Team

Vikas Desai, CEO

Vikas joins EchoFirst from SunPower Corporation where he was Vice-President and General Manager of the $1 billion Residential and Light Commercial Business. Prior to SunPower, Vikas led the Global Product Management and Customer Support function at the Control Technique division of Emerson Electric. Vikas holds an MBA from the Haas School at UC-Berkeley, an M.Sc. in Power Electronics from Loughborough University, UK and a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Gujarat University, India.

Josh Plaisted, Chief Technology Officer

Josh is the inventor of the Echo solar system and a co-founder of EchoFirst. Prior to EchoFirst, he was the lead design engineer at SunEarth, North America's largest solar thermal manufacturer. A former director of the board of the Solar Ratings and Certification Corporation, Josh holds an M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin with a focus on thermal system engineering and building energy management.

Gordon Handelsman, Chief Marketing Officer

Prior to co-founding EchoFirst, Gordon held Vice-President Marketing and Senior Director Marketing & Sales positions with Shell Solar (both domestically and internationally). He has served as a board member of SEIA, the national Solar Energy Industry Association, and a board member of PVNow. Prior to entering the solar industry, Gordon was a Director of Marketing with Kraft Foods. He holds a B.Sc. Honors in Chemistry and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.

Ian Smith, Director of Product Management and New Product Introduction

Ian brings over 20 years of senior executive leadership experience in high technology industries to the company. He has held senior roles in marketing, technology and product development, and operations, most recently as the Vice President/General Manager of KLA-Tencor. Ian has over 50 US patents issued and or pending and is a recipient of prizes from IEEE, IET and R&D 100 product awards. He holds a B.Sc. Honors and a Ph.D. in Electronic Engineering from University College London, and graduated from the Stanford Business School/AEA Institute.

Steve Walden, Director of National Sales

Steve brings 20 years of experience and success in business development and sales channel management to EchoFirst. Prior to joining the company, Steve held sales and marketing leadership positions at The Schield Family Companies and Milgard Windows, where he led all sales activities across dealers, distributors, national accounts, and retail.

Wade Albritton, Director of Mechanical systems

Wade brings a wealth of engineering and product development expertise to EchoFirst, with a particular focus on air movement and energy transfer mechanisms. His work experience includes VP Engineering roles in HVAC for both Reznor and Broan-NuTone, global leaders in HVAC and building product equipment. Wade has certified products in over 15 countries, holds 35 domestic and international patents, and has a B.Sc. in Management from Youngstown State University.

Arthur R. LeBlanc III, Director of Control Systems

Art is responsible for the development of control systems for the Echo™ solar system including Graphical User Interface development, enterprise systems, and Controller hardware and embedded software platforms. Prior to PVT he founded two successful start-up companies, First Light Technology and Flexplay Technologies, and has more than 25 years in senior technical leadership positions in high technology industries. He holds a Masters of Engineering degree from Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering.

Michael Harshfield, Director of Field Operations

Mike brings more than 25 years of operational leadership to EchoFirst, including Director of Operations at McDonalds Corporation and Vice President of Operations at Reactrix Systems. Mike has a proven track record in developing, implementing and scaling global content distribution platforms and key national technology initiatives. Mike holds an MBA from Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, IL.

Ram Narayanamurthy, Chief Science Officer

Ram leads EchoFirst's research and development efforts. Prior to working at EchoFirst, he was Director of Innovation for ICE Energy and a driving force behind the market leading ICE BEAR energy storage system. Ram holds 14 patents across such fields as combined heat and power systems technology and distributed energy storage technology and has a Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.