Team

  • Arnold J. Goldman

    Chairman & Founder, BrightSource Energy, Inc.

    Arnold J. Goldman is the Chairman and Founder of both BrightSource Energy Inc. and BrightSource Industries (Israel), Ltd. (BSII). He holds a B.S. in Engineering from UCLA and a MSEE from the University of Southern California. Mr. Goldman was the founder of Luz International, Ltd. and served as its CEO. Luz International, Ltd. designed, constructed, financed, and operated the world’s nine largest Solar Electric Generating Systems (SEGS) which, at the time, generated 90 percent of the world’s solar electricity. Mr. Goldman also co-founded Electric Fuel Ltd., an electric battery/fuel cell company listed today as Aerotech on the NASDAQ. He was the VP of Engineering and co-founder of Lexitron, the first word processing company in the US. Lexitron was bought by Raytheon in 1977. Mr. Goldman is the recipient of two international awards for his contribution to solar energy development. He holds numerous patents for his inventions and innovations.

  • John M. Woolard

    CEO and President

    John Woolard is President and CEO of BrightSource Energy. In this role, John brings more than two decades of experience in the energy technology sector as an executive, entrepreneur and investor. 

    Prior to joining BrightSource Energy, John co-founded Silicon Energy, one of the first successful clean tech companies, and was President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board from 1997 to 2003.  John joined the executive team at Itron, Inc. in 2003 following its acquisition of Silicon Energy, and was Vice President of Software Solutions and subsequently the Vice President of Strategy and Business Development.  John previously held positions with VantagePoint Venture Partner’s CleanTech Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs, and Pacific Gas & Electric Company.

    John is a Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and has served on the Board of the California Clean Energy Fund and the Strategic Advisory Board for Xcel Energy, and currently serves on the Tuolumne River Preservation Trust, the Oakland Zoo and the Lester Center Advisory Board-Haas School of Business, U.C. Berkeley.

    John holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, a Masters in Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia. John is a lifetime member of the Sierra Club.

  • Israel Kroizer

    Chief Operating Officer, BrightSource Energy, and President of BrightSource Industries (Israel) Ltd.

    Israel Kroizer is Chief Operating Officer for Engineering for BrightSource Energy, and President of BrightSource Industries (Israel) Ltd. He holds a B.Sc and an M.Sc in Mechanical Engineering, specializing in energy, from the Technion in Haifa, Israel. As the Senior Vice President of Luz International Ltd. and the President and CEO of Luz Industries (Israel) Ltd., he was responsible for the original Luz International thermal design and for the management of more than 500 R&D staff. Between 1994 and 2006, he was the owner of Israel Kroizer Ltd., which developed energy and water projects for municipalities, major industrial clients, and banks. Mr. Kroizer is a world-renowned expert in power generation technology.

  • Jack Jenkins-Stark

    Chief Financial Officer

    Mr. Jenkins-Stark is Chief Financial Officer for BrightSource Energy.  Jenkins-stark brings more than three decades of energy industry and finance experience to BrightSource Energy.  Prior to joining BrightSource Energy, Jenkins-Stark served as Chief Financial Officer at Silicon Valley Bank. He previously served as Vice President of Business Operations and Technology at Itron, and as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Silicon Energy Corporation.  He has also served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of GATX Capital and held senior management roles at PG&E Corporation.  He serves on the Board of Directors for TC Pipelines L.P.  Jenkins-Stark holds both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and an M.B.A from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

  • David Fries

    Managing Director, VantagePoint Venture Partners

    Mr. Fries has more than 35 years of operations, advanced technology, and investment experience and has been a senior-level venture capitalist for more than 20 years. He began his career at General Electric, serving 17 years in numerous executive roles in engineering, manufacturing, senior management, and finance. He directed GE Venture Capital’s California operations, which later became the venture capital firm Canaan Partners and, in his last role, was President of General Electric Ceramics, a wholly owned subsidiary. Mr. Fries is a graduate of Florida Atlantic University B.S. and Case Western Reserve University (Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry).

