Watt It Takes
with Terry Jester

In this episode: Emily’s conversation with Terry Jester, a solar technology veteran. Terry has seen it all in her four-decade career in solar and electronics. As both an engineer and an executive, she’s learned that timing is everything in the energy business. Since starting her career in solar in the 70s, she’s held operations and engineering positions at Shell, Siemens, SunPower, and Solaria — witnessing the initial evolution and eventual explosion of solar firsthand.

 
 
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Terry Jester
 

 
Terry Jester is CEO of SolPad and a nearly 40-year veteran of the renewable energy business. Her tenure in solar has been focused on technology and operations leadership, with emphasis on product development and cost optimization in emerging businesses. She has held executive leadership positions at SunPower, SolarWorld, Silicor and Solaria prior to joining SolPad. She worked at Arco Solar, Siemens Solar and Shell Solar as well as SolarWorld. At Arco Solar, she helped developed solar module materials that are still in use today. She holds a mechanical engineering degree from California State University, Northridge and has received numerous awards in the solar business for her contributions to the technical development of the solar industry. She has co-authored more than 50 papers on solar energy and holds three patents on solar module development. She was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer and one of the “15 Women Changing the World in 2015” and was awarded the American Solar Energy Society’s Women in Solar Award. She is part of the B20 Committee on Financing Growth, which advises the G20 on various topics having to do with emerging technologies and small businesses.
 
 

Watt It Takes is our monthly podcast that tells the stories of founders who are building a carbon-free future — their upbringings, their risks, their failures, and their breakthroughs that are transforming our world.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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