SPWR News & Events

SunPower announced the successful completion of its integration of Sunder Energy. SunPower Chairman and CEO, T.J. Rodgers said, "Usually closing an integration does not make headlines, but the most common acquisition failure mode is poor integration of the two companies, leading to devastating talent and value loss. We use a detailed acquisition process that has been successfully applied 28 times in three different companies, starting with Cypress Semiconductor. The process has five stage-gates: Integration Review Zero (IR0) creates a detailed plan with the 300 to 500 tasks needed to successfully integrate an acquisition. IR1 is achieved when basic corporate functions - finance, HR, admin, etc. - are fully integrated forming an engine to integrate the rest of the company. IR2, which contains the most tasks, is achieved when sales, products and customers are put on common platforms under common management. IR3 is achieved after the integration of the branding and pricing functions. Finally, IR4 requires us to successfully complete a giant checklist that is in turn reviewed by the six-person integration review board, which includes me. In other words, it is a thorough process which leads to permanent integration."

SunPower announced the promotion of Kapil Rai to be EVP of the New Homes division, which also includes the Multifamily and Light Commercial segments. His mandate is to strengthen partnerships with builders, installation partners, financing companies, OEM suppliers, and customers nationwide.

SunPower hired Wendell Laidley as CFO, reporting to CEO T.J. Rodgers. Rodgers said, "Wendell Laidley, started his career in San Francisco, in equity research and worked his way up to VP at the Deutsche Bank Technology group run by Silicon Valley's legendary Frank Quattrone - the banker who took my company, Cypress Semiconductor, public. Wendell followed Quattrone's group to Credit Suisse where he was named to the Institutional Investor's All-America Research Team several times during his 1998-2002 tenure. He then became a stock portfolio manager in software for RS Investments, a spinout of San Francisco's Robertson-Stephens Investment Bank - the other bank that took Cypress public. After a detour to found and profitably run Napa's Realm Cellar Winery, he became the VP Finance for AppDynamics, a SaaS company for which he raised $278 million, followed by a similar stint at Big Switch Networks, both of which were acquired. His final Silicon Valley company was Life360, a family-oriented B2C consumer software company that he took public."