Executive Management
Victor Lee, Chief Executive Officer: Mr. Lee is the managing director of Tertius Financial Group Pte Ltd, a boutique corporate advisory and private investment firm he founded in February 2009. He brings more than 17 years of experience in corporate banking, real estate finance and investment management, and corporate advisory services at leading worldwide financial institutions. Mr. Lee began his career at Citibank N.A., in 1993, handling small- and medium-sized corporate finance and progressed to a vice president position in the International Personal Banking Division. In 1999 he moved to Deutsche Bank AG as Vice President and in 2004 was promoted to managing director and Singapore Market Head in the Private Wealth Management Division, where he was responsible for management of approximately $1 Billion assets under management. From 2007 until 2009 he was with Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, most recently as executive director and head of Singapore/Malaysia markets. Mr. Lee holds a Bachelor's degree in Accounting from the University of Wisconsin and a Master's in Wealth Management from the Singapore Management University.
Gary Gatchell, Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Secretary: Mr. Gatchell brings to Ascent Solar a strong background in public company financial reporting and internal controls. Mr. Gatchell also has experience with private and public capital funding, as well as mergers and acquisitions activity on both the buy-side and sell-side. Prior to joining Ascent Solar, Mr. Gatchell served as the chief financial officer of Carrier Access Corporation, a telecommunications equipment provider. Mr. Gatchell joined Carrier Access, a NASDAQ listed company, in June 2005 to reorganize that company's finance and administration infrastructure. Prior to joining Carrier Access, Mr. Gatchell served as the chief financial officer of Voyant Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of audio conferencing equipment that was acquired by Polycom, Inc., and as an audit manager at KPMG. Mr. Gatchell is a registered Certified Public Accountant and has a Master's degree in Accountancy from the University of Denver.
Joseph Armstrong, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer & Vice President: Dr. Armstrong served as the Manager of ITN's Advanced Photovoltaic Division from 1995 until joining Ascent Solar in October 2005. While at ITN, Dr. Armstrong led its advancement into thin-film CIGS flexible Photovoltaic products. Prior to joining ITN, Dr. Armstrong was employed for 10 years by Martin Marietta Corporation (now Lockheed Martin), where he managed Photovoltaic research projects. He is a named inventor on four U.S. patents in areas including shape memory alloys, thin-film PV technology and electronic circuit assembly. Dr. Armstrong holds a B.S. degree in Physics from Lewis University in Illinois and a M.S. degree and Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the University of Denver.
Robert C. Meck - Vice President Product Development: Prior to joining Ascent Solar, Mr. Meck served as the Senior Director of Product Development for Abound Solar. Mr. Meck was responsible for product development and manufacturing deployment for Abounds CdTe solar technology. Before his employment with Abound, Mr. Meck was the Director of Product Engineering and Technology at Emcore Photovoltaics in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And, Mr. Meck also held various engineering positions at Philips Semiconductors spanning 11 years of experience, both domestic and international. Mr. Meck holds a MS in Materials Science Engineering from Stanford University, and a BS in Chemical Engineering from Cal State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Ca.
Kwang Lee - Vice President Operations and Engineering: Mr. Lee brings to Ascent Solar a strong 24 years of experience in Manufacturing, Operations and Business Development in high-tech companies. Prior to Joining Ascent in 2008, Mr. Lee served as the Vice President of Qwest Communications Korea Ltd., for Qwest Communications, Denver, Colorado. With Qwest, Mr. Lee was responsible for the design and implementation of fiber optics networks for Qwest's backbone of the United States, as well as, the Metro network in Korea. Mr. Lee also pioneered Qwest's relationship with the South Korean Ministry of Information and Communication, for Qwest's business development in South Korea and APAC. Prior to his employment with Qwest, Mr. Lee was the R&D Project and Product Director for Laser Marking Technologies, LLC, and Mr. Lee also held various technical and management positions in electro-optics & laser technologies spanning 10 years of experience in where he eventually became the Vice President of Operations with Lambda Research Optics, Inc serving various industries including Semiconductor, Aerospace, Energy, Medical and DoD. Mr. Lee holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder, an Advanced Certificate in Telecommunications and MBA course credit from the University of Colorado at Denver.
Robert Roche - Vice President Sales, Marketing & Communications: Mr. Roche brings over 25 years of sales, marketing and technical leadership experience to Ascent Solar. Prior to joining Ascent, Mr. Roche served as Vice-President, Sales and Business Development at United Solar, a division of Energy Conversion Devices where he led sales and marketing activities focused on global sales channel expansion. Prior to that, Mr. Roche was employed by United Technologies Corporation (UTC), where he was Vice President Sales and Business Development at its Carrier Division responsible for growing its energy efficiency services business. Before joining Carrier, Mr. Roche was General Manager of Marketing and Applications Engineering at UTC's UTC Power division, and led global marketing and technical sales support efforts for its commercial fuel cell and alternative energy product lines. Mr. Roche's career at UTC Power also included international experience in engineering management, joint venture program management, new product development and product management and he is a named inventor on nine U.S. Patents. Mr. Roche holds a BS in Chemical and Materials Engineering from the University of Connecticut and an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
