Dr. Kedar Gupta is a friend of mine who leads GT Solar, a world leading manufacturing company of turnkey solar power manufacturing lines.
Years ago, I met Kedar when ICP Solar was considering to launch a wafer plant in Montreal. In retrospect (don’t you just love hindsight?) had we gone ahead, that plant would have a value today north of US$50Million, due to the huge demand for solar wafers worldwide.
Recently, Kedar made some changes and brought in strong management support to strengthen the corporate structure (and performance) of his company. Well, the results speak for themselves. He now has attracted two major funders to finance growth in GT Solar and will surely take GT far higher than he ever could on his own. He’s had a partner in life (his wife) and in GT Solar (John) for many years, and will tell you (over and over) that he could not have done it alone.
It all goes to show that if you build a strong team, much good will come. ICP has been rebuilding for a while now and we’re still going to continue to improve the team. In a changing organization we must treat with respect those who may no longer be able to play a part in its future, and ensure that those who join/remain are better suited to the new directions of a company. We’ve made many changes ourselves in the past month and more to come, yet what I can promise is that everyone who leaves will do so with the highest respect for their contributions. I have learned a lot from watching others (they say that the cheapest lessons come from learning through other people’s experiences) and watching Kedar grow has been a pleasure and has taught me as well.
Congrats Kedar, it couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
Sass Peress
1 Comment
I agree with every word about how great Kedar is. He was a colleague at Ferrofluidics and we became friends. When he was still at GT Solar/Technologies he visited me at home in Waltham MA when I was recovering from Colon Cancer surgery (about 5 years ago) and we lost sight of each other. When I recently called GTI they said he had sold the company (which I knew) but had no phone number for him in Hollis. The white pages have a number but it takes nameless messages which never get returned. Can you tell him that I need to speak with him at his convenience and still live in Waltham but now fully retired and creating sculpture 781-891-3983. He is a wonderful human as well as a great businessman and formerly a scientist/engineer as am I.
fred k manasse.