NAMASTà‰ SOLAR Announce new CEO
Namasté Solar, an employee-owned cooperative and provider of commercial and residential solar solutions in Colorado, California, and the Northeast, has announced that Blake Jones has stepped down as the company's CEO and President. After an extensive CEO search process, the company hired Dave Vorlage to replace Jones as CEO and President.
Jones co-founded Namasté Solar in 2005 with a vision to create a democratic, employee-owned company that measures success holistically and exists to benefit all of its stakeholders, including not only stockholders, but also employees, customers, the community, and the environment. In addition to co-founding Namasté Solar, Jones co-founded Amicus Solar Cooperative, a solar purchasing cooperative based in Colorado with 38 member-companies across the United States and in Canada and Puerto Rico. Jones has received several awards and recognition including Entrepreneur of the Year from Ernst & Young, Best Innovator of the Year from the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and Denver's Most Influential People from 5280 Magazine. Jones will remain at the company assisting with various initiatives including the development of a clean energy credit union and a nationwide solar operations and maintenance (O&M) cooperative.
"Blake's passionate belief in employee-ownership, workplace democracy, distributed leadership, and extreme transparency are all key reasons behind Namasté Solar's success and longevity. Namasté Solar's recent milestone achievement as a profitable and thriving solar company for over ten years, proves that the company's mission of transforming energy and transforming business go hand in hand," said Gwénaël Hagan, CEO of SolarGlass Window & Door, and a member of the Namasté Solar Board of Directors. "The CEO search committee worked hard to find the right person who valued the company's employee-owned business model and culture. We are delighted to find that person in Dave Vorlage."
Vorlage, a Boulder native, most recently led a start-up division of Brinkman Partners through a period of exponential growth. He began his career as a CPA with Ernst & Young, and has substantial experience in finance and management in multiple industries.
"I'm thrilled to work alongside the passionate and talented people of Namasté Solar as we help our stakeholders benefit from the game-changing technology that solar PV represents. Namasté Solar's business model of employee-ownership, based on meritocracy, transparency, and long-term and holistic thinking, is one of the company's competitive advantages," said Vorlage. "I'm excited to build on the company's incredible culture, and to help it grow in a healthy way. With solar technology's continued gains in efficiency and economics, and the recent five-year extension of the 30% solar investment tax credit, the industry and the company are well positioned for the path ahead."
"The company is really excited to have Dave on board. He brings a skillset and background that is unique at Namasté Solar, and his eagerness to learn and his appreciation for our business model make Dave a great fit to be our new CEO," said, Blake Jones, Co-Founder, Namasté Solar.
