Company Background

Solmetric focuses on developing quality tools for the solar installation industry. The top-notch engineering and management team is committed to producing the highest quality products. Our background includes extensive experience in the solar installation and contractor industries and in the development of high precision test and measurement tools.

Management Team

Willard MacDonald, President

Before founding Solmetric Corporation, Mr. MacDonald worked for 9 years as a senior design engineer for the test and measurement company Agilent Technologies (formerly Hewlett Packard). There he helped to develop a new line of precision electronic measurement devices, including optical test equipment and high bandwidth oscilloscopes. He holds 7 patents for new technologies in the test and measurement field. Mr. MacDonald received his MS in computer science and his BS in electrical engineering, Magna Cum Laude, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Mark Galli, VP Product Development

Mr. Galli has over 14 years of professional software experience, eight of those working on embedded systems development in the test and measurement industry at Agilent Technologies and Keithley Instruments. His prior experience also includes scientific computing at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. He received his MS in Computer Science from University of Oregon and a BS in Physics from Northern Illinois University.

Peter Hoberg, VP Sales and Marketing Mr. Hoberg has over 20 years experience in marketing and business development with Hewlett-Packard and Agilent Technologies. He has had a variety of responsibilities including product management, sales support, and support planning for test and measurement hardware and software solutions. More recently he was business development manager at a small renewable energy company. Mr. Hoberg holds a Green MBA degree from the New College of California and has an BS and MS in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Robert Macdonald, Chairman, board of directors Mr. MacDonald has 30 years of entrepreneurial business experience as President/CEO of six companies and as partner in two venture capital firms. He has served on the Boards of Directors of more than 25 early stage companies and currently is the CEO of Ovation Products. Previously, he was President of four other venture-backed companies, including two that he took public, Lifeline Systems, Inc. and Level 8 Systems, Inc. Mr. MacDonald received a B.S. in Engineering Physics and an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Tom Williard, Director of Research & Development Prior to co-founding Solmetric, Mr. Williard spent twenty years in the electronics industry as a senior hardware and software engineer and manager. He worked for a number of imaging and communications companies, most recently Ascend Communications. He is on several boards in Bolinas and West Marin, and has recently joined Sustainergy Systems to promote clean, renewable, sustainable energy generation and management for individuals, businesses and local governing agencies.

Technical and Business Advisor Committee

Steve Heckeroth Mr. Heckeroth is an expert in passive solar house design, solar system design, and Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV). He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Arizona State University in 1973. Mr. Heckeroth founded Homestead Enterprises, a solar design and renewable energy products company in 1975 and received the Passive Solar Design Award in 1992 from the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association and The Energy Efficient Building Association. He joined UNI-SOLAR, an industry leading manufacturer of solar panels, as Director of BIPV Products in 2001 and is currently employed with UNI-SOLAR’s parent company Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) in the same position.

Sim Van Der Ryn Mr. Van der Ryn is a renowned leader in sustainable architecture and is president of Van der Ryn Architects. He was trained as an architect with a degree from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Mr Van Der Ryn served as California State Architect under Governor Jerry Brown. He was a Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley for over thirty years with a focus on socially and environmentally responsible design. He has authored or co-authored numerous books, including "Sustainable Communities" (1986), "Ecological Design" (1996) , and "Design for Life" (2005). Mr Van Der Ryn has received numerous honors and awards including: the Richard Neutra Award for Professional Excellence (2004), the Governor’s Award as North Coast Green Entrepreneur (2004), and the Nathaniel Owings Award from the California Council American Institute of Architects (1996).