SES Adds Detroit Veterans to Executive Management Team
December 22 2008
Bob Belts Named CFO and Jeffrey D. Collins Named Vice President, Global Supply Chain.
Phoenix-based Stirling Energy Systems (SES) today announced the appointment Robert E. Belts as Chief Financial Officer and Jeffrey D. Collins as Vice President, Global Supply Chain.
Bob Belts
As Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Belts will be responsible for all financial and accounting activities for SES. In addition, Mr. Belts will have a lead role in the development of the Company’s strategic plan in support of product commercialization and launch of high volume manufacturing activity.
“Bob’s leadership in financial management and extensive background and experience in high volume manufacturing makes him an ideal match for SES” said Steve Cowman, SES Chief Executive Officer. “Mr. Belts has a successful track record in integrating finance with commercial and operational functions and we are very pleased to have him join our company.”
Throughout his career, Mr. Belts has demonstrated leadership in strategic planning and tactical financial management to identify business improvement opportunities and drive value improvement. Mr. Belts has held CFO positions for both publicly and privately held companies. He has led Sarbanes-Oxley compliance implementation and has led major debt and equity financing transactions, including a key role in Detroit Diesel Corporation’s initial public offering.
Prior to joining SES, Mr. Belts was Chief Financial Officer for European Metal Recycling’s U.S. operations. Mr. Belts began his career with General Motors where he held numerous positions of increasing responsibility. In 1988 Mr. Belts joined Detroit Diesel Corporation as Corporate Controller was promoted to Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Belts was instrumental in the success of the joint venture and the transition of the division into a standalone company. In 2002, Mr. Belts joined Intermet Corporation, an automotive supplier of foundry and die cast components, where he served as Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Belts holds a Master of Business Administration from Michigan State University and a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from the University of Missouri in Kansas City. Mr. Belts is married and has two grown children.
Jeffrey D. Collins
In his role as Vice President, Global Supply Chain, Mr. Collins will be responsible for developing the principles, processes, roles and responsibilities and organization structure for the newly-established Global Supply Chain function.
In addition to consolidating SES’s purchasing activities, Mr. Collins will lead a cross-functional process to establish global sourcing and supplier management strategies designed to integrate existing technology roadmaps with the Company’s business and manufacturing plans.
“Commodity strategies will guide SES’s global supplier identification, sourcing and supply chain performance management processes”, said Steve Cowman, SES’s Chief Executive Officer. “Jeff’s skills, experience and supply chain knowledge are ideally suited for this new mode of operation.”
Mr. Collins is a career-long purchasing and supply chain professional with broad global experience directing Original Equipment Manufacturers’ ( OEMs ) and Tier #1 supplier purchasing operations and organizational transformation teams in both the automotive and aerospace industries. He is known for delivering bottom line value through supplier and cross-functional collaboration and sustainable low cost country (LCC) solutions.
Most recently as VP Climate Purchasing and N.A. for Visteon Corp., Mr. Collins directed a global organization responsible for annual purchases of $2.5 Billion from seven offices on four continents. Earlier in his career, Mr. Collins was VP Purchasing at Rolls-Royce, plc and Global Purchasing Director for Ford Motor Company.
Before joining Ford, Mr. Collins served as a business advisor to the government of Swaziland, southern Africa where he established, launched and managed a purchasing and wholesale distributing company. He has also lived and worked in Mexico, England and Brazil.
Mr. Collins is a graduate of Michigan State University and has taken graduate courses at Wayne State University. He was the recipient of Ford’s Customer Driven Quality Award, Excellence in Leadership Award and Process Leadership Re-Engineering Award. He has also received multiple awards and recognition from the Michigan Minority Development Council (MMBDC). Mr. Collins is married and has three grown children.
Stirling Energy Systems
SES was formed in 1996 to develop and commercialize advanced solar technology. The company maintains corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, offices in Berkeley and Tustin, California, and engineering and test site operations at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The SES SunCatcher is a concentrating solar power (CSP) technology that uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s energy and convert it to electricity. CSP technologies include dish systems, parabolic troughs, power towers and concentrating photovoltaic. The dish concentrator tracks, collects and focuses the sun’s energy and the Stirling engine converts the thermal energy to grid quality electricity. The SunCatcher technology has significant advantages including power conversion efficiency, cost competitiveness and low water usage. The SunCatcher is a zero emission renewable energy technology.
NTR plc
NTR plc is a leading international developer and operator in renewable energy and sustainable waste management. Founded in 1978, NTR has evolved from being a developer and operator of infrastructure in Ireland to an international developer and operator of renewable energy (wind, solar and bio-ethanol), and sustainable waste management businesses in the USA, UK, and Ireland. The company employs over 4,100 people and has a market capitalization in excess of €946m.
More information can be found at: http://www.stirlingenergy.com