Choice Solar Team

Ravi Sinha: Chairman

Ravi, the founder of Choice Solar, and Choice Solar India Private Limited is passionate about solar. He is Chair of Oregon’s Clean Energy Special Interest Group for TiE (www.oregon.tie.org). Ravi is an advocate of solar energy and is committed to its well deserved place in our energy future.  Prior to moving full time into solar, Ravi spent 15 years at Hewlett Packard, where he learned design, process expertise, and operations management. Ravi received his Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Minnesota.

Katherine Cleland: Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Finance Officer

Katherine is a founder of Choice Solar Corp. and Choice Solar India Private limited, and acts as CMO andCFOfor the company. She has managed her own marketing consultancy for 6 years, focused on strategic marketing and ROI for High Tech and Industrial clients. Among her clients, she assisted with the launch of the fast growing thin films solar panel business, Signet Solar, Inc.. She is skilled in financial modeling and focuses on the bottom line for Choice's clients. Katherine Cleland has 20 years of experience in corporate marketing and business management, including Hewlett Packard and The Clorox Company.  Katherine received a degree in chemistry from Princeton University and an MBA in Marketing and Finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Dr. AK Merchant- Executive Vice President-India

Dr. Merchant manages Business Development, NGO Relationships and Partnerships for Choice Solar India Private Limited. He has extensive experience working with a number of non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies such as UNICEF and UNFPA working in the areas of education of children, adolescents life skills building, conservation of environment and promoting renewable sources of energy. He holds honorary positions/memberships in a number of national and international organizations namely the Temple of Understanding India (General Secretary); Forum of Indian NGOs for Cooperation with the United Nations (Vice President). He is a visiting lecturer at the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, New Delhi, as a trainer for workshops for “virtues project” and environmental conservation and waste re-cycling.

Dr Merchant is a trustee of the Baha’i House of Worship (Lotus Temple).  Dr. Merchant has participated /addressed scores of national and international conferences and seminars organized by the United Nations and its agencies and other institutions and organizations. He is the author of some 200 hundred articles and research papers that have been published in national dailies, journals, books and is a regular contributor to the Deccan Herald. He holds degrees and diplomas in Education, English language teaching, psychotherapy, did his doctorate in comparative study of religions.

Dave Baasch: Chief Energy Expert

Dave Baasch is Choice's Solar's technical lead and chief designer. Dave has designed over 250 solar photovoltaic, solar hot water and pool heating systems. His portfolio ranges from single-family residences to high-rises, and from offices, to factories, to farms. He has personally been involved with over 150 of those installations. His solar design applications include commercial food processing to rural water pumping, and include thin film, shingles and conventional panel installations. Hot water designs include 3,200 gallons per day commercial systems. Dave is a successful, serial entrepreneur, having co-founded two high technology companies, both of which went IPO.

Dave is expert in integrating solar options with the most efficient and climate-appropriate methods for heating and cooling air and water and advanced energy conservation. He has expanded his design considerations to include conservation options and methods for heating and cooling air and water. Dave’s broad solar design experience, coupled with his knowledge of passive and active heating systems allows him to create the most effective, and efficient system for your building or site. Dave received a BS and MS from the University of California and was a researcher in Statistics and Computer Modeling at University of California, Berkeley.

Joy Nair: Executive Vice President and General Counsel and Business Development Middle East & Asia

Ms. Nair is in charge of developing business in the Middle East and Asia.  Joy brings significant experience in executing business deals and mergers and acquisitions for a variety of companies. Ms. Nair comes from the prestigious law firm, K&L Gates where she was a Corporate Attorney in the M&A Securities Group and headed the Sustainability Committee. Joy is experienced in managing corporate and legal affairs for both profit-making and non-profit businesses and has handled issues in environmental, municipal finance, real estate, public corporations and hedge funds. Joy received her law degree and Bachelor of Science from the University of Oregon majoring in business administration and International Studies. She has served as Vice President of the Associated Students. She was active in student government and statewide organizations as well as developing and conducting training and facilitating workshops for state and federal campaigns. Joy was a recipient of the Gerlinger Cup for Outstanding Junior Woman of the Year. She is a Member of the Oregon Bar and fluent in English, Hindi and Urdu and Spanish.

Bhaskar D Krishna Murthy: Strategic Director

Bhaskar helps with development of the company's strategic operations and plans for rural solar solutions in Asia. Throughout his career Bhaskar has been instrumental in establishing new initiatives and collaborative ventures with national and international organizations. He has over 16 years of experience in multi-disciplinary fields of technology solutions, management and capacity building. A mechanical engineer from Bangalore University, Bhaskar has served in government, private and Non-Profit organizations and has in-depth understanding of the rural life. Bhaskar began his career in technological management as a superintendent engineer at KLN Agrotech from where he was hired as an Education Technologist at JNCASR, Bangalore, India. He has also served in the capacity of a Development Officer for the Asian Nature Conservation foundation. Additionally, Bhaskar is passionately involved in nature and travel photojournalism. He is the founder of the Augusta International Photographic Festival, which attracts artists from all corners of the globe. His award winning photographs have been exhibited in prestigious art galleries around the world and his work has bee published work in leading magazines including BBC, Discovery, Podroze, Lounge, Jetwings etc. Ardent lover of nature and a strong proponent of using renewable energy sources, Bhaskar is committed to enlighten thousands of lives in the remotest villages in Asia-Pacific with sustainable and affordable solar energy.