OUR ORGANIZATION

Get to know Solar Energy International.

SEI’s Mission & Vision

Solar Energy International (SEI) was founded in 1991 as a nonprofit educational organization. Our mission is to provide industry-leading technical training and expertise in renewable energy to empower people, communities, and businesses worldwide. Why? Because we envision a world powered by renewable energy! If you share our vision, please consider becoming a member of SEI today.

SEI’s Values

SEI is a dedicated community of hardworking professionals who believe in a world where all people have equal access to clean energy resources to ensure the safety and health of their communities, natural environments, and the planet. Our Core values are to Educate, Engage and Empower each other and the world through our work, aligning with our mission of a world powered by renewable energy.

Realizing this vision takes committed hearts, and we work every day to ensure that the people and communities we engage are educated and empowered to make a difference. These beliefs create the bedrock for SEI’s actions and programs and our core values guide what we do and how we do it, including a loyalty and commitment to our staff, students, instructors, and collaborators.

Educate

We Educate through reliable and quality educational products and services designed to provide a pathway to a skilled, knowledgeable, and equitable workforce.

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We believe that training and building a global renewable energy workforce is essential to our collective futures. SEI is dedicated to continuous innovation in providing reliable, relevant, and quality services that are accessible to all, delivered by experienced industry thought leaders. We strive for a learning environment that puts service to students first and provides a pathway to a skilled, knowledgeable, and equitable workforce.

Engage

We Engage by building a community in all levels of our organization that is rooted in integrity to our mission.

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We recognize the power in collective engagement, and knowing that diversity equals success, we endeavor to create a culture of inclusion amongst our community that focuses on taking care of each other and the planet. SEI is grounded in integrity, compassion, professionalism, and excellent service, and we engage with our work, our staff, instructors, students, and our collaborators to develop solutions and curate experiences with wide-ranging impact.

Empower

We Empower all those we work and collaborate with to believe in their potential, have a curiosity to learn and the determination to make a difference in their own lives and in the world.

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We strive to empower as a way of life at SEI. We encourage people to apply their education to make a difference in their life and communities by providing resources, fostering connections and creating career opportunities. SEI’s work environment is focused on harmonious and productive teams, encouraging work/life balance, individual responsibility, and spirited fun. We advocate for personal and professional growth and prioritize quality of life.

Industry Supporters

Board of Directors

Ken GardnerBoard President

Ken Gardner is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer, Professional Land Surveyor, Licensed Electrician, Licensed Solar Contractor, ISPQ Certified Instructor, and NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer. His company, Gardner Engineering Alternative Energy Services, based in Utah, designs and installs solar electric, hydroelectric and wind electric systems.

Paul BonyBoard Vice President

Paul presently works as a Senior Program Manager at CLEAResult. CLEAResult’s comprehensive set of energy programs and demand-side management strategies deliver solutions that lower load requirements for utilities, reduce energy bills for end users, and minimize environmental burdens on communities. Paul has a diversified background in marketing and delivering energy efficiency and renewable energy products and services at the utility, manufacturer, distributor, dealer and consumer level. He helped write a solar thermal bill that Senator Gail Schwartz will introduce in 2013. He has spearheaded similar efforts in Maryland and New Hampshire. He also serves on the Montrose Economic Development Council.

Cathryn PetersonBoard Secretary-Treasurer

Cathryn has over 30 years of tax, financial, legal, educational, consulting, and management experience with both national and international firms and law schools. Cathryn began her career in accounting in the oil and gas industry in Denver. After gaining years of increasingly responsible accounting experience and teaching a college course in oil and gas accounting, she joined a Denver financial consulting firm where she quickly ascended to Vice President in charge of financial planning.. She co-chaired a joint venture with a top-ten bank and developed a business plan for implementation of the financial planning systems in their Dallas headquarters with roll-out to all their branches. After law school) Cathryn was, inter alia, managing attorney for an international Fortune 500 company’s Denver office where she consulted with local and national law firms on professional and organizational development projects.

Hal BrillNatural Investments, LLC

Hal is the Founding Partner of Natural Investments LLC. He has worked for over 20 years in the field of SRI (Sustainable and Responsible Investing) as a financial advisor. His company has grown to gain national recognition and has 10 offices around the U.S. He was the co-author of Investing with Your Values: Making Money and Making a Difference. He lives in Paonia with his wife Allison Elliot, where they developed the Hawks Haven green neighborhood and have built a solar straw-clay home.

Johnny WeissCo-Founder, Solar Energy International (Retired)

As an educator, a certified industrial trainer, and a building professional, Johnny has more than 40 years experience in the real-world applications of renewable energy technologies. Johnny Co-Founded Solar Energy International in 1991. He was the Executive Director and led SEI for over 20 years, helping establish SEI as a leader in solar education. Johnny has consulted and collaborated with teams and NGOs worldwide, and with Native American tribes. He brings supportive, environmental and ecological ethics and understanding to team efforts. With decades of experience designing and building solar systems, Johnny is particularly interested in solar electricity-generating projects (photovoltaic/PV) that are sustainable, green, international, and socially worthwhile. Currently, he is focused on helping to develop Solar Training Centers in Tanzania and on Native American reservations

Zach KrapflElectric Mobility Development Manager, Gates Corporation

Zach is a mechanical and civil engineer based in Paonia, Colorado. He currently works with Gates Carbon Drive on electric bikes and light electric vehicles to produce a silent drive train that lasts 10 times longer than conventional systems. Zach previously worked with Bosch in Germany to create the most respected electric bike system sold globally that has now displaced over 27 billion automotive road miles and counting. He lives and works inside a net-zero passive house structure he constructed with pumice crete, living roof, rainwater catchment/grey water, PV, Solar thermal, and biomass backup heating.

