About Us

Nanosolar is a leading manufacturer of cost-efficient thin film solar cells and panels.

We utilize an ‘industrial’ printing process to coat CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenium) and nanoparticle inks on low-cost aluminum foil in order to enable the world’s thinnest solar cells and lowest-cost solar panels.

The Nanosolar Utility Panel is specifically designed to reduce installation and balance of system costs.

With headquarters and solar cell manufacturing based in San Jose, California and an automated panel assembly facility outside Berlin, Germany, Nanosolar is building an effective global distribution network to deliver cost-efficient solar power.

Nanosolar is led by a world-class management team and backed by leading cleantech investors and renewable energy generators including Benchmark Capital, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Energy Capital Partners, EDF Energies Nouvelles and AES Solar.

Our Executive Management

Eugenia Corrales
Chief Executive Officer
Eugenia Corrales joined Nanosolar in May 2010 as EVP of Operations and Engineering. Prior to joining Nanosolar, Corrales was founder and CEO of Sunmodular, a manufacturer of heat transfer solutions for photovoltaic modules. Prior to starting Sunmodular, she was vice president of Engineering for SolFocus, a manufacturer of high-concentration photovoltaic systems. From 1999 to 2007, she held multiple executive positions at Cisco Systems, last as vice president of Product Operations. Prior to Cisco, she held multiple leadership roles in product development and manufacturing at Hewlett Packard, where she worked for eleven years. Corrales holds a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Grinnell College and a master’s degree in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Stanford University.

John McAdoo
Chief Financial Officer
John McAdoo joined Nanosolar in September 2010 as CFO. Recently, John worked as CFO of Envivio Inc., a venture backed startup where he played a leading role in a turnaround operation and fundraising. Prior to Envivio, John worked for ARM Holdings plc from 2000 to 2008 in a number of executive positions, vice president of Finance & Administration. He started his career with Arthur Andersen & Co. and then Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical and chemical company. John holds a BA (Econ) Hons Degree from the University of Manchester, England, and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Dave Jackrel
Vice President, Research and Development
Dave Jackrel leads Nanosolar’s R&D. Prior to joining Nanosolar in 2007, Jackrel completed his postdoctoral research at Stanford University. His studies and work include more than 13 years of experience in photovoltaic research and development including work in thin film solar cells, nano-structured architectures, III-V materials for multi-junction cells, and module packaging. Dave has a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, and a MS and a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

Jeff Zhou
Vice President, Product Engineering
Dr. Zhou joined Nanosolar in July 2011 as vice president of Product Engineering. Dr. Zhou is a senior business executive with over 20 years of industry experience at large, multinational corporations. Since 2010, Dr. Zhou has served as a board of director of Monolithic Power Systems Inc. Prior to Nanosolar, Dr. Zhou was chief operating officer of NDS Surgical Imaging. From 2008 to 2009, he led the company’s Global Engineering group as its vice president and general manager of the Asia Pacific Business. From 2005 to 2007, Dr. Zhou was vice president of Engineering for several business divisions and general manager of the China and India design centers at Flextronics Inc. From 2000 to 2005, he was vice president and general manager of several business divisions including a semiconductor business unit of Honeywell International Inc. Dr. Zhou holds a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida.

Ravi Balaji
Vice President, Cell Operations
Ravi Balaji joined Nanosolar in October 2010 as VP of Cell Operations. From 2006 to 2010, Ravi held various senior management positions at Solyndra, lastly as senior director of Operations at Solyndra’s Fab-1, where Ravi was instrumental in ramping up the factory to a production rate of 16 MW/qtr. From 2003 to 2006, he served as director of Program Management at MMC Technology (a division of Maxtor Corp), a manufacturer of disks for the disk drive industry. From 1988 to 2003, Ravi held various process engineering roles in the disk drive- and telecom component industries. Ravi holds a master’s degree in Materials Science from The University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in Metallurgy from the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai, India.

Mirco Boldt
VP Panel Operations, Managing Director Nanosolar GmbH
Mirco Boldt joined Nanosolar in December 2008 and now serves as VP of Panel Operations and is also the managing director of Nanosolar GmbH, the fully-automated, panel-assembly factory based in Luckenwalde, Germany. Prior to scaling panel factory readiness to a cost-effective mass producer level at Nanosolar, Mirco Boldt spent more than a decade working for BMW AG in a wide variety of cross-functional leadership roles including manufacturing and factory maintenance and project lead on new BMW motorcycle technology and related manufacturing. He is an accredited electrical engineer and has been published in industry journals on “innovative conveyor technology for future assembly factory.”

