A renowned visionary committed to renewable energy, Jigar Shah launched SunEdison in 2003 based upon a business plan he originally developed in 1999 for a university class. That plan became the basis of the SunEdison business model: Simplify solar as a service. This model changed the status quo, allowing organizations to purchase solar energy services under long-term predictably priced contracts and avoid the significant capital costs of ownership and operation of solar energy systems.

Under Shah’s guidance, SunEdison pioneered the solar power services agreement (SPSA) model, which served as the foundation for much of the growth of the solar industry in the past five years. SunEdison now has more solar energy systems and megawatts under management than any other company. Customers include Public Utilities, Commercial National Accounts, Municipalities, States, and Federal facilities. In the process, Shah became an expert on energy project finance, changing energy policy, working with entrenched stakeholders, convincing different type of customers to embrace energy technology, and hiring over 500 of the most talented people to realize an improbable dream.

Today, Shah works closely with some of the world’s leading influencers and guides policy makers around the globe on key issues surrounding renewable energy, global warming and sustainability. He continuously challenges his colleagues and the industry to move solar forward by creating new markets across the globe.

Prior to launching SunEdison, Shah managed mergers & acquisitions, corporate strategy, and sales efforts for BP Solar, specializing in national commercial accounts. He also worked as a contractor for the Department of Energy on alternative vehicles and fuel cell programs.

Shah holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, and an MBA from The University of Maryland. He sits on the boards of the Ready Solar, Prometheus Institute and Greenpeace USA.

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is best know for creating easyJet in 1995, at the age of 28. Prior to founding the low-cost airline that revolutionized European air travel, Stelios created Stelmar, a shipping company which was floated on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001 and subsequently sold to a rival in 2005.

True to his beliefs in serial entrepreneurship, Stelios consolidated the ownership of the easy brand into his private company, easyGroup, comprising several easy-branded businesses - all dedicated to offering consumers more value for less.

At the age of 39, Stelios received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for services to entrepreneurship. More recently, through the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation, he has expanded his dedication to making a difference to society by launching a number of philanthropic initiatives supporting entrepreneurship, higher education and environmental sustainability.  Additionally, in 2009 Stelios was nominated the Honorary General-Consul for the Republic of Cyprus in the Principality of Monaco.

More likely to be on an aircraft than in an office, Stelios is 43 years old and lives in Monaco.

Dr. Barry D. Bruce, is founding member and the associate director of the Sustainable Energy and Education Research Center, a Professor in the University of Tennessee Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology and an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology and Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering.

Bruce has been recognized for work, including a Forbes Magazine article “Ten Revolutionaries that May Change the World,” numerous honors and grants.  In 2008 he was selected as the Outstanding Senior Researcher for the entire College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Tennessee, and was a keynote speaker at the Arizona Institute of Renewable Energy Symposium in Tempe, AZ.  He has published over 70 scientific papers in top journals including Science, Nano Letters, Nature Nanotechnology, Plant Cell, EMBO, PNAS among others.

Supported by top-level funders, Bruce is currently the principal investigator (PI) of a prestigious $1.7-million NSF award to lead a team of researchers who are trying to harness the power of photosynthesis to generate electricity from solid-state solar panels. In 2008 he was a co-PI of a $3.1-million NSF award to develop a graduate program in sustainable technology through advanced interdisciplinary research as well as a grant from the NSF Program in Sustainable Energy. 
 
Dr. Bruce has B.A. s in both chemistry and biology from the University of California –Santa Cruz. He holds an M.S. in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of Massachusetts—Amherst, and a Ph.D. in molecular plant biology from the University of California—Berkeley. Bruce joined the UT Knoxville faculty in 1994 after completing a National Science Foundation post-doctoral fellowship in plant biology at the University of Wisconsin—Madison

Jeremy Rifkin is president of the Foundation on Economic Trends and the author of seventeen bestselling books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages and are used in hundreds of universities, corporations and government agencies around the world. His most recent books include The Hydrogen Economy, The European Dream, The End of Work, The Age of Access, and The Biotech Century.

Mr. Rifkin recently advised the government of France during its presidency of the European Union (July 1st to December 31st, 2008). Mr. Rifkin also served as an adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Jose Socrates of Portugal, and Prime Minister Janez Janša of Slovenia, during their respective European Council Presidencies, on issues related to the economy, climate change, and energy security. He currently advises the European Commission, the European Parliament, and several EU heads of state, including Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero of Spain and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany.

Mr. Rifkin is the founder and Chairperson of the Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Roundtable. The CEO Business Roundtable is composed of 100 CEOs of leading North American and European global corporations that are committed to ushering in the four pillars of the Third Industrial Revolution to address the triple challenge of global economic recovery, energy security, and climate change.

The Third Industrial Revolution Global CEO Business Roundtable recently entered into an informal collaboration with the European Commission to help facilitate a long-term economic plan to usher in a Third Industrial Revolution infrastructure and economy across the 27 member-states of the EU.

Mr. Rifkin’s Sustainable Development Team advises governments and global corporations on the latest in cutting-edge technologies and best practices designed to address the twin challenges of climate change and energy security.

Rifkin has been influential in shaping public policy in the United States and around the world. He has testified before numerous congressional committees and has had consistent success in litigation to ensure responsible government policies on a variety of environmental, scientific and technology related issues.

He has been a frequent guest on numerous television programs, including Face the Nation, The Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, Larry King Live, Today, and Good Morning America. The National Journal named Rifkin as one of 150 people in the U.S. that have the most influence in shaping federal government policy.

Mr. Rifkin has been a senior lecturer at the Wharton School's Executive Education Program since 1994, where he instructs CEOs and corporate management from around the world on new trends in science, technology, the economy and society.

Mr. Rifkin's monthly column on global issues appears in many of the world's leading newspapers and magazines, including The Los Angeles Times in the United States The Guardian in the U.K., Die Süddeutsche Zeitung and Handelsblatt in Germany, Le Soir and Knack in Belgium, L'Espresso in Italy, El Mundo and El País in Spain, Kathimerini in Greece, Informatíon in Denmark, De Volkskrant in the Netherlands, Hospodárské Noviny in the Czech Republic, Wort in Luxembourg, Eesti Päevaleht in Estonia, Trud in Bulgaria, Clarín in Argentina, and Al-Ittihad in the U.A.E.

Mr. Rifkin holds a degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a degree in international affairs from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Rifkin speaks frequently before government, business, labor and civic forums. He has lectured at hundreds of the world’s leading corporations as well as more than 200 universities in some 30 countries in the past 30 years.

Mr. Rifkin is the founder and president of The Foundation on Economic Trends (www.foet.org). The Foundation examines the economic, environmental, social and cultural impacts of new technologies introduced into the global economy.