Chris Dawson is joining Palmetto as President, Growth Initiative, in addition to his role on Palmetto’s board. Before that he worked as an advisor to companies in the solar industry and before that, he was at Sunrun, another major residential solar player.
He recently met with Palmetto’s communications team to let us get to know him. Here are five questions with Chris Dawson.
Catch us up on you. What has your career looked like before this and how did you come to Palmetto?
The most recent and most relevant has been about six years, six and a half years in solar. I joined Sunrun in late 2017 and was with them for four years. In many ways it was a great time to be getting into solar and it was a great group of people that I got to work with. I was responsible for the end-to-end from the initial lead generation and sales through to install and then field service and supply chain.
So I had a good opportunity to really understand the business in depth. Because of the complexities of solar, we spent a lot of time trying to dig in and really understand what drives customer adoption and also all the internal ways that we can create a great customer experience — and also where the train falls off the tracks. And in solar, because of the complexities, it unfortunately can happen a lot.
After leaving Sunrun, I did some advisory work for clients here in the US and overseas. It was through this work that I met Chris [Kemper, CEO of Palmetto]. He asked me to work with the team on various projects and eventually asked me to join the board. Eventually, we talked about ways that I could get even more involved on a full time basis, and that's what landed me in this role.
I started my early career in marketing and then I got the chance to work for Bombardier recreational products, which makes Sea-Doo watercraft and Ski-Doo snowmobiles, Can-Am on-road/off-road vehicles. That was so cool. I was there almost 18 years and in the last few years got to lead the international business, living in Switzerland, and then I headed up the global sales, marketing, distribution, and service parts of the business.
They were very exciting products and one of the best parts of the job was talking to consumers who were so incredibly passionate about their Ski-Doo or Maverick or Spark. Another great part of the job was when you got to bring something entirely new to life. I got to lead a project for a three-wheeled motorcycle — it has two wheels in the front, one wheel in the back — from prototype straight through to launch with an incredible team of people. The product is the Can-Am Spyder. It was such a new and different product that it took us a long time to get it right for consumers and also to get our board to buy-in. But we got there. We launched it with Jay Leno at Miramar Air Force Base. It was one of those things, honestly, that’s a proud moment in my career and for a lot of folks who were involved. I loved that experience.
What’s one thing that excited you about joining Palmetto at this time?
I can't limit it to one, but if I had to limit it at all, I’ll limit it to two things.
One is Chris’s vision for Palmetto. It’s inspiring. Obviously he's been inspired himself by the passion and ideas that he's gotten from people around this company. It's just a great group of folks, and the potential of the company to achieve the vision is really enormous and unique in the industry right now.
The other one is what I just mentioned about the people here at Palmetto — their passion. There's nothing in the solar industry that is just a straight line down a proverbial fairway. There's no such thing. And so what you need is people who are passionate, who are determined, and who are agile, right? Who can move with the times, but then adapt and know when to stop chasing one thing and when to start really pushing on another. I got a really good view in that advisory work with the team and that's what really grabbed me. It's a special level of passion and interest in finding ways to make it work.
What is the biggest challenge and opportunity facing the industry right now?
To try and put a happy face on everything is just ridiculous, especially in solar. It's just not how it works. It's one of the toughest industries I know of.
As a quick story, in my first week on the job at Sunrun, the CFO sat me down and said, “Chris, I'm just going to tell you, I've never worked harder in my life, by a country mile. This is so complex and so difficult. This is such a challenge, and we work in dog years here.” I think I just smiled and gave some pep-talk-like answer. I was clearly dismissive. Not even six months later, I'm like, “Oh my God, right, this is so tough.”
So, no surprise, there’s another major challenge facing solar! This time, we're facing the overhang on the policy front. But because of the way the company is set up, with the success of LightReach together with the building blocks in Consumer and Enterprise — and obviously, I'm hoping, with our new initiative as well — we actually have an opportunity in the midst of this uncertainty. The rest of the industry, they have so little wiggle room. We have a lot of wiggle room. We have a lot of ability to adapt where others will struggle.
I think our role is to show there is a way to make this industry work. We can be smarter about it. We can be better, and that's what we intend to do.
It's tough and probably going to get a little bit harder before it gets easier. But, you've heard the expression, “In difficult times or in chaos, there's opportunity.” That's what I see here, too.
Where are you based and what’s your favorite thing about it?
We just moved about six months ago from the East Bay, from Oakland. We moved to Alexandria, Virginia, the Old Town, and we love it! Probably the best thing about it is the walking nature of it. We walk everywhere. It doesn't matter what the task is. It also feels very welcoming on an interpersonal basis. So we thoroughly enjoy it here.
When you’re not working, what do you like to do?
I just love tennis. If it's summertime, I'll play five or six days a week. That doesn’t unfortunately translate to how good I am — I’ve never hit a level where I could use the words “very good,” but it’s so much fun regardless.
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Andrew BlokWriter and EditorAndrew has worked as a journalist and writer for four years, over half of those dedicated to covering solar. He currently lives in Tucson, AZ, where you might run into him walking his dog and birding while dodging the heat. He has degrees in English education and journalism.