John Bender
Vice President, Supply Chain
John Bender joined Nanosolar in May 2011 as VP of Supply Chain. Prior to joining Nanosolar, Bender was founder and CEO of Bender Consulting, a boutique management consulting firm focused on complex business transformation. Additionally, Bender served for more than 15 years at Hewlett-Packard Company in a wide variety of cross-functional leadership- and executive roles including R&D, manufacturing, supply chain, and vice-president of Corporate Strategy. A noted M&A expert with more than 15 acquisitions to his credit, John is widely recognized for his key role leading Hewlett’s $19.5 billion acquisition of Compaq Computer. Bender holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and an executive MBA from Harvard University. He and his engineering teams hold more than 30 design patents and John is a sought-after speaker at industry conferences and universities.

Becky Baybrook
Vice President, Human Resources
Becky Baybrook joined Nanosolar in June 2010 as VP of Human Resources. Prior to Nanosolar, Becky was vice president of Global HR & Administration for Silicon Storage Technology, Inc., a semiconductor company. From 2002 to 2008 she was vice president of Human Resources for PDF Solutions, Inc. with multiple offices in Asia and Europe. Earlier, Becky worked for 3Com and then for Vitria Technologies in significant HR generalist roles. She began her career working for Knight-Ridder, Inc. a media company where she was vice president of Human Resources on the corporate staff. Becky holds a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Westmont College and a PhD in Organizational Psychology from University of South Florida.

Our Board of Directors

Guido Polko
Executive Chairman of the Board
Guido brings more than 25 years of leadership and achievements as an entrepreneur, sales- and managing executive in developing high tech ventures and markets in Europe, Asia and USA. He has focused the past two years on scouting private equity placement and venture capital opportunities in the areas of alternative energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy storage, and electronic vehicles (EVs) as an angel investor and on behalf of a European Family Office. As part of these activities he continues to grow his powerful network of industry and government contacts in the Californian and U.S. energy markets.

Prior to deepening his investment focus in the area of renewable energy, he served as Attensity Group’s Chief Strategic Officer, which he co-founded, and where he oversaw operations in all global regions focused on continuously calibrating the group’s strategic directions while also leading global M&A initiatives. His past roles include numerous board member seats and managing director positions at public and privately held technology companies and venture capital firms. Guido holds a MBA degree from the University of Duisburg-Essen and studied Business Administration and Economics at the University of Toronto.

John Trbovich
Managing Director, Arsenal Venture Partners
Mr. Trbovich is a co-founding managing director of Arsenal Venture Partners, a private equity firm focused on the intersection of the commercial and government sectors. Arsenal Venture Partners manages and advises multiple private equity funds, including: (i) Arsenal Venture Partners II, an early stage venture capital firm; (ii) OnPoint Technologies, the U.S. Dept. of Defense’s venture capital fund; (iii) MILCOM Technologies, a seed-stage fund focused on defense contractors and the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s National Laboratory System; and (iv) the Florida Opportunity Fund. Each of the funds managed by AVP focus on investing in companies within the energy, IT, communications, semiconductor and materials sectors. John managed the firm’s investments in A123 Systems, Iosil Energy, IFCT, LS9, Mustang Vacuum Systems, Nanosolar, Superprotonic, & TelASIC.

Prior to his tenure at AVP, John spent his career advising emerging growth technology companies in such areas as strategy, business development and corporate finance. Most recently, John was a principal investor in the communications and information technology sectors. Prior to that role, John was a co-founder & principal of E*OFFERING, the San Francisco investment bank that specialized in the online delivery of financial products. Mr. Trbovich was also a senior technology banker at Robertson Stephens & Co., where he participated in raising billions of dollars for technology companies as well as advising on mergers and acquisitions. Previously, John worked in merchant banking for Metzler Corp., the oldest privately-held German bank, and the investment banking department of Salomon Smith Barney. John is a graduate of the Harvard Business School and the School of Engineering at Columbia University.

Erik Oldekop
Executive Director
Erik Oldekop leads aeris CAPITAL`s renewable energy investment practice. aeris CAPITAL is a Swiss private investment office, advising a high net worth individual and his foundation, one of Germany’s largest charitable foundations. aeris CAPITAL is active in all asset classes, globally. Operating from a sustainable asset base, with a long-term investment horizon, aeris strives to achieve the highest quality standards in all its investment activities, while delivering superior, risk-adjusted returns. Before joining aeris, Erik was the general manager for Europe of a U.S. solar panel manufacturer. Starting in 1997, Oldekop worked as an investment professional at Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, Tokyo and San Francisco. He holds a PhD in Semiconductor Physics from Hahn Meitner Institute, Berlin.

Erik Straser
General Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures
Erik Straser leads MDV's cleantech investment team. Prior to MDV, Erik worked at Interval Research Corp., a technology incubator funded by Paul Allen, and at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a technical staff member. Straser serves on the advisory council of the Stanford Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency as well as on the advisory boards of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), Stanford's BASES, NVCA Cleantech Council, and Cleantech Venture Network. Straser earned a bachelor's degree in engineering from Harvey Mudd College and both doctoral and master's degrees from the Stanford University School of Engineering.