  • Carlos F. Aguilar

    Senior Vice President, Global Development

    Carlos Aguilar is Senior Vice President of Global Development for BrightSource Energy.  Dr. Aguilar brings more than two decades of experience in international development, operations and finance to his role at BrightSource Energy.  Most recently, he served as Principal Vice President for Bechtel Power Corporation working on US fossil power projects. While at Bechtel, Dr. Aguilar also served as Principal Vice President & Managing Director of Bechtel Enterprises; President of Bechtel Financing Services; Chief Operating Officer of United Infrastructure Company, Bechtel’s civil infrastructure investment vehicle; President of Bechtel de Mexico and Managing Director of Bechtel Enterprises Latin America. Dr. Aguilar is also a former member of the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Board of Advisors. Previous experience includes Regional Operations Manager and Chief Engineer and Environmental Officer for the Inter-American Investment Corporation, and management roles with Costa Rica’s Investment Board.  Dr. Aguilar holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Technological Economics from Stirling University in Scotland, as well a B.Sc.E. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University. 

  • Charles Ricker

    Senior Vice President, Business Development

    Charles Ricker is Senior Vice President of Business Development for BrightSource Energy. Prior to joining BrightSource Energy, Mr. Ricker headed Texas operations for Growth Strategy Partners, a consultancy specializing in assisting small and medium size companies develop and implement strategies for achieving exceptional growth.  His extensive executive experience includes being co-founder of Orba Corporation, a successful developer, builder and operator of port facilities. After Orba’s acquisition by Litwin Engineers & Constructors, a large engineering and construction company, he served as Litwin’s Senior Vice President, Business Development.  Subsequently he was CEO of H.H. Robertson (UK) Ltd., Senior Vice President of Falcon Seaboard Power, a large independent power producer, and President of Millennium Power Group, which represented major power developers in South America.  Charlie holds an MBA (Distinction) from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and a B.A. (Honors) from Millsaps College.

  • Joshua Bar-Lev

    Vice President, Regulatory Affairs

    Joshua Bar-Lev is Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for BrightSource Energy.  Joshua joined BrightSource Energy after serving as Chief Counsel at the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.  In this role he was responsible for legal activities of the utility’s gas supply, electric transmission, gas transmission, and generation business unit, with a particular focus on regulatory matters before FERC and the CPUC.  During his 28 years with PG&E, Joshua served in several key roles including: lead attorney of the Company’s proposal to restructure and deregulate its intrastate gas and electric procurement and transmission business, and lead attorney of the company’s successful regulatory applications to emerge from bankruptcy.  He also served as lead attorney for the Canadian restructuring project, the largest gas supply restructuring in North America. Joshua is a Founder and former Chair of the Coalition for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technology, a group of California environmental organizations, conservation and renewable energy company’s active at the CPUC and legislature. He is a member of the Federal Energy Bar Association (FEBA), the State Bar of California, and the American Bar Association (ABA), and served as Articles Editor for Natural Resources and Environment magazine of the Environment, Energy and Resources section of the ABA. Joshua graduated Phi Beta Kappa, with Honors in Economics, from the University of Michigan, and holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

  • Jim Eats

    Director, BrightSource Energy, Inc.

    As Division President at Americas for General Electric Wind Energy, Mr. Eats successfully directed a $500 million P&L division, which GE purchased in 2002.  He has vast global experience, including GE Energy Region Executive and General Manager of South Asia, responsible for customer facing activities in 18 countries from Vietnam to New Zealand. Previously, he successfully led GE Power Systems-Korea, one of GE’s largest overseas markets. Mr. Eats has completed formal language training in Mandarin, Japanese, Thai, and Korean. In addition to an energy background in combined cycle and cogeneration applications, he also focuses on environmental and clean technologies, including: large and small wind turbine applications, photovoltaics, solar thermal, combined heat and power, solar electric, micro-turbines and fuel cells, toxin reduction, dynamic power, transmission and distribution, smart metering, and energy management. His education includes a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic, and a B.S. in Engineering from Clarkson University. He is the holder of multiple U.S. patents, and has been named General Electric Energy Young Engineer of the Year.

  • Doug Buchanan

    Vice President, Project Development

    Doug Buchanan is vice president of project development for BrightSource Energy.  Mr. Buchanan brings nearly three decades of experience developing more than 1.5 gigawatts of power generation facilities as well as several large-scale infrastructure projects in both the public and private sectors around the world. Prior to joining BrightSource Energy, Mr. Buchanan served as a vice president of project development for Calpine Corporation and in management roles at Bechtel Enterprises, Inc and Pacific Gas and Electric Company.  Mr. Buchanan is a registered Professional Engineer and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the California State University at Chico.

