About Arno Harris

I'm CEO of Recurrent Energy, one of North America's largest solar project for utilities and large energy customers. Recurrent Energy develops, builds, finances, and operates solar power projects--marketing wholesale clean electricity at competitive rates. Recurrent Energy was acquired by Sharp Corporation in 2010 and is now the primary solar development company for Sharp worldwide. Building on our strength in North America, we're expanding our activities into new emerging markets. With a 2.4 gigawatt (GW) pipeline and almost 500 MW of signed projects, we're well on our way to building a fleet of clean power plants sited right where they're needed most.

For my work at Recurrent Energy, I was the winner of the Rising Star Award at Platts Global Energy Awards in 2011.

Prior to Recurrent Energy, I ran EI Solutions (now SunTech Energy Solutions), the solar power systems division of Energy Innovations. While at EIS, I delivered record growth and industry milestones that included the sale of the largest US corporate solar power system to Google. EIS was formed following the sale of Prevalent Power, a commercial solar power business I founded in 2001, to Energy Innovations.

Before solar my background was in technology startups. I've raised (or helped to raise) over $200MM in equity financing for startups over the past decade or so. One company I co-founded, RedEnvelope.com, had an IPO in 2003. The other, Novo Media Group, was sold several years ago to Publicis, one of the world's premier marketing and media companies. I've also had my share of challenges along the way--my firsthand experience of a failed IPO registration for Novo and the collapse of a well-funded dot-com called WineShopper.com have helped to season me as an entrepreneur and a leader.

Functionally, the bulk of my experience is in marketing, business development, and sales with a good dose of general management and finance gleaned from my startup adventures. During that time I've had the opportunity to work with clients like Toyota Motor Sales USA, GlaxoWellcome, MCI, Apple Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Nikon Precision, IKEA International, HGTV (Scripps) and NBC Digital Publishing.

As an entrepreneur, I am passionate about startups and passionate about clean technology, but I have zero patience for dreamy ideas or unfocused execution. I'm a regular speaker at energy industry events and I'm now sharing more of my thinking via my weblog Clean Energy Future. I'm a graduate of UC Berkeley, a published author, private pilot and proud father of twin boys.