SolarEdge appoints new CEO

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Chief marketing officer Shuki Nir will replace interim CEO Ronen Faier, and will face the task of turning around the energy technology company that has switched to losses and seen its share price collapse.

After three months with an interim CEO, energy technology company SolarEdge Technologies (Nasdaq: SEDG) has found a permanent appointment to the post, namely Shuki Nir, its chief marketing officer, a position in which he has served only six months. He will replace interim CEO Ronen Faier, who will stay on with the company as an advisor during a transition period. Faier himself replaced Zvi Lando in August 2024. Lando served in the post for five years. As well as becoming CEO, Nir will replace Lando on the company’s board of directors.

Nir holds an MBA, an LLB, and a BA in accounting from Tel Aviv University. He has acted as a strategic consultant to international companies (including SolarEdge itself), and has served as a director of several listed companies, among them IronSource (NYSE: IS) (which was sold) and Kornit Digital (Nasdaq: KRNT). For eight years, he was General Manager of the consumer business at SanDisk (Nasdaq: SNDK), following SanDisk’s acquisition of M-Systems. According to SolarEdge’s announcement of the appointment, "He led the strategic transformation and turnaround of a loss-making division into a profitable global market leader, with revenue of $2 billion."

A similar challenge awaits Nir at SolarEdge. For over a year, the company has suffered from weakness in its market, leading to erosion of its revenue, a switch to losses, and loss of market share. SolarEdge’s share price has recovered somewhat from the low to which it sank last month, but the company still has a market cap of only $815 million, after reaching a peak of over $19 billion three years ago.

SolarEdge’s weakness is a result of an accumulation of stocks at its distributors, leading to a fall in new orders, while general market demand also slowed. The company has carried out two rounds of layoffs this year. In January, it laid off 900 employees, 550 of them in Israel, and in July it laid off 400 employees, half of them in Israel. It recently announced the closure of its loss-making non-solar energy storage business, which will reduce its workforce by a further 500 people, and it has started to look for sub-tenants for the campus being built for it by Azrieli Group at Glilot.

SolarEdge chairperson Avery More said of Nir’s appointment, "SolarEdge is gaining an accomplished and proven leader in Shuki, and I am delighted to announce him as our new CEO. Following a rigorous global search and evaluating several outstanding external and internal candidates, Shuki stood out for his exceptional leadership, operational expertise, and ability to build high-performing teams. Having served as CMO, he already understands our operations, values, and strategic goals. We believe Shuki is the right candidate to lead SolarEdge into its next phase of growth."

More thanked Ronen Faier for his contribution as interim CEO and his many years as CFO of the company. "We are pleased that Ronen will remain with the company as an advisor during a transition period to ensure a seamless transition," he added.

More himself is a recent appointment as chairperson. A veteran director of the company, he replaced Nadav Zafrir, who is taking over from Gil Shwed as CEO of cybersecurity company Check Point (Nasdaq: CHKP).

Nir himself said "I am honored to take on the opportunity to lead SolarEdge at such a crucial time for the company and the industry. The SolarEdge mission, to develop and scale renewable energy technologies that improve the way we generate, store, manage and use electrical power in every aspect of our lives, is truly inspiring. With our leading technological capabilities, best-in-class product lineup and extraordinarily talented team, I believe we have all the key ingredients to strengthen our market position and continue to deliver value to our customers, employees and shareholders."

SolarEdge’s share price is up by a little over 1% in pre-market trading.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 5, 2024.

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