As clean-tech matures, companies are looking for experienced
engineers, managers, and other professionals who want to switch to
clean tech
Kevin Brown and Steve Kyryk, CleanEdge.com
(January 22, 2010) - With their fingers on the
pulse of clean-tech hiring trends, we asked Senior Partner Kevin
Brown and Vice President Steve Kyryk of Hobbs & Towne Executive
Search (HTI) to provide insight into the impact of the 'Great
Recession' on the industry and areas for opportunity in 2010.
Recession Took Toll on Global and Smaller Clean-Tech
Companies Alike
As the global recession took hold, all ventures regardless of their
technology and stage of corporate development instituted capital
conservation programs until the effects were better known. While
the headlines were dominated by the loss of jobs on Wall Street and
at large global enterprises like Dow and Dupont (not to mention BP
deciding to restructure their alternative energy strategies),
smaller next generation alternative and renewable energy companies
were suffering the same effects. Companies like Codon Devices,
GreenFuel, and VeraSun shut their doors or declared bankruptcy
while high profile Tesla Motors laid people off and continued to
reshuffle their executive team.
Q4 2009 Marked the Initial Signs of a Clean-Tech
Turn-Around, but Job Growth Will be Slow
September 2009 was a month to remember in terms of increased
activity on the hiring front with significantly higher numbers of
executive recruiting assignments compared to the previous 12
months. Stimulus grants and awards from the Advanced Research
Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E) last Fall set in motion renewed
clean-tech job growth with hundreds of millions of dollars awarded
to clean-tech companies leading to hires in both the private and
public sectors. We also saw considerable increase in activity from
both investors and their portfolio companies such as Amyris
pursuing partnerships with three sugar and ethanol producers in
Brazil (Bunge Limited, Cosan, and Acucar Guarani) while raising
additional capital in 2009. And as credit markets thaw and larger
projects move forward, we expect a continued increase in hiring at
larger energy companies in 2010.
Clean Tech is Attracting Top Quality Talent
As clean-tech matures, more and more companies are looking for
experienced engineers, managers, and other professionals who have a
background in process technologies (petrochemicals, semiconductors,
oil and gas, or industrial biotech) and want to make the switch to
clean tech. At the executive level, and as described in Clean
Edge's Clean Tech Job Trends 2009 report, smart grid companies are
poaching high-level expertise from major information technology and
software companies:
In mid-2009, Silver Spring Networks, a leading developer of grid
networks, lured Judy Lin away from Cisco Systems where she had been
senior vice president of the company's Ethernet switching
technology group. She now serves as chief product officer for
Silver Spring.
Not long before Lin's move, John Spirtos left his post as senior
vice president of Comverse Technology - a communication and billing
software provider - to become head of corporate development and
strategy at GridPoint, one of the top grid network platform
developers.
In another sign of a maturing industry, solar industry veteran
Dan Shugar is at the helm of his third solar company - Solaria - a
low-concentration PV module manufacturer. Previously, Shugar
managed the Solar Projects & Research Group at PG&E before
becoming CEO at PowerLight -- which was later acquired by
SunPower.
Growth Area: Water
We continue to see growth in the water industry. Not confined to
traditional water purification, we see exceptional growth potential
among companies pursuing advanced materials (NanoH2O) and novel
processes (Oasys Water) or utilizing synthetic biology to control
the influx and efflux of water molecules through live cells
(Danfoss).
Growth Area: Smart Grid
Investors have shown a keen and almost unyielding focus on smart
grid opportunities as we slowly start to add intelligence to the
antiquated electric grid. We have seen a couple of great new
technologies during the last few months coming out of energy
management companies such as Tendril Networks and Powerit
Solutions. The utility software developer GRIDiant is currently hiring for
a number of positions.
It's Time to Make a Decision on Carbon
Policy
While stimulus grants are serving to jumpstart technology programs
and some first generation renewable energy manufacturing
facilities, a large portion of the money actually found its way to
projects that were in the pipeline in 2007. The only way to drive
long-term clean-tech industry growth is with a clear and meaningful
policy on carbon. Not a policy branded conservative or liberal with
a bunch of hidden carve out dollars for pet projects; just a
federally binding decision so companies, investors, and the rest of
us know the rules of the game. Once the rules are set investors and
entrepreneurs can go to work with greater confidence, resulting in
millions of new jobs being created across the country.
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Kevin P. Brown is Senior Partner at Hobbs & Towne, Inc. He can
be reached at kbrown@hobbstowne.com. Steve Kyryk is Vice President
at Hobbs & Towne, Inc. He can be reached at
steve@hobbstowne.com