People on the move: Fullmark Energy, CCSA, Avantus and more
Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance. And the job of the week.
Job moves in solar, storage, cleantech, utilities and energy transition finance. And the job of the week.
Fullmark Energy, an independent power producer (IPP) focused exclusively on energy storage, announced the appointment of Blake Crosby as senior vice president, Project Delivery. Crosby is the first executive hire since the company rebranded from Hecate Grid to Fullmark Energy on May 7, 2025. In this role, Crosby will oversee Fullmark Energy’s portfolio of grid-scale energy storage projects across the United States, managing all aspects of project performance from development handoff through commercial operation. He will lead the company’s efforts to enhance project delivery capabilities as Fullmark continues its strategic expansion in key markets.
The Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) announced the hiring of Elizabeth Martin Perera as senior director of national programs and policy. Perera joins CCSA after serving as an Advisor and Senior Scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Loan Programs Office, where she financed distributed generation and storage projects and managed risk to ensure projects achieved their intended outcomes. Prior to the DOE, Perera was the Senior Director of Climate Policy and Federal Partnerships at the Sierra Club, a Senior Washington Representative at the Union of Concerned Scientists, and a Climate Policy Specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. In her new role at CCSA, Perera will lead national partnerships, federal policy, and advocacy initiatives, working closely with CCSA’s state-level Policy and Markets teams. She will guide the organization’s federal advocacy strategy and oversee the development and management of national partnerships and coalitions.
Avantus, a U.S. developer of utility-scale solar and solar-plus-storage projects, announced that David Flory has been appointed as the company’s chief financial officer. Flory will lead the financial strategy as the company continues to grow its strong development pipeline and operating asset portfolio. Flory brings nearly 30 years of experience in energy finance, spanning corporate and project finance, private equity, and M&A. Most recently, he served as executive vice president and global head of project finance at Sonnedix, where he led the financing of more than $10 billion in solar projects across the U.S., Chile, Europe, and Japan. Earlier in his career, Flory held several senior leadership roles at AES Corporation, including vice president of project finance at its solar subsidiary, Silver Ridge Power.
Job of the week
Grid United
Director, business development
Full-time, Houston, Texas
Grid United is a mission driven company aiming to solve the largest barrier to a cleaner, more reliable grid by developing new, long-haul transmission lines in North America. Grid United is developing utility-scale, multi-jurisdiction electric transmission projects that will deliver long-term economic benefits to communities across the continent, providing North Americans with improved grid resiliency for our homes and businesses, and cost savings for electricity consumers.
More information about the company can be found at www.gridunited.com.
The position
Grid United has numerous large-scale transmission projects underway and is actively identifying and studying the next wave of transformational projects across North America. The Company seeks to augment its leadership with an energetic and experienced Director of Business Development to identify, vet and advance new projects, shaping the future of our portfolio. In this Houston-based role, the Director will collaborate closely with an interdisciplinary group of talented experts. Reporting to the President and Chief Technology Officer, Kris Zadlo, the Director will lead efforts to bring high-impact projects into the Grid United portfolio.
Key responsibilities
- Identify new development opportunities that will enhance Grid United’s project portfolio;
- Act as the single point of accountability for the front-end identification of new transmission projects;
- Create, maintain and manage budgets for new project identification efforts.
- Lead the identification of development prospects, including market assessments and fatal flaw assessment;
- Evolve and build upon existing internal frameworks for project vetting and incubation, crystallizing the company’s prospecting playbook;
- Work with a team of diverse experts to understand the drivers of attractive transmission project development opportunities (i.e. market drivers, policy, environmental constraints, etc.);
- Assess inbound opportunities and determine if they are worth deeper pursuit; while not focused on high-volume cold sales outreach, this role will require strong interpersonal and evaluation skills to shape early-stage ideas into viable projects.
- Initiate discussions with key stakeholders such as utility customers, landowners, state and local officials, etc.;
- Represent Grid United in conversations with external partners, customers, and stakeholders; balance strategic vision with pragmatic execution.
- Build trust and understanding in order to explain benefits of projects and to potential partners and ultimately host communities.
Ideal candidate description
The Director of Business Development will have a strong track record with large linear infrastructure development and a passion for shaping the future of transformative energy infrastructure. They will be customer-centric, emotionally intelligent, commercially savvy, and technically conversant. They can work independently but also collaboratively, energized by ambiguity and opportunity and be able to rapidly earn credibility and trust among stakeholder groups.
They should have the experience—or demonstrated ability—to quickly identify fatal flaws in complex, early-stage infrastructure prospects and shape them into viable opportunities. They will not view business development as a traditional sales function, but rather as a process of strategic trust-building, opportunity shaping, and rigorous vetting—recognizing patterns and themes and leveraging them to create new projects additive to the portfolio.
Adaptive and inventive with an entrepreneurial mindset, the successful candidate will enjoy the ground floor “builder” aspect of this role in an early-stage, high growth and mission driven company – and will thrive in the looser structure of a small company undergoing rapid growth.
Desired experience and skills:
- An undergraduate degree is required. Advanced degree helpful, but not required.
- A minimum of 10 years of experience ideally in transmission development and/or in development roles for large-scale linear infrastructure projects.
- Articulate speaker and persuasive communicator with the ability to lead public presentations.
- Strong organizational skills and ability to meet frequently changing deadlines in a rapidly changing environment.
- Knowledge of local, state, provincial and federal requirements for permitting.
- Strong business acumen and demonstrated success in contributing to business results.
See more on the website…
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