From Semiconductors to Green Power: Borrego CEO Mike Hall (Part 6)

SM: Will you limit yourselves strictly to project financing? Do you envision a technical leadership role?

MH: Our industry is new enough that we absolutely need to stay involved in engineering and evaluating new technologies. We have a technology group that does evaluations and downstream technology development such as balancing systems and racking. They spend a huge amount of time modeling the systems and advising the startups. A lot of the established companies are just not listening because they have been selling everything until November with no effort. There was such a shortage that they did not need a sales team and they did not need to talk to their customers about what the market wanted. They just needed to produce silicon solar cells and they would sale. That is changing. Now they are asking us how they can make things better as well.

SM: Talk to me more about your company structure. You work with your brothers. How is that?

MH: Aaron started it off and was CEO until January. He is now president and still manages a lot of our key relationships.

SM: Why did you make that switch and how did it go?

MH: We made it because I bring a different demeanor and approach to managing the company. His approach was OK when we were just in a wild, no-holds-barred growth stage. The environment changed. He, the board, and everyone agreed that it was the right decision. It was not a mutiny by any means.

I did not want to do it for a while. I have kids and it is definitely a lot more work than the sales. I travel a lot more now. He had always said that if the company got to the point that it would go public that I would have to take over as CEO. It was not a surprise to anyone when we made the switch.

SM: Does your relationship remain strong?

MH: Absolutely. We talk every day. He comes and visits his nephews. It is a real family business. My parents are still significant investors. My youngest brother is director of marketing. It is transitioning and has had to transition to become more corporate. I look forward to that. It is tough to have those things intertwined. I am ready to have family and business more segregated.

We have a five person executive team. We have all been working together for years. The newest member of the team has been there for three years. During meetings we will fight and argue. In the end it is fine. There are times when Aaron and I take it to another level and everyone gets quiet because it is an awkward brother fight moment. Chris, our oldest partner, will come in and broker a peace treaty.

SM: If you are going towards a more financially-oriented company, you probably need to bring in more people from the finance world don’t you?

MH: We do. In the coming years you will see our new hires will be from that world. Right now we only have a few MBAs and none of the five executive team members have an MBA. We will probably have one hire from the structured finance world and we will probably have to bring in a real CFO. Right now we have a controller who is very experienced, but not a public company CFO. Those are some of the changes that are going to have to be made.

This segment is part 6 in the series : From Semiconductors to Green Power: Borrego CEO Mike Hall
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