US Solar Panel Maker Hires New COO & CCO

• Solaria Corporation of the US has announced the appointment of two new people on its executive leadership team
• Bang Nguyen has come on board as COO from Applied Materials where he worked as vice president and general manager
• Balaji Thirumalai left his previous job at Mindtree to join Solaria as the company's CCO

While one US module manufacturer, SunPower announced to spin off its manufacturing business, another US based commercial and residential solar panel manufacturer, Solaria Corporation has expanded its senior management team to manage its expansion plans. Solaria has hired Bang Nguyen as chief operating officer (COO) and Balaji Thirumalai as chief commercial officer (CCO).

Both Nguyen and Thirumalai are ex-SunEdison senior executives where Nguyen was the COO for the company's solar materials division, and the latter oversaw commercial and industrial business in Asia Pacific.

Before joining Solaria, Nguyen was the vice president and general manager of the products business units of Applied Materials. Thirumalai has joined Solaria from Mindtree where he worked as senior vice president and also holds three US patents as a co-inventor.

A company that manufactures shingled solar panels, Solaria raised $40 million in growth funding in September 2019 to more than double its production capacity for premium residential PV panels by the end of the year 2019 (see Solaria Raises $40 Million To Expand Production).

Welcoming both the new appointees, Solaria CEO Suvi Sharma said, "I can't imagine executives better equipped than Bang and Balaji to help us meet the opportunity we face to lead the premium residential solar market." He added, "I'm thrilled to have them join the team. With our recent expansion investment, we are well equipped to strengthen the team and double our manufacturing capacity."