The McCalmont Engineering Team
Executive Staff
Following are the brief resumes for the executive staff of McCalmont Engineering:
Tom McCalmont—Chief Executive Officer
Tom McCalmont is CEO and cofounder of McCalmont Engineering. A serial entrepreneur and inventor with 13 U.S. patents, Tom has over 30 years of experience developing new businesses that deliver innovative technology solutions, and he has a successful track record of creatively applying new technology to solve real world customer problems.
Prior to cofounding McCalmont Engineering, Tom was the CEO and cofounder of Regrid Power, which grew to be one of California's largest and most respected solar electric integrators prior to its sale to Real Goods Solar in late 2008. Regrid Power now represents the largest portion of that public company’s solar installation business.
Tom is also the cofounder and Chair of SolarTech, an organization dedicated to eliminating adoption barriers to the proliferation of solar power. Tom developed the six key initiatives for SolarTech out of his experiences as a solar integrator, for whom bureaucratic and standards challenges often prove a greater barrier to business growth than do technical challenges. SolarTech was created by design as a collaborative forum for solar integrators, manufacturers, utilities, finance partners, workforce partners, and cities to work through complex multi-disciplinary problems.
Tom serves on the Board of Directors of Solmetric Corporation, a leading solar instrument company; a public-private partnership to address regional issues; on the Board of Directors at NABCEP, the nationally recognized certification agency for solar professionals; on the Climate Prosperity Council, a Silicon Valley initiative dedicated to the idea of creating economic prosperity through green initiatives; and on the Board of Trustees of Muskingum University, where he received his bachelor's degree in physics.
Tom holds an MS degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and a BS degree in Physics from Muskingum University. He has also completed the AEA/Stanford executive MBA program. Tom is a charter NABCEP -certified Solar PV Installer and is both a B (general) and C-46 (solar) licensed contractor in the state of California.
Darlene McCalmont—Chief Operating Officer
Darlene McCalmont is COO and cofounder of McCalmont Engineering, and has over 30 years of experience managing operations for businesses with complex production processes. The first woman in California to become a NABCEP-certified Solar PV Installer, she was cofounder and Vice President of Operations for Regrid Power, one of California's largest and most respected solar companies, prior to its sale in late 2008.
Before Regrid Power, Ms. McCalmont served as Operations Manager for Clean Harbors Corporation, a company that disposes of hazardous chemicals through environmentally-sound methods, and before that, she served as Operations Manager for Celanese Corporation, where she had many years of experience managing large, complex commercial chemical production lines.
Darlene holds an MBA degree from the University of Houston and a BS degree in Chemical Engineering from Ohio State University.
Zvi Gershony—Solar Electrical Engineer, P.E.
Zvi Gershony has 20 years of utility and renewables experience and is a licensed Professional Engineer. He is an expert in the field of interconnecting solar power plants to the grid, even designing the largest behind the meter project of its time built in 2007. Zvi brings to McCalmont Engineering his wealth of knowledge of renewables and utility interconnections.
Before working at McCalmont Engineering, Zvi worked for Google, Inc. in their “RE<C” department researching new sustainable energy resources. He has also served as the vice president of engineering at the Nevada Supply Corporation, and as a partner and founding member of ZTEK, LLC. While working at ZTEK, Mr. Gershony designed a self-erecting tower for the installation of wind turbines for which he currently holds the patent.
Charlie Dearie—PV Systems Engineer
Mr. Dearie has 8 years of experience designing and installing PV solar power plants. In 2010, Mr. Dearie joined McCalmont Engineering to focus on the emerging need and opportunity for engineering design services for large scale solar power plants. He currently designs the electrical portion of these solar plants and specializes in the application of DC systems. Mr. Dearie has a deep understanding and knowledge of the solar requirements of the National Electrical Code.
His solar experience began with his employment at Regrid Power, a leading solar integrator that subsequently merged with Real Goods Solar and is now a major part of that public corporation. Prior to entering the solar industry, Mr. Dearie worked as an R&D Technician for the University of California--Santa Cruz, and as an independent robotics teacher.
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