Senior Management

Joseph Armstrong, Ph.D., Vice President & Chief Technology Officer: 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.

Venu Basava - Vice President of Engineering: Prior to his current appointment with the company, Venu Basava served as Ascent Solar's Vice President of Manufacturing, where he was responsible for the development of Ascent's CIGS solar technology on Polyimide flexible substrates. He played an instrumental role in setting up the 1.5 MW manufacturing pilot plant and the 30MW manufacturing facility in Thornton, CO. Prior to joining Ascent, Mr. Basava served as the General Manger for SC Power Systems, Inc. where he was responsible for developing high temperature super conductors on flexible substrates and instrumental in transfer of first generation superconducting technology from Australia to the United States for bulk manufacturing of superconductors. Mr. Basava spent over three years as the Technical and Production Operations Manager at Infinite Power Solutions developing technical and business plans to successfully transition R&D technology to pilot line operations for thin-film rechargeable solid-state batteries. He also held the position of Technical Operations Manager of Global Solar Energy Systems were he was responsible for developing automatic systems and processes for thin film rechargeable Lithium batteries. For approximately ten years prior to his move to the US, Mr. Basava was the Projects and Operations Chief with Max India Group of companies. Mr.Basava holds a Master of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, India.

Zane Rakes - Vice President of Manufacturing Operations: Immediately prior to joining Ascent Solar, Mr. Rakes was Director of Operations for Concentrated Solar Power and Photovoltaics at SCHOTT Solar, Inc. Prior to SCHOTT Solar, Mr. Rakes worked at Intel Corporation for over 15 years holding various manufacturing positions. Most recently Mr. Rakes served as a plant manager for Intel's Colorado Springs, Colo. operations. Mr. Rakes holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix.

Robert C. Meck - Vice President of Product Application 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.