Company Profile

Solarcentury is a growing company of over 110 people. The team is made up of designers, engineers, project managers, consultants, logistics and support staff. We come from a broad range of backgrounds including the oil and power industries, environmental groups, construction, the armed forces, government, development and aid/environmental charities, the IT industry, and investment banking.

Despite this huge diversity we are united in our belief that solar energy is a key solution to alleviate the growing energy crisis, and is vital for sustainability and combating global warming.

Our Executive Chairman

Jeremy Leggett is founder and Executive Chairman of Solarcentury and founder and Chairman of SolarAid, a charity set up by Solarcentury. He is also a founding director of the world's first private equity fund for renewable energy, Bank Sarasin's New Energies Invest AG (2000-present), which was Solarcentury's idea, and in which the company has a stake. He was a member of the UK Government's Renewables Advisory Board from 2002-6. He has worked in the oil industry, among other things researching oil source rocks funded by BP and Shell, and in the environment movement, where he won the US Climate Institute's Award for Advancing Understanding. He has recently been appointed a CNN "Principal Voice," and described by the Observer as "the UK's most respected green energy boss." His critically-acclaimed books The Carbon War and Half Gone cover climate change and peak oil (http://www.carbonwar.co.uk/). They have failed to sell as well as Jeremy Clarkson's books. You can read Jeremy's regular Guardian blogs here.

www.jeremyleggett.net

Our Chief Executive Officer

Derry Newman is CEO of Solarcentury the UK’s leading solar energy company, joining the company in December 2006. Prior to Solarcentury, Derry worked in Sony Europe for over ten years, responsible for considerable transformational change in the rapidly evolving and competitive arena of consumer electronics. In 1999, he was appointed Director, Customer Information Group Sony Broadcast and Professional before taking the role of Vice President, E-Business Sony Europe in 2002. He was appointed Senior Vice President Operations, Sony Europe in 2003 and was subsequently appointed Managing Director, Sony United Kingdom in June 2004. Derry’s achievements have spanned leading large scale change projects and e-business, to commitment to social responsibility and education. Prior to Sony, he was Director, Operations, EMEA Motorola Inc. He has also worked as a consultant, providing advice to organisations undergoing significant change activities. His interests include active involvement with business charities and projects supporting sustainable development and social enterprise. Outside of work he likes mountain biking, sailing and swimming.

Our Chief Financial Officer

Neil Perry - Prior to joining Solarcentury in 2000 Neil had over 15 years' experience in the investment industry. Having been an analyst and portfolio manager for seven years, he joined Baring Securities Latin America in 1991. He was the Institutional Investor #1 ranked analyst in his sector for three consecutive years and, as Director of Latin American Research, headed the top equity team in the region. In 1995 he was included in Worth Magazine’s ‘The World’s Top 50 Financial Market Movers’ survey. Before returning to the UK, where he worked for BSCH, he was CEO of ING Baring Securities, Argentina.

Our Directors

John Leggate
John joined VantagePoint as a Venture Partner in 2008 and has been a member of the CleanTech Advisory Council for the past three years. John has been active professionally in the energy space for over thirty years. His early career in the electric power utility business was in the design and construction of nuclear and fossil fired power plants. Within BP, John had an extensive career essentially in large scale (ca $5billion) oil field project management. Additionally, John had a significant leadership role in the integration of the BP/Amoco/ Arco/ Veba mergers. Finally, with BP, as Group CIO, John led the digital transformation of the “New BP” which involved significant investment in innovation, incubation and start ups. John was honored by the Queen in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the international digital technology and cyber security agenda. John is a graduate of Glasgow University (BSc Engineering) and is a Fellow of both the Institute of Electrical Engineering and the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Samer Salty has over two decades of experience in venture capital, investment banking and technology in the U.S., the Middle East and Europe. Samer co-founded zouk ventures ltd in 1999 and has successfully raised two technology venture funds including zouk’s current fund, Cleantech Europe. Samer worked on M&A and private equity transactions in the Telecom Media and Technology Group at J.P. Morgan. He was also head of Global Markets for the Middle East at J.P. Morgan, structuring large corporate finance and derivatives transactions with institutional clients. Before investment banking, Samer spent seven years designing and implementing communications and computer systems for the FAA of the US Government. He also led and managed large FAA projects whilst at Martin Marietta and worked both directly and as a consultant for AT&T, Lockheed, and Hughes Aircraft. He holds a BSee in Electronic Engineering from Cal Poly and a MSc in Finance from MIT. Samer is a member of the International Council of the Kennedy School Belfer Centre at Harvard University.

Andreas Eggenberg is CEO of Grupo ECOS, which manages two Private Equity Investment funds of Swiss origin (Ecos Sustainable Equity Fund, Inc. y Ecos Forestry Fund Inc.), with an investment focus on clean technologies, renewable energy and sustainable forestry. Mr. Eggenberg is a Swiss national, Political and economic scientist graduated from the University of Lausanne, Business Administration, management and executive management specializations at the Universities of Munich, UCLA, Kellogg and INCAE.

Previously, Executive Director Amanco Agricultural Solutions, leading irrigation systems provider in Latin America based in Brazil. Before that various executive positions at Grupo Nueva and Amanco in Argentina, Costa Rica and Guatemala, including Regional Head Amanco Central America and Carribbean. Previously, Senior VP at Volkart Brothers Holding, and Executive Director at Green Cross International. He is Member of the Boards of Avina Foundation, Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD) Panama, of the Advisory Boards of the IADB Conference on Corporate Social Responsibility, and of the Latin American Advisory Board of the World Water Forum; and is a faculty member of Sustainability, London; and was Chairman of the Board of Fundes Guatemala and member of the local INCAE Council.

Adrian Pike has worked within the Scottish and Southern Energy group for 23 years, starting as an apprentice electrician and working his way to his current position on the Scottish and Southern Energy executive. His role on the executive gives him responsibility for all the contracting activities with Southern Electric Contracting (SEC) as well as the Telecoms business which includes SSE Telecoms and Neos Networks, and the National Networks business which includes the gas connections business SSE Pipelines. Following the acquisition of Neos Networks in 2003, he has created one of the fastest growing and financially stable Telecoms companies within the UK.

Andrew Lee is a Managing Director of Good Energies following its acquisition of the Englefield Renewable Energy Fund, for which Andrew was responsible. Good Energies is a leading investor in solar power and manages an investment portfolio valued in excess of €5billion. Prior to joining Englefield, Andrew was equity adviser for the Zephyr transaction – the landmark financing of the UK’s largest portfolio of windfarms. Previously Andrew spent 15 years in investment banking, advising on and leading a wide range of transactions rising to the role of Managing Director of SG Hambros. Andrew completed a Masters degree in Engineering at Cambridge University and qualified as a Chartered Accountant. He has a strong interest in sustainability and environmental affairs and the alleviation of poverty. Andrew is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.