Andalay Solar (OTCQB: WEST), a leading designer and supplier of integrated solar power systems, announced today the expansion of its senior executive team and the appointment of Mr. Wei-Tai Kwok as Chief Operating Officer.
In this position, Mr. Kwok will report directly to Steven Chan, President and CEO, and will be charged with the oversight and growth of the company's overall operations. Mr. Kwok brings more than 20 years of general management experience in addition to global leadership experience at some of the world's top solar companies.
"It's a great coup to have an experienced executive such as Wei-Tai Kwok join Andalay Solar, as he will be instrumental in assisting us to execute on our new strategies for 2015 and beyond," said Steven Chan, President and CEO. "I've worked closely with Wei-Tai before and I have seen his strong track record of success firsthand, which I know will bring the momentum we are looking for in our own business. Wei-Tai can immediately accelerate the pace to implement our new strategies, including the licensing of our technology to core module suppliers and the broad adoption of our patented products by key installers."
Mr. Kwok commented, "The fast-growing solar industry must continue to reduce the cost of residential solar systems to end-users. Since we believe that module costs have temporarily bottomed out, there is intense interest now in reducing other costs, such as labor, design, logistics and balance of system hardware. Andalay Solar had the foresight 10 years ago to invent and patent some of the products and technologies that address those cost challenges. I am excited to be joining the company because I think now is the time that those product ideas will be especially welcomed by the marketplace."
Prior to joining Andalay Solar, Mr. Kwok was Vice President of Operations in the residential solar division of NRG Energy, the leading U.S. independent power producer, with responsibility for supply chain, procurement, logistics, engineering and O&M. From 2009-2012, Mr. Kwok was Vice President of Marketing at Suntech Power, where he had responsibility for growing the brand globally across the Americas, Europe/Middle East and Africa, Asia Pacific, China and Japan. During his tenure, Suntech expanded rapidly to become the world's #1 solar panel manufacturer and one of the world's most recognized solar brand names. Mr. Kwok also had operational responsibilities including the set-up and launch of Suntech's first U.S. factory, a 60MW module assembly facility in Goodyear, Arizona.
Prior to Suntech, Wei-Tai spent 17 years in general management as a marketing executive. He was a Managing Director for Isobar, the wholly-owned digital agency network of Aegis Group plc, one of the world's largest marketing communications conglomerates now owned by Dentsu. He was previously President & CEO of Dae Advertising, a top Asian American advertising agency based in San Francisco which he helped co-found in 1990. Mr. Kwok is a graduate of Yale University with a B.A. in Economics & Political Science.
