News

First Solar Appoints Bruce Sohn as President

March 04, 2007 by Jeff Shepard

First Solar, Inc. announced that Bruce Sohn has joined the company as President. Sohn was formerly a senior executive at Intel Corp. and has served on the Board of Directors of First Solar since 2003. He will report to Mike Ahearn, Chief Executive Officer of First Solar.

"Bruce’s extensive experience managing large organizations, growing operations and replicating factories will significantly strengthen our team," Ahearn stated. "We have benefited greatly from Bruce’s advice and guidance as a board member and we are honored that he has accepted our offer to increase his role by joining First Solar."

During his 24 years at Intel, Sohn played a leadership role in developing and manufacturing leading-edge semiconductor technology. He served as an integral part of the start-up team at five fabs, acted as program manager for Intel’s conversion to 300mm wafers, and managed two of Intel’s largest fabs. Sohn is a Materials Science and Engineering graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a senior member of the IEEE and a certified Jonah. He has been a guest lecturer at MIT, Stanford and other universities.

Favorable light has certainly been shining on First Solar in recent months. In November, the company set its planned initial public offering (IPO) at 17.5 million shares for an estimated price of $18 per share in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. At the time, First Solar said it expected to receive net proceeds of as much as $267.1 million from the IPO.