TUCKER, Ga., Feb. 28, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- sonnen, the global market leader in intelligent residential energy storage, today announced the appointment of a new U.S Board of Directors signifying the global organization's continued focus on international expansion. The sonnen, Inc. Board will be responsible for leading the rapid scaling and expansion of the company's residential energy storage business throughout North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.  Board members include Blake Richetta as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Carlos Restrepo as Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Brent Stayer as Chief Operations Officer (COO), and James Claflin as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  

Since 2016, the sonnen Group, led by CEO Christoph Ostermann, has developed a truly multi-national organization by investing locally and building strong autonomous entities in the U.S., Australia, Italy and the UK.  Under the Board's leadership, the U.S. entity will build on a proven record of successful innovation in the solar, electrical, utility, home builder and home automation markets, contributing to the local and national economy and furthering the growth of sonnen.  

"Our business in the U.S. has grown quickly over the last few years with a focus on new market innovations and sales expansion. We plan to continue this rapid growth in the years to come and for this, we will need the right strategies and leadership in place. We are delighted to establish a deeply experienced Board of Directors to achieve this acceleration and continued expansion of our business in the Americas," says Christoph Ostermann, Global CEO of the sonnen Group.

As Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of sonnen, Inc., Blake Richetta brings deep experience in energy management to his leadership of the organization. Prior to sonnen, Blake served as North American Powerwall Sales Manager at Tesla and spent 15 years at Lutron building the smart home lighting and shading business in the home automation and home building industries. His innovative and highly unique business models have dramatically expanded the company's energy storage business to include home automation and the home builder channels. Today sonnen has approximately 6,000 homes in the U.S. slated to be built with a sonnen energy storage system as a standard specified feature. Under Richetta's leadership, the company has also expanded their footprint in Latin America and Puerto Rico, where they partnered with the del Sol Foundation to donate community solar microgrids after Hurricane Maria.

Carlos Restrepo, CTO, leads R&D and Engineering for sonnen, Inc. and is responsible for ongoing product innovations and development for the Americas, including energy storage systems, energy automation technology and the sonnenCommunity. With over 18 years of experience innovating market-changing technologies in home automation, circuit protection and solar power electronics, Carlos has led technology-centric organizations and holds several major patents, for groundbreaking innovations, including multiple patents for Arc Fault technology.  

Brent Stayer, COO, is responsible for production, manufacturing, quality and distribution for sonnen, Inc. With over 30 years of experience in global electronics and home automation at Lutron Electronics, Brent's expertise in efficient manufacturing, production, quality engineering, testing and distribution for high-output factories are key to sonnen's achieving scalability.

James Claflin, CFO, brings 25 years of experience as a small business entrepreneur and financial manager with a track record of enhancing operational efficiency and profits. He joined sonnen in 2018 and is responsible for managing finance and investor relations for sonnen, Inc.

sonnen, Inc. will continue to manage growth, innovation and manufacturing of products and services for North America, Latin America and the Caribbean from its headquarters in Tucker, Georgia.

About sonnen
At sonnen, we believe clean, affordable, and reliable energy for all is one of the greatest challenges of our time. sonnen is a proven global leader in intelligent energy management solutions that provide greater energy control for residential customers through increased solar self-consumption, reduced peak energy usage and reliable backup power during outages – contributing to a cleaner and more reliable energy future. sonnen has won several awards for its energy innovations, including the HIVE Award for Innovation in 2018 for the sonnenCommunity, 2018 CEDIA Best in Show and TecHome Brilliance Best Product Awards along with 2018 Fast Company Most Innovative Companies in Energy, 2017 Zayed Future Energy Prize, MIT's Technology Review's 50 Smartest Companies in 2016, and a winner of the Global Cleantech 100 for 2015-2018.

SOURCE sonnen