Welcome back, Solar Warriors.
Today we get to soak in the wisdom of an industry pioneer in the solar-distribution business model. Boaz Soifer has been a solar pioneer for the last 20+ years. He is the Director of Solar Trade at BayWa r.e., where he oversees the company’s distribution activities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. He is also co-CEO of BayWa r.e.’s distribution business in the US, along with Jodi White.
Today we get into Boaz’s focus on co-creating a culture that truly values and contributes to personal and professional development, something that we care a lot about here on SunCast. We’ll also take a look at how he enjoys solving complex challenges and how that's kept him in the renewables business in particular.
Boaz’s career in renewable energy goes back to 1999. Since then, he has worked at installation and distribution companies, participated in a district energy system engineering project, and started up two companies in solar heating. He has been with BayWa r.e. since 2010.
At work, Boaz’s main focus is on co-creating a culture that truly values and contributes to the team members’ personal and professional development, and he also likes to work on (and occasionally solve) complex challenges of all sorts. Outside work, Boaz enjoys reading about philosophy and psychology, practicing yoga, hiking in the mountains around Santa Fe, and cooking meals and hanging out with his three (mostly grown) kids.
Some of the burning questions we addressed during this interview:
Who am I and why am I here? (in this company and industry)
What was the conversation like around the dinner table in his family as a young person?
His role models in the early stages of life, and his artistic background
Building an off-grid home for the first time
What are the tools Boaz still uses in his role as CEO?
Getting from solar thermal to solar PV
How did Boaz become a leader in increasingly larger roles in building the distribution model for United States solar industry?
Resources
Connect with Boaz on LinkedIn and Twitter
Check out the amazing work of BayWa r.e. on LinkedIn, Twitter and their website
Mentioned books
Sex, Ecology, Spirituality: The Spirit of Evolution, Second Edition
No Country for Old Men