Bernard H. Cherry
Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer
Bud Cherry has consistently delivered management excellence and value in senior leadership positions in his 40 year career in the energy sector.
Recently, the board of directors of Distributed Energy Systems elected Mr. Cherry, the current chairman of the Distributed Energy Systems board of directors, as interim chief executive officer. Mr. Cherry will retain his position as chairman of the board.
From 2002 until mid-2006, Mr. Cherry was Chief Executive Officer of the Foster Wheeler Global Power Group (GPG). GPG provides a wide range of boiler equipment, goods and services to a broad spectrum of customers in power generation. The group has a significant energy industry presence, including 4 manufacturing facilities, in North America, Europe and Asia and employs more than 2000 people worldwide.
Bud joined Foster Wheeler Ltd. (FWLT) as part of the turnaround management team with responsibility for solving a broad range of complex and challenging issues in the Global Power Group. This array of issues was significantly and adversely impacting the profitability and viability of the entire company. He was successful in resolving these issues and in restructuring the group and restoring it to significant profitability. Bud's creative and tenacious leadership as CEO of GPG was instrumental in the survival of the company and was a critical aspect of the extraordinarily successful turnaround of Foster Wheeler Ltd.
Prior to his tenure at Foster Wheeler, Mr. Cherry served as president and chief operating officer of The Oxbow Energy and Minerals Group, an affiliate of Oxbow Corporation, an industry-leading source of solid fuel supply, bulk material logistics and clean electric power generation. He also has worked in various managerial and executive positions for General Public Utilities Corporation and United Nuclear Corporation.
Mr. Cherry began his career as a Nuclear Engineer at United Nuclear Corporation (UNC) and holds a BS in Chemistry and MS in Nuclear Engineering, both earned at the University of Illinois.
Peter Tallian
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Tallian comes to Distributed Energy Systems following five years as senior vice president, CFO and treasurer of Transwitch Corporation, a provider of high-speed semiconductors for voice, data and video communications. Previously, he spent six years as executive vice president and CFO of Metavante Corporation, the banking and payments technology subsidiary of Marshall & Ilsley Corporation. From 1982 to 1995, Mr. Tallian held several financial management positions with IBM Corporation, and his experience included both domestic and international finance and planning assignments. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago and a bachelor of science degree in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert J. Friedland
President & COO of Proton Energy Systems
Mr. Friedland, one of our founders, has served, most recently, as our Senior Vice President of Hydrogen Generation. Prior to that Mr. Friedland has held many positions of increasing responsibility from Vice President of Operation to Senior Vice President of Technology for both Proton Energy Systems and Northern Power Systems. Mr. Friedland has been with Proton Energy Systems since our founding in August 1996. From 1987 to 1996, Mr. Friedland had several positions at United Technology Corporation Hamilton Sundstrand Division, a diversified aerospace and building systems company. Mr. Friedland holds a BS in mechanical engineering from Syracuse University and an MBA from Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.