December 9, 2004, Lowell, MA--Konarka Technologies has announced that Charles Gay, chairman of the Advisory Board at SunPower (Sunnyvale, CA), and Thomas Grandke, head of Siemens (Munich, Germany) Corporate Technology's Materials and Microsystems division, have joined the company as advisors.
"As Konarka's chairman, one of my most crucial responsibilities is to ensure we execute on our vision for low cost, universally available renewable energy," said Howard Berke, chairman and chief executive officer, Konarka. "Charlie and Thomas are two of the most respected visionaries in their fields, and their knowledge and insight will only help us as we use our power plastics to open up markets and applications that traditionally have been closed to photovoltaics."
During his career, Gay served as the director of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, president and chief executive officer of both Siemens Solar Industries and ASE Americas and president of ARCO Solar.
Grandke joins Konarka's Scientific Advisory Council as a result of the company's acquisition of Siemens' organic photovoltaic research activities during the summer of 2004. He also served as president and chief executive officer of Siemens Corporate Research in Princeton, NJ, and held key positions in the Medical Engineering Group's Magnetic Resonance division.