Solar energy is more to Preston Roper than just a paycheck.

"I’m emotionally invested in this," Roper says. "Frankly, it’s something we all need and it’s meaningful. We need to fix the climate change problem; we need to be better stewards of the earth." Solar energy is a key component.

The new executive vice president in charge of corporate development and operations for San Mateo-based solar company Tioga Energy Inc. is focused on guiding the company into solar power purchase agreement projects.

Roper has a diverse background in the fields of high tech and software, and believes the same subscription model that’s been used successfully in those arenas can be translated into the realm of solar energy.

For example, software service is sold so the user doesn’t have the up-front costs, the hassle of maintenance and so on. Likewise, in other business fields equipment gets financed, leased, and third-party-owned — "containers for shipping, jets for business use, that sort of thing," he says. "I saw the opportunity to merge those things together."

Tioga owns and operates solar power but also plans to enter the realm of other renewables over time. "We sell green power to entities, which takes away the risk for people to get solar at their own facilities," he explains, while still providing businesses with tax advantages.

He became friends with company founder Paul Detering, who was anxious to get Tioga up and running and asked for Roper’s help. "We just hit it off," Roper said, "and before I knew it I was a full-on member of the team."

Despite his tech and software background, the world of renewables wasn’t foreign to him, since he taught classes in solar energy "many years ago."

Roper has more than two decades of experience leading marketing and operations teams at high-growth technology companies, including Honeywell, NetDynamics (acquired by Sun Microsystems in 1998) and Synopsys.

The company’s focus right now is on North America, Roper says, but adds that he expects to do a lot of traveling as Tioga casts its net further afield.

"I call myself a three-time Stanford flunky," Roper jokes. In fact he has his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering and his MBA from the university.

The Los Altos resident likes to spend as much time outdoors as possible, including weekends of skiing and snowboarding with his wife and their 7- and 9-year-olds.

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