Charlie Gay is the co-founder of Greenstar, a company that delivers solar power to villages in the developing world. His expertise includes solar cell manufacturing and international business.

He began his industrial career in 1975 designing solar power system components for communication satellites at Spectrolab, Inc. a subsidiary of Boeing. He joined ARCO Solar in 1978 where he established the research and development program, and was project leader for the commercialization of single crystal silicon wafer technology from laboratory to mass production. He served in various leadership positions ranging from Director of Research to President of the company.

In 1990 he became President and Chief Operating Officer of Siemens Solar Industries where he was responsible for increasing company sales into 110 countries and expanding the development of thin film solar technology to three continents.From 1994 to 1997, Gay served as Director of the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory. NREL is the world's leading laboratory for energy efficiency and renewable energy research and technology. His responsibilities included management of an annual budget of more than $235 million and 1,000 employees.

In 1998, Dr. Gay served as President and Chief Executive Officer of ASE Americas, the third largest solar cell manufacturer in the United States. He was responsible for commercializing silicon ribbon as a starting material in the manufacture of photovoltaic solar panels.

Charlie Gay co-founded Greenstar in late 1998, a company that develops multi-function solar-powered community centers in small villages in the developing world. He serves as President of Greenstar Foundation, and as a senior executive with Greenstar Corporation, which develops, distributes and licenses digital products produced by people in these solar villages. Greenstar communities, which deliver solar power, wireless communications, health, education and environment resources in an integrated package, include the West Bank, Jamaica, India and Ghana, with new sites planned for Tibet and Brazil. Dr. Gay has personally supervised much of the design and field work connected with this program, which has been recognized for its innovation by the World Bank, the Stockholm Challenge, the Technology Empowerment Network and the Tech Innovation Awards.

From 2001 to 2005, Dr. Gay served as Chairman of the SunPower Advisory Board. He joined Applied Materials in 2006 as Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Solar Business Group. He was named President, Applied Solar and Chairman of the Applied Solar Council in 2009. As President, Dr. Gay is responsible for positioning Applied Materials and its solar efforts with important stakeholders in the energy industry, technical community and particularly governments around the world. As Chairman of the Applied Solar Council, Dr. Gay leads a cross-company forum to assure cohesiveness on solar-related initiatives and strategy related to technology and market development.

Dr. Gay has a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of California, Riverside. He is holder of numerous patents for solar cell and module construction and winner of the Gold Medal for Achievement from the World Renewable Energy Congress. He is a PV industry veteran with over 35 years of experience in the solar industry.

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