policy makers around the globe on key issues surrounding renewable energy, global warming and sustainability. Mr. Shah holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from The University of Maryland. He sits on the boards of the Prometheus Institute and Greenpeace USA.
Neville Williams
Neville Williams, is the founder of Standard Solar Inc., a solar energy services company based in Maryland that sells and installs grid-tied residential solarelectric systems in the Washington DC metropolitan area. Mr. Williams launched Standard Solar in 2005, drawing on 30 years of executive management, communications, and marketing experience. He is the author of CHASING THE SUN: Solar Adventures Around The World, an account of bringing solar power to people without electricity in 11 countries in Asia and Africa.
A lifelong adventurer, world traveller, journalist, and mountaineer, Mr. Williams launched his greatest adventure ever in 1990 – to bring solar power to unelectrified people in the developing world. He founded the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), a non-profit organization based in Washington DC, devoted to financing and facilitating solar rural electrification which has assisted national governments and community organizations to implement "solar seed" projects in India, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Vietnam, Brazil, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands.
Previously, Mr. Williams founded the Solar Electric Light Company (SELCO), and was its chairman and CEO until 2003. Now headquartered in Bangalore, India, SELCO has installed over 110,000 solar home lighting systems, bringing household electricity to a half million people in India, Vietnam and Sri lanka Mr. Williams is a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Louis Caldera
Louis Caldera is the Vice President of Programs at the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, where he oversees the Foundation's primary education initiatives. Prior to this postion, Mr. Caldera served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, a progressive policy research organization, where he worked on higher education, national security and foreign policy issues. Mr. Caldera has served in two presidential administrations, serving as Secretary of the Army in the administration of President Bill Clinton and as an Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Military Office Army early in the administration of President Barack Obama. He has also previously served as a commissioned officer in the US Army, as a California legislator representing downtown Los Angeles, and as President of the University of New Mexico where he was also a member of the faculty of the school of law.
In addition to an extensive background in public policy and administration, Mr. Caldera was a corporate attorney in private practice, and has served on numerous private and public company boards, including on the board of directors of Southwest Airlines. Mr. Caldera holds a BS degrees from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and law and business degrees from Harvard University. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