  • Rahul Culas

    Director

    Rahul Culas brings nearly a decade of experience structuring, financing and executing commodity hedging and capital markets transactions for a variety of power generation technologies to his Director role at BrightSource Energy.  Currently, Mr. Culas serves as an Executive Director in the Project and Structured Finance Group at Morgan Stanley, where he is responsible for project finance and structured investments in the power and renewables sector.  Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Rahul was with Goldman Sachs in its Commodity Finance Group. Mr. Culas holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Powai and a Masters degree from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

  • Daniel T. Judge

    General Counsel and Corporate Secretary

    Dan Judge is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for BrightSource Energy. Dan joined BrightSource after serving as Senior Counsel at Calpine Corporation, where he was responsible for the legal aspects of project development and financing efforts in the western region.  Prior to Calpine, Dan was Vice President and Senior Counsel at Bechtel Enterprises, the infrastructure project development and investment arm of the Bechtel group of companies.  There, he supported the development of airports, bridges, and water systems, in addition to power projects.  Dan began his legal career with the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, where he specialized in corporate securities, project finance, and commercial finance law.  Dan has a J.D. from Boalt Hall, University of California at Berkeley, and an A.B. in American Studies from Stanford University.

  • Yoel Gilon

    Senior Vice President

    Yoel Gilon is the Senior Vice President in charge of solar central receiver tower R&D and performance models. He has a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics and an M.Sc in Mathematics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He also has a B.A. in Fine Arts from the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. He served as the Vice President of System Engineering Development for the original Luz Company.

    Mr. Gilon was also the former Project Development Manager at Ormat Industries, Ltd, a vice president at Electric Fuel Corp, and a consultant for companies such as Solel, Flagsol and Ormat.

  • Lynda Ward Pierce

    Senior Vice President, Human Resources

    Lynda Ward Pierce is Senior Vice President of Human Resources for BrightSource Energy. Pierce brings 25 years of extensive human resources experience to BrightSource Energy. Prior to joining BrightSource Energy, Pierce served as Vice President of Human Resources at MobiTV, Inc. She previously served as Head of Human Resources for SVB Financial Group, and as Vice President of Human Resources at Organic, Inc. She has also held senior management roles at Navigant Consulting, Inc. and Mervyn’s Department Stores. Pierce holds a bachelor’s degree in Managerial Economics from the University of California at Davis, where she also attended the Graduate School of Management for a master’s in Management.  She later completed the coursework for a master’s degree in Human Resources & Organizational Development from the College of Professional Studies at the University of San Francisco. 

  • Jose Barak

    Vice President of Projects

    Jose Barak is the Vice President of Projects for BrightSource Industries Israel.  Mr. Barak is responsible for the organization of projects execution and a liaison between the technology, engineering and project development teams. Mr. Barak’s experience in solar thermal energy dates to the 1980’s, when he was a Project Manager for Luz International, responsible for the development of the thermal cycle. Mr. Barak has also served as the General Manager of a well known engineering company in Israel and a consultant for international power and infrastructure projects. Mr. Barak received an MS Thermoenergetical Engineering degree from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest, Romania.

  • Gabriel Kaufman

    Vice President of Receiver Development Management

    Gabriel Kaufman is the Vice President of Receiver Development Management for BrightSource Industries Israel. Mr. Kaufman’s specialization is in the design and engineering of water and power systems. Mr. Kaufman served as a Project Engineer at Luz International, where he was responsible for the development of the solar receiver. Mr. Kaufman also served as a Project Engineer at Electric Fuel Corp, and a Construction Manager for the greater Tel-Aviv area sewage treatment plant and the Israel National Water Carrier water filtration treatment facility. Mr. Kaufman graduated the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion University (Haifa).

  • Shmuel Huss

    Vice President, Design and Production Engineering

    Shmuel Huss is the vice president in charge of Design and Production Engineering. He received his B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York. He was the Deputy Vice President for the Mechanical Engineering and Production Division for the original Luz Company, managing 165 employees from R&D to production. Since then, he established and managed two hi-tech start-up companies. Mazrek Ltd. was formed to develop an electronic fuel injection system. Identa Ltd. develops drug detection field kits. Mr. Huss has received awards for his work in the solar energy industry.