Perch Energy Appoints Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Technology
Perch Energy, the largest pure-play community solar servicer in the U.S., announces two key changes to leadership as the company continues significant growth and expansion
BOSTON, July 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Perch Energy (Perch), a clean energy technology platform and leading provider of community solar services, today announces the appointment of Russ Main as its new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Jeffrey Battles as Senior Vice President (SVP) of Technology.
Perch’s community solar project management capacity has doubled in recent years, as has its markets and asset owners that it services, while maintaining a strong growth projection based on its current pipeline. These leadership changes combined with added momentum from Perch’s recent Series B investment round from Nuveen usher in the company’s next stage of financial and technological development.
Main joins Perch with over 25 years of executive experience in optimizing finance, operations, technology and profitability within highly complex global environments. In this role, Main will drive the organization’s strategic financial planning, supporting the company’s rapid growth in current markets and entry into new markets. He’ll oversee Perch’s financial systems, forecast modeling and cash flow management while playing an integral role in investor relations and mergers and acquisitions strategy.
“I’m honored to join the Perch team and support their continued expansion of community solar throughout the country,” said Main. “I’ve always worked for mission-driven companies, and Perch’s strong leadership team and contributions to improve our sustainable environment greatly resonated with my passion to protect people and the planet with cleaner, more affordable energy options.”
Most recently, Main held the roles of CFO and Interim Chief Executive Officer at Agilyx ASA, a Norwegian company specialized in chemical recycling technology. There, he played a central part in leading the company’s successful IPO and uplisting, in addition to overseeing two private placements that raised over $65 million. Prior to Agilyx ASA, Main served as CFO of Abode Systems Inc., a DIY home security and automation startup, where he was instrumental in its profitable sale. Additionally, he worked for Tyco International for more than 23 years in global roles, assuming a range of senior financial leadership positions.
Battles assumes the role of SVP of Technology after serving as Perch’s Vice President (VP) of Business Applications for the last three-and-a-half years. In this elevated position, Battles will lead development enhancements to Perch’s scalable technology platform, drive the technology roadmap, and build new customer acquisition and management capabilities to further cement Perch’s position as the largest pure-play community solar servicer.
“Having the opportunity to watch and be a part of Perch’s growth and success since its founding makes this promotion that much more meaningful,” said Battles. “Our engineering and development teams are second to none, and I look forward to continuing work with them at an enhanced capacity to introduce new, innovative solutions that will best serve our customers, clients and partners.”
An energy veteran, Battles brings a decade of experience in the renewables industry and more than 23 years honed on technology as a whole. As Perch’s VP of Business Applications, Battles was integral in the company’s spinoff as an independent community solar company from developer BlueWave Solar, responsible for transitioning a robust technology stack to support a community solar business model. Battles has led major upgrades, improvements and optimizations to Perch’s technological infrastructure and architecture, and has supported scaling the platform to meet the company’s ongoing growth. Prior to Perch, Battles held the positions of Senior Director of Software Engineering and Senior Director of Product Management at BlueWave Solar. Additionally, he previously oversaw business systems and IT applications at EnerNOC, a global leader in smart energy management, supporting a successful acquisition of EnerNOC by Enel X.
“Main’s decades of experience are going to make an immediate impact on our financial operations at a pivotal moment in our company’s growth,” said Bruce Stewart, president and CEO of Perch. “Combined with Battles’ promotion where his technological expertise will be harnessed to build upon Perch’s already best-in-class clean tech platform, services and applications, it’s clear we’re poised for success as we enter this next phase of expansion.”
Learn more about Perch: www.perchenergy.com
Follow Perch on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/perchenergy/
About Perch Energy
Boston-based Perch Energy is an industry-leading community solar servicer that’s helped renters, homeowners, and businesses save more than $30 million cumulatively in total energy discounts. Recognized as a 2022 “Company of the Year” in The Cleanie Awards®, Perch’s clean energy technology platform makes it easy for businesses, municipalities, and residential customers to sign up for community solar and save. Perch offers a suite of services to solar farm developers and owners to maximize the ROI of their assets, from customer acquisition, onboarding, lifecycle management, and billing, to regulatory and policy expertise for navigating community solar program rules. Perch is the largest pure-play community solar servicer in the U.S. To date, Perch has provided services for solar projects which have generated over 1.7 billion kWh of power across Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, and Illinois—with expansion plans into Colorado, New Mexico, California, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
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