John C. Bucher Sr. - Chairman and President

Mr. Bucher has over 30 years experience in Industrial & Mechanical Engineering/manufacturing, new product development, sales, and multinational operations. Mr. Bucher is a graduate from the University of South Florida with a degree in Energy Conversion and Mechanical design. Mr. Bucher graduated in 1977 and during that period worked as a co-op at Kennedy Space Center working on the Apollo Space Station Missions over a three year period. Mr. Bucher then worked for General Electric Specialty Motor Division in Fort Wayne, Indiana and continued his career in engineering and sales. He co-founded King of Fans, Inc. in 1982 with his partner, Start Wu. King of Fans uses 2.5 million square feet of manufacturing space in China and has over 3,000 employees while building over 15 million finished goods products per year. Mr. Bucher was Executive VP of King of fans and his leadership sold over 60 million fans into the USA during his career, with most of them still working. In fact most are top designer quality fans with limited lifetime warranties.

For 2009, Mr. Bucher was Vice Chairman and President of Solar Power Industries, Inc. , 360,000 square foot factory, 250 employees— a vertical solar manufacturer that made poly-silicon into ingots, bricks, wafers, cells, solar modules and solar array systems. Mr. Bucher took over management and redesigned operations into a Lean Manufacturing culture which could solve complex process control issues and kept the company vibrant during the worst recession since the great depression. Mr. Bucher was instrumental in getting Government Grants and Loans as well as meeting several Governors, Senators, Representatives, and President Obama during his tenure. Mr. Bucher turned the company over to his business partner’s son, Mr. John Wu the majority stockholder, after his partner for 29 years, Mr. Start Wu suddenly died in January 2010.

Mr. Bucher is now President of Peak Solar LLC and is still a shareholder of SPi and other group companies. Mr. Bucher has his name as inventor or co-inventor on over 100 patents and has won several innovation awards for his contributions and developments in the industry. Mr. Bucher has a strong entrepreneurial spirit, persuasive win-win leadership skills and has proven track record that he can run large operations with Lean management skills or develop new complex business entities and solar array projects.

 

Charles E. Bucher - VP of Engineering

Mr. Bucher has more than 16 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience. He co-founded Solar Power Industries, a vertically integrated manufacturer of solar ingots, cells and modules, and served as President, Chief Technology and Manufacturing Office and has extensive experience in engineering, product design and development, manufacturing, and corporate management. As CTO, he was responsible was manufacturing and technical operations, including manufacturing, engineering, facilities, and quality. Prior to co-founding Solar Power Industries in 2003, he was VP of Engineering at King of Fans, in charge of research, design, and development of photovoltaic lighting, decorative lighting, ceiling fan and air moving products. Mr. Bucher has extensive engineering and manufacturing experience, including establishing high-volume commercial product lines for manufacturing in China. His strong entrepreneurial background as a prolific inventor has resulted in more than 50 patents to his name. Mr. Bucher is a major proponent for renewable energy technologies and possesses a passion to help foster and commercialize the photovoltaic industry. His principal focus is on the growth of photovoltaic energy, as the demands for clean energy self-sustaining electrical devices are increasing. He received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida.

 

John C. Bucher - Executive Vice President

Fluent in Mandarin, Spanish as well as his native tongue English John received his BA from Saint Leo University in 2005 finishing with a 4.0 GPA. and received his MBA from the University of South Florida (USF) in 2007. After living in China for 2.5 years working in product development John came back state side to work in solar development and engineering. He is licensed by the State of Pennsylvania as a certified solar installer. John handles much of the day to day operations of Peak Solar LLC.