Gerald EspinosaBusiness Development Manager, Pivot Energy

Gerald retooled for a career in the clean energy economy by coming to Solar Energy International (SEI). As an alum and AmeriCorps VISTA for SEI’s Solarize program, Gerald became immersed not only in the promise of solar energy technology, but the positive impacts renewable energy can have in forming relationships, improving communities and fostering equity. After gaining installation experience with Namaste Solar’s residential and commercial operations, Gerald transitioned to Commercial & Industrial (C&I) Project Development. Gerald recently joined Pivot Energy, a leading national solar developer, assisting with origination, project analysis, and distributed generation deployment. Gerald lives in Denver and is building a Tiny Home with his partner, an elementary school teacher.

Jesse TruaxFounder and CEO of Clean Energy Social

Jesse Truax is a SEI alum and has been an executive in the solar industry for over a decade. He was an original founder of SolarReviews, a leading information site for consumers interested in going solar. In 2013, Jesse joined Clean Energy Collective, the pioneer of community solar, helping the company achieve a #192 ranking on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies. In 2016, he founded Solar Marketing Experts, a customer acquisition marketing agency that has generated over 1,500,000 leads for high profile solar clients, helping over 25,000 homeowners go solar. Most recently, Jesse launched Clean Energy Social, a site that helps current and aspiring clean energy professionals research companies, apply for jobs, find clean energy training opportunities, and connect with other clean energy professionals. Jesse holds a BA in Economics and a MBA in Marketing from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN.

Kristan KirshVice President, Global Marketing at Nextracker

Kristan Kirsh is a global marketing executive with ten years in the cleantech and solar sectors running global communications for Nextracker, a solar tracker and software systems provider for utility-scale solar applications. From start-up to global market leader, Kristan is responsible for building the Nextracker brand and developing its various community programs. Kristan also conceived of the company’s installer training program PowerworX, a renowned academy boasting over 1,000 graduates worldwide. Prior to working in the renewable energy sector, she held numerous marketing leadership roles for EdTech non-profits and IT companies such as Cisco Systems. At home crossing borders, Kristan’s first career was in international development where she worked in community health throughout Latin America and the Caribbean with USAID and the World Bank. Her first experience with photovoltaics was on a training program in the Peace Corps where she installed a 36 watt panel on her corrugated zinc roof tied to a car battery in the Dominican Republic. Fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, Kristan holds a B.A. in Economics from U.C. Santa Barbara and two Master’s in Public Health and International Public Policy from the University of Pittsburgh, PA.

Jill K. CliburnPresident, Cliburn and Associates, LLC

Through Cliburn and Associates, based in Santa Fe, NM, Jill Cliburn has worked for more than 20 years on developing integrated clean energy solutions with strong community benefits. She has focused on local electric co-ops or municipal utilities, community-based NGOs and policy bodies. Earlier, her career included traveling throughout the West, leading resource planning and trainings on renewable energy and energy services for the Western Area Power Administration. She also worked internationally, supporting rural electrification and village solar in Central America. Recently, she has led a project, co-funded by U.S. DOE, to support solar-plus storage planning and procurement. That effort is based on strategies introduced through her leadership of the Community Solar Value Project. Jill also has led efforts to increase diversity and access to solar, from co-founding a community energy NGO in Illinois, up to current work with the National Community Solar Partnership. She is a former board member for the American Solar Energy Society and an ASES Fellow.

SEI Advisory Board

Donald Aitken

Don Aitken Associates
www.donaldaitkenassociates.com/

J. Douglas Balcomb

National Renewable Energy Laboratory
www.nrel.gov/

Johnny Weiss

Advising Co-Founder Solar Energy International

Pliny Fisk III

Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems
www.cmpbs.org/

Alex Hillinger

Good Chemistry
http://www.goodchemistry.com

Joe Jordan

NASA
www.nasa.gov/

Thomas A. Lawand

Brace Research Institute

Philip Livingston

Renewable Energy Consultant

Amory Lovins

Rocky Mountain Institute
www.rmi.org/

Maureen McIntyre

American Solar Energy Society
www.ases.org/

Don Osborn

Spectrum Energy
www.spectrumenergyinc.com/

Sam Vanderhoof

Clean Power Associates

Neville Williams

Standard Solar Inc.
www.standardsolar.com/

Robert Wills

Advanced Energy Systems
www.aesrenew.com/

Organization Exempt From Income Tax (Form 990) Archives

Tax Year – 2015

“Eight years after getting my business going after attending SEI, I can still report their instructors are the very best

-Scott Oman